Despite years of effort to rein in spending on police overtime and reduce 9-1-1 call response times, San Jose continues to struggle on both fronts, according to a new report from the City Auditor’s Office. The report, which went before the City Council Tuesday, shows San Jose spent $72 million on police overtime between June...
Mountain View homes without drinkable water after breach
Since last Friday, Mountain View resident Mark Tashima has been told by city officials that he can’t drink or otherwise use the tap water in his home in the Cuesta Park neighborhood. That puts him in the same boat as about 65 other nearby households. On April 24, a city contractor breached a water main at the...
Palo Alto license plate data searched by hundreds of out-of-state agencies
Despite local officials’ claims to the contrary, public records show hundreds of law enforcement agencies from around the U.S. searched data from Palo Alto’s automatic license plate reader cameras over a period of about a year. The city’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, operated by Flock Safety, were made available to out-of-state and federal...
Silicon Valley mental health crisis team at risk of losing funding
People are seeking out Santa Clara County’s non-police mental health crisis team more than any other response program. But it’s about to run out of money. County leaders are looking for ways to keep the Trusted Response Urgent Support Team (TRUST) program alive after state funding — which gave the program four years to evolve since launching...
Sunnyvale slow to help homeless people living in RVs
Sunnyvale leaders are moving forward with a plan to address homelessness among people living in their vehicles, but how quickly solutions can be implemented is unclear. The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to develop proposals for interim housing on city-owned land, a potential RV buyback program and a permitted parking system for oversized vehicles...
Campbell council closes housing development loophole
Campbell residents have scored a partial victory in a fight against a state housing law that could open the door to replacing single-family homes with multifamily developments. The law prevents cities from standing in the way of developers who want to put up to 10 homes on vacant residential lots, but doesn’t specify the timing...
San Jose’s faulty formula zeroed out worker pay increases
An obscure wage formula used by San Jose is getting an update — bringing a pay bump to some of the city’s lowest paid workers following a year when their wages didn’t rise at all. The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved changes to its “living wage” policy, a measure covering workers employed by companies...
Mountain View shelves plan that could displace RV dwellers
A project to add bike lanes in a part of Mountain View that is slated to gain hundreds of new homes looks like it will be put on hold for years, if not indefinitely. The City Council directed city staff last week to shelve a plan that would put in bike lanes on Terra Bella...
Report details missing, murdered Indigenous people in San Jose
Colonization, forced displacement and violence against Indigenous people in the U.S. have left years of generational trauma. Now, a first-ever report quantifies these impacts on Bay Area Native communities. The Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley released a report this month showing the extent in which local Indigenous people survived sexual abuse, have missing or...
Santa Clara County workers put on leave amid child welfare crisis
Ten Santa Clara County employees are on leave and state officials are tightening their grip as another death in the county’s child welfare system has prompted calls for criminal accountability. The alleged sexual assault and killing of 2-year-old Jaxon Juarez — who the Department of Family and Children’s Services placed in the home of a...