Gavin Newsom states he’s not seeing the results he wants from homeless spending. In the May Revise budget, he cut over 25% statewide from the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program. These funds helped San Jose build nearly 500 interim housing units, a crucial tool to reduce homeless encampments in the city. From Andrew Sheeler in California Political Review.
Read MoreHas stack and pack zoning in the name of climate change strangled CA’s housing market? Outdated sustainability dogma belongs with the dinosaurs, says California Policy Center’s Edward Ring. He recommends CA expand suburban growth—it’s better for the environment than corralling us all into concrete jungles. Reform CEQA too, which is abused by private litigators. In San Jose, CEQA delays building permits by 40 weeks or more.
Read MoreRather than flush $30 billion down the Delta Tunnel, why don’t Californians pump that money into big yield water projects? California Policy Center’s Edward Ring argues that with one project alone, half the Delta money could return twice as much water, with the rest of the cash spilling into reservoirs that produce hydroelectric energy.
Read MoreThere were 437 homelessness families tallied across the city, marking an alarming 94% jump since 2022. The data highlights the daunting challenge of tackling the crisis in an expensive city amid a lack of affordable housing, a surge in migrant families and a fentanyl crisis.
Read MoreDo non profits put their tax-exempt status at risk when they help organize university protests? Or protests outside of SJ City Hall? Eugene Volokh at Reason says: "not for the viewpoints they express." {Full disclosure: Opp Now is a 501(c)(3) non profit}
Read MoreAn exclusive investigation by the Westside Current has uncovered more than 1,200 vacant City-owned apartments and motel rooms that are supposed to be providing interim or permanent supportive housing to homeless people in LA have never been occupied. N.E.V.E.R.
Read MoreCA Policy Center's Lance Christensen says the legal maneuvering to deny citizens the right to vote on the Taxpayers' Protection Act runs contrary to constitutional and democratic norms.
Read MoreWhile our San Jose City Council continues to enable the Housing Department to misspend hundreds of millions of SJ taxpayer dollars every year, real people are left to live in San Jose’s creek and riverbeds, creating massive environmental damage. And state and federal agencies threaten to slap stiff fines on SJ if our waterways are not cleaned up. Dean Hotop, a concerned citizen of San Jose, outlines the steps ordinary citizens can take to compel city government to deliver results, rather than just writing big checks to nonprofits that do little to solve problems.
Read MoreIll-informed spokespeople went to local media this week, falsely saying it's not typical for cities like SJ to get punished with substantial fines if we don't clean up our waterways, which are environmentally damaged by prolific creekside homelessness encampments. While local media accepted the misinformation at face-value, alert Opp Now readers noticed that the spokesperson is peddling untruths. In fact, SJ already has been subjected to more than $100k in fines for polluted waterways, back in June, 2016. Paul Rogers and Ramona Giwargis reported for the Merc.
Read MoreEchoing the blistering critique of SJ's homelessness programs by the state auditor, District 7 CM Bien Doan, in a 5.14 Study Session, called out staff's ongoing dissembling and evasions regarding the humanitarian crisis on our streets and creek beds (Edited for brevity)
Read MoreCA schools were supposed to work in tandem, from UC’s down to CCC’s like Santa Clara’s Mission College. Today, they suffer from “mission creep”—degree inflation, union power grabs, and administrative bloat now cannibalize resources and inflate tuitions. California Policy Center’s Peter Constant (not the former SJ CM) suggests revisiting the Master Plan.
Read MoreLast month, AG Rob Bonta charged LA DA George Gascón’s head of ethics Diana Teran with improperly using confidential police officer personnel information in court or before a trial. Gascón faced recalls in SF and LA for soft-on-crime policies. Despite an informational black hole from the AG’s office Thomas Buckley of California Globe points out that Teran’s alleged misuse of documents could potentially have satisfied the DA’s ideological mission to help inmates get out early.
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