We have an important vote coming up at City Council on Jan. 28 when we will decide whether to discuss a memo I authored, along with my colleagues, Vice Mayor Chappie Jones and Councilmembers Dev Davis and Pam Foley. We are calling on VTA to keep its commitment to the voters who approved 2016’s Measure...

Laura’s Law is a statewide law that started as AB 1421 and was enacted in 2002 as a result of Laura Wilcox, a 19 year old volunteer at a mental health clinic in Northern California, who was shot and killed by a mentally ill man who refused treatment. It allows counties the ability to force...

This week, as thousands of people marched in youth-led climate strikes, a movement is well underway. With our state hit by natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, it’s increasingly untenable to deny its impact on our daily lives. Yet current projections have us getting nowhere near the action needed to keep warming below two degrees...

It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has more animus for California than perhaps any other state. Trump has gone out of his way to deny California an exemption for automobile pollution settings higher than national requirements, threatened to cease federal funds for San Francisco because its streets are cluttered with homeless people and tried...

South Bay YIMBY’s vision for the development of the Diridon Station Area is of a vibrant, diverse, affordable and sustainable new neighborhood in the heart of San Jose. Making the most of this opportunity will require bold and proactive leadership from the city of San Jose to address key challenges with the current land use...

A recent San José Spotlight column disapproved of San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA) Executive Director Scott Knies and called for SJDA to be replaced as manager of the downtown Property Based Improvement District (PBID).  As president of the PBID Board of Directors, I offer these facts about our organization. The PBID originally formed in 2007...

Here in Silicon Valley, we are in the midst of an affordable housing and displacement crisis and it’s time we act like it. We host discussions on preventing displacement and talk about the value of preserving affordable homes but behind the scenes, our leaders are moving to gut our most important affordable housing preservation policy,...

In addition to being a candidate for Santa Clara County supervisor in District 2, I have been employed with the county for more than 17 years in different capacities. I am also a small business owner and a social justice activist in San Jose. It is very interesting that when it comes to organizing workers’...

The San Jose – Evergreen Community College District (SJECCD) is committed to the proposition that quality, affordable higher education, job training and career development opportunities should be available and accessible to every individual and family in California, regardless of ethnicity, religion, national origin, immigration status, age, gender or socioeconomic status. As such, our board of...

The battle between California and the Trump administration reached a crescendo of sorts last month, with the outcome very much in “the air.” The president instructed the Environmental Protection Administration Agency (EPA) to revoke California’s long-standing ability to set automobile emissions standards that are firmer than federal rules. If the new direction of the Trump...