As a 35-year veteran of law enforcement I know both the healing power of substance abuse treatment and the danger of releasing those from jail or prison whose untreated addictions drive them to hurt themselves and others with alarming regularity. California once used proven drug courts to require treatment for many involved in the criminal...
Zisser: Independent oversight can show more compassion
My new year’s resolution seven years ago this week — Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and is being celebrated this week — was to approach the San Jose independent police auditor job with authenticity, to not let the inevitable politics water down my passion or commitment. I walked out of services, where something...
Philbrick: The future of pedestrian safety
On the corner, waiting at the white-lined crosswalk just a block from school, children line up to look both ways and be escorted across the busy intersection by a crossing guard. Dressed in neon yellow or orange, crossing guards were once familiar faces, but many school districts across the country struggle to hire and retain...
Urbanowski: Working together for arts education
Proposition 28, the Arts and Music in Schools Act, was passed by voters across our state in November 2022 and aims to enhance arts and music education by providing dedicated funding for related programs in K-12 public schools. As the first statewide initiative focused on this area, Proposition 28 takes a significant step toward addressing...
Editorial: Open the gates to the Vietnamese Heritage Garden
Public parks and gardens are designed to draw people closer to nature. They are not meant to be gated and locked to limit access to public spaces. That defeats the purpose of creating these parklands, which is why the entrance to the Vietnamese Heritage Garden should be unlocked. Within the gated garden is a bronze monument...
Collins: Why Proposition 33 is bad for housing
Proposition 33 attempts to repeal the bipartisan Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act enacted in 1995. The three key provisions of Costa-Hawkins were to stop the expansion of rent control to single-family homes, allow housing providers the opportunity to charge market rates when a tenant leaves and prohibit the imposition of rent control on buildings constructed after...
Robinson: Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s Trumpian politics
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor is known for her vengefulness. She is the Trumpian equivalent for small government. Early in her career she lost her first attempt running for mayor. The Mercury News called her tactics “loony” in an editorial as she went after the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce with no evidence. The irony...
LaFortune: Team San Jose’s new position focuses on community
Team San Jose’s staff traditionally concentrated our communications and conversion efforts on groups and travelers from across the state, the country and around the globe. When we host the world’s most influential thought leaders, change-makers and companies in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, they make a huge impact on our local economy and, in...
Estremera: Moving forward on purified water
The Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a leader in water innovation in the region. Over the past decade, the center has provided purified water to enhance recycled water quality for non-potable uses such as irrigation and cooling towers. Looking ahead, Valley Water is focused on expanding purified water...
Diridon: Fight the water thief
Earth’s most valuable asset is potable water. So we store every drop we can capture in massive reservoirs like Shasta, Trinity, Folsom, Hetch Hetchy, Meade and a dozen more. But a thief has been stealing increasingly more amounts of that community wealth every summer for the past half century. That’s like your family income entrusted...