SF Bay Area

BART is facing twin scandals: it can't produce the invoice for a consultant report it commissioned arguing fare enforcement was pointless — even as it pursues a new tax measure — and an encampment fire it knew about but failed to clear shut down the Transbay Tube for over 12 hours last month. Meanwhile, Tom Steyer is running for governor on a property tax pitch built around inflated numbers and a rebranded 1978 Democratic law he's calling the "Trump Tax Loophole."

Homelessness & Drug Crisis State Capacity

Why Is Los Angeles Spending $20M on 32 Empty Housing Units?

March 26, 2026 · 6 min read

Los Angeles emptied a building that was already housing people. Four years and $625,000 per unit later, it still houses nobody.

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Homelessness & Drug Crisis State Capacity

BART's 'Leave Them Be' Order Burned the Transbay Tube

February 25, 2026 · 7 min read

BART knew about the encampment, had legal authority to clear it, and asked Oakland nicely. Then it burned.

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Business Taxes State Politicians

Steyer's $20 Billion "Trump Tax Loophole" Is a Lie

February 25, 2026 · 5 min read

Tom Steyer renamed a 1978 Democratic law after Donald Trump and called it a plan. The loophole is real. The history, and the math, are not.

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Merit & Excellence State Politicians

How One Professor Helped Kill a Bad Bill

February 17, 2026 · 3 min read

Jelani Nelson drove to Sacramento for months, recruited allies, and won: Academic standards at UCs matter

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Asset Seizure Taxes Tech

Boston Cooked the Golden Goose

February 17, 2026 · 4 min read

Harvard and MIT trained 21 of the top 50 AI founders. Every one of them flew west to build in SF.

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CA Ballot Measures Asset Seizure Taxes

The Wealth Exodus Is Live: Watch California Die

February 11, 2026 · 5 min read

SEIU-UHW's asset seizure tax has already cost the state $16.4 billion per year in lost revenue—and it hasn't even passed yet.

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State Capacity Transit & Safety

BART's Doomsday Gambit: Pay Up or Lose Your Station

February 11, 2026 · 12 min read

Instead of fixing endemic graft, overtime abuse, and union-protected waste, they're holding your commute hostage for a November tax bailout.

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