Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
Irreverent and Unsolicited Advice to Transit Advocates – Part 4
(Editor’s Note: This week Fox and Hounds is running a five part series by Norm King dealing with transportation issues based on his years of experience as a city manager and transportation consultant)
Sustainability & Mobility Plan Strategies Are Unsustainable
Give up trying to increase densities as a realistic way to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce congestion. Participate in the discussion to reform the unsustainable AB375, “Sustainability Communities Strategy” mandates. (more…)
Small Business Day: Buttressing Optimism with Support
There’s a lot of current media attention on the extent of the recovery from the Great Recession. And indeed, numerous surveys are showing that employers are feeling more optimistic in 2016 than in recent years.
That’s good news – and bad news. It’s wonderful that business owners are more confident about the future, and we’re hopeful that their optimism is translated into business success. But it’s also concerning, because our elected officials may get the mistaken impression that optimism reflects a rosy business environment.
On May 25, California legislators can learn first about those issues when 90 small business owners are honored on California Small Business Day. Our policymakers should use that opportunity to move small business issues to the top of the legislative agenda. (more…)
Why California Keeps Failing to Grade Its Schools
It’s a California educational reality worthy of Kafka. Our state’s leaders keep asking parents and communities to take bigger roles in making local schools better—even as those same leaders keep us in the dark about how our public schools are doing.
In the 2013-14 school year, the state suspended the Academic Performance Index, or API, the chief tool Californians had for seeing how their kids’ schools stacked up among schools across the state. API wasn’t a perfect measure, but it offered a clear and consistent language for judging schools that could be understood by anyone in your neighborhood—from parents to real estate agents. And, for the many communities and schools that hung API banners boasting of school improvement in the rankings, the index provided a point of pride. (more…)
We Need a New Owner of the LA Times
More than likely, our Los Angeles Times will have a new owner as Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and the largest newspaper publisher in the country, has offered to buy Tribune, the owner of The Times and the Chicago Tribune, in an all cash deal for $15 a share, double the price of Tribune’s stock prior to the publication of Gannett’s initial offer of $12.25 a share on April 25.
While Tribune’s newly installed, self-centered management and clueless directors may resist this very generous offer, most investors will be standing in line to sell their shares at this bonkers price. At the same time, while Gannett is not an eleemosynary institution, our Los Angeles Times will be better off being free of Chicago based Tribune which has mismanaged The Times ever since Tribune acquired Times Mirror Corporation, the owner of our hometown paper, in 2000 for over $8 billion (including debt). (more…)
Chiang Entry into Governor’s Race and the Business Community
State Treasurer John Chiang’s entry into the 2018 governor’s race scrambles strategies of other candidates considering a run as well as the business community’s view of potential candidates for the top job.
Chiang’s success as both state controller and treasurer has given him bona fides as fiscally responsible. In that way, he will attempt to claim the mantle now adorning Governor Jerry Brown as “the adult in the room” when it comes to legislative budget excesses.
Chiang gained attention during California’s battle with the Great Recession both in holding up legislators’ pay because of an unbalanced budget and publicizing public employee salaries. He also battled Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over public employee pay cuts during the budget deficit time and added transparency to the state’s fiscal situation with searchable online databases. (more…)
Irreverent and Unsolicited Advice to Transit Advocates – Part 3
(Editor’s Note: This week Fox and Hounds is running a five part series by Norm King dealing with transportation issues based on his years of experience as a city manager and transportation consultant)
Willingness to fund transit is up; willingness to use it is down.
Be realistic about the impossibility of increasing taxes enough to increase transit ridership sufficiently to make a measurable impact on the environment or mobility. (more…)