By SUSAN SHELLEY
August 24, 2024
Proposition 5 makes it easier to raise property taxes.
The November ballot measure gets around Proposition 13’s limitations on property tax increases by making it easier for local governments to pass bonds, a method of borrowing money that is then paid back — with interest — by adding extra charges to property tax bills, sometimes for decades.
By Amy Kalish
August 1, 2024
Our state Legislature’s quest to remove any inhibitors to housing, no matter how impactful, has taken a new and dangerous form.
With Senate Bill 610, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) shows he is not content to merely wrest zoning control from cities. He is now targeting fire hazard severity zone maps as “impediments” to housing.
By KRISSY WAITE
July 24, 2024
Sausalito is toying with the idea of becoming a charter city.
The city is currently a general law city, which requires it to follow the governance rules set by California Constitution and the California Legislature. Charter cities give greater local control and flexibility to cities, and potentially open up revenue sources.
The City Council discussed the possibility and created a subcommittee for the topic at its July 16 meeting.
By Emily Hoeven
July 1, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders really, really don’t want California voters to approve a November ballot measure to roll back parts of Proposition 47, the controversial 2014 initiative that reduced some theft and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.
In fact, they’re so desperate to prevent the measure from succeeding that they’re willing to subvert and twist the very process they claim to revere more than anything else — democracy — to achieve their aims.
July 1, 2024
To nobody’s surprise, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority agreed on Wednesday morning to put a $20 billion regional bond on the November ballot in nine counties. But opponents of the mammoth tax offered a serious, compelling critique. Will Sherman reports in this Opp Now exclusive. Although outnumbered, a group opposed to the biggest housing bond in the state’s history showed up early to the MTC’s Beale Street entrance in downtown San Francisco, carrying homemade signs that read “$20b bond + 28b waste,” and “No Bonds for MTC.”
by Tim Redmond
June 26, 2024
The Board of Supes continued a vote on a statewide rent-control measure Tuesday because Sup. Ahsha Safai, a likely supporter, left the meeting early. It will be back July 2.
In the meantime, it’s worth looking at how the big landlord lobby is organizing against the measure—and trying to stop its sponsor from funding future pro-tenant legislation.
It’s a trail of big money and front groups.