☆ Experts say: Overhauling zoning laws key to tackling City’s woes

Transit commentator Randal O’Toole and SV Taxpayers Association president Mark Hinkle analyze SJ’s March Budget Message in an exclusive Opp Now breakdown. The experts suggest that by abolishing SJ’s urban-growth boundary and taking another look at zoning legislation, the City can solve issues of homelessness, job shortages, and affordable housing.

Randal O’Toole, Thoreau Institute senior fellow: The mayor’s budget message complains about homelessness, lack of jobs in the city, and the difficulty in attracting talented city staff. These problems could be solved with one simple policy: abolishing the city’s urban-growth boundary and allowing builders to build new housing, commercial, and retail centers with minimal delay. This would make room for more jobs, make housing more affordable, and overall make the region more attractive to both employers and employees.

Mark Hinkle, Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association president: Upon reading the March Budget Message, I'm getting a “woe is me” message that San Jose is so underfunded. Perhaps if they hadn’t given away the bank to the public employees union, things might have been different. 

They say only 15% of the city is dedicated to business... as a result of zoning they control. Which is also the underlying cause of the homeless crisis: lack of affordable housing.

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