In a clear defeat for tax-happy city councils like San Jose's, and the local Housing Industrial complex, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority bowed to the inevitable and yanked its deeply flawed housing bond from the ballot. Press release from leading, multi-party opposition group, www.20bilionsreaons.com, below.
Read MoreObvious and pronounced tax-fatigue among Bay Area residents (who are some of the highest-taxed people in the country) is at the core of BAHFA's decision to pull RM4, notes Ben Christopher at Calmatters. Which makes one wonder what kind of bubble BAHFA's board was living in such that they couldn't see citizens' financial pain until the election was nigh.
Read MoreDuring the SJ City Council's debate about taking positions on ballot measures, D10 DM Batra warned the Council they were moving too fast and deciding without adequate input. The recent admissions by BAHFA that the RM4 ballot language (which the City Council endorsed) was inaccurate confirmed Batra's concerns. His original comments from the 6.04 council meeting, below.
Read MoreAt the 6.04 SJ City Council meeting, CM Doan probed city staff about the many unanswered questions regarding the mammoth RM4 regional housing bond (which the Council endorsed). Last week, a discredited BAHFA acknowledged that their ballot language had a whopping mistake in it--lowballing annual costs to taxpayers by more than a eye-popping $240 million per year. Transcript from the 6.04 Council meeting (edited for clarity) below.
Read MoreAs an antidote to biased local South Bay media, the San Mateo Daily Journal offers thoughtful, balanced reporting of RM4's ballot language errors and why families making more than $200k per year might receive subsidies.
Read MoreAt at an encampment photo-op in LA, Gov. Newsom issued a sharp funding threat to cities too slow, or unwilling to get more aggressive about remediating dangerous homeless public camping. Newsom said he would start taking funds away from cities and counties which are not doing enough. Tran Nguyen at LA Daily News reports.
Read MoreThe irony was delicious: BAHFA last week was compelled to admit it had been peddling prejudicial and inaccurate information in its RM4 ballot language. So the Merc played defense for BAHFA by employing—you guessed it—a bushel of bias of its own in its coverage of the walkback. An Opp Now exclusive media analysis by FOON (Friend of Opp Now) Susie Murillo.
Read MoreFormer SJ CM and fiscal responsibility leader Johnny Khamis spoke with local TV regarding the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) admission that it wildly lowballed (by more than $240 million) annual costs to taxpayers in the mammoth, misguided regional housing bond.
Read MoreThe on-the-ball SF Standard digs into the numbers about where all the homeless people SF is bussing outa town end up. And--no surprise--the most popular destinations are California cities.
Read MoreTalk about misinformation. The discredited Bay Area Housing Finance Authority yesterday admitted that they'd misrepresented in ballot language the annual cost to taxpayers of the mammoth bond by (hold on) more than $240 million (you read that right) per year. A press release from the opposition group explains how the fiasco went down, and what other false claims are being investigated.
Read MorePolling finds insufficient support for new park taxes, and city officials say citizens are increasingly fed up with constant increases to local cost of living. The Merc's report surveys the situation, and is excerpted below.
Read MoreIt sure looks like California is splitting into two groups. One, cities and counties taking heed of Gov. Newsom's call to ameliorate the unsafe conditions in homeless encampments, as enabled by the recent SCOTUS decision. And two, those who remain stuck in the pre-Grants Pass world. Fresno Bee continues its superior reporting and suggests that Fresno County has opted for #1.
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