The architects of ‘smart growth’ – which captured the imagination of local planners and other officials just before the turn of the century – intended all future housing to be a lot denser.

Furthermore, SB 375 (Steinberg) – a law enacted over a decade ago to ingrain climate-change politics in all land-use planning – urged, among other things, siting housing development to coincide with the location of transit hubs to, presumably, facilitate commuting.

Now, health officials – at all levels of government – are telling us amid the COVID-19 scare to spread out. In other words, de-densify.

At the same time – for a variety of reasons – residents of high-density, urban areas are fleeing those places for distant suburbs and exurbs. This is not the plan the originators of ‘smart growth’ had in mind.

So, the whole ‘smart growth’ model is a scrambled mess. What’s to become of it? Has it now been rendered meaningless?

I don’t think environmentalists – principal advocates of ‘smart growth’ – will ever give up this precious asset. They will fight on. Globally and project by project.

But, some of the… Read More

The cascades of high-mindedness keep rolling over us from the new kids in Washington. Backed by the sycophants who used to be our proud journalists, we hear how civility is once again reigning over our nation’s capital as the autocratic lecher has finally departed after four years of pain and suffering. All of that rang false with one disgusting act by our new autocrat.

Somewhere in the 468 executive orders (I lost count as our new President mutters something behind his mask despite no one being within ten feet of him), there was one signed that tells you how pathetic our new leadership is as it is driven totally by identity politics. In doing so, most of our citizens were tossed over the side for an obscure group. We are made to believe half the country is of like attributes to the obscure group.

President Biden signed another one of his many diktats (who is the autocrat here?) that attacked women. This is not some obscure issue. There has been a defining dispute at the collegiate level of women’s sports as the enforcement of Title IX rules have elevated the quest for equality in sports. This fight goes back five decades. Some Men’s team sports (which… Read More

Legislators in Sacramento have for years been wringing their hands over California’s stubborn housing production drought. Now, there seems to be a growing concern that their consequent actions have made things worse.

That’s because more and more producers are vocally critical of the foolish and increasingly desperate laws the Legislature has proposed or passed in recent times. (Less visible to the public but equally troubling to homebuilders are the oppressive and lasting regulations that always accompany new laws).

State legislators – supported by California for well over a century – are elected every two years to tackle and solve the state’s most daunting problems, with clarity and fair outcomes.

But they’ve done nothing over the last three decades to help cure California’s most vexing problem: the housing shortage. Frustrated, producers believe the state Legislature has lost its way on housing policy. Most lawmakers, they argue, are stuck with outdated, bankrupt impulses.

Incentives for housing production – not disincentives that are typically associated with state housing legislation – are what California needs. No… Read More

In my last article, I wrote why I thanked Donald Trump for his service to the values in which I believe. He wasn’t perfect, but no one is. If I only voted for people that I agree with 100% of the time, either on style or principle, the only person I’d ever vote for is me, and then, I would only vote for me about 60% of the time (there has been more than one time when I didn’t like my own style). Trump has not been perfect, but he has been pretty good on principle. He was mediocre to bad on style, which is why he lost the election. In the end, I count him in the good category.

For the Republican Party in California, however, he was great in turning out voters. There are four members of Congress today that ought to be on their knees thanking the Almighty that Trump was on the ballot in 2020. This article is about to get knee deep in numbers, so if that bores you, go to the bottom of the column.

First observation: On average, in the competitive districts across the state, Republican votes increased approximately 40% from 2018 to 2020. In the four districts that Republicans lost in 2018, and recaptured in 2020, Republican votes were up 48%.… Read More

About a year ago, I wrote an article about what I thought it would take to tear down the lockdown. The article,titled “Challenge an Arrogant Authoritarian, Go to Church,” advocated peaceful, nonviolent resistance to the illegal orders then being issued by the Governor of California, allegedly justified by his “emergency powers.” I made the argument that the orders made by the Governor, as the orders applied to the “free exercise” of religion, discriminated against churches. If you were a big box store, like Home Depot or Walmart, you could let people in. If you were a church, you couldn’t. I received a number of comments from political and legal types around the state that my Constitutional analysis was wrong. This weekend the US Supreme Court, now that Justice Amy Coney Barrett had joined the court, agreed with my analysis. They didn’t go as far as I would have, I would have let freedom ring, and let churches sing, but reopening the church is a good start, and I dare any government official to try and stop a group of nonviolent protestors for religious freedom from singing about Jesus. Like before, I counsel the pastors… Read More

Unequal statistical outcomes prove discrimination. Ask any progressive.

Any time one (preferred) group is doing less well than another less favored group, for liberals it’s conclusive evidence of racism, misogyny,sexism — whatever. But the use of such statistical “proof” is clearly a one way street.

For instance, Asian men and women make more than whites. And a LOT more than any other race. The press doesn’t cover this fact because it drives a stake into the heart of “white privilege” identity politics.The phenomenal success of Asian immigrants to America is why most liberals probably secretly hate Asians. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/asian-women-and-men-earned-more-than-their-white-black-and-hispanic-counterparts-in-2017.htm

EXCERPT:Asian women and men earned more than their White, Black,… Read More

Suppose “New Burger” (a new chain of burger joints) opened to great reviews – perhaps something that is not very surprising. What would be surprising is if McDonald’s decided it was going to throw all of its massive resources at New Burger to kill it off. If McDonald’s made charges that New Burger was not operating within the law or selling tainted meat that would be quite surprising. You would probably wonder why an operation with over 38,000 locations was so desperate to kill off the competition. Of course, McDonald’s would never do that. They are used to operating in a competitive environment. Sadly, this scenario does not apply to the teachers’ unions; they will try to strangle any competition.

This was brought to light recently when the teachers (backed by their unions) decided to not show up to classrooms because of COVID-19. They complained it was a safety issue, but it really wasn’t. The teachers were not personally affected as they continue to “teach” remotely and receive their full salary, health care and retirement benefits.

Parents decided that the remote learning was not providing their children a proper education and started to… Read More

We are now nearly a year into the most self-destructive social experiment in the recorded history of human civilization.

On this day a year ago, we enjoyed the greatest economic expansion in our lifetimes. Thepoverty ratewas the lowest in 60 years. Theunemploymentrate was the lowest in 50 years.Wage growthwas the strongest in 40 years. Thewage gapwas narrowing, with blue collar wages growing the fastest. Unemployment rates for… Read More