LA Mayor Bass worried other cities will “shoo” homeless into L.A.; Long Beach & OC leaders praise Grants Pass
Image by Wikimedia Commons Southern California pols are split over the impact of the recent SCOTUS decision allowing cities to enforce no-camping laws. LA Mayor Bass is worried LA’s less aggressive approach to clearing encampments will result in neighboring cities sending their homeless to the City of Angels. Long Beach Mayor and Orange County Supes say Grants…
Read MoreSmith: State audit busts SJ’s financial mismanagement of non profits—it’s time for an SJ Non Profit Registry
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 profits that receive…
Read MoreLurie sees the organizational problems at SF City Hall, but do his solutions sound like a consultant wrote them? (3/3)
Image by Wikimedia Commons To his credit, new SF mayor Lurie has identified bloated and ineffective bureaucracy as a key reason so much money has been misspent addressing the City’s homelessness. But do his solutions just kick the can down the road? The Chron reports. The city had 10 teams under different departments at one point, and an…
Read More☆ Mark Burns on SJ’s pay-for-results plan: “Why haven’t they done this before?”
Image generated using Dall-E 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…
Read More☆ Back in the day, VTA pioneered rideshare service
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…
Read MoreSF’s Lurie shows SJ how to move fast—and big—on homelessness (1/3)
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…
Read MoreCost of undocumented healthcare pressuring CA Democrats to consider cuts
Image by Pictures of Money Gov. Gavin Newsom touted California’s role as the first state in the nation to offer healthcare to all income-eligible immigrants one year ago. But cost overruns and threatened fed clawbacks are forcing some tough trade-offs in Sacto. LA Times reports. California became the first state in the nation to offer healthcare to…
Read More☆ Is it the end of the line for Permanent Supportive Housing in SJ? (1/4)
Image in public domain San Jose City Council looks to be zeroing out funds for PSH in the coming year: Measure E proposed allocation is 90% interim housing, 10% prevention. In this exclusive roundup, Opp Now contributors Pat Waite, Irene Smith, and Tom Weissmiller analyze how treatment-free “Housing First” has long failed our homeless neighbors—and…
Read MoreAI entrepreneur–philosopher on how the free market consolidates individuals’ knowledge into something bigger and better
Red ants working together. Image by Timon Cornelissen Brendan McCord—past research affiliate with Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and successful tech CEO—discusses economist Hayek’s idea that the marketplace elegantly assembles human knowledge to make more efficient, developed, and truthful civilizations. From the University of Austin. Three years ago, I had my second of two kids,…
Read MoreThe need for speed
D3 has waited too long. D3 and San Jose representatives continue to pursue go-slow approaches to solving homelessness. The latest is a misguided idea to needlessly move unsheltered people into the justice system. Ask yourself, what’s faster: Eighteen months+ or 5 months? I am the only D3 candidate advocating for immediate implementation of a large-scale shelter plan. The…
Read More☆ A failure of privatization—or a sound adaptation to the market? The Sandy Springs story (2/4)
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,…
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