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San Jose residents are speaking out against plans for a Buddhist temple in the Evergreen area over concerns it will cause the neighborhood to be overrun with traffic and noise. The 13,900-square-foot Wat Khmer Kampuchea Krom Temple is planned for a 1.86-acre vacant corner lot at the intersection of Ruby and Norwood avenues, which previously...
Empty San Jose offices could convert to housing
As major cities like San Jose and San Francisco struggle with emptied out downtowns after the pandemic pushed huge swaths of people to remote work, discussion of converting empty offices to housing is gaining traction. The Office to Housing Conversion Act, or AB 1532, would allow certain office buildings to be converted to housing across...
‘A very dark place’: Silicon Valley leader opens up about fatal crash
More than three years after Jenny Higgins fatally struck Santa Cruz resident Timothy Starkey with her car, she said not a day goes by when she doesn’t think about the pain her actions have caused his family. “I carry a burden of shame, of sadness,” Higgins told San José Spotlight. Higgins, the co-founder and former...
Robes, candles and chants: South Bay official in hot water over religious ceremony
On a Sunday evening late last month a Milpitas employee working at City Hall saw something very unusual and eerie: several people wearing dark robes, walking through the building while chanting, burning candles and possibly sage. To the worker’s surprise, one of the people participating in what appeared to be a religious after-hours ceremony was...
What’s next for the former Fry’s HQ in San Jose?
A plan to build a massive office campus in North San Jose over the next decade is moving forward after winning approval from the San Jose City Council Tuesday evening. Campbell-based Bay West Development plans to build nearly two million square feet of office space across seven buildings on the site of the shuttered Fry’s...
Milpitas axes third city manager in six years
Frustrated Milpitas residents and councilmembers are calling for a reversal on the sudden decision to let go of City Manager Steve McHarris. McHarris is the third city manager to be let go in Milpitas since 2017, and is yet another loss in leadership that has shocked residents and left them wondering when the tumultuous string...
UPDATE: Senior housing tower heads to San Jose City Council
The San Jose Planning Commission has given a stamp of approval to a developer seeking to gut a historic building downtown, and put up a high-rise apartment building for older adults. Despite some concerns about a lack of parking in the project, and the fate of existing businesses who will be pushed out of their...
Lawsuit alleges Santa Clara County violated disability law
A Northern California man is suing Santa Clara County’s legal system, claiming he was denied proper hearing accommodations to help him communicate during jail time and in court proceedings. Howard Herships, 79, alleges in a federal lawsuit that the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and a judge in county court...
San Jose State University statue defaced
One of the most iconic statues in San Jose and the racial justice movement was defaced over the weekend. The “Victory Salute” statue at San Jose State University—which depicts alumni and African American Olympic athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos—was found defaced on Saturday, university officials said in a campus-wide email. The statue, which has...
Booms and busts: Silicon Valley economy divided
Silicon Valley’s economy is waiting to see how recent changes like remote work culture and the slowdown of pandemic-driven booms in the tech sector play out, according to a new regional report. Even with that in play, the most consistent indicators show Silicon Valley is still a place of drastic divides, with gaps between the haves...