San Jose has appointed a new head of the police department, Chief Anthony Mata, at a time our city and communities are having a long needed reimagining of what public safety means. This dialogue is about the safety and wellbeing of Black and brown communities who throughout our history have endured the injustice of systemic...

As a supposed win-win for the community, the San Jose City Council approved a multimillion-dollar training facility for the San Jose Police Department and a law enforcement reform plan that creates a community process entitled “Reimagining Community Safety.” This process establishes the Reimagining Community Safety Advisory Group, which should serve as a forum to engage...

Education is critical to acknowledging and addressing the historic and current inequities and systemic racism that exists in our country. The Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum recently approved by the California State Board of Education opens the door for a new generation of Black, Native American, Asian and Latinx students to finally see themselves and their...

This year, I have the privilege of serving as chairperson of the Valley Water Board of Directors. Our agency and community are facing many challenges, and I look forward to addressing those issues head-on.  In this leadership position, my goal is to make sure our Board is action-oriented and forward-thinking. I also want to make...

My family immigrated to the United States in 1976 seeking the American Dream. Like many families before and after us, a major component of that dream was to become a homeowner. My parents worked hard and slowly built up their savings—my Mom worked as the Avon Lady and as a hairstylist at Regis and my...

One in six adults born between 1997 and 2002 – a portion of Gen Z – identifies as LGBTQ, a Gallup poll found. Our younger generation’s radical openness and acceptance of differences should be celebrated. And to best serve this growing community, we must keep an eye on their lived realities in the continued fight...

On Monday, the San Jose City Council will vote whether or not they should do something their Bay Area neighbors have already done: prioritize the regulation of surveillance technology. Oakland, San Francisco, Davis, Berkeley, Alameda, Santa Clara County, and even BART have all taken action to bring more oversight to the acquisition of surveillance technology. But San Jose, a...

Under the current economic slowdown, most Americans have spent time thinking about how they will cut personal spending, how they will pay their rent or mortgage, and some are also asking themselves how long they can endure this economy that is hanging on by a thread. Our local small business owners have worked hard to...

In a recent op-ed in the Mercury News, Planning Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio launched into a tirade against Opportunity Housing, a proposal to allow four-plexes on lots currently zoned for one home. The bulk of Oliverio’s piece consists of cartoonish fear-mongering that Opportunity Housing will be akin to “an anvil…falling from the sky about to demolish a house” and...

The solution to bigotry against one group cannot be bigotry against another. In a Feb. 14 op-ed in the Mercury News, Daniel Chung, a deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County, blamed California criminal justice reforms like mental health diversion for the recent, horrific attacks on people of Asian descent. His baseless assertion fans the...