The San Jose City Council met on Monday to discuss evolving plans for the massive Google and transit projects set to reinvent the face of downtown. Changes to the area surrounding Diridon Station have triggered community anxieties—and most recently roused the concern of the San Jose Sharks. The hockey team worried the long-term construction could...
Sharks warn San Jose downtown development may force them out
The Sharks fear the impacts of a massive redevelopment of Diridon Station — which includes Google’s megacampus — could force them out of San Jose. The NHL team says its concerns have fallen on deaf ears for more than a year. Now, they’re pleading with the public to help save the SAP Center, home to...
Low-income housing gets boost in San Jose plan to spend Measure E tax
Strained to alleviate both pandemic-induced evictions and homelessness, San Jose leaders struggled with how to spend $30 million in new tax dollars before unanimously settling on prioritizing low-income housing over rental assistance. The City Council approved a plan Nov. 10 to allocate money from Measure E, a property transfer tax increase that was approved by...
Residents debate height limits, open space near Google campus in San Jose
New apartments built near single-family homes should feature lots of green space — and better not rise too high. These were the top concerns raised by members of the Diridon Station Area Advisory Group (SAAG) Monday night, as the group discussed San Jose’s plan for the 250-acre area, as well as Google’s proposed 80-acre campus project. The...
San Jose City Council: How will the property transfer tax increase be spent?
Eight months after voters approved Measure E — a property transfer tax increase— the city will decide how to spend the money intended for affordable housing projects and homelessness prevention services. Under the plan coming to the City Council Nov. 10, councilmembers propose using the $30 million in tax revenue to create new properties for...
San Jose gears up for battle over density with Opportunity Housing
A plan to densify housing in San Jose is sowing division and animosity in the South Bay. Supporters hail it as a fix for the South Bay’s crippling housing shortage. Opponents call it a threat to suburban, single-family neighborhoods. The plan, called Opportunity Housing, would allow developers to build up to four homes on a...
Santa Clara County permanent supportive housing project sees success
Santa Clara County may have just gotten one step closer to solving chronic homelessness. According to a recent study by the UCSF Benioff Housing and Homeless Initiative, permanent supportive housing has been successful in housing the county’s most impaired and desperate homeless individuals, including frequent users of emergency medical and psychiatric services and jails. Researchers...
Is Measure A’s loan program for first-time homebuyers working?
David Wulff and and Karina Gallardo Wulff were planning on leaving Santa Clara County if they couldn’t buy a house soon. The couple, who have two children, ages seven and five, had always lived in apartments. But they wanted more space and a yard, particularly for their kids to play in. The median sale price...
New tax data platform fuels Prop. 15 debate in South Bay
Proposition 15, one of the most highly-contested issues on the ballot, has given hope to those who believe it will eventually lead to changes in how residential property taxed. The measure, if approved, would require commercial and industrial properties to be taxed based on their market value rather than the price at which they were purchased....
Santa Clara County makes it easier to building housing for agricultural workers
Citing a severe shortage of housing for farmworkers, Santa Clara County has paved the way to build more units by relaxing zoning and streamlining the permitting process. There are about 400,000 to 800,000 migrant farmworkers living and working in California. But while some counties have an idea of how many workers live in and travel...