A contentious proposal to suspend rent for three months for families who are struggling to make rent due to coronavirus was struck down by San Jose’s attorney at a virtual City Council meeting Tuesday, concerned the policy violated the Constitution. City Attorney Rick Doyle said the city would be on the hook for the forgiven rent...
Staying at home has ‘bent the curve’ on COVID-19, but residents deal with ripple effects
Health officials say the shelter in place order effective the past three weeks is working, but none can predict when life might return to normal as the economic and health effects of the restrictions ripple through the region. Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s top health official, on Tuesday told county leaders that the health...
Nurses in Santa Clara County feel betrayed as they work the frontlines of the pandemic
Nurses in Santa Clara County aren’t being adequately protected as they put themselves in harm’s way to treat the public during the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to 11 medical professionals working at local hospitals interviewed by San José Spotlight. There isn’t enough protective equipment or, in many hospitals, adequate training on how to safely reuse...
Santa Clara City Council extends renter protections, delays Pruneridge traffic plan
Santa Clara renters are now protected from evictions through May 28 if they’re unable to pay rent due to financial strain caused by COVID-19. After the City Council adopted an urgency ordinance two weeks ago, state and countywide eviction moratoriums were also approved, leading Santa Clara leaders to approve an adjusted timeline to avoid confusion...
San Jose struggles to clean up illegal dumpsites in wake of coronavirus
Despite a years-long effort to reduce blight, graffiti and trash, San Jose has been forced to scale back on its resources to clean the city’s streets, spurred by the COVID-19 quarantine. The city in recent years has beefed up its efforts to reduce blight, aided by a new app that allows residents to report where trash...
Santa Clara County could move to all-mail election due to coronavirus
As the coronavirus crisis has upended the lives of people across the nation, Santa Clara County seeks to protect the most sacred right of every American: Voting. That means the county could move to voting entirely by mail in the November election. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted a plan authored by Supervisor Cindy...
California lends out 500 ventilators as Santa Clara County seeks more
South Bay residents got seemingly contradicting accounts Monday from local and state officials about how stocked California’s ventilator cache is in the face of COVID-19, a potentially deadly respiratory illness that is spreading across the state. Santa Clara County officials stood outside Valley Medical Center in San Jose on Monday afternoon to plead for ventilator donations that...
San Jose looks to increase emergency housing, discuss budget cuts due to COVID-19
With more than 1,200 COVID-19 positive cases countywide and counting, San Jose leaders are scrambling to stop the spread to homeless people and vulnerable residents living in shelters, encampments and overcrowded homes by building emergency housing. The City Council on Tuesday will discuss a proposal to allocate more than $17 million to build modular homes...
Lawmakers push Santa Clara County to reverse in-store recreational cannabis sales ban
Three members of the San Jose City Council wrote to Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody on Monday, urging her to reconsider a recent order that banned the sale of recreational cannabis inside San Jose’s dispensaries. Pam Foley, Magdalena Carrasco and Maya Esparza sent a letter Monday afternoon pleading with Cody to...
Coronavirus: San Jose lawmakers propose suspending rent
Cities across California are passing a slew of laws delaying rent and banning evictions for families who cannot pay during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order, but some lawmakers say the patchwork of bills don’t go far enough to protect renters. As unemployment rates across the country surge to all-time highs, San Jose Councilmembers Magdalena Carrasco and Raul...