For this installment, Opp Now visited the office hours of three econ professor–researchers (San Jose State dept chair Matthew Holian and prof Tom Means, and Stanford prof Alvin Roth) with one big question: What books could yield the most acumen for folks digging into economics, whether as novices or savants or somewhere in between? An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreRecent media coverage of BART to SJ's wild cost overruns--and opposition from leading pols--has BART advocates scrambling for a convenient excuse. Here's what BART fans have come up with: the problem, they say, is that we're just not building it fast enough. Brian Holtz, an officer of the SCC Libertarian Party, takes a critical look at VTA's business logic, and finds their "build-now" thesis spurious. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreIt's 2024: you're back in Econ 101, but this time, you're much more invested in both the “Required Texts” and “Additional Reading” lists. Below, economics professors at San Jose State, Foothill College, UC Berkeley, and Santa Clara University share their go-to texts that are informative, approachable, and, yep, just plain fun (did you know game theory intimately affects local politics?). An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreWater District bonds flood the ballot. BART's budget bloats. Local leaders cry out for more taxes, lavisher utilities, gaudier union wages. David Eisbach (San Jose real estate broker since 1975) surveys the damage from systemic and out-of-control gov't spending in the Bay Area. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThere's increasing disagreement among area pols re: the controversial (and costly) BART extension to SJ and Santa Clara. Palo Alto CM (and congressional candidate) Greg Tanaka, however, suggests that effective public transit needn't be a financial mess—and that strong oversight and businesslike procurement reform can deliver 21st Century transit solutions at reasonable costs. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreLocal housing provider Roberta Moore concurs with SJ Councilmembers Batra and Doan, who criticized our countywide Plan to End Homelessness as wildly unsustainable at $1.2–1.4 million/unit, adding up to a brutal $15 bn price tag. Rather than perpetuate reckless and ineffective gov't spending, Moore argues SJ's Housing Dept and its regional partners must prioritize "meaningful results." An Opp Now exclusive.
Read More2023 was inundated with headline after headline about the latest overdose death on the BART system; countless more riders regularly abuse illicit substances on the trains, creating unhygienic and dangerous situations for others. In this Opp Now exclusive, Debora Allen—BART director since 2016—analyzes the alarming overdose spike, and what it'll take to eliminate drug use on BART (hint: actually enforce laws for fare payment/code of conduct, and recruit officers like crazy).
Read MoreEverybody knows that building new housing to solve local affordability crises is brutally expensive, and requires vast, ongoing, unsustainable subsidies. Former D10 Councilmember Johnny Khamis posits that taxpayer money would go a lot further—and our homeless and needy neighbors would get housing relief a lot faster—if the City simply purchased existing properties on the open market. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreUntil recently, it appeared virtually certain that VTA staff would control the information flow and scope of the six-mile BART extension through SJ to Santa Clara. But recent stories in the Merc and the tone of a January 19 oversight committee meeting suggest that alternative outcomes are now possible: the project will certainly receive more external scrutiny, which could yield a much-needed downsizing of the $12.2 bn (!) extension. Cato Institute's Marc Joffe explains in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreHalf a year ago, Dr. Tabia Lee—who happens to be a Black woman—was fired from De Anza College because her approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was too “white” (read: she didn't reduce students to their check box identities). In an exclusive chat with Opp Now, Lee analyzes DEI's impact on local institutions, her preference for the classical (not critical) DEI approach, and why she sustains hope for colleges' DEI programs.
Read MorePalo Alto Councilmember and Congressional candidate Greg Tanaka reflects on the recent incident of antisemitic targeting of Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen. The act, symbolizing a disturbing rise in local and national hate-driven politics, finds a unique adversary in Tanaka, whose personal family history lends special poignancy to his critique. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreBay Area Jewish leaders have roundly condemned the recent rally poster that targeted County DA Jeff Rosen with antisemitic tropes and imagery, but South Bay media largely has yet to acknowledge the incident. Alan Perlman, PhD, a forensic linguist based in New Hampshire, unpacks it all in an exclusive email conversation with Opp Now's co-founder Christopher Escher, and suggests that the imbroglio discloses how the world's oldest hatred is alive and well in Silicon Valley.
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