Rats. Trash. Desperation. Mental illness. Humanitarian crisis. These words define the conditions at the sprawling Columbus Park homeless encampment in San Jose. No matter how many millions of dollars San Jose and Santa Clara County throw at homelessness, if the premise to the solution is flawed, then the problem cannot be fixed. And therein lies the...
Editorial: Hey San Jose City Hall, how about thinking outside the box?
Pastor Ralph Olmos wasn’t worried about city permits when he opened his food stand—Lighthouse Ministries Food Pantry—at the corner of E. Julian and 17th streets in San Jose. Olmos was worried about people going hungry. He knew parents were choosing to feed their children, while they went without. He knew covering rent, utilities and medication came first...
Editorial: San Jose redistricting riddled with confusion, needs reform
Once a decade, San Jose redraws its political boundaries in order to achieve a level playing field. The process aims to ensure the city’s 10 council districts have equal representation. It reviews whether minorities, businesses and neighborhoods are fairly aligned. It works to ensure that those who govern do so not just for the betterment...
From the editor: We’re growing our team — led by longtime San Josean
After celebrating our two-year anniversary in January, San José Spotlight is growing its news team and kicking off 2021 with an experienced leader at the helm. Leslie Griffy, a longtime San Josean and veteran journalist and editor, is our new managing editor and newsroom leader. She replaces Simar Khanna, who stepped down in December. Leslie,...
From the editor: San José Spotlight named finalist in national journalism awards
San José Spotlight is a finalist for two national journalism awards, including the prestigious Publisher of the Year, the Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers announced last week. The honor recognizes San José Spotlight among the top local news websites in the U.S. San José Spotlight, which launched its ad-free, paywall-free website Jan. 2019, is...
From the editor: Welcoming a new leader in our newsroom
I’m excited to announce that San José Spotlight has hired a seasoned managing editor to lead our award-winning newsroom. Simar Khanna joins our team after a distinguished 25-year career in Bay Area journalism. Simar spent 16 years at the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner where she served as an editor in nearly every...
From the editor: What was the point of that 9-hour City Council debate?
Regardless of what side of the political aisle you sit on, one thing is clear. The split City Council vote Wednesday to put a measure on the November ballot that would award Mayor Sam Liccardo two more years and expand his powers was political theater. The councilmembers spent 9 hours debating the issue. That’s not...
From the editor: San Jose police detention of journalists is City Hall’s problem
The morning after one of our freelance reporters covering the George Floyd protests was detained by San Jose police and left on the ground, my phone lit up from a text message from Police Chief Eddie Garcia. “Ramona, saw you tweet last night,” he wrote. “Getting more information on all of that. Let me know...
From the editor: San Jose small business owners, we’re here to help
Owning a small business in Silicon Valley has never been easy. Now with the coronavirus pandemic closing local businesses for two months, it is nearly impossible. We know you’re struggling. As founders of San José Spotlight, the city’s first nonprofit news startup, we are small business owners ourselves. We launched our organization more than a...
From the editor: Santa Clara, stop the attacks on the press
In an increasingly divisive political climate, our job as journalists is to tell stories of power and privilege. And by virtue of our jobs, journalists and government officials often clash. We fight City Hall for answers. We fight for documents to shed light on what’s really going on. We fight to question powerful politicians, sometimes...