Nearly 40 years ago, two parents clutched their frightened daughters’ hands to make a treacherous overnight escape from war-torn Iran in the 1980s. The family couldn’t carry more than a suitcase of family photos and mementos. They narrowly fled air bombs dropped by Saddam Hussein’s regime on their country, fleeing buildings and hospitals where tarps...
Editorial: Silicon Valley college board should look elsewhere for student housing
The Foothill-De Anza Community College District wants to help house its students struggling to find affordable rent. The district’s solution displaces Cupertino residents. The board of trustees had five years to come up with a plan after district voters passed Measure G in 2020 — a $898 million general obligation bond to help upgrade college...
Editorial: Will San Jose’s next District 3 leader fit the bill?
Accountability. Honesty. Reliability. The next District 3 San Jose councilmember is going to need all three in spades. Residents will be watching and expecting their newly-elected representative to uplift the downtown and help wash away the stain laid upon their neighborhood by disgraced former Councilman Omar Torres. A special election on April 8 will determine...
Editorial: San Jose misses the mark with functional zero
To bring homelessness to “functional zero,” San Jose will need to commit hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years to be able to say the number of people exiting homelessness is greater than those becoming homeless — unless city officials rethink their approach. Building more temporary shelters, tiny homes and safe parking and...
Editorial: Santa Clara County leaders face four big problems in 2025
It’s been quite a year for Santa Clara County. Local elections dominated much of 2024, bringing new faces into government and long-term officials bidding farewell. Other than a congressional race that began with a historic three-way runoff and recount in the primaries and an onslaught of political accusations throughout the season, the outcomes ended without a...
Editorial: San Jose school districts struggle to stay afloat
The flight of families due to the high cost of living in Santa Clara County has caused school enrollment numbers to crash in East and North San Jose — and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change in the coming years. Alum Rock and Berryessa union school districts are predicting enrollment declines of 27%...
Editorial: Omar Torres needs to resign — now
It’s been two weeks since San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres’ shocking text messages were exposed in legal documents. The disturbing messages show the 43-year-old bragging about performing oral sex on a 17-year-old male on a college campus, describing the genitalia of an autistic 11-year-old boy and asking a Chicago man if he’s got “homies under...
Editorial: Open the gates to the Vietnamese Heritage Garden
Public parks and gardens are designed to draw people closer to nature. They are not meant to be gated and locked to limit access to public spaces. That defeats the purpose of creating these parklands, which is why the entrance to the Vietnamese Heritage Garden should be unlocked. Within the gated garden is a bronze monument...
Editorial: Santa Clara County made the right move buying Regional
Santa Clara County never planned to buy Regional Medical Center in East San Jose. The Board of Supervisors wasn’t looking to take on more health care responsibilities. They had already saved three failing hospitals five years ago and ranked as the second-largest public health and hospital system in California. But the situation was dire. Make...
Editorial: California hospital services definition harms patient health
Santa Clara County residents who need emergency medical services should not have their treatment threatened because the closest hospital is miles away. It seems inconceivable that such a problem could exist in a county of such stature, and yet it does, because California’s definition of “general acute care hospital services” has no teeth. What it...