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Last November, I wrote a piece here about Opportunity Zones, a feature of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act geared towards spurring new capital investment in specific low-income areas by providing capital gains deferral, reduction and avoidance for long-term infusions of working capital in these selected regions.  In that article, I noted that the IRS had issued proposed regulations … [Read more...] about News and updates on Opportunity Zones

California’s policymakers have long been advocates of sustainability, especially regarding energy and water use, mainly for reasons of necessity. Towards this end, back in 2007, the state’s lawmakers enacted AB 1103, which imposed energy consumption benchmarking obligations for nonresidential buildings. In 2015, due to the difficulties in putting these requirements into effect, … [Read more...] about San Jose’s energy and water use benchmarking program for large commercial and multifamily buildings starts soon

Some time back, I wrote about the City of Palo Alto’s struggles in addressing the amount of commercial development it should allow, in grappling with the ongoing disparity between employment growth and housing in Silicon Valley. Since then, city government has continued to wrestle with this problem, adopting a variety of tactics in its efforts to bridge this gap, including … [Read more...] about Palo Alto reverses course on commercial development cap

Enacted in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) is a landmark paradigm of U.S. civil rights legislation, modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in order to bar discrimination against and ensure opportunities for people with disabilities. While the goals of this law are unquestionably laudable, however, its implementation in practice has produced mixed results. … [Read more...] about Are we seeing a rash of ADA issues in Silicon Valley?

I’m happy to announce that “Silicon Valley ADUs,” the new online resource I have been working on and talking about for the last several months, is now ready for prime time. This website features news about ADUs, as well as an FAQ on ADU basics. I have also provided online tools to assist those of you who are ADU developers: The Excel-based “Return on Investment” tool has a … [Read more...] about My new ADU website is live!