Legislators are proposing CA lowers its longstanding Prop 13 threshold (currently two-thirds) for voter approval on new infrastructure taxes/bonds. And the San Jose City Council is supporting this proposed raid on local taxpayers' wallets. Opp Now exclusively gets the perspective of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association about how a counter initiative—the Taxpayer Protection and Gov't Accountability Act (TPA)—would defend Prop 13 from gov't attack and protect residents' hard-won earnings from government plunder. Needless to say, SJ City Council voted to oppose the TPA.

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If the City is to bother holding housing panels, it should invite a diversity of opinions. So says Market Urbanist's Scott Beyer, as he surveys the invitee list at SJ HD's recent Housing Study Session—and finds a hopelessly one-sided grouping of Big Gov't, anti-market voices. Beyer offers an alternative in this Opp Now exclusive.

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Transit commentators analyze BART's initiative, rolled out this Monday, to run frequenter—but shorter—evening trains. Biggest potential hurdles to cost-effectiveness? Extra costs of hiring more drivers, and lack of transparency with the public—though the plan appears a step in the right direction. An Opp Now exclusive featuring Marc Joffe (Cato Institute policy/transit researcher) and Rich Crowley (previously on a Bay Area transportation work group).

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Isai Lopez, the Silicon Valley Young Republicans' president in 2022, shares key challenges youth-serving orgs face in the heart of the Tech Capital. Part of an Opp Now exclusive series on engaging conservative youth—in a poignantly progressive pocket of the U.S.

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Local Libertarian John Inks—formerly Mountain View mayor and two-term councilmember—breaks down San Jose's brash support of ACA 1. Inks predicts a wave of costly housing-related taxes moving forward, and wonders why SJ gov't isn't stepping up better to protect residents' voices. An Opp Now exclusive.

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CA'ns will vote next year whether to pass the Justice for Renters Act, which would reallow rent control ordinances statewide (they've done so well in SJ, right?). Here, Daniel Yukelson—executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA)—pinpoints why “stabilizing” landlords' rents would drive up housing scarcity, making home offerings lower quality and rent much costlier for already-struggling tenants. An Opp Now exclusive.

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Doubling down on a failed housing strategy. Higher rents. Higher cost of living. These are the results county GOP chief Shane Patrick Connolly sees emanating from SJ City Council's and state legislators' moves to subvert the popular tax safeguards in Prop 13. An Opp Now exclusive.

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Community political watcher Tobin Gilman recently broke the story of how SJ's City Council has overwhelmingly approved recommendations about State legislation that would, in Gilman's terms, constitute a "Stealth Tax Hike Agenda" for San Joseans. Pat Waite, head of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, comments and finds the council's decision-making misguided and counterproductive—and the latest in a history of efforts to circumvent Prop 13. An Opp Now exclusive.

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California ACA 1, given an official thumbs-up by some city councils like San Jose's, would make it easier to advance bonds and special taxes for affordable housing projects by changing the required two-thirds supermajority to a 55% majority. Here, Mark Hinkle—local Libertarian officeholder and SVTA's president—argues that ACA 1 doesn't represent what SJ voters want, given overwhelming Prop 13 support, and would diminish living standards. An Opp Now exclusive.

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It's no secret: California High-Speed Rail's expenses balloon, but its completion date keeps getting kicked down the road. Is it time the U.S. gov't throws in their hunk of cash? Opp Now asked registered Libertarian presidential candidates Joshua Smith, Mike ter Maat, Jacob Hornberger, Hugo Valdez-Garcia, and Beau Lindsey for their exclusive takes on a federal HSR bailout.

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A group of Silicon Valley plutocrats has announced their plan to construct a city from scratch in the Montezuma Hills, northeast of San Francisco by an hour. Meanwhile, public policy professor Joel Fox speculates that the threat of a modern Elysium might prompt breakthrough solutions for SF's crime, homelessness, and business closures. An Opp Now exclusive.

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Overly broad, antiquated fire egress regulations drive up home costs in San Jose. Meanwhile, many European countries don't even bother with multiple staircase requirements, given modern-day fire risk mitigation strategies. It’s time for reform, says Market Urbanist's Scott Beyer. An Opp Now exclusive.

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