Another candidate on Monday entered the race to replace Silicon Valley Assemblyman Kansen Chu, setting the stage for one of the region’s most closely-watched races next year. Alex Lee, 23, a policy advisor and former field representative for Assemblyman Evan Low, announced he’s jumping into the fray. He joins a slew of other candidates, including...
Bob Wieckowski jumps from Congress to supervisorial race
Three weeks after declaring his candidacy for Congress to succeed presidential hopeful Rep. Eric Swalwell, Fremont state Sen. Bob Wieckowski is shifting gears. Now he wants to run for Alameda County Supervisor to replace Supervisor Scott Haggerty, a position that would afford him no term limits. Wieckowski, a bankruptcy attorney who sat on the Senate...
San Jose lawmakers call on mayor to address inequity
Five progressive San Jose lawmakers on Monday criticized Mayor Sam Liccardo for not going far enough in his proposed budget to address inequities that plague Silicon Valley’s poorest neighborhoods. “San Jose’s working families face issues of poverty, blight, crime and neglect that sometimes go back generations,'” said Councilmember Sylvia Arenas during a news conference at...
San Jose: Lawmaker calls for public discussion about displacement
San Jose officials spent nearly a year studying displacement with a national research institute and now one lawmaker is ready to make the findings public. East San Jose Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco on Wednesday asked her colleagues to schedule a study session in late August on the topic. The city is expected to unveil a citywide...
San Jose political foes join forces against new taxes
Two very unlikely San Jose political leaders joined forces Friday against one common enemy: New taxes. In a memo released late Friday, San Jose Councilmembers Johnny Khamis and Sergio Jimenez — who are often on opposite sides of most social issues — directed city administrators to stop studying placing any new tax measures on the...
San Jose to pay six-figure settlement in traffic death case
San Jose City Hall will shell out a six-figure settlement to the family of a man who was killed while walking near a dark overpass with broken lights — which should’ve been maintained by the city. The settlement, which will be formally approved by the City Council on Tuesday, awards $100,000 to the parents of...
Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran enters California Assembly race
Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran is dropping out of a local supervisorial race to run for state Assembly in an effort to replace Kansen Chu, who announced earlier this month that he’ll run for Santa Clara County Supervisor. Tran broke the big news on Facebook early Wednesday morning. The young mayor said he decided in December...
San Jose struggling to meet spike in trash clean-up requests
The cleanliness of San Jose consistently ranks very poorly in resident surveys, pushing city leaders to ramp up efforts to combat blight, litter and graffiti — including a new app to report such nuisances. But the new technology backfired. The demand for clean-up services has soared and San Jose doesn’t have the staff or equipment...
San Jose City Manager Dave Sykes releases ‘stable’ budget
Stable but limited. That’s how San Jose City Manager Dave Sykes describes the city’s budget for 2019-2020. Sykes on Tuesday released his proposed operating budget for the next fiscal year, which will be mulled in a series of study sessions and public hearings. Following the lead of Mayor Sam Liccardo’s March budget message, Sykes warns...
San Jose leaders put off Sam Liccardo’s pay proposal
San Jose elected leaders on Wednesday put off a vote on Mayor Sam Liccardo’s request to reject his raise and allocate a portion of the pay bump to two of his social initiatives. The council’s Rules and Open Government Committee — which is chaired by Liccardo — voted unanimously to defer sending the mayor’s proposal...
