Archive for April 2025

San Jose Mayor Mahan wants to tie merit pay raises for city leadership to outcomes across four key areas. In an Opp Now exclusive Q&A, San Jose native and licensed local real estate agent Mark Burns suggests adding “find and eliminate unnecessary expenses” to the list. Opportunity Now: Do you support Mayor Mahan’s proposal to…

Image by Kevin Wong Countering mounting evidence that nonprofits are grifting the City by the Bay, new mayor Lurie outlines plans to demand that nonprofits receiving taxpayer largesse actually deliver. The Chron reports. At the same time, Lurie wants to revisit San Francisco harm-reduction policies with an eye toward preventing city-funded nonprofits from distributing fentanyl smoking…

Image by USICH SVGOP chair David G. Johnson breaks down, point by point, the exorbitant failure that’s been San Jose’s Housing First method against homelessness. And why he’s glad Council is pivoting to more affordable (and effective) interim options. An Opp Now exclusive. David G. Johnson, Silicon Valley GOP chair: 1. The City of San…

Image by Pacific Bus Museum During the recent transit worker strike, VTA responded by offering Uber vouchers to riders. Made many on social media wonder: why don’t they do this regularly? Truth is, they did, quite successfully, back in the 1970s. Randall O’Toole remembers, in this Opp Now exclusive. To its credit, VTA’s predecessor agency, the…

Mayor Daniel Lurie. Image by Wikimedia Commons Instead of quibbling at Council about small-ball homelessness remediations, our neighbor to the north—led by their no-nonsense new mayor—advocates for large-scale, immediate solutions to homelessness. The Chron reports. Mayor Daniel Lurie is launching a one-year effort to reform San Francisco’s homelessness, drug addiction and mental health services as he…