Since Google first announced plans to build a new mega-campus in San Jose, the top concern raised by residents has been how the project will impact rising rents and displacement. Over the past decade, the tech boom has brought nearly 200,000 new workers to Santa Clara County, but fewer than 50,000 new homes have been...
Kline: VTA light rail extension to Eastridge was a bad decision
The Valley Transit Agency (VTA) Board last week approved a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR) paving the way for extending light rail from Alum Rock to Eastridge Shopping Center along Capitol Expressway. It was a bad decision, but like a transportation version of a Greek tragedy, it was the only decision they could make. According...
Bramson: What really counts when it comes to homelessness?
Back in 2005, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development decided that communities across the country needed to start regularly counting the number of people on the streets and in shelters. The government argued that a standardized process to enumerate and survey those without a permanent home would help us all measure the severity...
Staedler: Let’s be realistic about retail in housing development
The unrealistic hopes and dreams for small and vibrant retail uses in housing projects have become a huge deterrent in the development of tragically-needed new housing. I will continue to use a variation of the word “tragic” when describing our region’s housing situation because we left “crisis” status years ago. We need a massive number of...
Diridon: Carbon combustion must stop now
Get over it! The burning of carbon-based fuel to create energy must stop now. Honest science has been telling us for decades that we’re making the planet uninhabitable for mammals, our species and our children. And the crisis is approaching much faster than originally projected, with potentially less than 12 years left to make major...
Roberts: NIMBY is really PMBY
California leaders are finally investing in more affordable and supportive housing, the proven solution to dealing with our housing affordability and homelessness crises. Funding initiatives for homeless programs and housing throughout California — Measure A in Santa Clara County and California state HEAP (Homeless Emergency Aid Program) program — are making securing sufficient capital funds...
Latshaw and Sreekrishnan: Green New Deal is the story of our future
Climate Change is the greatest challenge we face and an existential threat to our humanity. Growing consensus among environmental experts indicates that we are quickly nearing a critical point of no return that, if we don’t withstand, will produce catastrophic failures for our planet. This “point of no return” was the basis for the emission-reduction...
Funk: A look at charter school reform — what is needed?
At the end of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s tenure, charter school opponents sought relief in the “Charter Schools Act of 1992.” Specifically, school districts were seeking the ability to deny a charter based on financial stress to a district. Although no legislation was passed, the spark was generated. Within the first two months of Gov....
Bramson: Co-living should be for the needy, not trendy millennials
When I was in college, like virtually all other students my age, I had roommates. In fact, when money got tight in my senior year, I ended up renting a walk-in closet in a three-bedroom house with eight of my closest friends. For us it was fun, part of the collegiate experience; we didn’t think...
Staedler: Could the Sharks leave San Jose?
As San Jose prepares for its evolution into Downtown 2.0, it has to deal with the growing pains that come from such a transition. One of the biggest challenges the city faces is its ongoing relationship with the San Jose Sharks. For decades, the Sharks have been a major stimulus and economic driver for Downtown...