Author: Ray Bramson (Ray Bramson)

Having worked with and in the public sector for most of my career, I know that there are many facets in government that remain a mystery to most people on the outside. Whether it’s the nuances of land use authority, the purpose of a board resolution, or simply the role of the many commissions and...

With the holiday sleigh bells ringing, the season of giving is upon us. What I really want for Christmas this year is for the city of San Jose to make a common sense policy reform that will help us build more deeply affordable housing so people don’t have to live and die on our streets....

A friend recently recommended I check out a popular podcast where a person was being interviewed about a book he wrote on homelessness in California. The author was a controversial climate change writer who had wandered out of that arena after some particularly harsh public criticism and then decided to start delving into the lives...

When homelessness starts to dominate politics you know the election season isn’t too far away. And this year, with concern for the unhoused polling as a top issue, you can be sure that we’ll be hearing plenty of plans on what can be done now to solve this crisis on our streets. Some of this...

With tens of thousands of people on sleeping our streets every night, I’m amazed at how much energy we expend either fighting common sense solutions or pushing for or against issues that won’t really move the needle in the end. Take the new safe parking site in North San Jose for instance. The city provided...

The term “draconian” – a word showing up more and more in popular culture these days – actually has its roots in ancient Greece. Coming from a set of punitive laws with severe punishments created by an Athenian legislator named Draco, draconian has become associated over the centuries with measures that seem cruel or harsh....

Vacant storefronts with “For Lease” signs fading in the windows. Abandoned strip malls with a sea of empty concrete spaces. Massive corporate offices from a bygone, pre-virtual era, sitting unoccupied, desolate, forgotten. Sadly, this is the post-pandemic narrative for many California cities, suburbs and exurbs these days. Along with an unexpected financial collapse and a...

In a recent 2021 poll by the Bay Area Council, homelessness dominated the concerns of most residents in our region. Raise your hand if you’re surprised. The fact is we all see the tragic impacts of people forced to sleep outside and it’s truly horrifying. Human beings living and dying along our highways and creeks....

On any given day, try taking a stroll down the main boulevard of Santana Row. There are people dining at expensive restaurants, sipping on decadent drinks, shopping at luxury stores and enjoying a safe, cultivated, undisturbed sunny afternoon. Some people think this carefully manicured Silicon Valley fantasy is the best San Jose has to offer....

Have you noticed how often homelessness and poverty are crowding your news media feeds lately? It’s everywhere from Nextdoor to the nightly news to your local paper. Evictions, encampments, unemployment, affordable housing developments, community responses, failures and new reports. And without question, there is a growing fascination with finding the headline grabbers that scrutinize and...