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A top official and longtime leader of the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District has died. Vice Chancellor Jorge Escobar died recently while vacationing in Mexico, according to a Tuesday statement from the district. Escobar, 55, was in the running to take over as chancellor from Interim Chancellor and San José Spotlight columnist Raúl Rodríguez, according...
How one group is working to revitalize downtown San Jose
A longtime goal of revitalizing San Jose’s downtown will require input and energy from a broad group of politicians, residents, advocates and businesses. One venture capitalist hopes a series of meetings will accelerate and complement existing efforts to make the downtown cleaner, safer and bring in more visitors to support local businesses still reeling after...
San Jose an uphill battle for small businesses
California is ranked as the 25th least expensive state to start a business, but local business leaders say entrepreneurs in San Jose face significant challenges in launching a company. A recent study by SimplifyLLC analyzed a variety of factors to rank each state, including business filing fees, labor costs, utility costs, lending rates and start...
Is San Jose’s progressive housing policy dead?
A contentious affordable housing policy coming to the San Jose City Council appears to be dead on arrival. The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, is coming to the city council in late April, but it seems the long-debated policy will not have enough votes to pass. Councilmember Peter Ortiz tried and failed to defer the policy...
Meet San Jose’s new downtown manager
Nathan Donato-Weinstein built his career in downtown San Jose—and now his job is to build the area into the vibrant city center he knows it can be. Donato-Weinstein is San Jose’s new downtown manager—a position focused on the downtown core’s economic development. The business journalist turned business development expert in City Hall has been in his...
San Jose mayor proposes homeless ban in parts of city
San Jose’s mayor has faced criticism for his plan to ban homeless residents from setting up camp in certain parts of the city, but he believes it’s only because people don’t fully understand it. As part of his March budget message, Mayor Matt Mahan asked the city to explore enacting no encampment zones, which would prohibit homeless camps in...
Will San Jose ever connect its two transit hubs?
In the year 2030, a woman walks from her apartment in downtown San Jose to Diridon Station, where she zips toward San Jose Mineta International Airport and arrives within five minutes for her flight. This is the future imagined by proponents of the airport connector, a direct shuttle service between San Jose’s main train station...
UPDATE: San Jose council strengthens wage theft policy
San Jose wanted to loosen wage theft requirements to allow more contractors to work for the city, but councilmembers pushed back. City staff recommended scaling back the city’s wage theft policy for public contacts, but the City Council voted unanimously to strengthen it at a Tuesday meeting. Councilmember Dev Davis was absent. Wage theft occurs...
San Jose Sharks still playing at SAP Center
Sharks Sports & Entertainment and German software company SAP inked a five-year extension to their ongoing partnership, preserving the naming rights to the SAP Center where the hockey team plays their home games. The parent company of the San Jose Sharks will keep SAP’s name across the front of the city-owned arena through 2028. With the...
San Jose police union hides web pages after scandal
The San Jose Police Officers’ Association has blocked significant portions of its website from public access after its executive director was charged in connection with an international drug smuggling scheme. The association, which is the union that represents about 1,100 San Jose Police Department officers, previously had its website largely open to the public, including pages for its board...