Triskaidekaphobia: noun – fear concerning the number 13. Failure is an orphan, but in politics its authors still need a fall guy. Hence the odd notion being advanced that the statewide school bond proposal heading for defeat was injured by its ballot designation: Proposition 13.  “If it passes, it was because it was a school […]

Yesterday I wrote of the persistent paradox in California: a state enjoying great economic success suffering depopulation by middle class and working residents. Today I identify some of the key affordability issues and how elected officials can address them.   Housing California’s infamous housing crisis lies at the center of much of the state’s ills, from […]

By many important measures, California has never been better off. Our state enjoys unprecedented wealth, employment and health.  Our economy created 3.4 million jobs in the ten years since the worst of the Great Recession, a 24 percent growth spurt, driving the unemployment rate to a record low 3.9%. Our job growth has accounted for […]

California voters are anxious.  Reports of steady growth and low unemployment cheer political leaders, but voters are disturbed by decaying public order and an unaffordable cost of living, according to a recently released CalChamber poll, The People’s Voice, 2019. Top of mind for voters is the erosion of public order.  Central to that perception is […]

Oops, they did it again.  Proponents have submitted a third attempt at a ballot initiative to create a “split roll,” hiking property taxes by up to $11 billion. This latest version presumably won’t restart the clock, since it amends a month-old measure already being reviewed by the Attorney General and Legislative Analyst. But the changes […]

Proponents of an $11 billion statewide property tax increase re-filed their ballot initiative this week, claiming “notable improvements to implementation dates, expansive new small business tax relief, clarified education financing and stronger zoning language to ensure large corporations cannot avoid reassessment.” Breaking down the changes, one can’t help but conclude that proponents would not have […]