It brings me great pain and disappointment to once again address the inappropriate behavior of the Silicon Valley Organization (SVO). After the blatantly racist attack ad, which served to perpetuate fear of African Americans and low-income families, the NAACP had hoped to see the SVO “do the right thing.” However, their idea of the right...
Funk: How East San Jose schools are keeping students, staff safe
As reported by Sonya Herrera in San José Spotlight Nov. 10, East San Jose ranks No. 1 in new cases per capita in the county. This is not new news to us who work for East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD). According to county data, 1,988 people tested positive for the virus in the...
Vargas: LGBTQ+ community’s historic gains this election
For the past week the national headlines may have been focused on Joe Biden’s victory over President Trump and the historic implications of the election of Kamala Harris as vice president. However, a much quieter revolution was occurring as well. The 2020 election saw a record-shattering number of LGBTQ+ people running for public office around...
Bramson: How we can get out of the way for affordable housing
On the heels of an historic year that has hammered poorest people the hardest, I find myself thinking about the future of affordable housing. Even in the best of times, it’s a tough row to hoe. From finding a place where it’s even feasible to build to navigating the complex innerworkings of the local land...
Ackemann: Has ‘Infrastructure Week’ finally arrived?
When you read this column, we may know the outcome of the 2020 presidential election but as I write it, we do not. In the bright sunlight of this November morning this election has given us reasons to count our thanks in the passage of the Yes on RR campaign, and reasons to hold our...
Alvarez: The Silicon Valley Organization ads aren’t only about racism
The Silicon Valley Organization money was not poured out purely for racism. The SVO money poured out to buy political power among specific candidates. The SVO money poured out to defeat specific candidates that champion the oppressed — because the oppressors are desperate to maintain power. Hit piece after hit piece has been funded by...
Staedler: High-Speed Rail collaborating for a win-win in Coyote Valley
One of the most highly anticipated State of California bond projects is the 2008 Prop 1A High-Speed Rail Act. The approved proposition authorized issuance $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for construction of high-speed train facilities connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles. The February 2020 estimate for completing the project has ballooned to $80.3 billion....
Madigan: Online special education schooling is a failure in the making
As a special educator for 40 years and a grandmother of a child with dyslexia, I am struggling with the navigation of school in the age of coronavirus. In March, when California schools sent students home to learn virtually, a shockwave of panic was set into motion for families of children with special needs. While distance...
Bonilla, Carrasco: East San Jose needs college investment
An astounding 51% of Latinx college students are considering not returning to college or shifting to part-time status while 37% already have stopped taking college classes altogether. These are the heartbreaking decisions that Latinx college students — in California alone — are making this fall due to the pandemic’s devastating and disproportionate impact on them...
Fisher, Bustamante, Balinton: Anti-racist work in solidarity now and after Nov. 3
It is unlikely that Nov. 3 will be a liminal day. Nineteen states allow ballots to be counted after Nov. 3. It may be weeks or more before election results are final. There’s a lot of justifiable anxiety in our country — about voter suppression, about counting every ballot and questions about whether a peaceful...