The more Sacramento forces rigid zoning requirements onto local communities, the less likely CA cities will be to help subsidize housing. In this Opp Now exclusive, former Los Altos Mayor Anita Enander also questions the need for state and regional control of housing solutions. After all, she says, several Bay Area cities have successfully raised money for affordable housing, a sign that local control is key to progress.
Read MoreThe Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's Greg Lukianoff and Sean Stevens explain that 2023 was the worst year on record for colleges' deplatforming of speakers, and 2024 might just beat it (see: antisemitic mobs terrorizing SJSU and UC Berkeley). Putting an end to this ever-perpetuating cycle will require universities to dole out real punishments for offenders, says FIRE, not wrist slaps or cover-ups.
Read MoreMost locals nowadays wave away race- and religion-based property covenants (agreements not to sell property to racial and ethnic minorities) as a remnant of a long-ago Santa Clara County. But the truth is less sanguine: In November 1964, Californians passed Proposition 14, which allowed property sellers to openly discriminate on racial grounds. Opp Now looks back on this chilling reminder, via Wikipedia.
Read MoreIn a letter to the SF Examiner, SJ Mayor Matt Mahan rewinds the clock on Proposition 47 and explains just how we got here today. Since it passed in 2014, Prop 47 has downgraded the penalties for many theft/drug crimes, and made it difficult to mandate treatment for repeat offenders. The consequences for cities like San Jose—detailed below—have been widespread and detrimental.
Read MoreWhat with all the (legit, we often think) concerns about tech ruining our sense of self, our social lives, and our politics, it's useful to remember that there was a time, not so long ago, when utopian hippies saw personal computers as a way to save the planet and the species. Poet Richard Brautigan, from 1967.
Read MoreLocal pols are trying to put some lipstick on it, with photo ops and happy signs. But if you read local media closely, you'll realize that the deeply troubled BART-to-SJ line extension remains not fully funded—mostly because the Biden administration didn't give BART and VTA as much funding as requested. Marc Joffe of the Cato Institute explains in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreLA Mayor Karen Bass has rebuked the Supreme Court and Gov Newsom and committed LA to continuing its zealous embrace of the misguided Housing First ideology. Yuval Kremer in the excellent CityWatchLA finds Bass' strategy wrong-headed and likely to increase homeless suffering in the City of Angels.
Read MoreSF says there's been a dramatic increase in migrant families arriving in The City since last year, and it doesn't have the resources to house and support them adequately. SF Standard investigates.
Read MorePrivate property rights, according to economist Ludwig von Mises, are crucial to economic prosperity. Without them, it becomes impossible to set up a system of free markets that allows for rational economic calculation. Despite this, property rights are under attack in Silicon Valley and California by progressives seeking to build a more “just” society through equity. The Mises Institute explains.
Read MoreAccording to Irene Smith of SJ's Independent Leadership Group, the City of San Diego has moved more quickly and effectively than other CA cities in addressing homelessness--most notably by implementing a citywide No Camping ordinance in 2023--even before the SCOTUS Grants Pass decision. While the City of San Jose recently began studying SD's safe sleeping sites program and is considering implementing something similar sometime in the future, Smith says SD is pioneering effective and compassionate homelessness programs.
Read MoreTaking advantage of the legal flexibility provided by SCOTUS' Grants Pass decision and in alignment with Gov. Newsom's requests, Fresno County has taken a more aggressive approach to ameliorating inhumane and unsafe homeless encampments on public land. The excellent Fresno Bee explains.
Read MoreOn the heels of their ill-advised unanimous endorsement of RM4 (which turned out to be shot-full of inaccurate math and misinformation), next week the SJ City Council is considering taking positions on a number of state ballot initiatives. Critics say those initiatives should be directly decided by The People themselves. Critics' letter to Council below.
Read More
