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With Silicon Valley residents already sacrificing health to pay their rent, a new report says living in the region is about to get much more expensive for local renters. Google’s proposed mega-campus will hike local rents up, causing tenants to pay five times more in rent than the city expects to collect in tax revenues...
After decades, VTA light rail extension to Eastridge moves forward
The Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors on Thursday voted unanimously to approve new plans for a light rail extension to San Jose’s Eastridge Transit Center — giving what should be the go-ahead on an almost 20-year-old project. The vote came decades after East San Jose residents waited for the wheels of government to crank...
San Jose is home to the nation’s second LGBTQ homeless shelter
Two months ago Kiabet Vivanco found refuge at San Jose’s New Haven Inn — a county-funded supportive home that’s now the nation’s second shelter for homeless and at-risk LGBTQ+ residents. Now, safe and sober, the 34-year-old landed a job and she’s able to see her three kids. “My plan is to keep my life like that,”...
Two years later: Is San Jose’s eviction law working?
As California lawmakers shelve legislation restricting evictions statewide, San Jose passed a similar “just cause” ordinance two years ago which requires landlords to cite a legitimate reason for terminating a lease. But is the law working here? Since the local law’s adoption in April 2017, San Jose City Hall has received more than 12,800 notices...
More students face homelessness as SJSU school year ends
As San Jose State University’s school year comes to an end and the Martin Luther King Jr. library – where countless homeless students sleep – closes for the night, university administrators have yet to come up with a plan to house the school’s homeless population. The end of the school year also means students living...
A day after Virginia Beach shooting, Bernie Sanders pushes gun control in San Jose stop
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democrat from Vermont and a 2020 presidential candidate, talked health care, prison reform, free college and unseating President Donald Trump during a campaign stop in downtown San Jose on Saturday. “The message of our campaign is us, not me,” Sanders told a crowd of several hundred supporters at San Jose’s Arena...
San Jose: Homeless Hope Village residents return to dismantled encampment
Nearly three months ago, Silicon Valley officials thought they dismantled ‘Hope Village’ — an encampment of mostly homeless women — for good. But a few of those residents have returned to Hope Village, San José Spotlight has learned, and some are back out on the streets. “This is my only place of sanctuary,” said Michael...
San Jose housing crisis: Terry Christensen will spend $250K to build ‘granny unit’
San Jose officials vow to make it quicker, easier and cheaper to build ‘granny units’ to alleviate Silicon Valley’s housing crisis, but tell that to Terry Christensen. The longtime political scientist and Naglee Park resident has spent $30,000 since Oct. 2017 — and will fork over upwards of a quarter million dollars — to build...
San Jose: Tech Museum of Innovation unveils new name and vision
The former San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation has been reborn. It’s new name and vision: The Tech Interactive. “The world was calling us,” Tim Ritchie, President and CEO of The Tech Interactive, told San José Spotlight. After 20 years in operation, the beloved downtown technology museum is being rebranded and reopened to offer expanded...
Silicon Valley leaders look to ‘granny units’ to solve housing crisis
With the shrinking supply of land in Silicon Valley driving up housing costs, some Bay Area leaders are banking on secondary units to save the region from its agonizing housing crisis. The so-called “granny units” could be a gamechanger for beefing up the Bay Area’s housing supply, officials say, offering elderly or low-income residents an...