Despite scathing audits and pleas from fire officials to create a consolidated fire district, Santa Clara County Supervisors refused to dissolve the South Santa Clara and Los Altos Hills fire districts. Instead, supervisors punted the decision to the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO. The group typically completes a comprehensive review of the county’s fire...
Religious leaders plead to increase indoor services in Santa Clara County
Church members from across Santa Clara County are asking supervisors to reconsider restrictions that will limit services to 25 percent of capacity, even as the county moves into a less restrictive tier of pandemic restrictions imposed by the state. For nearly two hours Oct. 6, church members, pastors and representatives asked the Board of Supervisors...
Santa Clara County sets affordable housing requirement on new developments
Housing developers who want to build in unincorporated parts of Santa Clara County next year will, for the first time, have to set aside units for low-income residents or pay an in-lieu fee. The Board of Supervisors on Oct. 6 approved the requirement that low-income housing make up 16 percent of new developments containing three...
Dev Davis finds way to San Jose, wants to stay as District 6 council rep
Councilmember Dev Davis never pictured herself as a politician. She came from hardworking stock — the daughter of a school teacher and a truck driver who hauled farming equipment. At age 10, Davis got her own job delivering newspapers and didn’t know much about the world outside her North Dakota home. “I didn’t really even...
After 40 years in politics, Jim Beall casts his final vote in Sacramento
For Jim Beall, there were no first-day jitters when he stepped foot on the Senate floor eight years ago. “It was December of 2012 – my first day — and by the time I finished the day, I had introduced, I think, three bills,” Beall said. And after a distinguished four decades in public office in...
Questions swirl about Santa Clara candidate’s lobbying record, relationship with mayor
As the race for two open seats on the Santa Clara City Council heats up, documents obtained by San José Spotlight raise questions about one candidate’s relationship to the mayor and his lobbying activity. Robert Mezzetti, a longtime San Jose attorney, is facing Anthony Becker and Gary Barve in the District 6 council race. Mezzetti...
Irvin: What Valley Water doesn’t want you to know about Measure S
The Sierra Club sees two big problems with Measure S, which would replace the Safe, Clean Water parcel tax approved by voters in 2012. First, there is no sunset date, effectively taking away our right to vote. The Measure S parcel tax can only be reversed by a citizen’s initiative, requiring more han 30,000 valid...
Partner in downtown San Jose development alleges racketeering
A federal court in San Jose is expected soon to rule on a lawsuit in which a member of a local real estate consortium has charged some of his former partners with racketeering involving a downtown parcel near the proposed Google Transit Village. The case centers around an approximately 1.2-acre site at 777 West San...
49ers drop $250,000 to defeat mayor’s allies on Santa Clara City Council
One day after San José Spotlight reported a developer funneling money through the Santa Clara police union to elect allies of Mayor Lisa Gillmor, her archnemesis — the San Francisco 49ers — threw in six figures to defeat them. The 49ers on Sept. 30 dropped $250,000 into a committee called Citizens for Efficient Government and...
Lawsuits detail claims of civil rights violations by Santa Clara council candidate
During his law enforcement career, Santa Clara City Council candidate Bob O’Keefe became the subject of two lawsuits claiming he violated people’s civil and constitutional rights, according to court documents obtained by San José Spotlight. One man arrested by O’Keefe for allegedly buying jet skis using a false identity was later found factually innocent, which...