Sure, it's easy to read about politics—but harder to discuss them with folks who may disagree (especially in the Valley's hyper-polarized culture!). Entrepreneur Vera Strauch educates, below, on why we're naturally prone to avoid discomfort—while exhorting us to leave the anxious “mental couch” for connectedness, meaning, and lasting change.
Read MoreFor decades, New Urbanist orthodoxies in Santa Clara County railed against single-family-home suburban development and enforced a densification orthodoxy. The result: massive social inequities, skyrocketing homelessness, and a massive population exodus to more enlightened states. Even The NYT acknowledges the mistake.
Read MoreSJ and SF city gov'ts may endlessly swirl over small-scale and scattershot homelessness solutions, but Kern County and City of Bakersfield get to "functional zero" faster than any other CA city with quick, focused, and at-scale programs that work across gov't entities. From Community Solutions.
Read MoreFormer Los Altos mayor Anita Enander breaks down CA's Regional Housing Needs Allocation process, and what she considers indefensible calculations and harmful rigidity. Enander thinks cities like SJ could better address community needs without RHNA's req'ts. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreA proposed bill backed by SJ Mayor Mahan and Sen. Blakespear that would've required counties to step up and help pay for and run homelessness shelters got derailed by the powerful, who ask for "more discussion" and kicked the can down the road by a decade. Axios reports.
Read MoreIn part 2 of an Opp Now exclusive, Families & Homes SJ president Sandra Delvin and past Los Altos mayor Anita Enander discuss why they're dubious of proposed SB79—and what SF's housing situation might warn us about densification.
Read MoreIn a recent YouTube video, transit bro Alan Fisher joins the critiques of the VTA extension’s single-bore tunneling approach, which is more expensive (and less accessible) than traditional twin-bore. Contra Costa Taxpayers Association’s Marc Joffe breaks down the data—and the troubled future of BART SV Phase II—in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreNo parking minimums. More zoning exemptions. Are SJ Council's attempts to make it easier to develop housing truly solving affordability issues—or driving up costs? An Opp Now exclusive Q&A on zoning, densification, and the builder's remedy, with Families & Homes SJ president Sandra Delvin and past Los Altos mayor Anita Enander.
Read MoreStanford University, Cal, UCLA, and UC Irvine are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly considering race in their admissions processes, even though state and federal law now forbid it. Policy experts tell The College Fix that these schools are creating a “system of reverse discrimination.”
Read MoreDept. of Ed says Branham High coverage of Arab–Israeli conflict discriminated against Jewish students. The Chron reports.
Read MorePost-lawsuit, CA Community Colleges has pinky-promised to stop mandating DEI alignment for local faculty. But we wonder if it'll take time for colleges like De Anza to fully shift from ideological hostility to not-far-left folks. Case in point: a telling recent survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (with 6k+ profs).
Read MorePolitico suggests that progressive state politicians should take note: Californians are more worried about homelessness and cost of living than Elon Musk's hand gestures.
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