First, SJ Housing Dept. gets hammered by a state audit.  Next, VTA governance was ripped by a state investigation. Now, the Santa Clara City Council’s effectiveness is blistered by a civil grand jury. The excellent Silicon Valley Voice explains. 

When is a progressive district attorney actually regressive? It’s when the DA in question is Los Angeles County’s jailbreak DA,  George Gascon, says Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. Rosen has chosen to endorse Gacon's opponent, Nathan Hochman, for LA DA, suggesting that Gascon's extremist policies are making LA less safe. Thomas Buckley of the California Globe has the low-down.

First it was SJ's Housing Dept, getting blistered by a state audit for having little idea what impact, if any, its expenses were having. Now it's VTA's turn, as its governance, board, and project management shortcomings get savaged by the California State Auditor. Grace Hase reports in the Merc.

At long last, on 6.11, San Jose City Council reallocated Measure E tax funds to prioritize interim housing and creekside clean-up. This move returned Measure E's outlays to their original intent--addressing housing and homelessness issues in a balanced way. Just as important, it put an end of years of burning through 75% of the Measure's annual proceeds on monumentally expensive, slow, and ineffective so-called "affordable" and permanent supportive housing.  The Opp Now team analyzes, in this exclusive.

We are not making this up: Murders. Stabbings. Open drug use. Fights. Welcome to LA's Metro system, which may be giving us an early peek as to what unexpected civic amenities BART to downtown SJ might bring with it. Tim Deegan, the excellent city planning columnist for LA Weekly and Citywatch, provides analysis and first-hand experience.

SF’s habit of giving cash advances to struggling nonprofits helped sink Baker Places into debt of $7.7 million, with about a million of that from an audit of the nonprofit’s Medi-Cal billing. Turns out taking a city employee off their payroll didn’t trim enough fat, so now Baker Places has to hand over $3 million in real estate and get on a 20-year payment plan. The San Francisco Standard’s Gabe Greschler explains.

Mayor Breed isn’t happy about Supervisor Peskin’s bill, which defies a statewide mandate to cram housing units into urban areas. Breed says it turns SF back toward being a “city of no.” But preserving Gold Rush era buildings in the heart of San Francisco might get voters to say “yes” to the idea of a Mayor Peskin. Gloria Rodríguez, Amanda del Castillo, and Luz Pena report for ABC7 News reports. 

Surprise, surprise. After her nonprofit Inter-City got interrupted by “financial mismanagement,” Patricia Doyle came back a few years later to bury Providence Foundation in overspending to the tune of hundreds of thousands. As shady receipts and unfair labor accusations come to light, her ex-accountant says the city should have flagged her much sooner this time around. Maggie Angst writes for the San Francisco Chronicle.