Legislature Can End Ellis Act Crisis in 2021 The pandemic has not stopped Ellis Act evictions. Speculators continue to buy buildings, file Ellis Act notices to “go out of the rental housing business” the next day, and then move to
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(This first appeared in Streetsblog SF) Ride a bike as a child, and adults smile at you. But as soon as “…you’re over 15 or 16, you’re a Lycra road-warrior, an urban hipster, a crazy car-hater–you’re never just a regular
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Pro-Housing Candidates Appear to Win Big In a race to change the direction of Berkeley housing policy, Terry Taplin appears to have defeated incumbent Cheryl Davila in D2. Mayor Arreguin also easily won re-election as did the other council incumbents.
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Initiatives Test CA’s “Progressive” Image California’s four highest-profile ballot measures are Props 15, 16, 21 and 22. Let’s start with the two obvious predictions. Prop 16 I wrote about Prop 16’s political problems (See “Will California Again Reject Affirmative Action
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Will Incumbents Survive? Oakland City Council Oakland is a rapidly changing city. And residents attitude toward these changes is hopeful to hostile with everything in between. This likely explains why recent Oakland council races sharply differ from neighboring San Francisco
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Voters Will Decide State, Local Housing Policies California voters will decide one state measure (Prop 21) and several local ones impacting the state’s  affordability crisis. There are initiatives that strengthen or repeal rent control laws, raise real estate transfer taxes,
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And a major shift to public transit and active modes is the only realistic answer. The U.S. can’t simply electrify its way out of the transportation-related carbon disaster — and thinking that it can might actually delay what really works:
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Whites Rebel Against Remedying Racial Injustice California legislators voted overwhelmingly to place Prop 16 on the November 2020 ballot. Prop 16 repeals the state’s ban on affirmative action (via 1996’s Prop 209). Affirmative action is an essential strategy for women
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