If we’ve learned anything during the COVID-19 crisis, it’s that—first—we should have been investing in health care and housing for everyone and—second—we can’t go back to the ways things were before. Our county has an opportunity on Tuesday to apply these lessons. The question of whether to build a new jail allows us to re-evaluate...

Are you tired of hearing about another freeway shooting, coordinated mass burglaries of retailers and increases in homicides every time you turn on the news? Are you frightened by the rise in car break-ins and in-home burglaries? I am! In response to this growing fear for their safety, more of our residents are purchasing cameras...

I urge the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to reject the County Executive Office’s recommendation to build a new maximum security jail and, instead, vote to create alternatives to incarceration. In the aftermath of the 2015 tragic death of Michael Tyree, a jail inmate suffering from mental illness who was murdered by three corrections...

In my nearly two decades as a restaurant franchise owner, I was always grateful for my community and the passion they had for supporting local family-owned businesses. Locally-owned businesses, whether franchises or independent, are the backbone of our local and statewide economies. Small business creates a majority of jobs in any local community and that...

Last month, the San Jose City Council voted on a new electoral district map—carving out boundaries that will impact how our communities are represented for the next 10 years. While the district map adopted by the City Council attempts to address a legacy of racial segregation that continues to impact our region in areas like...

Last month, amid the largest outbreak in the jail since the start of the pandemic, a man being held in our county jail died from COVID-19. Now, as omicron surges, people in custody are more vulnerable than ever. The COVID pandemic has highlighted what epidemiologists have known for decades—correctional facilities concentrate disease and spread it to...

We’ve seen the headlines and news reports, the social media posts and countless podcasts. COVID-19 has shined light on the existing gaps in our systems that have left us all exposed. But for decades before coronavirus was part of our lexicon, these gaps began to manifest on our streets, in our schools, in our neighborhoods...

The front page New York Times article on Nov. 11 graphs out the huge impact on the nation’s inflation caused by the 50% plus jump in fuel, oil and gasoline costs in the past year. Three of the top four inflation influencers are petroleum products. Each of those could be reduced or eliminated by the...

In San Jose’s enthusiasm to bring us digital billboards, city staff have ruthlessly dismissed one of the biggest accomplishments of the man for whom San Jose International Airport is named: Norman Y. Mineta. While mayor of San Jose in 1972, Mineta supported the ban on new billboards on public property and helped usher in policies...

Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Los Altos) has proposed much needed changes to the VTA board that support the recommendations of the 2018-19 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury (CGJ). Berman’s proposed AB 1091 would significantly reshape the makeup of the board, as recommended in the CGJ report “Inquiry Into Governance of the Valley Transportation Authority.” The...