In 2020, concerned citizen David Yborra sent the following email (abbreviated) to two then-SCC Supervisors. He suggested SJ’s Fairgrounds property could be better utilized throughout the year if the County: used it instead of leasing costly buildings, recycled it into low-income housing, or sold it to the UC system. (And in case you’re wondering: one…

Image by Wikimedia Commons For those who do the math, “free” transit days only serve to daylight the hundreds of dollars in subsidies that backstop every public transit ride—wouldn’t the money be better spent just giving it to transit-needy in the form of vouchers? Jon Calara opines in Coloradopolitics.com. “Free” rides don’t improve ridership because…

April 8, 2025. That’s the date for the D3 councilmember special election.  It’s thrilling to be in the arena again and finding common ground with my fellow D3 residents. But I wanted to pull back before we get going, to share my perspective–as a resident, not just a candidate–about what I think makes the right…

Image by Wikimedia Commons 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. Restrictive zoning and environmental regulations reduce housing supply and drive up prices. Compare the number of new housing permits issued last year…

Dorothea Lange, photographer. Migrant Mother, 1935. The influx of migrants to states like CA played a big role in rising homelessness count nationwide, reports the LA Times. Because the local agencies taking the count across the country do not ask for immigration status, homeless numbers ballooned in a handful of states that took in tens…

Even when condemned to death, free speech bastion—and teacher—Socrates refused to relinquish his ideas. (Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787. Image by Wikimedia Commons.) After CA Community Colleges adopted a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion mandate for profs in 2023, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed suit for six faculty. As FIRE…

Image by County of Los Angeles Bay Area homeless policy advocates Irene Smith and Tom Wolf discuss why they believe CA’s extreme Housing First approach (barrier-free Permanent Supportive Housing) harms our homeless neighbors and community. What if local pols pursued “middle ground” solutions instead? Part 2 of an Opp Now exclusive. Opportunity Now: Earlier, you…

Homelessness is not receding in our district, our city, our county, or state. Many people think it’s actually getting worse.  Why? Because our current interim housing model for addressing homelessness is, in many ways, just a long list of intermittent, disconnected, small-scale efforts (Watson Park, tiny homes, RV parks). They’re just not broad enough, not cost-effective enough,…

Sheet music and lyrics to Woody Guthrie song, Deportees (1948). Recent immigration enforcement activity in San Jose has led some to wonder precisely what role—if any—cities or counties are supposed to play in assisting—or not—federal authorities. Attorney Sara Ramey, in The Hill, says cities have no legal requirement to cooperate with ICE, excerpted below. Enforcing…

Image by San Diego State University Press In 1769, Father Juan Crespi journeyed with Spanish officials to establish mission settlements in Alta (Upper) California. His diary, excerpted below, recalls Christmas ’69 as “biting” cold—but abounding in good food, gifts, and jovial communion, between friends and strangers alike. From The Journal of San Diego History. Christmases…

Image by Geoth on Flickr It’s not North Beach, but SJ has its own legacy of Beat Literature from the 1950s. And perhaps none is more stirring than this dreamy, little-remarked passage from Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums, in which the narrator hitches a (literal and spiritual) ride on a southbound Xmas Eve train, beginning…

Image by Wikimedia Commons Historian April Halberstadt whisks us back to Christmas a century ago in her historic San Jose home—when local agriculture was booming, the city rapidly expanding via annexations, and the faith-centered Wright family (living in now-Halberstadt’s home) making their mark on CA politics. An Opp Now exclusive. We live in an old…