Several years ago, CA Globe editor-in-chief Katy Grimes spoke at the Silicon Valley Association of Republican Women (SVARW) about traditional vs. modern forest management—and how radical environmentalism has spelled disaster for California's forests by leaving them overgrown, underutilized, and vulnerable to wildfires. Her poignant (and prescient) comments below.
Read MoreAn emergency is a one-time, unexpected event—not what our Bay Area transit agencies have experienced, yet they “qualified” for a $774MM funding package to fix budget shortfalls. Let's put it this way: imagine you stop paying your mortgage, spend your income lavishly—but expect the gov’t to foot the bill. An Opp Now exclusive, below, from local political commentator Denise Kalm.
Read MoreLong after SF lifted its COVID controls, Union Square Hilton and Parc 55 are still bedridden. Westfield has all but given up the ghost. Marc Joffe explores for NR how parasitic financial instruments—variants of those that triggered the Great Recession—have immunocompromised the city center while crime creeps in.
Read MoreContra Costa Taxpayers Ass'n invites folks to hear from Lisa Strange (CA Insurance Dept's Northern CA Outreach Manager) at a special members' meeting next Friday. CoCoTax's announcement, with more info, reads below.
Read MoreNew research reveals that homelessness across the U.S. is up more than 10%, despite billions (mis)spent on addressing the crisis. Robert Marbut, former U.S. homelessness czar, says that the country's Housing First policies—which effectively redirected monies away from treatment and towards expensive new housing—has exacerbated unprecedented levels of human suffering. In the Dallas Morning News.
Read MoreProp 5 (to lower CA's bond approval reqt from 66.6% to 55.%) may have been supported by local councilmembers, our governor, and even SJ's Chamber of Commerce—but not voters. In November 2024, over 55% of CA'ns rejected Prop 5. What happened? In this exclusive, we walk back Opp Now's Prop 5 coverage (incl. when it was ACA 1), starting in September 2023 up until Election Day '24.
Read MoreLike no citizen input. Hardly any council review. And a shady approval process. Tobin Gilman, retired tech executive, local historian, and community leader chimes in.
Read MoreIn October, California Policy Center announced its Local Fiscal Health Dashboard, which grades school districts/cities/counties on key financial metrics. But San Jose and Santa Clara County might need to redo some homework assignments (with overall fiscal health scores of 57/100 and 59/100)—especially when it comes to unfunded pension debt, general fund reserves, and liquidity. CPC's Sheridan Karras interprets the data for us in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreParting is such sweet sorrow—emphasis on the “sweet” for AC Transit general manager, who is only kind of retiring. His new gig won’t come with any work expectations; but as late as 2022, records show, he was already pulling down $556,045. Did he threaten a lawsuit or something? Not even. The Oaklandside’s Jose Fermoso reports.
Read MoreThe Silicon Valley Business Alliance, a new business advocacy organization aiming to decrease cost of living and cost of doing business in the area, is asking the city to get behind reforms to CEQA and to back off on lobbying efforts to dismantle Proposition 13's taxpayer protections. Below, comments from SVBA head Johnny Khamis in public comments to council.
Read MoreCalifornia’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.
Read MoreOpp 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.
Read More
