Santa Clara County wants to make changes to the region’s disaster aid pipeline — raising alarms for the nonprofit that has run it for decades. Emergency resource leaders are scratching their heads at the county’s efforts to restructure the region’s state-recognized Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. The network of community groups is managed by Collaborating Agencies Disaster Relief Effort (CADRE),...
Santa Clara County sues over federal housing grant changes
Santa Clara County and a coalition of 10 other local governments and nonprofits are filing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration for upending federal grants for permanent housing. The lawsuit, filed Monday, alleges changes the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made to federal Continuum of Care grants are unlawful and...
San Jose’s revised preservation rules clear way for park project
San Jose officials have amended the city’s historic preservation policy in order to advance a long-delayed project that would bring millions of dollars of new amenities, including a music pavilion, to St. James Park. The measure — which does not specifically name the park project — sparked widespread pushback from local preservationists who warn it...
San Jose homeless motel residents must move or face eviction
Homeless residents who moved from San Jose’s largest encampment into shelters earlier this year are being asked to move again — or end up back on the streets. San Jose moved hundreds of people living at Columbus Park into five motels converted to homeless shelters when it swept the park this summer. Now they’re being...
Silicon Valley properties part of Greystar $7M rent increase settlement
Greystar, the largest landlord in the U.S. with multiple major properties in Silicon Valley, has reached a $7 million settlement in an antitrust lawsuit that alleges the property management company colluded with competitors to drive up rent prices, according to a recent news release from California Attorney General Rob Bonta. The settlement is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed...
San Jose parks commissioner warns of mismanagement
A member of San Jose’s Parks and Recreation Commission has issued a public broadside against the department he helps to advise. In a public letter sent to city leaders Nov. 7, Commissioner Ken Brennan warned that mismanagement within the Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department has hamstrung the agency’s ability to maintain the more than 200...
Silicon Valley candidate’s lofty campaign ideas scrutinized
Santa Clara County assessor candidate Rishi Kumar is turning heads — and raising eyebrows — with a vow to shield older adults from property taxes. Some people are pushing back on the idea. After the abrupt resignation of the county’s 30-year former assessor, Larry Stone, a special contest to manage the county’s $700 billion real estate roll...
Mountain View approves Shoreline pathway improvements
Constructed more than five decades ago, the bicycle and pedestrian path along Shoreline Boulevard between Villa Street and Wright Avenue is in poor condition, with tree roots causing cracked and raised asphalt. That could all change starting next year, after the Mountain View City Council voted last month to move ahead with an $8.7 million improvement...
Longtime urban planner set for seat on San Jose Planning Commission
Three months after trading his role as San Jose Planning Commission chairman for a seat on the City Council, Anthony Tordillos has nominated his replacement. The District 3 representative has tapped Aimée Escobar, a veteran urban planner with an extensive background in housing policy, to fill the seat he vacated in August. Councilmembers will hold a...
The Biz Beat: Stromboli is the star of San Jose pizzeria
If the averages hold, Anna Di Maggio will have made more than 21,000 strombolis since Tony Di Maggio’s Pizza in San Jose reopened on June 13, after a fire destroyed the roof and temporarily closed the business. At 80, Anna has been working at the family-owned restaurant since she and her husband, Tony, founded it...