When we read a development proposal, we look beyond the property line. What will neighbors hear at night? What will children breathe? Where will the water come from? What happens to the birds and wildlife already living there? One of us teaches environmental studies at San Jose State University, grew up in San Jose, raised...
MacKenzie: Save healthcare services by taxing billionaires
Workers in America have been under attack for decades, with billionaires transferring ever larger portions of the nation’s wealth from our pockets into theirs. After H.R.1 or the “Big Beautiful Bill” slashed healthcare funding last year to give tax cuts to the wealthy, voters in Santa Clara County stepped up with Measure A to save our local hospitals. The working class...
Bramson: We can’t fix homelessness without sharing power
With less than a month until the midterm elections, Americans are being offered competing visions for the country’s future. Questions about government spending, public safety, economic security and the role of federal institutions are dominating the political conversation. And homelessness, as it so often does, has become another battleground in a much larger ideological fight....
Waite: We don’t need another tax increase for public transit
Santa Clara County voters have been generous to VTA. Today’s sales tax rate includes four ballot measures — from 1976, 2000, 2008 and 2016 — totaling 1.625%, providing VTA nearly $900 million per year. Now, supporters of Connect Bay Area, a 14-year regional transit measure for the Bay Area, propose adding another 0.5%, giving VTA...
Naughton: San Jose Unified School District needs new voices on its board
San Jose Unified School District families have spent the past year watching the district make consequential decisions regarding school closures and consolidations that reshaped entire neighborhoods with limited input from the people most affected. For many parents, teachers and community members, that experience has made one thing clear — this Board of Education needs new...
Urbanowski: What California’s final budget means for arts and culture in San Jose
On Sept. 18, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 113, the 2026 Budget Bill Jr., which includes significant new investments in California’s arts, culture and creative sector. This final 2026-27 state budget includes more than $80 million in new cross-agency investment in the arts — the largest single-year expansion of state arts funding since 2021....
Genzel: When it comes to misusing Flock cameras, concern is not enough
“I am concerned.” “A breach of trust.” This is what we heard from San Jose councilmembers at the recent Rules Committee hearing on the misuse of the city’s Flock license plate reader system. These are appropriate words. But concern is not enough. A San Jose police officer used the department’s Flock system to share a...
Paz-Cedillos: Heritage is what we inherit, legacy is what we build
On Oct. 31, families will gather at the Mexican Heritage Plaza for Avenida de Altares, our annual Día de los Muertos celebration. In the weeks leading up to Avenida de Altares, artists will transform La Plaza with altares honoring loved ones who have passed — beautiful, deeply personal works filled with photographs, marigolds, candles and...
Editorial: California bill reaffirms why nonprofit local news matters
National news saturates the airwaves on a daily basis and oftentimes people tune out — but when it comes to local news people want more. Residents yearn to know what’s happening in their backyard. They want to know which city councilmembers voted for a multistory housing development in the middle of a single-family neighborhood? Why...
Philbrick: How can we stop pedestrian deaths?
On Sept. 14, San Jose recorded its 18th pedestrian death of 2026. That sobering milestone came during California Pedestrian Safety Month. While “18th pedestrian death” sounds abstract, it is important to realize that this statistic tells us something crucial: Traveling on foot or using a mobility device — one of the most fundamental ways we...