Please send to your independent (No Party Preference) friends trying to decide how to vote on key issues in this election <[link removed]> <[link removed]> Hotel California - You can check out anytime you like, but your job is leaving Peter Ohtaki People came to California for jobs in aerospace and technology. They came here to raise capital and build companies that would change the world. Silicon Valley underscored the promise of entrepreneurialism, capitalism and the American dream. I grew up in Menlo Park when Highway 280 opened, and BART was new and safe. I moved back from NYC in 1990 to help raise capital for tech companies like Cisco Systems, and co-founded a tech start-up in 1994 with big dreams. 4 of the 5 FAANG stocks - Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google started here - and drove U.S. economic growth and S&P500 over the last decade. Today our majestic cities – San Francisco and Los Angeles are experiencing a doom loop of crime, homelessness, and businesses leaving. And as businesses leave, so goes our jobs - it’s just a matter of time. Prop 47 decriminalized shop lifting <$950 and drug possession passed in 2014 led to “smash & grab” looting and drug addiction on the streets of our great cities. Vote <[link removed]> Yes on Prop 36 <[link removed]?> this November to finally reform Prop 47! At least 237 large companies have left California since 2005, according to the California Policy Center <[link removed]> , blaming the state’s ever-expanding regulatory and taxation climate, and high cost of living. Charles Schwab, McKesson, Lockheed, Bank of America, Tesla, among others.were major employers in the Bay Area. Over 120 relocated to Texas. Chevron is moving its HQ to Houston. The state raised gas taxes under SB-1 to $1.40/gallon (about $2500/year). We’re painfully aware it’s at least a buck cheaper per gallon in other states. The state banned single family zoning under SB9 <[link removed]> . Your neighbor can build a 4-unit condo next door, and the state government won’t fund the water, infrastructure, classrooms, to support the increase in population. Many cities now ban natural gas appliances in new construction, yet California’s power grid is still 40% natural gas generation. The state now requires a $20/hour minimum wage for fast food workers, passed on to consumers. School districts are prohibited from informing parents if their elementary school-aged children begin gender transition, causing Elon Musk to move the HQ for SpaceX and X (fka Twitter) to Texas. We pay over $20k property taxes, 10% state income taxes, 10% sales taxes, $1.40/gal gas tax, yet the State of California has an $85 billion budget deficit this year. Why would politicians think we would pay more taxes? Regional Measure (RM-4) <[link removed]> was going to raise taxes over the 9-county Bay Area to pay for a $20 billion bond for affordable housing. But county boards of supervisors pulled the measure after polling indicated RM-4 would fail in 2024. View original post <[link removed]> Mainstream Revolution <[link removed]> 8 Politzer Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA Powered by Squarespace <[link removed]> Unsubscribe <[link removed]>