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“If at first you don’t succeed, failure might be your style.” —Quentin Crisp Pride has become a fierce celebration of progress and the success of the mainstream LGBTQ+ rights movement. Consider New York Pride’s 2021 theme “The Fight Continues,” and the corresponding news release that can’t help but sound a note of optimism: “We acknowledge...
EGD: San Jose police doesn’t know what it’s doing with its own tech
During a cool Thanksgiving weekend in 2019, Brian Hofer and his younger brother were driving home to Oakland along I-80 in Contra Costa County. The rental vehicle they were driving, a Kia from the rental company Getaround, was reported stolen from San Jose just the month before. Yet the report was not updated after the...
Enfantino: California’s Private Attorneys General Act must be overhauled
California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) has made the Golden State even more golden for trial attorneys, while raising litigation challenges via frivolous lawsuits for employers and costing them thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition to bringing individual or class-action claims, disgruntled employees can sue under PAGA for any alleged labor...
Bramson: Empty office and retail sites could be used for housing
Vacant storefronts with “For Lease” signs fading in the windows. Abandoned strip malls with a sea of empty concrete spaces. Massive corporate offices from a bygone, pre-virtual era, sitting unoccupied, desolate, forgotten. Sadly, this is the post-pandemic narrative for many California cities, suburbs and exurbs these days. Along with an unexpected financial collapse and a...
Khamis: The cost of housing development and the housing crisis
To really understand affordable housing in California, we must take a step back and take into consideration the ever-increasing cost and time-consuming regulations for builders throughout the state. We have all heard about the growing cost of lumber, the shrinking of a qualified construction labor force and the steadily increasing cost of land, all factors...
Chung: Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen should be investigated
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen admires President Harry Truman and believes the popular saying “The buck stops here.” That means that ultimate responsibility for criminal prosecutions and the District Attorney’s Office rests with DA Rosen. Santa Clara County should hold DA Rosen to his own high standard, and he should be investigated. As...
Ackemann: Restoring light rail service may just be step one
It’s been six weeks since a mass shooter turned on his VTA coworkers early in the morning on May 26, but there’s no end to the ways in which the tragedy is still being felt. I worked at VTA for a few years in the early 2000s—but I spent most of my career working in...
Breland: The economic benefit of community colleges
Community colleges have always been a sound financial investment, not only for the students who are able to obtain high-quality education and training at a fraction of the cost of most four-year universities, but also for the communities they serve. A uniquely American idea, community colleges have been called “the Ellis Island of the middle...
Staedler: Opportunity Housing should be decided on by a vote of the people
One of the most hotly-debated topics in San Jose is Opportunity Housing. It is widely hailed as a leading strategy for solving San Jose’s housing crisis. Let’s take a look at it. The city of San Jose’s planning website says “Opportunity Housing refers to enabling multi-unit housing on properties with a Residential Neighborhood General Plan...
Op-ed: We couldn’t stay quiet—Why we founded the Asian Student Alliance
Due to the recent hate crimes in America, it is important that we remember those suffering and advocate for those who can’t speak up for themselves. Although crimes against the Asian community have been put into the spotlight recently, we must remember that our pain has gone unheard for decades. As Asian students we know...