Opinion

The County’s affordable housing program is not logically constructed. The San Benito County Planning Commission recently had a notably fair and informative workshop on affordable housing. Yet in the end they were not presented with the options they needed to make a program that works, especially in the unincorporated areas where, for political reasons, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors has traditionally shunned high density housing. Affordable housing programs are often illogically constructed starting with the erroneous idea that nothing the county does impacts the market; the opposite is true.

The Great Recession could have done some good for America. It did help normalize the housing bubble, although with severe economic pain. The housing bubble was a rocket ride and it is unrealistic to expect a rocket ride to end with a soft landing. However, it appears we failed to learn the most critical lesson – if the economy relies on excessive debt and risk, then painful recessions, and perhaps even depressions, are inevitable in the future.

Delia Gutierrez and Virginia Ramos showed what civil, proud citizens could do when they recognized a neighborhood in steep decline. They took their complaints directly to the city's top brass and they did so in an open forum.

Americans will go to the polls 18 months from Tuesday, and it

Last week we published a piece distancing this newspaper from the political campaign to oppose Measure J, which has prominently featured our logo. The campaign is centered around some quotes picked from a May piece that represents the opinions of community members who served on a volunteer editorial board.