Homelessness hits record highs nationally, but feds refuse to acknowledge the role of mental health and addiction issues in the crisis, leading to counterproductive Housing First strategies. WSJ editorial.
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For 25 years, Dr. Shawn Spano (of Public Dialogue Consortium) has facilitated community engagement meetings and consulted for local city gov'ts. In this exclusive interview for Opp Now, he walks us through planning an input meeting (via the community participation continuum), creatively outreaching to underrepresented communities, and facilitating honest feedback (a.k.a., CMs should sit this one out).
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Portland, OR explores how a mix of larger-scale shelters and alternative shelters can work together to address the inhumanity of street homelessness for cities like SJ. Excerpt from Street Roots, Portland's excellent weekly street newspaper.
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Local political watchers have been surprised by the surge in the cost of political campaigns in the Bay Area, in which millions of dollars are raised (and spent) even for small, district-wide races. Concerned that these large numbers end up privileging special interests and candidates with deep pocket donors, many are looking to public financing of campaigns to provide more balance and representation. Aaron McKean writes for the Campaign Legal Center.
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SF finds a novel way to make housing supply meet demand: make it impossible for lots of people to live there. David Garcia and Michael Lane report in the SF Chronicle.
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Two local leaders (from SJ/SF) for smarter, data-supported homelessness solutions discuss the importance of CARE Court and Permanent Supportive Housing's behavioral codes in this final Opp Now exclusive installment.
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Trump told reporters Tuesday that his administration will investigate the long-delayed California High-Speed Rail project, which was authorized by voters in the state in 2008. Since then, costs have exploded and delays multiplied. His harsh comments put the future of the much-maligned project in even greater jeopardy. From Epoch Times.
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Peggy Noonan at the WSJ analyzes today's culture of lightning-fast news and social media sound bytes—and why good literature, even (and especially) in the 21st century, makes us more perceptive. So we wonder if SJ's homelessness funds might be better allocated if pols, you know, paged through some Dostoyevsky.
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It's not just a matter of missing some data. Or chasing money. James C. Scott writes in Seeing Like a State that rulers excel at naming, organizing, and coercing problems into a mold that gov't programs can address. But—like nature itself—many local issues, including homelessness, resist bureaucratic categorization; and require more nuanced, on-the-ground solutions than "veni, vidi, vici."
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Recovery Education Coalition's Tom Wolf and SJ D3 Council candidate Irene Smith predict big results from Proposition 36 (reinstating felony charges for certain property crimes and sometimes mandating drug treatment)—if, you know, our DAs decide to enforce it. More below, in part 3 of an Opp Now exclusive.
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Carl DeMaio of Reform California explains how he took on entrenched interests in San Diego to deliver common sense reform of a corrupt, imperious City Hall regime—and won. From an interview on California Insider.
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Valentine's Day, a holiday tradition tracing back to the 1300s, may equally evoke in us feelings of love and heartbreak. Along that same vein, Secret San Jose's Cassie Kifer—writing below—uncovers some fascinating SJ stories about James Lick, Sarah Lockwood Winchester, and more: about love had, and love lost.
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