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Every year, students, teachers, school administrators, as well as local education advocates across our community, fill up a handful of school buses and head to our state’s capitol to share their ideas and concerns about California’s public education system with members of our Legislature. A tradition hosted by my office for the past two decades,...
Op-ed: Libraries are essential to our recovery and resilience
If local government budgets truly reflect the values of the communities they serve, we believe San Jose’s budget should prioritize our public libraries. As we continue to navigate an unpredictable pandemic, it is critical that the San Jose Public Library has the resources it needs to serve our most vulnerable neighbors and build a more...
Bramson: Stepping up or getting out of the way
In a recent 2021 poll by the Bay Area Council, homelessness dominated the concerns of most residents in our region. Raise your hand if you’re surprised. The fact is we all see the tragic impacts of people forced to sleep outside and it’s truly horrifying. Human beings living and dying along our highways and creeks....
Vargas: Gun policy should be set by local communities, not unelected judges
On May 26, nine people were murdered at a VTA rail yard in San Jose, leaving the community stunned and horrified for the second time in two years. In 2019, a mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival left three people dead and 17 wounded. The latest shooting had a particularly somber impact for LGBTQ+...
EGD: Gunshot detection tech will lead to more police killings in San Jose
It was near freezing temperatures in the early hours of the morning when Chicago police received an alert from their gunshot detection technology (GDT) solution, ShotSpotter. Apparently shots had been fired in the city’s Little Village neighborhood, an area predominantly populated by Latinx individuals. Officers rush to the scene to find 21-year-old Ruben Roman and 13-year-old...
Guerrero: Building back stronger by investing in community schools
This school year was tough on everyone: parents, students, teachers and school leaders. But it was disproportionately hard on communities of color. High rates of COVID-19, poor access to healthcare, food insecurity, lost wages, threats of eviction, racial violence… the list goes on. The traumatic events families have endured over the last year are among...
Staedler: Climate Smart San Jose misses the mark on the value of trees
At the San Jose City Council meeting on May 18, the Climate Smart San Jose Plan semi-annual update took place. I turned on the council meeting while working at my desk that afternoon and I heard Kerrie Romanow, director of Environmental Services, make a definitive statement that made me stop what I was doing and watch...
Andrew: What would you give up for a reliable internet connection?
What would you give up for a reliable internet connection? A heated room? An ergonomically correct chair? A perfectly positioned monitor? It’s a tough decision and one that 2.1 million Californians have to make each day. Yes, even here in Silicon Valley, where the internet is said to be invented, thousands of students do not...
Philbrick: Paying for transportation infrastructure
Miles of bumpers and brake lights. Impassable traffic jams. These daily sights on urban highways may feel inescapable, but many of these issues would improve or resolve with some serious transportation infrastructure repair. California road conditions rank among the worst in the nation, and the Bay Area and Southern California are the second and third...
Op-ed: Open letter to Sheriff Smith regarding Santa Clara County evictions
For many Santa Clara County residents, the pain of the housing crisis is deeply felt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The loss of stable income only accelerated the unfolding of a crisis and although the state acted to put in place an eviction moratorium, evictions in Santa Clara County continued to take place. Sheriff Laurie...