The Mysteries of CEQA
Last week Governor Brown told assembled business leaders, I’m sure when (Governor) Ronald Reagan in 1969 signed the Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), he didn’t know about all the mysteries of CEQA that people were going to have to deal with for the next 45 years. I thought the Governor might have been exaggerating, but it […]
Who Likes Proposition 13?
One of the most remarkably stable trends in California public opinion is the strong majority support for Proposition 13, even as the state’s demographics and politics have changed dramatically. This historic citizens’ initiative had the immediate fiscal impact of lowering property tax rates, restricting annual property tax increases, and raising the bar for local special […]
Assembly 16 – Is the East Bay Seat Really Worth $5 Million?
The “top two” primary in the 16th Assembly District is once again shaping up to be a battle of special interests vs. those outside the system. Let me tell you what’s going on here in the district from the standpoint of a former candidate who ran when the seat was last open in 2008. Independent […]
Improving the Movement of Freight. Why Should We Care?
Freight! Each of us, on the average, consumes 40 tons of freight goods every year, and that fact is finally resonating in D. C. and Sacramento. How to get freight where it needs to be more efficiently is finally getting its due. And, the question of how an improved freight system will be funded is […]
Three-headed Democratic Party
As they face the midterm elections with the wind in their faces, Democrats increasingly stake their collective political future on the issue of inequality. The topic has great resonance, given the economy’s vast preponderance of benefits to the very rich and the almost obsessive focus on the issue by the mainstream media. But if raising […]