The CA state audit that blistered San Jose and statewide homelessness programs for ineffectiveness called forth a prickly, self-justifying, and lengthy response from SJ City Manager Jennifer Maguire. Scott Beyer of the Market Urbanism Report gives Maguire's 15-pager a close read, and finds that it's evasive and doesn't face up to the legit financial and strategic failures the audit so clearly revealed. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreHold onto your (wet) wallets. Opp Now contributor and local City Planning graduate student Susie Murillo takes a look at upcoming plans for the county water district to jack up rates, yet again, with little accountability and dubious reasoning. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreFormer SJ CM and current Planning Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio takes a look back at how SJ's and the state's homelessness efforts went sideways. Spoiler alert: good intentions can go astray. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreSan Jose city government is once again taking big-time heat for its homeless spending--this time in the form of a devastating CA state audit that finds the city's programs are ineffective and unaccountable. Scott Beyer of the Market Urbanism Report provides a sorely-needed pathway for a return to fiscal and management sanity. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe California State Auditor has delivered a deeply critical report on San Jose's Housing Department (HD), finding that the HD "failed to adequately track $300 million in homelessness spending" (Merc headline). But did the failures of San Jose's housing department start in 2020 or did they begin much earlier? We exclusively interview former San Jose council member and financial watchdog Johnny Khamis about his experiences with overt San Jose Housing Dept mismanagement during his years in office (2013 to 2020).
Read MoreWhile the CA16 voting drama plays out, local political watchers opine that perhaps California's voting protocols could use some updating. Lance Christensen VP of Education Policy and Gov't Affairs at California Policy Center and Brian Hoeltz of the Santa Clara County Libertarian Party, below. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreAmid all the drama surrounding the second place tie in the CA16 primary congressional race--and political shenanigans informing calls for a recount--an important principle is being sidelined: what matters most is the accuracy of the vote--not achieving a preferred result. The Opp Now team analyzes, in an exclusive.
Read MoreMatt Mahan defeated Labor-backed Cindy Chavez in the SJ 2022 mayoral race--even though he was outspent substantially. And in this year's primary election, Labor didn't even mount a challenge to Mahan, who waltzed to an 86% victory.In this Opp Now exclusive, we asked local political watchers from across the political spectrum* why South Bay Labor has trouble competing in the bigger, most important South Bay races. Their answers (edited/consolidated below) suggest the following conclusion: Labor's sharp turn to the left collides with the Valley's more moderate political demographics, and that severely limits Labor's political footprint.
Read MoreBay Area-raised Anne Gray volunteers with For Californians, focused on restoring Prop 58 parent/child transfer rights that were lost when Proposition 19 passed in 2020. In this Opp Now exclusive, Gray walks us through her Top Five observations about Prop 19: how it works, who's impacted, and where she thinks we're headed.
Read MoreThe Metropolitan Planning Commission's proposed bond, which would dump $10–20 bn across the state for nebulous “affordable housing” purposes, has been criticized by finance and policy professionals for being vague and misguided. Silicon Valley Business Journal recently published effusive laudation of the bond, dubbing it a “vital lifeline”—but gov't finance consultant Tom Rubin begs to differ. His Opp Now exclusive breakdown below.
Read MoreIn light of Monday's antisemitic incident at San Jose State—and SJSU's official acknowledgment on 2.20—Opp Now called up three locals well-versed in issues of free speech and ideological discrimination in higher ed. Insightful comments below from Jay Sures (lone regent voice opposing UC faculty council's pro-Hamas letter), Elizabeth Weiss (whom SJSU tried silencing for her bone reburial views), and Tim Rosenberger, Jr. (then-president of a Stanford student group whose speaker was heckled by students/a dean). Also, Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Bay Area weighs in. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreIt is very likely that CA voters will have the choice of repealing the Costa-Hawkins Act (which exempted certain properties from rent control) this November. Local housing provider Dean Hotop takes the 30,000-foot view, and teases out the core legal and civic issues at play. An Opp Now exclusive.
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