In City Journal, Christopher F. Rufo exposits “The Quiet Right” as a growing movement going beyond economic policy and seeking to transform local art, education, literature—even town landscapes. And from all around Silicon Valley, you can see evidence of enthusiasm for a vibrant counterculture that’s knowledgeable, thoughtful, and optimistic about Silicon Valley (and what it could be!).
California’s Proposition 36 was officially enacted over the holiday break, following voters’ overwhelming approval of the initiative aimed at driving down serial theft and fentanyl crimes through harsher prosecution and more aggressive drug diversion policies. But are local DAs like Jeff Rosen trying to undermine The Voters' Will? Robert Salonga (with our editors' notes) reports for the Merc.
While SJ and SF brag about small percentage improvements in homeless population, the truth—according to experts—is that the data is dubious, at best. And that agencies are leaving a huge proportion of the truly unhoused uncounted. From X, Public Integrity, and StreetSense media.
“Expect a rough 2025 for BART,” said Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility prez Pat Waite this Wednesday—citing declining ridership and depleted Covid funds, but ever-ballooning costs. Below, the Mises Institute wonders if public transit could instead be governed by the “sovereignty” of free consumers' decisions (not, like BART, propped up by gov't funds regardless of performance).
SF’s lax shelter policy is turning out to be a destructive, expensive failure, says Randy Shaw, director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic in the excellent Beyond Chron.
SJ's new Housing Director Eric Soliván and a unanimous (!) SJ City Council raised eyebrows recently when they gifted a local nonprofit known for assaulting employees of local business groups with a cool $5m to help buy properties in ESJ. Soliván/Council claimed that the scheme would block new development on the property and thus ease worries about neighborhood “displacement.” Only problem? The logic is all wrong, says SF housing expert Kate Pennington, who notes that data says new development actually helps alleviate overall displacement and rent hikes in affected neighborhoods.
VTA's BART-to-SJ extension highlights the (hugely expensive) wishful thinking underlying far too much of American transit planning. The excellent Strong Towns website unpacks the false assumptions that doom big transit systems like VTA and BART.
CA’n voters made it clear to pols this past November: if you're going to spend our money, first prove you know how to do it. But gov’t doesn’t always follow the logical yellow brick road, as Opp Now contributors analyze below. In this exclusive, hear from CA taxpayer advocates Marc Joffe, Lance Christensen, and Pat Waite—on what they’re watching, expecting, and hoping for in ‘25 (from BART, new taxes, energy costs, and more).
Opp Now contributor Scott Beyer of the Market Urbanist lays out, below, why letting the private sector do its thing re: transit is—no surprise—way more effective than public transportation initiatives (looking at you, CA HSR and BART's DTSJ extension). From Catalyst.