A school district exists for one reason — its students. Every decision it makes should be measured by a single question: does it benefit the children in our classrooms? San Jose Unified School District’s recent move toward buying condos in downtown San Jose fails that test. Right now, students across our district are learning in...
Cantrell: A reflection on Father’s Day and Juneteenth
There is a piece of fried chicken my family called “Daddy’s back.” The back was bony, more cartilage than meat. It was really just pot meat, the kind of thing that ends up in a pot of greens and not a platter of fried chicken, that my father took every time. “Daddy’s back” was for...
Santos: Cleaner creeks, safer waterways — protecting our resources is working
In November 2024, the Valley Water board of directors approved the Water Resources Protection Zones Ordinance to address the environmental and safety issues from encampments along Valley Water waterways and facilities. We understood that there wouldn’t be an easy fix, but our progress over the past year shows that a coordinated approach can bring real...
Hakhamaneshi: Why I walked away from a $4,000 water heater rebate
I recently looked seriously at replacing my 2014 natural gas water heater with a heat pump water heater. At first, the decision looked easy. Silicon Valley Clean Energy was offering a large rebate, and with stacked incentives the total could be about $4,000. A contractor estimated that a 65-gallon heat pump water heater could cost...
Op-ed: AAHPI month is over, but the work is not
In May, we celebrated Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month to honor the contributions, cultures and resilience of our communities. Now that the month has passed, we find ourselves thinking less about celebration and more about responsibility. The responsibility to protect what belonging truly means for every person in Mountain View, Santa...
Bramson: Primaries are over — back to the real work of helping people in need
The ballots have been cast. The campaign mailers are finally slowing down. The California primary election is behind us. That means it is time to get back to the real work of helping people who need it the most. Not that the work ever stopped, of course. Every day, outreach workers meet people living outside...
Bell: Santa Clara County budget cuts threaten future for foster youth
Education is often called the great equalizer. But for young people in foster care, education is too often disrupted by instability, interrupted schooling, trauma and a lack of consistent support systems. At the very moment these students need more guidance, more advocacy and more opportunity, proposed budget cuts in Santa Clara County threaten to remove...
Philbrick: How much space should we dedicate to cars?
In April, San Jose broke ground on a new downtown housing project with something many Americans consider essential missing entirely: parking. The historic Bank of Italy building is being converted into much-needed housing — with no on-site spaces for cars. Impractical? Maybe not. Instead, the project reflects a question cities across the country are increasingly...
Urbanowski: The World Cup and our international city
People will often ask, “What is it that makes San Jose unique? What is that cultural identity?” Recently, I heard a wise, globe-traveling civic and cultural leader describe San Jose as the place where everyone from all over the world can find a piece of home. In San Jose, you can find your people, your...
Brammer: Civic Circus — The myth of scarcity in San Jose’s budget
It’s budget season in Santa Clara County, and once again the powers that be are ringing the familiar bells of control and fear. San Jose is facing a deficit. Are you surprised? I’m not. Here’s the playbook: Elected officials keep the public locked in a scarcity mindset of “never having enough” to distract from their...