Latest news with #Proposition13
San Francisco Chronicle
21 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Santa Cruz is revolting against authoritarianism — and I'm joining the rebellion
I want to move Santa Cruz to join the rebellion. Wanna come along? The city of Santa Cruz has established a 2-cents-per-ounce tax on sodas — in defiance of a 2018 state law that prohibits local governments from imposing such levies. This Santa Cruz Rebellion might seem small. But in a dark moment of deepening authoritarianism, California — heck, the whole damn world — needs a new age of local defiance in which we frontally attack the extortionists who run American society these days. In Washington, President Donald Trump, the Sith Lord of blackmail, is nullifying laws and the Constitution in a relentless ransoming of countries and institutions unless they support his policies and fatten his wallet. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom is threatening to strip cities of housing and homeless funds unless they adopt the local homelessness policies he wants.. But in Santa Cruz, on matters of soda, the people are clapping back and saying: We won't compromise on local democracy. This story begins back in 2018. After some California cities, including Santa Cruz, pioneered soda taxes to fight obesity, the beverage industry qualified a ballot initiative that was pure extortion. It said that if cities didn't drop their soda taxes, they would lose the power to raise other kinds of sales taxes. Facing that dire prospect, state leaders wrote a new law barring local taxes on groceries, including soft drinks, until 2031. One awful provision required the state to withhold local sales tax revenue from any city with its own soda tax — even if a court found that such a tax ' is a valid exercise of a city's authority.' 'This industry is aiming a nuclear weapon at government in California and saying, 'If you don't do what we want, we are going to pull the trigger and you are not going to be able to fund basic government services,'' state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, said in 2018. At first, Santa Cruz dropped its soda tax. But in 2023, a state appellate court threw out that awful provision withholding funds from cities with soda taxes. The court said that such a penalty could not be applied to cities with their own democratic local charters, or constitutions. Santa Cruz has a charter. So, under the court's decision, the city wouldn't lose funding if it imposed soda taxes. Last November, the city persuaded voters to approve a soda tax, which went into effect this spring. The beverage industry, calling the action illegal, could sue. But Santa Cruz is not backing down. 'It's about democracy and standing up to special interests,' said Santa Cruz City Council Member and Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson about the law. 'It's about having the independence to generate revenue for our community.' 'The independence to generate revenue' might seem a dull phrase. But if Santa Cruz and other California cities were to protect their democratic right to collect taxes, it would be revolutionary. Since the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, which took away local governments' control over their property taxes, fiscal power in California has been increasingly centralized in state government. Most local governments, limited in their ability to raise their own revenues, have become beggars and lobbyists who must travel to Sacramento to ask for money. Santa Cruz's rebellion suggests that now might be the time for localities to stop begging and instead seize back power over taxation, whether state law allows it or not. Trump's misconduct also makes this case. With the man in the White House lawlessly withholding funding to California cities and counties, why should localities bow to laws that limit their ability to boost funding? After all, Trump's dismantling of the federal government means that more problems are going to fall on local governments. They need to find money where they can. Local defiance isn't always good, especially when it involves culture war issues. But when it comes to the fundamental capacities of local governments, our communities should assert themselves and stand up for democracy, now under attack worldwide. Localities should collaborate with each other to roll back anti-democratic structures that limit their sovereignty. This should include demanding new, modern constitutions for our state and our nation. New government systems should give local governments broad authority to decide citizenship, set taxation and make policy in any area that affects local people. That's already how government works in two rich and peaceful countries, Switzerland and Canada. Let's start this rebellion right away. See you in Santa Cruz. Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square, and is founder-editor-columnist at Democracy Local, a planetary publication.
Gulf Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
A celebration — and wake — for a political time gone by
Mark Z. Barabak, Tribune News Service They came to the baking desert to honour one of their own, a political professional, a legend and a throwback to a time when gatherings like this one — a companionable assembly of Republicans, Democrats and the odd newspaper columnist — weren't such a rare and noteworthy thing. They came to bid a last farewell to Stuart Spencer, who died in January at age 97. They came to Palm Desert on a 98-degree spring day to do the things that political pros do when they gather: drink and laugh and swap stories of campaigns and elections past. And they showed, with their affection and goodwill and mutual regard, how much the world, and the world of politics, have changed. 'This is how politics used to be,' Democrat Harvey Englander said after sidling up to Republican Joel Fox. The two met through their work with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., a spawn of the Proposition 13 taxpayer revolt, circa 1978. 'We had different views of how government should work,' Englander said as Fox nodded his assent. 'But we agreed government should work.' Spencer was a campaign strategist and master tactician who helped usher into office generations of GOP leaders, foremost among them Ronald Reagan. The former president and California governor was a Hollywood has-been until Spencer came along and turned him into something compelling and new, something they called a 'citizen-politician.' Hanging, inevitably, over the weekend's celebration was the current occupant of the Oval Office, a boiling black cloud compared to the radiant and sunshiny Reagan. Spencer was no fan of Donald Trump, and he let it be known. 'A demagogue and opportunist,' he called him, chafing, in particular, at Trump's comparisons of himself to Reagan. 'He would be sick,' Spencer said, guessing the recoil the nation's 40th president would have had if he'd witnessed the crass and corrupt behaviour of the 45th and 47th one. Many of those at the weekend event are similarly out of step with today's Republican Party and, especially, Trump's bomb-the-opposition-to-rubble approach to politics. But most preferred not to express those sentiments for the record. George Steffes, who served as Reagan's legislative director in Sacramento, described how the loudly and proudly uncouth Trump was '180 degrees' from the politely mannered Reagan. In five years, Steffes said, he never once heard the governor raise his voice, belittle a person or 'treat a human being with anything but respect.' Fox, with a seeming touch of wounded pride, suggested Trump could use 'some pushback from some of the 'old thinking' of the Stu Spencer/Ronald Reagan era.' Behind them, playing on a big-screen TV, were images from Spencer's filled-to-the-bursting life. Old black-and-white snapshots — an apple-cheeked Navy sailor, a little boy — alternated with photographs of Spencer smiling alongside Reagan and President Ford, standing with Dick Cheney and George H.W. Bush, appearing next to Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Wilson, a spry 91, was among the 150 or so who turned out to remember Spencer. He was given a place of honour, seated with his wife, Gayle, directly in front of the podium.) In a brief presentation, Spencer's son, Steve, remembered his father as someone who emphasised caring and compassion, as well as hard work and the importance of holding fast to one's principles. 'Pop's word,' he said, 'was gold.' Spencer's grandson, Sam, a Republican political consultant in Washington, choked up as he recounted how 'Papa Stu' not only helped make history but never stinted on his family, driving four hours to attend Sam's 45-minute soccer games and staying up well past bedtime to get after-action reports on his grandson's campaigns.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Barabak: A celebration — and wake — for a political time gone by
They came to the baking desert to honor one of their own, a political professional, a legend and a throwback to a time when gatherings like this one — a companionable assembly of Republicans, Democrats and the odd newspaper columnist — weren't such a rare and noteworthy thing. They came to bid a last farewell to Stuart Spencer, who died in January at age 97. They came to Palm Desert on a 98-degree spring day to do the things that political pros do when they gather: drink and laugh and swap stories of campaigns and elections past. And they showed, with their affection and goodwill and mutual regard, how much the world, and the world of politics, have changed. 'This is how politics used to be,' Democrat Harvey Englander said after sidling up to Republican Joel Fox. The two met through their work with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., a spawn of the Proposition 13 taxpayer revolt, circa 1978. 'We had different views of how government should work,' Englander said as Fox nodded his assent. 'But we agreed government should work.' Read more: Barabak: It's not just Biden. There's a history of presidential health cover-ups Spencer was a campaign strategist and master tactician who helped usher into office generations of GOP leaders, foremost among them Ronald Reagan. The former president and California governor was a Hollywood has-been until Spencer came along and turned him into something compelling and new, something they called a 'citizen-politician.' Hanging, inevitably, over the weekend's celebration was the current occupant of the Oval Office, a boiling black cloud compared to the radiant and sunshiny Reagan. Spencer was no fan of Donald Trump, and he let it be known. 'A demagogue and opportunist,' he called him, chafing, in particular, at Trump's comparisons of himself to Reagan. 'He would be sick,' Spencer said, guessing the recoil the nation's 40th president would have had if he'd witnessed the crass and corrupt behavior of the 45th and 47th one. Many of those at the weekend event are similarly out of step with today's Republican Party and, especially, Trump's bomb-the-opposition-to-rubble approach to politics. But most preferred not to express those sentiments for the record. George Steffes, who served as Reagan's legislative director in Sacramento, allowed as how the loudly and proudly uncouth Trump was '180 degrees' from the politely mannered Reagan. In five years, Steffes said, he never once heard the governor raise his voice, belittle a person or 'treat a human being with anything but respect.' Fox, with a seeming touch of wounded pride, suggested Trump could use 'some pushback from some of the 'old thinking' of the Stu Spencer/Ronald Reagan era.' Behind them, playing on a big-screen TV, were images from Spencer's filled-to-the-bursting life. Old black-and-white snapshots — an apple-cheeked Navy sailor, a little boy — alternated with photographs of Spencer smiling alongside Reagan and President Ford, standing with Dick Cheney and George H.W. Bush, appearing next to Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Wilson, a spry 91, was among the 150 or so who turned out to remember Spencer. He was given a place of honor, seated with his wife, Gayle, directly in front of the podium.) In a brief presentation, Spencer's son, Steve, remembered his father as someone who emphasized caring and compassion, as well as hard work and the importance of holding fast to one's principles. 'Pop's word,' he said, 'was gold.' Spencer's grandson, Sam, a Republican political consultant in Washington, choked up as he recounted how 'Papa Stu' not only helped make history but never stinted on his family, driving four hours to attend Sam's 45-minute soccer games and staying up well past bedtime to get after-action reports on his grandson's campaigns. Stu Spencer, he said, was a voracious reader and owned 'one of the greatest political minds in history.' Read more: Barabak: Antonio Villaraigosa is dying to run against Kamala Harris for governor. Here's why Outside the golf resort, a stiff wind kicked up, ruffling the palm trees and sending small waves across a water hazard on the 18th green — an obvious metaphor for these blustery and unsettled times. Fred Karger first met Spencer in 1976 when his partner, Bill Roberts, hired Karger to work on an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign. (In 2012, Karger made history as the first out gay major-party candidate to run for president.) He no longer recognizes the political party he dedicated his life to. 'It's the Trump-publican Party," Karger said. "It's no longer the Republican Party." But politics are cyclical, he went on, and surely Trump and his MAGA movement will run their course and the GOP will return to the days when Reagan's optimism and Spencer's less-hateful campaign style return to fashion. His gripped his white wine like a potion, delivering hope. 'Don't you think?' Get the latest from Mark Z. BarabakFocusing on politics out West, from the Golden Gate to the U.S. me up. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
A celebration — and wake — for a political time gone by
PALM DESERT — They came to the baking desert to honor one of their own, a political professional, a legend and a throwback to a time when gatherings like this one — a companionable assembly of Republicans, Democrats and the odd newspaper columnist — weren't such a rare and noteworthy thing. They came to bid a last farewell to Stuart Spencer, who died in January at age 97. They came to Palm Desert on a 98-degree spring day to do the things that political pros do when they gather: drink and laugh and swap stories of campaigns and elections past. And they showed, with their affection and goodwill and mutual regard, how much the world, and the world of politics, have changed. 'This is how politics used to be,' Democrat Harvey Englander said after sidling up to Republican Joel Fox. The two met through their work with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., a spawn of the Proposition 13 taxpayer revolt, circa 1978. 'We had different views of how government should work,' Englander said as Fox nodded his assent. 'But we agreed government should work.' Spencer was a campaign strategist and master tactician who helped usher into office generations of GOP leaders, foremost among them Ronald Reagan. The former president and California governor was a Hollywood has-been until Spencer came along and turned him into something compelling and new, something they called a 'citizen-politician.' Hanging, inevitably, over the weekend's celebration was the current occupant of the Oval Office, a boiling black cloud compared to the radiant and sunshiny Reagan. Spencer was no fan of Donald Trump, and he let it be known. 'A demagogue and opportunist,' he called him, chafing, in particular, at Trump's comparisons of himself to Reagan. 'He would be sick,' Spencer said, guessing the recoil the nation's 40th president would have had if he'd witnessed the crass and corrupt behavior of the 45th and 47th one. Many of those at the weekend event are similarly out of step with today's Republican Party and, especially, Trump's bomb-the-opposition-to-rubble approach to politics. But most preferred not to express those sentiments for the record. George Steffes, who served as Reagan's legislative director in Sacramento, allowed as how the loudly and proudly uncouth Trump was '180 degrees' from the politely mannered Reagan. In five years, Steffes said, he never once heard the governor raise his voice, belittle a person or 'treat a human being with anything but respect.' Fox, with a seeming touch of wounded pride, suggested Trump could use 'some pushback from some of the 'old thinking' of the Stu Spencer/Ronald Reagan era.' Behind them, playing on a big-screen TV, were images from Spencer's filled-to-the-bursting life. Old black-and-white snapshots — an apple-cheeked Navy sailor, a little boy — alternated with photographs of Spencer smiling alongside Reagan and President Ford, standing with Dick Cheney and George H.W. Bush, appearing next to Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Wilson, a spry 91, was among the 150 or so who turned out to remember Spencer. He was given a place of honor, seated with his wife, Gayle, directly in front of the podium.) In a brief presentation, Spencer's son, Steve, remembered his father as someone who emphasized caring and compassion, as well as hard work and the importance of holding fast to one's principles. 'Pop's word,' he said, 'was gold.' Spencer's grandson, Sam, a Republican political consultant in Washington, choked up as he recounted how 'Papa Stu' not only helped make history but never stinted on his family, driving four hours to attend Sam's 45-minute soccer games and staying up well past bedtime to get after-action reports on his grandson's campaigns. Stu Spencer, he said, was a voracious reader and owned 'one of the greatest political minds in history.' Outside the golf resort, a stiff wind kicked up, ruffling the palm trees and sending small waves across a water hazard on the 18th green — an obvious metaphor for these blustery and unsettled times. Fred Karger first met Spencer in 1976 when his partner, Bill Roberts, hired Karger to work on an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign. (In 2012, Karger made history as the first out gay major-party candidate to run for president.) He no longer recognizes the political party he dedicated his life to. 'It's the Trump-publican Party,' Karger said. 'It's no longer the Republican Party.' But politics are cyclical, he went on, and surely Trump and his MAGA movement will run their course and the GOP will return to the days when Reagan's optimism and Spencer's less-hateful campaign style return to fashion. His gripped his white wine like a potion, delivering hope. 'Don't you think?'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Housing market standoff: Gen Z wants in, but boomers are staying put
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert's ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. 5 Navy SEAL strategies to turn stress into success in any situation Going 'AI first' appears to be backfiring on Klarna and Duolingo Rite Aid closing stores update: See the list of 68 pharmacy locations that will shutter across 7 states In 2005, the median U.S. homeowner lived and owned their primary home for 6.5 years. In 2024, the median U.S. homeowner lived and owned their primary home for 11.8 years. That's according to Redfin's latest analysis. That means the typical U.S. home today has been owned by the same person for nearly twice as long as in 2005—resulting in less turnover in the housing market. That affects the entire ecosystem. For some millennials and Gen Xers, it could mean staying longer in their starter homes as they struggle to find a move-up property in their desired location. And for first-time buyers, especially Gen Z, the lack of turnover means fewer entry-level homes coming up for sale. After climbing every year between 2005 and 2020, U.S. homeowner tenure has come down a bit due to the increase in home sales during the pandemic housing boom. However, given spiked mortgage rates and low existing home sales, tenure rates could start going higher again. 'Moving forward, we expect homeowner tenure to stay flat or increase slightly for the foreseeable future,' wrote Redfin researchers. 'Existing-home sales hit a 15-year low last year, with many homeowners locked in by low mortgage rates, and while sales should pick up a bit this year, it'll be more of a trickle than a flood.' Why did U.S. homeowner tenure increase so much between 2005 and 2020? Redfin says, in part, it's because so many baby boomers choose to 'age in place.' 'Older Americans are hanging onto their homes because they're financially incentivized to do so. Most (54%) baby boomers who own homes own them free and clear, with no outstanding mortgage. For that group, the median monthly cost of owning a home–which includes insurance and property taxes, among other things—is just over $600 (similar to the monthly cost for other generations with no outstanding mortgage, but other generations are far less likely to own homes free and clear),' wrote Redfin researchers. In addition to 'aging in place,' the Redfin report also cites state-level tax policies that encourage homeowners not to move as part of the reason for increased homeowner tenures. Most notably, Proposition 13 in California limits property tax increases for homeowners, thus encouraging them not to sell. There's also the fact that older Americans have higher homeownership rates, and over the past few decades, the composition of the U.S. population has shifted older as the giant baby boomer generation has aged and birth rates have declined. That has put upward pressure on homeowner tenure. What has this meant for homebuyers and the industry? The increase in average homeowner tenure over the two past decades has subdued turnover, limiting the purchasing opportunities for certain properties and holding back existing home sales. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
