Faced with an uptick in homeless deaths amid the pandemic, city leaders expanded shelter services for San Jose’s unhoused residents. The San Jose City Council on Jan. 12 unanimously adopted a $11.3 million expenditure plan for its Homeless, Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program, which provides homeless outreach and shelter services citywide. The budget approval allows the city...
‘The war has begun’: Silicon Valley official called to resign over Facebook posts
Silicon Valley leaders are demanding a local Republican elected official resign following a series of Facebook posts inciting violence Wednesday, just as a pro-Trump mob took over the U.S. Capitol in a dangerous attempt to overturn the election. Phil Reynolds, who is an elected member of the Santa Clara County Republican Party’s Central Committee, publicly...
San Jose residents largely aren’t thrilled with living here
When asked to rate life in San Jose, residents still largely give it a “meh” or worse. A plurality of residents — 42% — rate the quality of life in the city as just “fair” and another 16% rates it as “poor,” according to a recent report. Those ratings are essentially unchanged from the previous...
Cultural competency at center for new San Jose spokeswoman
As the need for information is heightened during the pandemic, San Jose has selected a new leader to communicate with the public from City Hall. Carolina Camarena — San Jose’s public information manager and emergency public information co-lead since July — will serve as director of communications for City Manager Dave Sykes. She replaces former...
Racism and hypocrisy: San Jose activists react to police response to pro-Trump mob
As a pro-Trump mob scaled walls, smashed windows, looted lawmakers’ offices and pointed their weapons inside the U.S. Capitol, they faced little resistance from police. The stark difference between how law enforcement largely stood by as the mostly white insurrectionists destroyed public property and how they wore full riot gear in response to Black Lives Matter...
San Jose chef starts meal program to help restaurants, hungry residents
When chef Rodney Baca and his wife Madelyn saw how the COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging their community and small business owners, the philanthropic duo decided to help fellow restaurateurs, restaurant workers and food suppliers. “The inspiration came from not allowing any more of us to go down if I could help it,” said chef Rodney...
Death of San Jose man spurs questions about homeless shelter capacity
On a cold and rain-soaked December night, Ruben Eldridge Hill slept beneath the entrance of an empty office building in downtown San Jose. And by 11:40 a.m. the next morning, the 55-year-old man, who’d lived on the streets for years, was dead. No one knows yet what caused Hill’s death. But many agree that his...
Trump supporters hold ‘stop the steal’ protest in San Jose. Unlike the one in D.C., it didn’t turn into a riot.
On the same day supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol to try and block Congress from certifying Joe Biden as his successor, his local fans held their own protest here in San Jose. Close to 80 people, mostly Vietnamese-Americans calling themselves the “Vietnamese Movement for Trump,” organized a rally and marched across...
‘Borderline treasonous’: San Jose leaders react to stunning riots at U.S. Capitol
Silicon Valley leaders from both sides of the aisle reacted with horror Wednesday after thousands pushed past police and stormed the U.S. Capitol in a dangerous attempt to thwart a peaceful transfer of power. One local lawmaker was even in tears, comparing the stunning scene in Washington to the terrorism acts of 9/11. The mob...
San Jose Mayor Liccardo calls for Trump to be ‘tried for sedition’ after rioters storm U.S. Capitol
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo thinks President Donald Trump should be charged and tried for conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government, after his supporters violently confronted Capitol police and forced their way into the U.S. Capitol. The rioters — at Trump’s repeated encouragement, including at a rally earlier on Jan. 6 — were seeking to...