Image: San Gabriel (Creative Commons) If you’re looking for dark entertainment, you could do worse than the reality show unfolding throughout California. First, state and local officials supported the nearly total shutdown of the state’s economy as a necessary response to Covid-19. That killed the sales and other tax revenues that are the life’s blood...
Due to Covid-19 related economic realities, the unions demand the Feds pour billions more into education. There is no way to sugarcoat it. The economic impact of Covid-19 will take its toll on education funding. The National Education Association is in full freak-out mode, “calling for an additional $175 billion to stabilize education funding—the $30.7...
Across California on May 1, tens of thousands protested in defiance of the lockdown orders. In Sacramento, the west lawn of the state capitol building was filled with protesters, with thousands more marching along the sidewalk surrounding the capitol grounds. Additional thousands driving their cars and honking their horns created three hours of total gridlock on...
With the introduction of the latest housing density mandate, AB 725 in the California state legislature, the battle between state control and local control in California intensifies. At the same time, the pandemic crisis and its economic consequences add additional complexity to an already complex issue. The debate over California’s housing policies offers an unusual combination: vehement...
Willfully blind to the reality of the fiscal impact of Covid-19, the teachers union is demanding billions from the already beleaguered American taxpayer. Long after the coronavirus fades into history, there will be many lingering effects. And high on that list very well may be the toll on public employee pensions and the beleaguered taxpayers...
Housing is unaffordable in California, and, increasingly, housing is becoming unaffordable in every other part of the United States where bad policies preside. The shame of these policies is not only the misery they impose on growing proportions of Americans, but the pessimism they represent. Read beyond the initial recitation of mundane obstacles to share...
With great crisis comes great opportunity… On April 18 LA City Councilmember Mike Bonin held a telephone town hall to discuss public health issues. His district includes Venice Beach, which has a high number of homeless still living on the streets and it was brought up that this is a major health concern. Towards the...
California’s legislature is controlled by Democratic super-majorities in both houses. These Democrat politicians, in turn, are controlled by public sector unions. They are now considering Assembly Bill 828, which will empower courts to summarily reduce rents by up to 25 percent and create additional barriers to the eviction process. Passage of this law would be a disaster. It’s...
Nobody needs reminding that California’s cities, like every other going concern in America, are heading for tough economic times. As recently as two months ago, robust collections of sales taxes, utility taxes, transient occupancy taxes, property taxes and other sources of taxes and fees were pouring money into municipal coffers. Now, with the economy abruptly...
“It’s the state that’s empowering parents to do anything with children. To take them home, to have custody, to make any kind of decision about that.” No, the subheading is not a twisted thought of the late Joe Stalin or some other power-mad foreign dictator. It was uttered by visiting Harvard law professor James Dwyer,...
“Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” – Leonard Nimoy’s character Spock, Wrath of Khan, 1982 For anyone who has questioned whether or not the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a severe enough threat to justify a soft version of martial law and a possible economic depression, Spock’s classic claim...
“I intend on putting in another proposal in the next week or two that asks the city to look at the federal bailout or stimulus funds we’ll be getting as a result of this crisis…and using some of that to either buy hotels that go belly up or to buy the distressed properties that are...
An illuminating study comparing education in America’s progressive and conservative cities opens a major can of worms. A stunning report that came out in January of this year received little attention at first, and was then completely buried due to the avalanche of coronavirus-related stories. “The Secret Shame: How America’s Most Progressive Cities Betray Their...
On Monday, April 6 the Huntington Beach City Council voted to increase pay for its police officers and city employees. The cost for these raises over the next three years is estimated at $5 million. In a city that reported general revenues of $188 million in the fiscal year ended June 2019, this raise can accurately be described as...