Key Argument on Revenue Bond Initiative Debated
A key argument on the initiative to require a vote of the people on revenue bonds that exceeds $2 billion centers around the question if taxpayers could be on the hook for defaulted bonds. Concern for taxpayer liability was the argument that swayed the GOP Initiative Committee to support the measure at the Republican state […]
Is Brownism Defeating Brown?
Gov. Brown’s second-time-around-as-governor has built on a philosophy of keeping things small, simple and cheap. Don’t spend. Save surpluses. Resist efforts to reform the broken governing system, or make big investments in California’s future after decades of disinvestment. This philosophy – call it Brownism — has succeeded too well. The state budget is fixed, and […]
More Oversight, Not Less, Needed for High Speed Rail
At the Thursday (4/28/2016) meeting of the High Speed Rail Authority board, at which the 2016 Business Plan was approved, Chair Dan Richard made the comment: “Both because the recommendations from the peer review group and actually with our supporting this notion of stronger or I would say more visible legislative oversight” Video link here: The […]
Buildings Must Improve Their Energy Use; Here’s What That Means For You
Rows of newly minted model homes unspool across a verdant, rolling landscape in this sprawling master-planned community near Sacramento. Solar panels glint across 1,000 acres of rooftops. On a tidy cul-de-sac, a faux-grass lawn flanks the driveway to the home of the future. The two-story residence brims with state-of-the-art energy-saving technology: highly efficient heating and […]
Coastal California Getting Older, Not Bolder
For the better part of a century, Southern California has been seen as the land of surfers, hipsters and youthful innovators. Yet the land of sun and sea is becoming, like its East Coast counterpart Florida, increasingly geriatric. This, of course, is a global and national phenomenon. From 2015-25, the number of senior-headed U.S. households, […]