Countering mounting evidence that nonprofits are grifting the City by the Bay, new mayor Lurie outlines plans to demand that nonprofits receiving taxpayer largesse actually deliver. The Chron reports.
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SVGOP chair David G. Johnson breaks down, point by point, the exorbitant failure that's been San Jose's Housing First method against homelessness. And why he's glad Council is pivoting to more affordable (and effective) interim options. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Instead of quibbling at Council about small-ball homelessness remediations, our neighbor to the north—led by their no-nonsense new mayor—advocates for large-scale, immediate solutions to homelessness. The Chron reports.
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During the recent transit worker strike, VTA responded by offering Uber vouchers to riders. Made many on social media wonder: why don't they do this regularly? Truth is, they did, quite successfully, back in the 1970s. Randall O'Toole remembers, in this Opp Now exclusive.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom touted California’s role as the first state in the nation to offer healthcare to all income-eligible immigrants one year ago. But cost overruns and threatened fed clawbacks are forcing some tough trade-offs in Sacto. LA Times reports.
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San Jose City Council looks to be zeroing out funds for PSH in the coming year: Measure E proposed allocation is 90% interim housing, 10% prevention. In this exclusive roundup, Opp Now contributors Pat Waite, Irene Smith, and Tom Weissmiller analyze how treatment-free “Housing First” has long failed our homeless neighbors—and it's (past) time for change.
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SJ D3’s special election looks to have a notably low voter turnout, which has campaign operatives of big-spending campaigns moaning “sad.” But is it? If you don’t like the candidates, why should you be compelled to support them? Reid Newton, editor of Ideas Beyond Borders, unpacks the ethics of refusing electoral coercion in The Hill.
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Anyone who's worked in tech knows that linking compensation to reaching performance metrics is old hat. Surprising, then, to hear retrograde analysis from CM Cohen trying to delay Mahan's limited application of the idea to SJ city gov't. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management explains why pay-for-performance works even at the federal level.
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In today's hyper-polarized postmodern society, is it even possible to avert “partisanship”? And what landmarks should readers be looking for re: responsible journalism? In this Opp Now exclusive, we tackle these questions—and more—with Hoover Institution's preeminent First Amendment expert Eugene Volokh.
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Gov't waste may be on the national radar thanks to DOGE; but it's likely to continue—says Pedestrian Observations blog—as long as elected officials have no personal inventive to cut costs (leading to worse, politically-motivated projects).
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Psyche mag explains that our innate preference for accommodation can upstage having authentic, meaningful conversations, like discussing what Churchill and Chaucer have in common or the Valley's political blind spots. But experimenting with the “rules” a bit—through unexpected candor, exploring new territory, or humor—produces some pretty great discussions.
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Sandy Springs, Georgia services its general obligation debt with the general fund—not by targeting homeowners to pay back school and infrastructure bonds. Their food bank and recreational programs are successes because the city provides basic funding and infrastructure but leaves the rest up to the community. So say the Mayor and City Manager in Part 4 of an Opp Now exclusive Q&A.
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