The future of Santa Clara’s Freedom Bridge has been uncertain for years, but now the end may be near for the bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail near Intel Corp.’s campus. Tucked between Highway 101 and Mission College Boulevard, the bridge was always meant to be temporary, even when Intel...
Diridon Station neighborhoods form coalition before Google-spurred development boom
A trio of San Jose neighborhood groups around Diridon Station — the epicenter of change in the fast-growing city — have banded together, creating a united front to advocate, negotiate and work with city officials and developers on the changes to come. It’s the first time a united group of neighborhood associations have independently come...
Silicon Valley cab drivers have been independent contractors since the 70s. AB5 might change that.
When Yellow Checker cab driver Karan Deep’s phone rings, he has full autonomy to accept or decline a ride. That’s because the nearly 20-year driver is an independent contractor, and always has been. “I do it because I have relationships with customers,” Deep said. “This is my living, and I like it.” He said that...
Silicon Valley company makes strides toward space economy
Humans have been dreaming of the next frontier for decades, imagining what humankind might find among the stars. But in a stout, two-story building in Mountain View, one group is taking it a step further by imagining an entire new space economy. Made In Space, which leases land for its headquarters at Moffett Field from...
A new training program aims to help San Jose mobile food vendors
What sprouted at a community farm in East San Jose as a workforce development program for mobile food vendors has blossomed into something rare — an advocacy group pushing to make it easier for food cart operators to earn a living. It’s a community that needs advocates. The work is hard: profit margins are slim,...
Massive Santa Clara project with tall towers blocked by FAA
One of the largest proposed developments in Santa Clara will get a shakeup this year after the Federal Aviation Administration raised red flags about the tall towers in the project, according to the developer, Kylli Inc. The Chinese developer has been working since early 2018 on a tall, mixed-use proposal called Mission Point that would...
San Jose art studio lands a new location near Google campus
As a temporary creative space, community art studio Local Color, formerly known as the Exhibition District, is used to bouncing around from different spaces in downtown San Jose. But now, the studio has partnered with a top investment firm to secure a new fixture — for free. The partnership between Local Color and the investment...
Google gives out another big grant in San Jose, this time for job training
Google has granted $250,000 to Year Up Bay Area’s San Jose program, which aims to “close the opportunity divide” through technical and professional skills training. Year Up, which has partnered with Google across the country since 2009, focuses its services on people ranging from 18 to 24 years old who do not have college degrees....
South Bay independent contractors share mixed feelings about AB5
Update: California legislators approved Assembly Bill 5 in a 29 to 11 vote in the State Senate Tuesday night. The most recent amendment added manicurists to the list of professions affected, including both Uber and Lyft drivers. Independent contractors across Santa Clara County might soon be classified as employees if a new bill continues to...
Silicon Valley Rising has a plan to improve the lives of ‘Tech’s Invisible Workforce’
Workers on tech campuses across Silicon Valley live with a dichotomy virtually unknown to people employed in other industries — there are two tiers of tech jobs. One is seen as respectable and is highly paid. The other comes with low wages and little dignity. But a group of organizers who have been pushing for...