Author: Eric He (Eric He)

New leadership coming to this powerful San Jose commission

One of San Jose’s most important legislative bodies will begin its next term with new leadership. The San Jose Planning Commission, a powerful panel that oversees development and advises lawmakers on the city’s planning policies, will add two new members. The City Council is expected to approve the appointments on Tuesday. Chair Rolando Bonilla is terming...

Downtown San Jose residents renew special property district

Property owners in downtown San Jose are saying yes to more taxes over the next 10 years. Nearly 89% of residents and businesses in a special district have voted in favor of renewing the downtown property-based improvement district (PBID) tax. Collected funds contribute to services such as cleaning, security and business development. The tax ranges...

San Jose hockey arena expansion to heat up downtown

Jon Gustafson, senior vice president of SAP Center and Sharks Ice, has dedicated most of his career to growing the game of hockey in San Jose. Now, Gustafson is leading a major expansion of Sharks Ice and opening the South Bay’s newest ice arena. This next chapter of Gustafson’s efforts is close to reality. The San Jose Barracuda,...

Silicon Valley fire officials gear up for future blazes

For George Huang, the fire chief for Cal Fire’s Santa Clara Unit, the term “fire season” is no longer in his vocabulary. It’s now simply “the fire year.” “We are facing another terrible, terrible fire year,” Huang told San José Spotlight. As of last week, 95% of California—including Santa Clara County—was in either severe or extreme...

South Bay land trust saves residents from displacement

For more than a year after Tafhari Siyani Benjamin Franklin moved into a fourplex on Reed Street in San Jose, the Navy veteran’s clothes were still in bins and bags. He’d watched as developments sprung up nearby and worried the property—home to formerly unhoused veterans—would be sold next. If that happened, he’d be unable to...