Santa Clara County is easing local COVID-19 restrictions weeks before the state is set to fully reopen. County health officials Tuesday announced the move to the least-restrictive yellow tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. The change, effective Wednesday, will allow most businesses to operate indoors with minimal modifications, including bars that don’t...
San Jose lawmaker floats ‘Good Doctor’ tax
ABC medical drama “The Good Doctor” is set in San Jose, but doesn’t actually film here. One city official jokingly said City Hall should capitalize on that. The television show stars an autistic savant aspiring surgeon played by English actor Freddie Highmore who does his residency at the prestigious—but fictional—San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. The...
Golf experiencing resurgence on San Jose courses
After draining city coffers for decades, San Jose’s three city-owned golf courses are back in full swing—bringing in more green for City Hall. The sport has experienced a resurgence during the pandemic as people seek recreation in the great outdoors. From May 2020 to April 2021, San Jose Municipal Golf Course saw a 44% increase...
San Jose’s big gamble with Measure H might be illegal
Seventy-three percent of San Jose voters went all-in for more card room tables last November. But state officials say that increasing that number might be illegal. At the end of last year, San Jose voters overwhelmingly approved Measure H, which allows local casinos to increase the number of tables if they agreed to pay the...
Residents ponder what San Jose college should do with 27 acres
After negotiations with a major developer fell through and a lawsuit followed, the 27 acres of open land along Evergreen Valley College remained untouched for years. And now it’s back to the drawing board for what should happen to the college-owned land. The once promising development opportunity sits in limbo as the San Jose Evergreen...
Silicon Valley advocates of Reid-Hillview Airport closure face opposition
Disagreements over the danger lead airplane fuel poses to East San Jose neighborhoods came to a head at a virtual forum about the closure of Reid-Hillview Airport. The Silicon Valley chapter of environmental justice organization Mothers Out Front invited Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez to its monthly meeting Wednesday for a presentation detailing the...
San Jose leans on ADUs to meet housing goals
San Jose is lagging behind its 2017 promise to build 25,000 units of new housing—10,000 of them affordable—by 2022. Now, officials are looking for solutions to the shortfall and hoping to jumpstart construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs). To meet its goal of 25,000 new units in five years, the city needed to build about...
Is San Jose ready to go maskless?
New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says fully vaccinated people can ditch their masks when indoors and outdoors. But local guidelines aren’t as open yet. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday he will end the state’s mask mandate on June 15, nearly a year after he first required masks in all public...
The Podlight: Berryessa Flea Market plan moves forward
The Podlight is a podcast collaboration by San José Spotlight and Silicon Valley Synergy. The Podlight features a weekly look at the top headlines and in-depth conversations with San José Spotlight reporters about South Bay policy, politics and government, delving into critical issues such as housing, technology, business, homelessness, land use and development. On this...
Indoor dining brings normalcy back to San Jose restaurants
Restaurants returning to indoor dining can breathe easier as customers come back inside and some normalcy takes shape. Before the pandemic, Anabel Nguyen and Alex Huynh’s family restaurant hadn’t taken a break in 25 years. But in March 2020, they closed for one month. “It was really stressful for all of us,” Nguyen said. Since...