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Columns

Collins: Reimagining home ownership

Over the last few years there have been many discussions about duplexes. This includes legislation around zoning changes driven by the state to encourage more duplex production, and more recently, a proposed local ordinance that would give corporate nonprofits a special priority in the purchasing of them and other multi-family properties. What I want to...

Dewan: Santa Clara County schools are looking for educators

Schools throughout Santa Clara County are looking for candidates to fill important positions for the upcoming school year. Working in education is incredibly rewarding. School personnel make a difference in the lives of children each and every day. The Santa Clara County Office of Education partners with local schools to recruit credentialed educators to fill...

Latshaw: My fiery encounter with natural gas

I was a freshman at UCLA in 1962. I was removing my hopefully warmed meal from an old oven and suddenly flames erupted, causing me to jump away. The ancient, gas-filled oven had a non-working pilot light and combusted in my face when I opened the door. My eyebrows and arm hair would grow back,...

Bramson: Investments that pay guaranteed dividends

With the recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank, I find myself reflecting this morning on the fragile web that makes affordable housing possible. SVB was a leader in lending to deeply affordable developments across our region and its exit means one less reliable anchor point in the complicated web of resources that makes a project...

Editorial: San Jose shouldn’t bulldoze the past to build the future

Downtown San Jose is in the middle of a transformation. Cranes are changing the skyline from its once low-rise persona to towers of steel and glass. CityView Plaza will reshape the landscape across from Cesar Chavez Plaza and the Icon and Echo Towers will rise kitty-corner from San Jose City Hall, as the downtown core marches ahead...

Silver Taube: State lawmakers must take action to combat wage theft in care homes

Residential care facilities for the elderly receive among the largest wage theft judgments of any industry, according to Matthew Sirolly, a staff attorney with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office who advises the agency on how to enforce wage theft judgments. These judgments are meaningless unless they are enforced. Residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs), often...

Staedler: Where is the city’s state-required housing plan?

San Jose has missed the state’s Jan. 31 deadline for an approved 2023-2031 Housing Element. The Housing Element is a plan to map out future housing in San Jose and help the city meet its goal of planning for 62,200 homes by 2031. According to the city, the Housing element addresses a range of housing...

Ballard: Remembering the leaders who inspired urban farming to feed those in need

In the past two years, the Silicon Valley Community has lost two incredible community leaders, Thang Do and Raul Lozano, most recently with the passing of Raul. Coincidentally, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) was connected to both of them through a program, written about here in Streetsblog, that ultimately inspired SVBC’s commitment to the farm...