After contractor premiums shot up, Sandy Springs, GA pulled many services inhouse to save tens of millions of dollars. But going from a mostly privatized city to more of a hybrid model didn’t come without a sacrifice, says Mayor Rusty Paul in Part 2 of an Opp Now exclusive Q&A. When it comes to procurement, City Manager Eden Freeman believes that contractors are much more efficient.
Supremely qualified Asian students still getting nixed by higher-ed admissions departments. Guess why? Orange County Register reports.
Along with most of its service delivery, Sandy Springs, GA, privatized public employee retirement benefits when it incorporated in 2005. Despite later bringing some city services—and jobs—inhouse, the defined contribution model remained in place. To this day, Sandy Springs has zero retirement liability. But are they a competitive employer? We caught up with Mayor Rusty Paul and City Manager Eden Freeman for an Opp Now exclusive Q&A.
GrowSF's most recent poll reveals some startling opinion shifts from Petrograd-by-the-Bay: residents say new Mayor Lurie's focus on local issues, not national party ideologies, is gaining in popularity—and some surprising thumbs ups for lower taxes and more shelters. Excerpted summary of poll results, below.
Back in 2020, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya took to the screens of this humble website to voice his belief that blanket COVID shutdowns were excessive, and that instead it would be wiser to focus efforts on protecting vulnerable populations. Dr. J was vilified in local and national media for such heresy. But time, of course, has proven Dr. J prescient. And now he’s the head of the National Institute of Health. Spiked reports.
Silicon Valley's ultra-industrious “hustle culture” drives much local innovation and success. But, says Culture Critic on Substack, skipping out on leisure—the intentional, restful receiving of what the world has to offer—will over time erode our art, culture, and individual flourishing.
We get funny looks sometimes for publishing exclusive poems (primarily from former Board of Equalization candidate Peter Verbica) alongside more “important” policy analyses. But, as Verbica discusses in this World Poetry Day Opp Now exclusive, “the language of the soul” has much to offer—and, indeed, borrow from—the political sphere. His interview, plus our (growing) library of Opp Now poetry, follows.
Maybe developers wouldn't be as spooked about building housing in the Golden State if our Environmental Quality Act wasn't so prone to: Labor corruption, economic inefficiency, and legal blockades. The Cato Institute examines in depth, below.
City Journal analyzes why the nation's first Educational Savings Account (ESA) policy, from the Sunset State, is leaving families increasingly dissatisfied: accessing students' funds is laborious, confusing, and often delayed. CA lawmakers, take notes.
