One day on my evening walk, I noticed new signs stapled to beautifully flowering trees lining the VTA light rail. The plan? Better infrastructure and direct public transit to Eastridge Mall. The impact? The removal of eight mature trees, noise pollution and no new construction in sight. In truth, the trees were removed in the...

Valley Water’s mission is to provide Silicon Valley with safe, clean water for a healthy life, environment and economy. To help achieve this mission, we are committed to protecting water quality and the environment from harmful activities. In recent years, there has been an increase in encampments along creeks, waterways and lands owned or managed...

As an educator with more than three decades of experience, including 16 years as a superintendent in the Bay Area, I’m deeply concerned about the crisis in California’s public schools. Recent school closures in the Bay Area serve as a stark reminder that the state’s education funding model is outdated and inequitable. California’s local control...

Stevens Creek Boulevard is one of Santa Clara County’s most important corridors. The boulevard hosts major schools, job centers, retail hubs and housing. Some of its biggest destinations include De Anza College, Main Street Cupertino, Santana Row, Westfield Valley Fair and the western edge of downtown San Jose. After years of hard work from employees...

In the last 16 years, I have been privileged to serve as an elected trustee on the Santa Clara County Board of Education. My last board meeting was Nov. 20. Some voters in my trustee area will cheer that declaration, particularly those who were opposed to my charter school approval votes. As a core value...

Since August, local judges have been nullifying murderers’ death sentences one by one. But there’s a problem: The law the judges have been relying on to reduce those death sentences doesn’t apply to death sentences. And that’s not the only problem. It’s easy for judges to make mistakes when they’re hearing only one side of...

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with numerous Nobel laureates and other internationally renowned climate scientists, reported in 2018 that global warming was occurring because of humans — and rapidly advancing. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared, in 2018 and more firmly in 2023, that climate change was advancing more rapidly than projected. By...

If ever there was a case where there would be serious environmental impact, it’s San Jose’s plan to install enormous digital billboards on buildings downtown and at sites along freeways. These publicly-owned locations include The Tech Interactive, San Jose Center for Performing Arts, San Jose McEnery Convention Center and several city-owned garages. The proposed billboards...

All Santa Clara County residents should be proud that one of our own, Edwyn Mendoza, will be playing for the Earthquakes and using this opportunity to advocate for other youth to have “safe fields to play on” in a San José Spotlight opinion piece. Sadly, the “deal” the Earthquakes are forging with the county and...

There are just days left in another historic national election defined by hostility, division, and violent rhetoric. Against this backdrop, many people in our local community have long hoped that we can be better than what we see on the national stage. Unfortunately, this has not proven to be true. While there are candidates and...