It has been five weeks since Santa Clara County leaders issued the first shelter-in-place order and asked all nonessential workers to stay home. I applaud their efforts that are successfully, and dramatically, slowing the spread of the deadly coronavirus, and I welcome their continued expertise on how to keep us safe. It is clear that...
Funk: COVID-19 worsens the digital divide in San Jose
Districts across the state have been forced to move to distance learning from physical classroom, creating costs, shifts in structure, training and mindset. The unknown is always the infrastructure at home. Our classrooms are modern, well lit, safe and equipped with power and robust internet connections. Our students’ homes are too often not equipped to...
Diridon: Good cars, bad cars
California, New York, and 15 other progressive states asked auto makers to help fight rapidly worsening climate change by meeting cleaner Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Last year the federal government inexplicably cut that requirement. Four auto makers agreed with those 17 states to voluntarily continue to meet the more healthy CAFE standards. To...
Bramson: When a virus needs a home
What would it be like if we responded to homelessness like a disaster? I’ve heard this question many times over the years. The implication being that while the word “crisis” is thrown around pretty liberally these days when we talk about the conditions for people on our streets, we rarely act with the same mobilized...
Vargas: We are still not prepared for the economic fallout
The COVID-19 crisis is really two interconnected crises: the public health crisis created by the pandemic and the economic crisis sure to follow. During the public health crisis created by COVID-19, our elected leaders are understandably focused on “flattening the curve” to prevent devastating strain on our already over-taxed health care system. Their response has...
Staedler: Reflection, recalibration and housing for the missing middle
As we rise to the moment and shelter in place, it is a time for reflection and recalibration of what is truly important moving forward. We should take inventory of what we are thankful for and consider why NIMBY thinking has permeated throughout the Bay Area. I’m frustrated by how little attention the Bay Area...
Lopez: How we can help Silicon Valley’s small businesses survive the pandemic
In 2007, my family owned our own business, a local restaurant. It was supposed to provide the funds to fulfill my family’s dream of allowing me to be the first to graduate college. Instead, in the wake of the ensuing recession and financial crisis, it became our ruin. As business dried up, we struggled to...
Funk: Distance learning amid COVID-19 crisis explained
As we all adjust to the new normal, while fighting the spread of COVID-19, the impacts on educators, students and families has increased the fear and anxiety among all of us. Although schools across the Bay Area have been closed, we are thankful for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-26-20 to continue funding schools at...
Kalra: Farmworkers deserve workplace protections too
Today we celebrate the birthday of the visionary labor leader and community activist, Cesar Chavez. His contribution to the fight for economic and social justice for California’s farmworkers underscores the fact that we still have much to accomplish to ensure fair and safe working conditions for these workers. As our state addresses the overwhelming task...
Witkowski: Aggressive telecommunications deregulation key to crisis response
In times of great crisis, it becomes necessary to set aside bureaucratic burdens and do what is necessary to solve problems. America, and indeed the world, has set aside their differences and declared war on SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus). As the world works to limit the spread of the pandemic and flatten the future curve of potential...