Guest Commentary

Commentary

My turn: Finally, California seems determined to end homelessness

If our government is going to truly prioritize housing all Californians, cities and counties must be required to put a significant portion of any incentive funding from the state toward directly supporting the production of homes at levels affordable to people most in need.

By Guest Commentary • January 17, 2019

California Wildfires

My turn: Sell PG&E for parts and build community energy instead

By Catherine Brinkley Catherine Brinkley is an assistant professor of human ecology at University of California, Davis, who has written extensively on community energy infrastructures, ckbrinkley@ucdavis.edu. She wrote this commentary for CALmatters. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is filing for bankruptcy. Again. When PG&E filed in 2001, it was the third largest bankruptcy filing in […]

By Guest Commentary • January 16, 2019

Commentary

My turn: Don’t blame environmental law for California’s housing crisis

As legislators resume discussions regarding policy solutions, we must be clear: California’s environmental regulations did not cause the housing crisis and eviscerating the California Environmental Quality Act would harm disadvantaged communities.

By Guest Commentary • January 15, 2019

Commentary

My turn: The Delta is California’s heart. Gavin Newsom must save it

By Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla is executive director of Restore the Delta, barbara@restorethedelta.org. She wrote this commentary for CALmatters. The confluence of California’s two great rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, creates the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas. Those of us who live here call it, simply, the Delta.  It […]

By Guest Commentary • January 14, 2019

Commentary

My turn: The federal shutdown could have cost me my life

Yosemite was a refuge where I could momentarily escape thoughts of petty politics and news of the day that typically consume most of my waking hours as a journalist. This time, though, a political stunt encroached into this natural refuge.

By Guest Commentary • January 11, 2019

Commentary

My turn: Why we must expand California’s child care system

As California looks to build the ramp that will help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds cross the opportunity gap, it is critically important that early educators fighting to give our kids a stronger future have a voice in building the system that best serves children and families. That’s why this year we at Service Employees International Union will continue our fight for legislation allowing us to form a union.

By Guest Commentary • January 10, 2019

Commentary

My turn: California’s other fiscal time bomb

California’s state and local agencies have $187 billion in unfunded retiree health care and other benefit liabilities that threaten to crowd out public services, such as public safety and education, that Californians expect government to provide. Government must confront the debt.

By Guest Commentary • January 9, 2019

California Wildfires

My turn: We must reduce fire risk. Here are steps California must take

Some people say that climate change has made megafires inevitable. Others claim that forest thinning and fuel reduction treatments may actually increase fire intensity. Neither argument should be an excuse for inaction. So what can be done to reduce the chance of another Paradise type disaster? Here are a few steps:

By Guest Commentary • January 8, 2019

Commentary

My turn: Here’s a way to help California get moving again

Public-private partnerships offer opportunities that share risk, save money and yield the best value for all—public agencies, users, and taxpayers. For the sake of commuters and our economy, California lawmakers should reauthorize public-private partnerships.

By Guest Commentary • January 8, 2019

Commentary

My turn: What mattered on Jan. 7, 1919

On Jan. 7, 1919, Gov. William Stephens gave his inaugural speech, as Newsom will 100 years later, to the day. Many of the words he used to set the tone of his governorship echo to this day.

By Guest Commentary • January 7, 2019