An 18-foot-tall chicken named Chiquita overlooks children racing across the playground, while Alexandra Villalobos sits on a picnic blanket with her 12-year-old son Max at Emma Prusch Farm Park in East San Jose. Her two younger children are using the newly renovated playground, and Villalobos has warned them to avoid the sizzling-hot metal slides and...
State won’t stop closure of East San Jose hospital services
Despite urgent pleas by county leaders and local activists, state officials won’t intervene in the closure of lifesaving hospital services in East San Jose. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) told Bay Area state legislators that the state has no authority to deny the closure or reduction of services at Regional Medical Center because these...
San Jose parks lose millions as developers get tax break
San Jose is cutting taxes and fees for at least 14 high-rise development projects or more than 4,000 homes in downtown. The San Jose City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to extend the existing Downtown Residential High-Rise Program to reduce developer costs in an effort to spark more incentives for housing construction. Under the new...
Vibrant San Jose mural draws locals downtown
The promenade at San Pedro Square has a stunning new look after more than 1,000 volunteers picked up a paint roller. A new mural called “Threads Woven” has dramatically changed San Pedro Square. The brainchild of the San Jose Downtown Association and arts nonprofit Local Color, the mural was funded through the Adobe Hometown Grant....
San Jose war monument marks milestone for Vietnamese community
A long delayed monument to fallen Vietnam War fighters will finally be unveiled at San Jose’s Vietnamese Heritage Garden, a planned cultural gathering space waylaid by community divide. The life-size statue of two armed soldiers — one American and one South Vietnamese — could be ready for public viewing this month or early July. It...
San Jose Latino leaders criticize Biden for border policy
Latino leaders across San Jose are saying President Joe Biden’s recent executive order closing the border to migrants is a step in the wrong direction for the nation’s immigration policy and immigrant communities. Those who work with asylum seekers fleeing violence such as San Jose nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe said migrants can’t wait years for...
Silicon Valley Latino icon Victor Garza leaves a lasting legacy
Victor Garza, founder of La Raza RoundTable and a Santa Clara County Latino community icon, died this morning, multiple community leaders confirmed to San José Spotlight. He was 86 years old according to his personal Facebook page. Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley executive director Gabriela Chavez-Lopez said she learned of Garza’s death during a Race...
East San Jose homeowners struggle with homeless neighbors
In the heart of East San Jose, eight cars line a popular street — some with boxes stacked on top or attached wagons — filled with the belongings of homeless people such as Francisco Pulido. The constant clashes he had with his mom and stepdad compelled him to leave home. The 37-year-old has lived in...
State AG asked to intervene in East San Jose trauma center closure
Vulnerable patients and community health advocates are calling on California’s top cop to stop a private health corporation from cutting one of Santa Clara County’s only trauma centers. The financially-driven closure of Regional Medical Center’s life-saving services in East San Jose is discriminatory, argues a letter sent Thursday to Attorney General Rob Bonta, since it mostly...
San Jose cannabis dispensary opens in downtown
San Jose has opened its first ever retail storefront for cannabis in the heart of downtown. For years the city had strict rules on where dispensaries could operate, relegating them to industrial areas. Last year the City Council revised regulations on where dispensaries rent space and allowing one operator to have more than one location. Mark Ritchie, president...