Facing yet another major budget shortfall, San Jose leaders are considering a proposal to hike taxes on hotel stays as a means of boosting revenue for city services. The City Council is set to review a proposed ballot measure Tuesday that would increase the city’s so-called transient occupancy tax, levied on hotel guests, from 10%...
San Jose faces tough choices to balance budget shortfall
San Jose leaders are warning of “tough” financial decisions and “hard choices” as this year’s budget season officially gets underway. The months-long process kicked off Thursday with a special study session considering how to balance a projected deficit of up to $65 million. While the city managed to balance last year’s shortfall without laying off any workers,...
San Jose loosens rules for local card rooms
San Jose is easing restrictions on its local gambling industry as part of a months-long effort to lighten the regulatory burden placed on the city’s two card houses. The City Council approved a package of five rule changes Tuesday in a unanimous vote, with Mayor Matt Mahan absent. San Jose Police Department officials said the...
Future of Santa Clara County guaranteed income programs uncertain
To make guaranteed basic income a reality, Santa Clara County leaders turned to a real world trial. Now their efforts are making strides, but it couldn’t come at a darker time for the county’s social safety net outlook. A historic set of four simultaneous pilot programs is providing $1,200 in guaranteed basic income per month...
Beloved Silicon Valley costume store takes final bow
The clustered racks of Natasha’s Attic were bustling with Victorian noblemen and Renaissance fairies looking for their evening gowns for the last time. The building where the retail-rental costume store in San Jose is located has been sold, and owner Kathy Bell has until the end of February to liquidate everything. While the eviction came...
Citizen group to oversee Santa Clara County’s Measure A spending
Santa Clara County leaders promised their voter-approved sales tax increase would save local public hospitals from closure. That commitment will now be tested. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to form a citizen oversight committee to ensure that $330 million in Measure A revenue will be spent as advertised. County leaders last year vowed Measure...
Leadership turmoil returns to Hispanic Silicon Valley business group
For the second time in seven years, a prominent South Bay business group has found itself embroiled in a leadership dispute that has led to the sudden ouster and replacement of multiple board members. Just like a similar board shakeup in 2019, this latest episode at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley involves demands...
Santa Clara County residents consider leaving the area
A significant number of Santa Clara County residents say they’re considering leaving the Bay Area, a reflection of the persistent frustration over housing costs and affordability even as population data suggests the region is not experiencing a mass exodus. Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s annual survey found 40% of respondents in Santa Clara County said they...
New brewery coming to The Pruneyard in Campbell
A new watering hole is moving into The Pruneyard six months after Rock Bottom Brewery closed. Laughing Monk Brewing will open its fifth location in Campbell, where Rock Bottom Brewery was housed for 30 years. Unlike its national chain predecessor, Laughing Monk is a local brewery with four locations in the Bay Area — Sunnyvale,...
Pruneyard Cinemas in Campbell not closing
Campbell’s Pruneyard Cinemas announced Friday that it has managed to reach an agreement with its landlord in a longstanding rent dispute, allowing the beloved theater to remain open. The news comes as a reversal in fortunes for the theater company, which told customers last week that rising costs would force it to close down permanently...