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Boba, professional athlete meet-and-greets, live music and Starbucks gift cards are a few things you might expect to see if you’re getting vaccinated nowadays in Santa Clara County. Now that more than 1 million county residents are fully vaccinated, officials are offering a carrot for the rest of the population to get at least 85%...
Santa Clara County pilots program to combat wage theft
Santa Clara County is doubling down on its efforts to eliminate wage theft following a report showing $128 million in unpaid fees. Earlier this month, the county launched a pilot program that proactively identifies contractors working with the county who have outstanding final judgments against them and determines whether to disqualify the contractor from doing...
CDC mask guidance brings confusion to Santa Clara County
Differences between federal and local mask rules are creating confusion, frustration and in some cases hostile situations. Santa Clara County residents breathed a sigh of relief this week with the move to the least-restrictive yellow tier in California’s reopening plan, an indication that life might return to “normal” after more than a year of fear...
San Jose car thefts on the rise, beating national trends
Vehicle thefts are up across San Jose—and you might be more vulnerable if you drive an older Honda. According to the city, vehicle thefts rose by 15% between 2019 and 2020. Preliminary data shows thefts recorded in January and February of this year outstripped thefts during the same time in 2020 by a whopping 49%,...
San Jose man faces restraining orders, court battle after watching police
A San Jose resident faces a restraining order and a winding legal battle with police after they arrested him for legally documenting their activity during a traffic stop. The man is due in court next month to fight against a restraining order police issued against him—what his attorneys call a delay tactic by City Hall. On a...
San Jose leans on ADUs to meet housing goals
San Jose is lagging behind its 2017 promise to build 25,000 units of new housing—10,000 of them affordable—by 2022. Now, officials are looking for solutions to the shortfall and hoping to jumpstart construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs). To meet its goal of 25,000 new units in five years, the city needed to build about...
Do grand jury reports influence change in Silicon Valley?
Santa Clara County’s Civil Grand Jury for decades has attempted to improve government and investigate corruption, but whether it’s meeting those goals isn’t so clear. And most of the people lining up to serve on it are older white people. The Civil Grand Jury investigates complaints made by county residents, but not all complaints are...
More wage theft claims emerge at San Jose housing site
San Jose’s labor compliance department launched an investigation of an emergency housing project after San José Spotlight exposed wage theft allegations in March. Public Works Director Matt Cano confirmed that the city’s Office of Equality Assurance is conducting a “full review” of contractors that did work at the Monterey Bernal emergency housing site, built with several...
Santa Clara County seeks redistricting advisory commission members
Fifteen county residents will soon help reshape Santa Clara County government’s political power. Santa Clara County supervisors are creating a new advisory commission to complete redistricting obligations by the end of the year, in light of census data delays. Every county is required to redraw its supervisorial boundaries in 2021 according to federal, state and...
Garbage rates to increase in East Santa Clara County
Residents and businesses in East Santa Clara County will see their garbage rates go up this summer. Officials say that’s largely due to the rapidly changing international recyclables market. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved the 5.5% increase, effective July 1. The increase will affect about 5,000 customers in eastern unincorporated Santa Clara County,...