Marc Ang, former Director of Outreach at Californians for Equal Rights (CFER), was a local leader in the “No on 16” fight against affirmative action in 2020. Here, Ang celebrates and unpacks the SCOTUS' landmark decision that bans discriminatory race-based college admissions, and why he believes it's a “win” for all CA'ns who oppose racism. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MorePat Waite, president of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility (CFR) in San Jose, unravels a Biz2Credit report that drops the City from #1 best city for small businesses in 2022 to #7 in 2023. He attributes our dismal new ranking to a business-unfriendly regulatory climate. But what's more boggling: San Francisco has made its way to the nation's top spot—and Waite isn't quite buying it. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreDistricts around the Bay continue mixing instruction with ideological agendas, while ignoring basic performance failures and budgetary follies. Atascadero USD board member Rebekah Koznek exhorts CA'n school districts to refocus on teaching students valuable skills and spend funds more moderately. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreAtascadero Unified School District board member Rebekah Koznek campaigned on several key priorities, including trade school opportunities for students. This rings true for San Joseans, given that the City's primary tech ed school, Silicon Valley CTE, is seeing recently increased enrollment via added programs (whereas Covid-era stats were less encouraging). Koznek argues in this Opp Now exclusive that the Silicon Valley should better promote trade schools to HS students.
Read MoreSan Jose's nonprofit affordable housing complex took a body blow earlier this month, as its widely discredited Housing First strategy was—for the first time—examined fully in a frisky citywide public debate. And the end result was a compromise weakening nonprofits' unquestioned control over Measure E spending. Planning Commission Chair Pierluigi Oliverio and Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility chief Pat Waite parse the politics of it all and the way forward for our homeless neighbors and advocates of smart housing policies. First in an Opp Now exclusive series.
Read MoreIf State legislature is good at one thing, it's enshrining new liberties into our constitution that residents find puzzling, polarizing, and even downright paradoxical. Their latest proposed addition (ACA 10) establishes a "fundamental human right" to housing. Opp Now sat down with a local real estate expert, housing provider, researcher, and urban policy analyst to parse ACA 10 for the Bay Area's housing market. A variety of exclusive perspectives below.
Read MoreContinuing an exclusive Opp Now series, constitutional law expert Dr. Margaret Russell parses CA'n Education Code provisions to answer a hot question about opt-out programs: Can parents opt their kids out of content they're morally opposed to, such as controversial sexuality-based lessons? Unlike CRI's Karen England, Russell concludes (below) that students can legally withdraw from “instruction in human development and sexuality” but not community-specific teachings.
Read MoreIt's no secret that SF's once-booming hotel market faces a downhill plunge post Covid. Owners struggle to fill rooms amid rampant crime and filthy streets. But is San Jose's tourism industry headed for the same “gloomy” fate as SF? The San Francisco Business Times' hospitality reporter Alex Barreira shares, in this Opp Now exclusive, why less supply constraints and better street conditions could spell victory for SJ's local hotel market.
Read MoreLocal progressive nonprofits added a new item to their ever-lengthening resume of ridiculous protest stunts on June 7, when for almost an hour they occupied the offices of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors (R) (SCCAOR) and threatened staff. Trespass and assault charges are being considered. SCCAOR's sin? Actually supporting an initiative—not approved by local housing nonprofits—that would provide quick, high-quality housing for our homeless neighbors. Opp Now co-founder Christopher Escher sits down with SCCOAR's Gov't Affairs chief Gina Zari about why the protest stunt backfired and why she's unmoved by efforts to silence her team. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreRecently disciplined Dr. Luis Reynoso, of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College board, compares his censureship to ongoing free speech colloquies around Stanford Law and the Los Gatos Town Council. Reynoso's takeaway? While liberal folks get the “free speech” defense, conservatives' talk is too-often penalized as offensive. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreChabot-Las Positas Community College board member Dr. Luis Reynoso recently came under fire for reposting an allegedly offensive meme on LinkedIn. After being investigated and censured in what he calls an unprofessional “witch hunt,” Reynoso speaks exclusively with Opp Now about the precarious state of protected free speech—and his vision for reforming college education.
Read MoreSan Jose’s Director of Housing will retire this July, with the City still in crisis mode regarding affordability and homelessness. According to Scott Beyer, head of the Market Urbanism Report, the City should look for a replacement with a dramatically different approach—one that rejects a hyper-regulated land-use and rental management regime, and embraces instead a deregulatory approach. Simply put: How about working with—not against—the market? An Opp Now exclusive.
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