Three months after trading his role as San Jose Planning Commission chairman for a seat on the City Council, Anthony Tordillos has nominated his replacement. The District 3 representative has tapped Aimée Escobar, a veteran urban planner with an extensive background in housing policy, to fill the seat he vacated in August. Councilmembers will hold a...
Downtown San Jose business group selects new CEO
The San Jose Downtown Association is getting a new CEO, bringing with him experience and a fresh perspective. Brian Kurtz, a nationally recognized leader in downtown management and urban revitalization, has been selected as chief executive officer of the San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA). He starts in January and will carry out the nonprofit’s mission...
Downtown San Jose councilmember back on campaign trail
Just more than four months after winning his District 3 San Jose City Council seat in a June special election, Anthony Tordillos is already launching his reelection campaign. His Wednesday campaign announcement makes him the first candidate to enter the race for District 3, which covers San Joses’s downtown neighborhoods. The announcement includes a long...
Downtown San Jose Planning Commission seat still vacant
Not long after Anthony Tordillos won the June special election for the District 3 San Jose City Council seat, he had to vacate his role on the Planning Commission. His commission seat has been vacant for nearly three months, leaving downtown without a voice on an influential government body that helps steer the city’s land-use...
San Jose path could be renamed for Filipino labor leader
A group of San Jose Filipino residents want to ensure their contributions to the labor movement won’t be forgotten. The group is pushing to rename Paseo de San Antonio, a downtown pedestrian walkway, after labor leader Larry Itliong. Itliong was instrumental in fighting for better farmworker rights alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, but isn’t as...
Meet downtown San Jose’s new City Council team
San Jose’s newest councilman has hired an office staff of fresh faces to restore trust with District 3 residents and bring downtown out of a dark chapter after his predecessor resigned in disgrace. Councilmember Anthony Tordillos has stacked his office with people across a broad range of experience to serve residents seeking help with potholes,...
The Biz Beat: San Jose German restaurant is Oktoberfest all year
Stepping into Teske’s Germania Restaurant, with its long wooden bar that stretches along half the entryway, there’s a strong sense of gemütlichkeit, an untranslatable German word meaning “warmth and good cheer.” Co-owner Cynthia Baumann likens it to a Bavarian lodge, where the food is authentic, the beer flows freely and everyone is welcome. “I think...
Silicon Valley street cleaning crew is swept away
A flagship program that employed homeless people to clean the streets of San Jose and connect them to housing is abruptly ending. Nonprofit Downtown Streets Team is ending operations Oct. 31, citing financial and political pressures that make it difficult to sustain the organization. The nonprofit formed 20 years ago in Palo Alto and expanded to 15...
Ex-San Jose councilmember sentenced to 18 years for child molestation
Disgraced former San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading ‘no contest’ to child molestation charges in April — a final turn in the shocking saga that rocked City Hall and Silicon Valley’s political scene. Torres listened, while his family looked on, as Superior Court Judge Cynthia Sevely...
High-end downtown San Jose restaurant closes
An upscale San Jose restaurant has closed less than two years after it opened, as the city grapples with attracting people to the downtown core. Rollati Ristorante, an Italian-American restaurant across from San Jose City Hall, abruptly closed Tuesday due to declining revenues. Customer foot traffic dropped 30% from last year, according to Alistair Levine,...