Sharon Erickson, the city leader tasked with keeping local government honest through independent audits, announced she’s retiring next month. Erickson served as the city auditor for more than a decade, probing into controversial topics such as the city’s billing systems, lack of oversight in environmental services, rent control, taxi regulations and towing services. Her office...
San Jose officials consider crackdown on abandoned shopping carts
Driving through San Jose on any given day, you might be greeted by abandoned shopping carts flipped over and scattered along underpasses, near railroad tracks or on sidewalks. Now, San Jose councilmember Sergio Jimenez wants to eliminate littering carts by revamping the city’s Abandoned Shopping Cart program, a decades-old policy that hands out fines for carts run awry...
New Santa Clara smoking crackdown on youth raises eyebrows
In an effort to crack down on smoking and the purchase and use of flavored tobacco products by underage youth, Santa Clara City officials unanimously passed an ordinance Tuesday that enforces stricter tobacco regulations. Some of the regulations include banning smoking tobacco in new and existing multi-unit housing and requiring tenants to sign lease agreements...
San Jose City Council re-evaluates policy to protect rent control units
A divided San Jose City Council voted Tuesday to study the effects of a law that’s designed to maintain rent-controlled units if a landlord closes down a property and redevelops it. City elected leaders received an update on San Jose’s Rent Stabilization Program, which enforces and implements rent control policies and tenant protections, among other...
David Low leaving Sam Liccardo’s office for homeless nonprofit
Mayor Sam Liccardo’s top spokesman is leaving City Hall after nearly four years on the job to work at the nonprofit Destination: Home. “I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your partnership, support and friendship during my time here at City Hall,” Low said in an email to his colleagues Monday....
Magdalena Carrasco jumps into crowded supervisorial race
Magdalena Carrasco, the dynamic lawmaker who broke the mold as San Jose’s vice mayor, is running for county supervisor in what’s shaping up to be a crowded field of high-profile candidates. “This feels like a very natural step for me,” Carrasco said in an interview Monday. “It really feels like the next step in the...
San Jose City Council agenda packed with housing proposals
At the beginning of the year, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo called housing one of the most “daunting” challenges facing the city. On Tuesday, Liccardo and his council colleagues will tackle the crisis once again as they review a host of affordable housing projects. If the lengthy list is approved, San Jose could add hundreds of new...
San Jose: No criminal charges filed against Google protesters
Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against eight people jailed in December for chaining themselves to chairs to protest Google’s expansion into San Jose. The news comes days before the group planned a protest to urge the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office not to pursue charges against them. District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Friday that...
Federal contractors in San Jose remain unpaid after government shutdown
Some Bay Area federal workers say they won’t get a penny of back pay after being forced off the job during the longest government shutdown in history. “It’s a big impact on us, I was delayed on my rent. I asked my landlord to just give me a delay,” said Angelina Mariano, one of 43...
San Jose shelves wage theft talks after open meeting violation
San Jose lawmakers on Wednesday stopped a discussion on wage theft protections for construction workers because of a violation of the state’s open-meeting law. The Brown Act prohibits a majority of any legislative body to discuss public business privately. For San Jose’s 11-member City Council, six or more members cannot talk about city business behind...