California Policy Center's Education Policy VP Lance Christensen breaks down questions to ask re: SJ Unified's $1.15 bn “facility repairs” bond measure: Where's our money going, exactly? What should be prioritized? And (as many Opp Now readers echo) can we trust SJUSD's fiscal discipline? An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreSince SF's Mayor London Breed launched a plan in August to bus more homeless people out of San Francisco, many unhoused are taking cross-country overnights to states as far away as Texas and Florida. SF Standard, as always, is on the story.
Read MoreAs Californians consider hundreds of local ballot measures, they hear (and mostly believe) an underlying narrative: elected officials and staff are doing their best to provide essential services with insufficient resources. It is this narrative that not only entreats for "yes" votes on local taxes and bonds, but also for state Proposition 5, which will make it much easier for cities and counties to borrow. But is this narrative true? An Opp Now exclusive from Cato Institute's Marc Joffe.
Read MoreBlimey. After many years of avoiding political endorsements, the ostensibly pro-business San Jose Chamber of Commerce earlier this month came out in favor of (no typo) the Make It Easier To Raise Taxes Proposition 5. In this, they are aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, California chapter (CA DSA), which also supports Prop. 5. The CA DSA's Prop 5 and 33 endorsement argument, below.
Read MoreRecently, SJ's Planning Commission stood firm in the face of noisy residents and approved a new Costco store at the Westgate West shopping center. Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio made the case for the new store, noting that the ever-growing list of city services people vote for actually need, you know, an economic base to pay for them. The Merc reports.
Read MorePat Waite of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility says decreased population, fleeing young families, and our county’s already chart-topping tax rates make the wave of school bond propositions coming at us this November a bad idea. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreSJ City Council candidates George Casey (D10) and Joe Lopez (D2) are saying No to Prop 5, the tax-raising ballot initiative. In this, they are aligned with the City of Gilroy, its Mayor Marie Blankley, San Jose CMs Batra and Doan, as well as the SJ Mercury News and the SF Chronicle in opposing the proposition. Business leader Johnny Khamis also explains why he's a "no on 5" in a KQED interview, below (edited for clarity).
Read More{Update: Omar Torres has resigned from his SJ D3 CM seat over legal and ethical charges and widespread public repudiation.} Alert Opp Now readers email us to note that Torres' political star once rode high, elevated by enthusiastic support from the local progressive/labor community, according to Torres campaign literature. Endorser list below from 2022 Torres for Council mailer.
Read MoreOpp Now has likened city gov't mission creep to '50s movie "The Blob," as jurisdictions like SJ expand programs and positions that drain the budget while pushing out more essential services. City Journal's N. S. Lyons agrees with this assessment; in his article below, he defines and discusses political “managerialism"—and its devastating cultural consequences.
Read MoreProposition 5 will blow a massive hole in Prop 13 and Prop 218 protections, said Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers' Mimi Willard to North Bay residents this summer. She warned that cutting voters’ threshold from two-thirds to 55% to pass housing and infrastructure bonds would trigger a tidal wave of tax hikes, with nothing to stop them except, perhaps, voter fatigue. Prop 5 could also let Fairfax property owners get slammed with a 30-year road bond. Will Sherman reports in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe Heritage Foundation drops us into the '50s, when Milton Friedman first advocated for free market education. Later, U.S. states began adopting vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, and ESAs. While CA could diversify its schooling choices, many students today are still benefiting from expanded opportunities—like the option to opt out of SJUSD, recently slammed by the Civil Grand Jury for "many failures."
Read MoreAs San Joseans wonder if they'll get slapped with new “infrastructure” taxes under Prop 5, Econlib's Richard Gunderman reminds—in an elegant deep-dive of Tolstoy's famous novel—that for all free marketism's strengths, economics ultimately can't account for the happiness of mankind. Gunderman's thoughts on this elusive, incalculable, wonderful pursuit we call “joy,” below.
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