Sunnyvale residents can now literally get on board with one of the newest public transportation trends: hailing a ride with a local microtransit service. City officials on Tuesday officially launched Sunnyvale Beam with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at City Hall, two weeks after the service quietly started operating. Through the Beam app or with a phone call,…

April 1, 2025 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…

Steve Hilton

Many of the Bay Area’s biggest transit agencies are in dire financial need. With federal COVID-19 relief funding exhausted and emergency state support running low, agencies such as BART, Muni, Caltrain, and AC Transit are projecting cumulative annual deficits of nearly $1 billion and devastating service cuts starting in early 2027. That’s unless voters approve…

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Special Reports December 10, 2022 The recent City Hall brouhaha over special elections v appointments for open council seats put a spotlight, for many, on the City’s flawed system of citizen feedback. Why come out and speak at Council meetings if you’re not heard, and if the end result is that you don’t even get to…

Steve Hilton for Governor BREAKING POLL I just got the new numbers, and I honestly couldn’t wait to share them with you. Something extraordinary is happening in California.

Tuesday’s vote would set the framework, with final zoning changes expected in late 2027 AFacing intense pressure to meet state housing goals, San Jose is considering a major overhaul of its land use laws that would allow more apartments, townhouses or duplexes in single-family neighborhoods, streamline development along transit routes, and permit housing on school…

Liccardo expresses worries about nonprofits’ lack of accountability October 21, 2022 In an email thread recently released by the City of San Jose as part of an action by SJ Spotlight, Mayor Liccardo echoes a concern voiced here on Opp Now: how local nonprofits may be gaming the City’s lax management systems, and underperforming due…

April 22, 2024 Image by Public Domain Vectors Concerns about non profit accountability in SJ have a long history of being ignored. Irene Smith of the Independent Leadership Group and United Housing Alliance suggests that the blistering State Audit report on SJ’s out-of-control homelessness expenditures means it’s finally time to get serious about managing non…

☆ Reimagining public listening Special Reports December 10, 2022 The recent City Hall brouhaha over special elections v appointments for open council seats put a spotlight, for many, on the City’s flawed system of citizen feedback. Why come out and speak at Council meetings if you’re not heard, and if the end result is that you…

Candidate Pefley: What dies SJ City Council have up their sleeves?“The San Jose City Council voted today to oppose several statewide propositions and honestly, why are they sticking their fingers on the scale of issues that have nothing to do with city governance? Their opposition to Prop 43, which would require two‑thirds voter approval for any…