Housing
California
Trying to cancel “Flip or Flop” won’t improve home affordability
One of the most popular home renovation shows has been “Flip Or Flop,” starring an Orange County couple that buys ratty houses, renovates them, then sells – usually but not always – at a profit. The pair, who eventually split, developed a loyal following of viewers. But in the eyes ...
Blog
Can California Tackle Zoning Run Amok in 2022?
The numbers are in on the cost of living in California, and it ain’t pretty: According to an analysis by the real estate listing service Zillow, as reported in the New York Times, home prices went up by a startling 12.3 percent between November 2020 and 2021. In suburban areas ...
Blog
California… We Gotta Get Outta This Place
Last fall, The Babylon Bee posted a piece of biting satire that said the U-Haul company had named Gov. Gavin Newsom as its salesperson of the year for the third time in a row “after a record-setting sales quarter.” “Thanks to Gavin Newsom, literally every middle-class family has moved out ...
Blog
Assembly Progressives’ Solution to Astronomical Gas Prices? Increase Taxes on Gas
Only in California will you witness Assembly progressives hijacking a bill that suspends a tax to gut-and-amend it with language that enacts a new tax. Assemblymember Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) introduced Assembly Bill 1638 at the beginning of this year in response to the considerable jump in gas prices following the ...
Agriculture
Who Grows Your Peaches?
In 1973, March 22 was designated National Ag Day by the Agriculture Council of America and the inaugural celebration of the day was in 1979. Since the inception of National Ag Day, it has been expanded to encompass the week that March 22 falls in each year. I have to ...
Blog
Rent Control Can’t Stop Soaring Housing Rents
California’s “Been There, Done That” California’s sky-high rental housing rates are now being felt by the rest of the country. Apartment List’s most recent report in February showed that rents grew 17.6 percent annually for all housing types and increased 0.6 percent over the month. This tracks the Bureau of ...
Agriculture
The Judge – Justice and Compassion in the Salinas Valley
In 1775-1776 the de Anza Expedition traveled from Sinaloa to San Francisco establishing the inland route from Mission San Gabriel to San Francisco. On their way north they camped in Natividad – now Salinas – along what is today Old Stage Road on their way to the site of Mission ...
CEQA
UC Berkeley Case Shows Why Comprehensive Reform Badly Needed to End CEQA Abuse
By Chris Carr The California Supreme Court last week declined to stay a lower court order in a case involving a housing and classroom complex under construction on the UC Berkeley campus. This will effectively shut the door to one of America’s finest public universities for thousands of prospective students. ...
Blog
Misplaced Priorities
There is much to lament in California and Los Angeles, but the Los Angeles Times recently chose to rub its knuckles Pelosi-style at the lack of focus on climate change in the city’s mayor race. “Neither Rep. Karen Bass nor developer Rick Caruso mention the issue of climate change on ...
Agriculture
Prop 12 puts food security, animal health at risk
Livestock raising has long been a complex and misunderstood issue outside the agricultural community. Large communal pens often are considered the most humane by casual observers, but they do not tell the whole story. That is the case with California’s Proposition 12. The legislation created problematic perimeters for housing of ...
Trying to cancel “Flip or Flop” won’t improve home affordability
One of the most popular home renovation shows has been “Flip Or Flop,” starring an Orange County couple that buys ratty houses, renovates them, then sells – usually but not always – at a profit. The pair, who eventually split, developed a loyal following of viewers. But in the eyes ...
Can California Tackle Zoning Run Amok in 2022?
The numbers are in on the cost of living in California, and it ain’t pretty: According to an analysis by the real estate listing service Zillow, as reported in the New York Times, home prices went up by a startling 12.3 percent between November 2020 and 2021. In suburban areas ...
California… We Gotta Get Outta This Place
Last fall, The Babylon Bee posted a piece of biting satire that said the U-Haul company had named Gov. Gavin Newsom as its salesperson of the year for the third time in a row “after a record-setting sales quarter.” “Thanks to Gavin Newsom, literally every middle-class family has moved out ...
Assembly Progressives’ Solution to Astronomical Gas Prices? Increase Taxes on Gas
Only in California will you witness Assembly progressives hijacking a bill that suspends a tax to gut-and-amend it with language that enacts a new tax. Assemblymember Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) introduced Assembly Bill 1638 at the beginning of this year in response to the considerable jump in gas prices following the ...
Who Grows Your Peaches?
In 1973, March 22 was designated National Ag Day by the Agriculture Council of America and the inaugural celebration of the day was in 1979. Since the inception of National Ag Day, it has been expanded to encompass the week that March 22 falls in each year. I have to ...
Rent Control Can’t Stop Soaring Housing Rents
California’s “Been There, Done That” California’s sky-high rental housing rates are now being felt by the rest of the country. Apartment List’s most recent report in February showed that rents grew 17.6 percent annually for all housing types and increased 0.6 percent over the month. This tracks the Bureau of ...
The Judge – Justice and Compassion in the Salinas Valley
In 1775-1776 the de Anza Expedition traveled from Sinaloa to San Francisco establishing the inland route from Mission San Gabriel to San Francisco. On their way north they camped in Natividad – now Salinas – along what is today Old Stage Road on their way to the site of Mission ...
UC Berkeley Case Shows Why Comprehensive Reform Badly Needed to End CEQA Abuse
By Chris Carr The California Supreme Court last week declined to stay a lower court order in a case involving a housing and classroom complex under construction on the UC Berkeley campus. This will effectively shut the door to one of America’s finest public universities for thousands of prospective students. ...
Misplaced Priorities
There is much to lament in California and Los Angeles, but the Los Angeles Times recently chose to rub its knuckles Pelosi-style at the lack of focus on climate change in the city’s mayor race. “Neither Rep. Karen Bass nor developer Rick Caruso mention the issue of climate change on ...
Prop 12 puts food security, animal health at risk
Livestock raising has long been a complex and misunderstood issue outside the agricultural community. Large communal pens often are considered the most humane by casual observers, but they do not tell the whole story. That is the case with California’s Proposition 12. The legislation created problematic perimeters for housing of ...
