The rallying chants broke through the quiet morning: “Up up with public housing, down down with Google.” Vas Kumar, a supporter of the #Google8, the eight people arrested for chaining themselves to chairs to protest Google’s planned development in San Jose, called out the tech titan through a megaphone in front of the Santa Clara County building early...
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Business
San Jose automation firm leads in venture capital megafunding
Venture capital funding in the South Bay last year reached the highest levels in nearly a decade with a San Jose firm that invests in AI landing some of the biggest deals. Last November, San Jose-based software developer Automation Anywhere announced that the company had raised $300 million from the Saudi-backed SoftBank Vision Fund. CEO...
Amid PG&E bankruptcy, San Jose rolls out community choice energy program
Days after the state’s largest utility provider filed bankruptcy, the capital of Silicon Valley turned the lights on San Jose Clean Energy, a new community choice plan that environmentalist Ruth Merino has been fighting for the last three years. “No one has to change anything,” Merino said. “You just pay your bill just like you...
San Jose puts off raising building heights — for now
In a unanimous decision, City Council leaders on Monday decided to postpone passing a measure that would increase building height limits in downtown San Jose until February. A study commissioned by the city included four options that would allow for building height increases without jeopardizing safety measures, with “Scenario 4” being the most supported by...
Fight brews over San Jose airport height limits: “Are we willing to sacrifice safety?”
In the fight to accelerate economic growth by developing taller buildings in downtown, San Jose is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one side, leaders from the city and its public airport are pushing hard to raise building height limits up to 35 feet from the current limits in the downtown core...
New Silicon Valley Community Foundation CEO focused on rebuilding
While many in Silicon Valley recall the scandal of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Nicole Taylor, the foundation’s new chief executive, is ready to turn a new leaf. Taylor replaces former Silicon Valley Community Foundation CEO Emmett Carson, after he resigned following claims of misconduct by a top foundation executive, Mary Ellen Loijens. Loijens resigned...
Cannabis panel discusses removing barriers, ending the war on drugs
Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco’s vision for cannabis businesses in San Jose focuses on righting the wrongs. For decades, residents in the east San Jose district have been victims of the country’s war on drugs. Now she wants to change that with an equity program. “The way that I see this is what a tragic point in...
Watch out, Silicon Valley: Nevada is luring tech businesses away
During the fight for a future headquarters for Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon, the city of San Jose submitted a proposal that made no mention of its neighbor Nevada or any major cities across the state line. But the proposal sent by Southern Nevada had a lot to say about San Jose and California. Charts from...
Silicon Valley braces for nightmare traffic in 2019
Traffic congestion continues to be a major concern among employers in the Bay Area, and some fear the commute problems could end Silicon Valley’s worldwide appeal. Companies, meanwhile, are coming up with new strategies to get their employees to work in 2019. The Bay Area Council says that the commute problems affect the business climate,...
San Jose defends its cardrooms from Blackjack ban
San Jose’s longstanding war with its cardrooms has turned into… love? As state gaming regulators mulled a controversial proposal to ban Blackjack in California cardrooms, San Jose officials loudly stood up for Casino M8trix and Bay 101 by opposing the change and sending a top city leader to Antioch to speak out against the plan....