Families across Santa Clara County are flocking to food halls, one-stop eateries to order a variety of cuisines from local restaurants. Similar to food courts, food halls—also known as “micro kitchens”—let customers come to a storefront to order food from multiple restaurants and enjoy their meal on site. Variations on the idea are popping up...
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Silicon Valley food banks struggle with soaring gas prices
The rising cost of gas is impacting Santa Clara County nonprofits and threatening food for the homeless. Increased fuel expenses are cutting into budgets of local food pantries, including Martha’s Kitchen, Lighthouse Ministries and Loaves & Fishes. Martha’s Kitchen is facing a monthly budget increase of $5,000 due to increased fuel prices, a significant hit...
The Biz Beat: San Jose feed store caters to every anteater and zebra
With its roots anchored in agriculture and old-style customer service, Sam’s Downtown Feed & Pet Supply has served San Jose for more than 30 years. Advertised as “feeding anteaters to zebras,” the store provides livestock and chicken feed, beekeeping supplies, grain, hay and zoological feed. In addition to feeding llamas, alpacas and flamingos, it also...
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San Jose national quality of life ranking gives critics pause
This week, San Jose moved up the ranks to become one of the Bay Area’s two best places to live in the United States. But for researchers crunching similar statistics, vaulting onto the top 10 list is a bona fide head scratcher. According to the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Places to Live in...
Valley Fair parking fees a burden for San Jose student workers
A coalition of mall workers and San Jose State University college students are fighting to be heard at Westfield Valley Fair. On Thursday, the group known as Low Income Versus Elite protested in front of the mall on Stevens Creek Boulevard against its employee parking fee policy. For retail workers who make minimum wage, having...
Amended settlement allows new housing in North San Jose
A legal obstacle that blocked new housing in North San Jose for almost a decade has now been removed, thanks to an amended settlement between San Jose and Santa Clara. San Jose councilmembers voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an agreement with Santa Clara, which will free the city to pursue housing development in North San...
San Jose council ponders airport improvements amid budget talks
As San Jose leaders consider budgets for transportation services, some are expressing cautious optimism about the recovery of air travel. At a recent budget workshop meeting, San Jose Aviation Director John Aitken said the city is focused on the air transportation industry’s recovery. He said the Mineta San Jose International Airport is still well below its pre-pandemic...
Santa Clara sees Coldplay perform past usual curfew
A crowd of 50,000 Coldplay fans reveled at a Sunday concert at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara—later than usual. In November, the Santa Clara City Council voted to allow an exception of five events to its noise ordinance ban at Levi’s Stadium. The noise ordinance requires the stadium to go dark by 10 p.m. on...
Santa Clara County stores put purchase limit on baby formula
The national baby formula shortage is hitting the South Bay, prompting some stores to limit purchases as parents scramble to stock up on supply. The months-long crisis has reached new heights in the last few weeks—with the national out-of-stock rate hitting 43% as of last week, according to retail data service Datasembly. California is seeing a better rate...
Rent burden growing worse in Santa Clara County
The rent burden grew heavier in Santa Clara County during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there’s no sign it will get any lighter this year. Rents in Santa Clara County increased 6.3% between the end of 2020 and end of 2021, according to a recent report from California Housing Partnership, which provides housing...