Since opening its doors to students in early 2017, the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District (SJECCD) Milpitas Extension has served thousands of students and community members, bringing higher education classes and services to Escuela Parkway in Milpitas and creating one of the first locations anywhere in the United States where a kindergarten-to-college pipelines exists within...
Staedler: AB 2011 opens up commercial corridors to housing development
California passed several housing bills before the end of the current legislative session. Assembly Bill 2011 enacts a streamlined ministerial approval by cities comparable to Senate Bill 35, for multi-family projects on commercial zoned land that meet certain provisions. Those include prevailing wages and affordable housing requirements. The bill would allow housing projects to be...
Velasquez: Choosing real results over impossible promises on homelessness
This election season, confusion and common sense seem to be tied together for some reason. This is especially true since someone claiming to be the purported leader of the common sense revolution is trying to solve a complex problem like homelessness using sensationalized slogans, misleading data and impossible promises. Take the current mayoral race in San Jose, for...
Zisser: San Jose mayor’s ‘facts’ about policing ignore community-based alternatives
The hot San Jose summer must have fried Mayor Sam Liccardo’s memory. In an Aug. 15 opinion piece, Liccardo calls for more police officers and more incarceration as the answer to public safety concerns. He remembers back to protests in 2020, though glosses over the most important parts: righteous national and local outrage over police excesses....
Mallon: San Jose is putting public transit first
Last month, San Jose became the initial “Transit First” city in Santa Clara County. While it will take time for San Jose to truly become a city where public transit is prioritized, improved and seen as a better option than driving, this policy represents a shift in priorities. For decades, the city has prioritized cars...
Editorial: No vote equals no voice in San Jose’s elections
The second Tuesday in November has all the makings of becoming one of the most significant midterm elections in San Jose history. Still, that history making moment could be a washout if voter participation is low. We won’t know how San Jose fares until the final results, but surprises can happen when voter engagement is...
Khamis: Can we elevate our campaigns?
Now that the dust has settled on the primary election, I would like to implore all interested parties to elevate our campaigns and practice tolerance for immigrants in their campaign mailers. Frankly, I am still unsettled by labor hit mailers the Mercury News called shameful and unwarranted. While many think I need thicker skin and...
Gianocaro: Respect, protect and pay education workers
The Santa Clara County Office of Education laid off over 60 special education paraeducators, a position primarily held by women, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Management’s decision leaves classrooms short-staffed nearly a year and a half after we returned to in-person instruction. Students—deprived of employees desperately needed to conduct instruction—yell, punch, kick and bite their peers or...
Collins: Where do San Jose mayoral candidates stand on housing and homelessness?
Last December, I surveyed all San Jose mayoral candidates and asked, “As the future mayor of San Jose, what would be your plan to reduce homelessness on our streets?” With the primaries behind us and the November election just a few months away, I revisited the responses of frontrunners Cindy Chavez and Matt Mahan and...
Robinson: Mayor Sam Liccardo and Matt Mahan—the odd couple
Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez has picked up the endorsements of two former mayoral candidates, San Jose Councilmembers Dev Davis and Raul Peralez, in her run for mayor. In fact, the majority of the San Jose City Council and those elected in June are endorsing Chavez. But Mayor Sam Liccardo, after pouring money into...