At a time when rising rents are forcing people out of their homes, one Santa Clara County nonprofit is offering an alternative solution to keep tenants from being displaced. The South Bay Community Land Trust is looking to acquire three apartment buildings on Virginia Avenue in East San Jose to keep rent affordable — by taking...
Former San Jose hotel houses 700 college students
Hundreds of college students will soon be able to call downtown San Jose home, thanks to the quick renovations of a historic hotel. Spartan Village on the Paseo, formerly the south tower of the Signia by Hilton hotel, will house roughly 700 San Jose State University students beginning this fall semester. About 120 beds will...
Ex-San Jose official lobbies for private hospital she spoke out against
Magdalena Carrasco, a former San Jose councilmember, once joined protests against one company’s hold over health care on the East Side. Today she’s helping HCA Healthcare make its most criticized move yet. Carrasco, who left office in 2022 after serving two terms as East San Jose’s representative, now lobbies city officials and her former colleagues...
San Jose mayor’s staffer sues over communist label
A worker in the San Jose mayor’s office is caught in a political storm surging through Little Saigon’s war refugee generation over claims of communist sympathies. Tara Dang, who conducts neighborhood outreach for Mayor Matt Mahan in a city with the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam, sued 8 people in May for defamation. The list ranges...
San Jose cultural leader’s death shocks community
Chris Esparza always wanted to run a nightclub in his hometown of San Jose, friends and business partners told San José Spotlight — and not only did he make it happen, he went on to shape the city’s cultural image through decades of event organizing within the growing Mexican American community. Esparza, 57, died unexpectedly...
East San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza has a bright future
As the Mexican Heritage Plaza celebrates its 25th anniversary, its operators continue to strive for a brighter future for East San Jose residents. The School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza and its partners are bringing health care, affordable housing and economic development to the Mayfair neighborhood — as well as creating...
The Biz Beat: Tiki Pete is a tropical getaway in San Jose
Pete Be looks exactly like you’d hope Tiki Pete would look: distinctively Hawaiian, a shaved head, covered in ornate tattoos and wearing a shirt with bright, abstract designs. The downtown San Jose bar owner’s cheerful and self-confident demeanor might come from starting his first business, selling artwork, at an early age. “I was a 14-year-old...
East San Jose hospital loses services while richer areas thrive
A private health company plans to reduce lifesaving care at an East San Jose hospital as it expands another hospital in a wealthier part of the city. HCA Healthcare is increasing the number of acute care beds at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose’s Cambrian neighborhood on the West Side, close to Los Gatos. Company representatives said...
Silicon Valley candidates backed by Vietnamese American heavyweights
The FBI probe into a Bay Area recycling hauler — and the showdown between its owner and another influential Vietnamese figure — has sent a ripple through one of Santa Clara County’s hottest elections. It’s also revealing how two of Silicon Valley’s most powerful Vietnamese figures are backing competing Vietnamese American political candidates in a...
East San Jose hospital won’t close trauma center amid scrutiny
East San Jose may keep its only medical trauma center after all — just not in the same form. Regional Medical Center — the private hospital owned by for-profit company HCA Healthcare — is walking back the planned closures of its trauma, heart attack and stroke care services which have kept residents alive in that...