About Last Week…

With the throwing out of the paying guests done and the spending of $64 million on renovation, etc., completed, Sacramento’s Capitol Park Hotel is now ready to house the homeless.

The “supportive housing units” will house 130 folks eventually – 80 have already move in with the rest delayed by what the City of Sacramento is calling  “supply chain issues.”

That’s bureaucrat code for “oops, we forgot to buy enough sheet sets” by the way, but it shouldn’t slow down the process too much.

What should have not just slowed down but stopped the project entirely was the cost.  At $478,000 per unit the project has already failed not only because the price itself but also what they’re getting for that kind of cost, as the Globe reported. In other words, the city could have done a lot better by the homeless for a lot less money.

The units – efficiencies are what they used to be called but even by those standards they are small – will have a little kitchen and a bathroom and be about 280 square-feet in size.  

For comparison, there are right now 351 actual homes for sale in the Sacramento-area for less than $450,000. Putting aside for a moment the propriety of the government spending money on free forever housing for people, instead of getting a 280 square-foot unit each of the 134 people could have been given a 1,300-1,600 square-foot free-standing home and that still would have cost less.

Take a moment and hop over to Zillow or Realtor.com and see for yourself – here’s one of a three-bedroom, 1,500 square-foot ranch in the Colonial Village neighborhood for $425,000:

Seems nicer than a glorified dorm room, doesn’t it?

Typically, such units are more comparable to extended stay hotels – kitchenette, sitting area, etc.  Those rooms run about 400 square-feet on average and – built new from the ground up – about $167,000.  That’s a national average, so in California (with higher land and entitlement costs) push that to about $220,000 per unit.

More space, built new, less than half the price.

But the entire permanent supportive housing push is not about building permanent supportive housing – it’s about lining pockets and being able to feel really good, deep down inside, while its being done. It’s a very rare occasion indeed when you get to make money by sleaze and then be given an award for helping the community.

And that’s priceless.

Speaking of priceless – and not in the good way but in the “you can’t even give it away” sense – the Los Angeles Times has endorsed Adam Schiff in the March Senatorial primary.

And here’s where the Times thinks Schiff really differentiates himself from fellow Democrats Reps Barbara Lee and Katie Porter:

Schiff, however, stands out for his extraordinary leadership over the last several years in helping to protect the nation’s institutions, the rule of law and American democracy itself from former President Trump.

I didn’t know protecting the nation’s institutions including lying and leaking (if you lie when you leak is that still a leak?)  From a Wall Street Journal editorial:

The question we’d ask our friends in the media is when are they going to stop playing the fool by putting him on the air? Mr. Schiff is a powerful figure with access to secrets that the rest of us don’t have and can’t check. He misled the country repeatedly on an issue that consumed American politics…As for Mr. Schiff, no one should ever believe another word he says.

Last June, Schiff was formally censured by the House of Representatives for his habitual lying and he could not have been happier because he gets to wear the Trump-killer mantle – “see how scared Republicans are of me!” – through this Senate campaign.

He practically begged to get censured and now he still leads in the polls.

Speaking of polls, the Iowa Republican caucus is today and Donald Trump is expected to win handily. 

As it is a given he will win, the press has focused on the race for second – can Ron DeSantis save his doomed campaign?  Can Nikki Haley solidify her position as the non-Trump got-to candidate?  Will Vivek criticize Trump again?

I cannot say who will come in second, but I can guarantee what the press will say if Trump pulls less than 50% of the support:

“Majority of Republicans Opposes Trump”

“Results Show Trump Nod Not Certain”

“In a One-on-One race, Trump Vulnerable”

“Get Out Now Ron – Let Nikki Take Down Trump” (that one is a definite if DeSantis comes in third, just a probable if he finishes second.)

This headlines will run even if Trump gets a little over half of the vote, though even the most blinkered member of the media will at least think twice about pushing that line if Trump finishes above 55%.

By the way, the same goes for after the New Hampshire primary and by March the line will be “…if only he had had to face someone head-on, then he wouldn’t have got the nomination…”

Speaking of shouldn’t have got the nomination, I found this nugget regarding Gavin Newsom and Laphonza Butler – our senator, remember? – very interesting.  Just a couple of days after becoming senator last fall, Butler spoke at an EMILY’s List – the “we find woman candidates in favor abortion” advocacy group – fund raiser.  The National Review summed it up nicely:

Newsom’s selection is almost a parody of a pandering politician; instead of merely attempting to placate or satisfy a key Democratic Party interest group, he’s putting the head of a key Democratic Party interest group in the Senate. Still, give Newsom credit for perhaps the lone example of government efficiency in his reign. No more need for the middlemen of Democratic politicians; EMILY’s List now gets its own Senate seat directly.

And don’t forget, Maryland – home to a huge chunk of federal workers – got a third senator out of the deal, too.

The only people who did not benefit from the appointment were the people of California.

Thanks for reading the Globe!