On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council will vote on rezoning the Berryessa BART Urban Village, the property adjacent to the BART station where the Berryessa Flea Market is currently located. Building vibrant, high-density Urban Villages along public transit routes is one of the most effective ways to transition away from a car dependent culture....

On June 17, the Supreme Court issued their opinion in Fulton v. Philadelphia, a case involving an adoption organization, Catholic Social Services (CSS), that refused service to LGBTQ+ prospective parents. Under Pennsylvania law and Philadelphia ordinance, such discrimination was unlawful, and Philadelphia exercised its right to terminate its relationship with CSS, meaning that the city...

Every year, students, teachers, school administrators, as well as local education advocates across our community, fill up a handful of school buses and head to our state’s capitol to share their ideas and concerns about California’s public education system with members of our Legislature. A tradition hosted by my office for the past two decades,...

If local government budgets truly reflect the values of the communities they serve, we believe San Jose’s budget should prioritize our public libraries. As we continue to navigate an unpredictable pandemic, it is critical that the San Jose Public Library has the resources it needs to serve our most vulnerable neighbors and build a more...

This school year was tough on everyone: parents, students, teachers and school leaders. But it was disproportionately hard on communities of color. High rates of COVID-19, poor access to healthcare, food insecurity, lost wages, threats of eviction, racial violence… the list goes on. The traumatic events families have endured over the last year are among...

What would you give up for a reliable internet connection? A heated room? An ergonomically correct chair? A perfectly positioned monitor? It’s a tough decision and one that 2.1 million Californians have to make each day. Yes, even here in Silicon Valley, where the internet is said to be invented, thousands of students do not...

For many Santa Clara County residents, the pain of the housing crisis is deeply felt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The loss of stable income only accelerated the unfolding of a crisis and although the state acted to put in place an eviction moratorium, evictions in Santa Clara County continued to take place. Sheriff Laurie...

Courtrooms are overcrowded. The increasing demand for public services is skyrocketing at an astronomical rate. The situation is dire: Countless vacancies, longer processing times and avalanching workloads are being thrust onto staff, the demand for more people to physically be present at their assignments continues to rise. Enforcement for social distancing and mask wearing depends...

On March 17, the Silicon Valley Law Foundation submitted a demand letter to the County of Santa Clara chronicling inhumane treatment of those incarcerated in the jails. The letter laid out survey results, personal testimonies and observations from inside which told a horrific story of the jails “failing to provide even minimally adequate procedures to...

Google’s San José Downtown West mixed-use plan will transform our city. With the City Council set to vote today on the development, much of the conversation has been around shiny renderings of taller buildings and new plazas. But the lasting legacy of this project will be more about our people than our skyline: will San...