☆ Khamis: Why won’t cities solve housing crises by buying on the cheap (instead of building extravagantly)?

Three-story brick apartment building with external metallic staircases, under overcast skies.

Image by Randy von Liski Everybody knows that building new housing to solve local affordability crises is brutally expensive, and requires vast, ongoing, unsustainable subsidies. Former D10 Councilmember Johnny Khamis posits that taxpayer money would go a lot further—and our homeless and needy neighbors would get housing relief a lot faster—if the City simply purchased…

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GOP Lawmakers in Sacramento Split Over MediCal for Undocumented Farm Workers

Three farm workers harvest crops in a field with bulldozers in the background.

By Ana B. Ibarra / January 24, 2024 (San Jose Inside) Photo by Shutterstock Two California lawmakers publicly blew up at each other earlier this month, hitting a nerve on an issue that has long-divided the state’s elected leaders: Whether and how much to offer government-subsidized health benefits to undocumented residents. In one corner, Corona Assemblymember Bill Essayli declared that…

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Why hasn’t recent rain helped Lake Mead much?

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Southern Nevada has been in the path of repeated rain systems for the last week. But has the recent rain affected Lake Mead’s water levels? The good news is that it has helped, but only a little. According to Bureau of Reclamation Public Affairs Specialist Doug Hendrix, as of Wednesday, Jan.…

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CSU Strike Ends After One Day, Classes Resume Tuesday

By Barry Holtzclaw (San Jose Inside) / January 23, 2024 After just one day of a planned week-long strike, negotiators for the California Faculty Association and California State University management announced Monday night they had reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, ending the first systemwide faculty strike at the largest four-year public university in the…

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SJ Biz leaders find wage theft amendment excessive, counterproductive, urge its rejection

A group of construction cranes in front of a skyscraper.

Image by Wikimedia Commons At the end of last year, City Council directed Staff to consider further regulating development in the City by requiring building officials to withhold a certificate of occupancy from private owners when any contractor, subcontractor, or supplier is subject to an unpaid final wage theft judgment. The following Open Letter from local…

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State, Lenders Seek to Recover $170 Million from Homekey Housing Developers

Exterior view of pacific motor service, a two-story building with a gray facade and central entrance, located by a street with visible parking in the background.

By Dan Pulcrano @pulcrano / January 19, 2024 (San Jose Inside) Pacific Motor Inn, site of new permanent housing for formerly homeless people, in SoFa district of San Jose. File Photo During the pandemic’s early days, as tents, tarps and cardboard shelters overwhelmed creek beds, freeway embankments and sidewalks, converting empty motels into housing for the homeless seemed…

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Newsom Sides with Parents Against Ban on Youth Tackle Football

A white football helmet and a brown football on grass with a blurred background during daylight.

By Ryan Sabalow / January 18, 2024 (San Jose Inside) Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said this week that he would veto any bill with an outright ban on youth tackle football. “My administration will work with the legislature and the bill’s author to strengthen safety in youth football — while ensuring parents have the freedom to decide…

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