San Jose restaurants in need of financial support during the pandemic can apply for a $5,000 grant starting Oct. 16 to help them serve customers through the winter. As the weather gets colder, business owners often have steeper heating bills to pay to keep patrons comfortable. The presence of COVID-19 also means restaurants will have...
Google unveils portrait of massive downtown San Jose campus
San Jose revealed scads of new details about Google’s plans to build a sprawling downtown campus with 7.3 million square feet of office space and 4,000 housing units spread out over more than 80 acres with improvements to public amenities, including 10 parks and the trails that will eventually connect them all. San Jose Downtown...
Santa Clara County looks to allow indoor dining as early as next week
If Santa Clara County enters the lower-risk orange tier for reopening, all businesses, including restaurants and churches, can resume indoor gatherings at 25% capacity, health officials announced Monday. “The soonest the state may allow us to move into the orange tier is Oct. 13, meaning that this new order will take effect no earlier than...
Santa Clara County allows facial services to reopen
Santa Clara County is lifting restrictions on licensed estheticians and other skin care professionals who were previously prohibited from operating due to the coronavirus. County public health officials on Sunday afternoon made the change that will now allow facial services to resume. Previously, the county allowed hair and nails salons to reopen for both indoor...
South Bay lawyer’s inside role in the Google sexual misconduct settlement
Announcement of a $310 million settlement over Google’s treatment of sexual misconduct allegations against executives took on added significance for the South Bay’s Ann Ravel because it came the same day U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lay in state. Ravel, the first woman named Santa Clara County counsel in 1998, is a longtime...
San Jose’s minority-owned businesses face unique challenges with lingering shutdown
It has been six months since Liz Ruiz saw families skating around the floor of Aloha Roller Rink. The East San Jose-based business owner has watched other businesses reopen across the city without any idea about when she might be able to do the same, pay her employees or welcome back customers. Ruiz had occupied...
UPDATE: More San Jose small businesses to get break on license tax
In an effort to relieve small businesses suffering during the pandemic, the San Jose City Council unanimously agreed to expand a tax break even though it will cost the city $1 million. The tax, which business owners pay annually to receive a license, ranges from $203 to as high as $163,745 depending on the number...
San Jose: Black-owned cannabis businesses move to front of the shelf
As the country grapples with structural racism and ensuring equity in Black communities, a San Jose cannabis company is helping people of color — many of whom were targeted in drug wars — in a new way. Harborside this month launched an initiative to highlight Black-owned cannabis brands such as Oakland Extracts, the Congo Club,...
UPDATE: San Jose City Council approves Bay 101 casino settlement
After years of legal battles between San Jose and the Bay 101 casino, the City Council voted 10-1 Sept. 22 to approve a 2020 settlement agreement and put a series of suits to bed. Most notably, Bay 101 sued the city in 2013 for charging “unconstitutionally excessive” fees. As a compromise, the city will consider...
Why indoor dining is still not an option in Santa Clara County
In Santa Clara County, you can walk into a business and get your hair and nails done, work out and even get a tattoo. But you can’t eat. The county recently got the OK to move into the red tier of the state’s categories that allow more businesses to reopen and is taking steps toward...