For more than a year after Tafhari Siyani Benjamin Franklin moved into a fourplex on Reed Street in San Jose, the Navy veteran’s clothes were still in bins and bags. He’d watched as developments sprung up nearby and worried the property—home to formerly unhoused veterans—would be sold next. If that happened, he’d be unable to...
Path to planned downtown San Jose landmark unclear
An anticipated landmark in downtown San Jose isn’t going to be a breeze to install. The City Council unanimously voted last May to install an iconic landmark, dubbed “The Breeze of Innovation.” The design beat out nearly 1,000 submissions in an international competition launched in 2019 for creating a new landmark at Arena Green, where the...
Los Gatos residents rally against town growth
Los Gatos residents are overall happy with their quaint upper-class town, but when is comes to growth management, sentiment darkens. Los Gatos recently conducted a community survey examining the quality of life and levels of services in town. The survey, conducted by market research company ETC Institute at a cost of $25,000, focused on where...
Google refreshes San Jose residents on downtown plans
For the first time in roughly two years, Google held an in-person community forum for San Jose residents to learn about the tech company’s plans for a campus that will dramatically change downtown. On Saturday, residents browsed colorful poster boards and spoke with Google representatives at an event near the SAP Center. Sheela Jivan, Google’s director of...
San Jose homeless advocates say sweeps solve nothing
San Jose says its multi-prong plan to manage homeless camps will improve the quality of life for both the unhoused population and general public. But advocates and lawyers say nothing in the plan will bring meaningful results as the city continues to displace people through sweeps. “The treatment of people living outside has always been terrible,”...
San Jose church sees slow process for landmark status
A group of congregants at the nearly century-old Grace Baptist Church in San Jose want to secure its status as a landmark, but the timeline is uncertain. On Wednesday, the city’s Historic Landmark Commission deferred its decision to grant the church historic landmark candidacy until a more thorough assessment is completed. The commission had been set to make...
San Jose officials tighten water restrictions for new developments
San Jose officials are restricting water use for new developments, but conservationists want to see the city take more aggressive steps. San Jose councilmembers voted Tuesday to amend the city’s water efficient landscape ordinance—a 1993 rule which is periodically updated. City officials said there’s an urgent need for new developments to only install drought-tolerant landscapes, citing...
San Jose is not jumping aboard the SB 9 lawsuit train
One San Jose official hoped to join Southern California cities in suing the state over recent housing legislation, but her efforts didn’t go far. On Wednesday, Councilmember and mayoral candidate Dev Davis asked some of her City Council colleagues to support a recent lawsuit against Senate Bill 9, which allows homeowners of single-family lots to divide...
San Jose warming center closures worry homeless advocates
With the closing of San Jose’s warming centers for homeless individuals, advocates worry about the loss of services. The two centers, which opened last December, closed over the weekend and provided hot meals and shelter along with information and resources to assist homeless people with housing. San Jose Housing Department spokesperson Jeff Scott said both...
UPDATE: San Jose extends deadline to clear its largest homeless camp
San Jose officials are asking the Federal Aviation Administration for more time to clear out the city’s largest homeless camp as a June deadline approaches. The site sits under the Mineta San Jose International Airport flight path, and the FAA has threatened to withhold millions in federal funding if it isn’t cleared by June 30....