Despite mountains of data to the contrary, the local Housing Industrial Complex is still busy filling local media op-ed pages with dubious and false arguments supporting Housing First, and disputing the success of provisional housing for the homeless. The data speaks for itself, below.
Read MoreSometimes it's so obvious you can't help but laugh. The SF Standard, a large, well-funded online media outlet in that boutique suburb to the north, recently beclowned itself by employing a sad assortment of vulgar media-bias tricks in an effort to smear anti-transit tax advocates. Our Susie Murillo explores the comedy in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreHow do we save the Bay's troubled transit system? Proponents of a five-county sales tax are peddling misinformation to convince Bay Areans that making everything more expensive is the only solution -- while The SF Standard and KQED take their deceptive talking points at face value. We caught up with Gregg Dieguez, spokesperson for the opposition, who debunks three of their most glaringly unquestioned claims.
Read MoreIn response to plans to upzone all of San Jose to high-density, multi-unit neighborhoods, the community group Families and Homes warns that the plan could lead to a dramatic loss in the city's tree canopy.
Read MoreOn the heels of downtown SJ World Cup watch parties devolving into violence, the city of Morgan Hill is reeling after a shooting at an out-of-control, social media-inspired party killed one and left six injured. Morgan Hill Times reports, below.
Read MoreFive decades. More than $40bn (no typo) in taxes. And for all this, we get the worst-performing transit agency in the country. Prof Pete Constant chronicles the lost time and money, and how regional transit agencies keep peddling the same dishonest arguments in their quest to keep their grossly mismanaged agencies afloat. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreScanning local media, it sometimes seems like everybody is always in favor spending more taxpayer money on gov't "services," even if those services don't deliver. We highlight some local leaders who advocate for professional fiscal restraint.
Read MoreIn a thoughtful Merc op-ed, former Assessor Larry Stone says the quiet part out loud: Entertainment Zones won't awaken DTSJ from its somnolence. Stone calls for stronger demands for in-office work. But imaginative international city planners realize those days are long gone, and it's time for a complete reimagining of downtown space. Their ideas explored, below.
Read MoreYear after year, decade after decade, local gov't has asked county residents to shell out more and more for a mass transit fiscal sinkhole that has delivered less and less. Public policy prof and former SJ CM Pete Constant walks us through the sorry tale. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreCarol Pefley, candidate for CA Assembly District 28, says real financial accountability starts when leaders have the guts to pull the plug on failed gov't programs.
Read MoreOn August 18th, San Jose City Council is considering approving the Planning Commission’s proposal for upzoning of the whole city, in which historic single-family-home zoning will give way to high-density, multi-story, multi-unit zoning, with by-right development and no parking requirements. Some of F&H's key concerns:
Read MoreHey, we're all used to wildly prejudicial, not-very-smart, pro-tax media coverage in the Bay Area. But this last weekend offered something new: local opinion leaders rising up and taking the reliably lefty SF Standard to task for their transparently biased coverage of the transit tax opposition. A selection of comments from X follows.
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