If the San Jose City Council’s policy work this past year could be summarized in one word it would be housing. In 2019, San Jose passed a slew of housing initiatives meant to increase the city’s housing supply, while also tweaking crucial rent control and tenant protections, which housing officials enforce and implement through the city’s Rent...
Silicon Valley’s minimum wage workers will see bigger paychecks in 2020
The lowest wage earners across Santa Clara County will get a boost in pay in 2020, with workers in Sunnyvale and Mountain View due to get the biggest bump as both cities increase their minimum wages to $16.05 in January. And San Jose, once a leader in raising the minimum wage, will fall in last...
San Jose earned perfect score for LGBTQ equality, despite some shortcomings
For the fifth year in a row, the Human Rights Campaign gave San Jose a perfect score for equality in services, laws and protection for its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer residents. The eighth annual Municipal Equality Index researched 49 criteria for local communities, including hot-button issues such as actions against conversion therapy and...
Milpitas Councilmember Anthony Phan joins Assembly race
Another Milpitas politician is yearning to go to Sacramento. Milpitas Councilmember Anthony Phan filed papers Wednesday to run for an open California Assembly seat in District 25, a contest that has now garnered interest from every single member of the Milpitas council — except Bob Nunez. But Phan, 26, told San José Spotlight in an...
Major changes planned for Santa Clara County foster care system
Santa Clara County is proposing sweeping reforms to how it treats children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse and neglect. If implemented, the reforms would result in a major expansion and overhaul of the county’s foster care system and concentrate efforts to reunite children with family members. The proposed reform package,...
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo raises eyebrows with Mike Bloomberg endorsement
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s announcement Tuesday that he’s endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, just one week after his last pick, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., dropped out of the race is raising eyebrows from critics. Some are questioning the Silicon Valley mayor for backing a billionaire after Harris dropped out because she didn’t have enough capital...
UPDATE: Lawmakers approve San Jose mayor’s spending plan for proposed tax
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s support for a real property transfer tax has been gaining more traction, as several community leaders, housing advocates and formerly homeless people lined up to speak next to the mayor at a news conference Tuesday to support using the funds generated from the tax toward affordable housing projects and homeless...
Santa Clara officials push forward plan to reimagine north side neighborhood
Santa Clara officials Tuesday night pushed forward a new land use and zoning plan that will help transform an industrial neighborhood of the city into a dense, mixed-use hotspot. The Patrick Henry Drive Specific Plan, which will be studied for its environmental impacts through 2020, encompasses the city’s northernmost neighborhood on the border of Sunnyvale,...
San Jose lawmakers to discuss transforming BART stations into transit communities
The Valley Transportation Authority has spent years developing a plan to create new, vibrant communities around transit hubs, especially at a time when BART is expanding its reach in Silicon Valley. On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council will hear a report highlighting VTA’s major goals for Phase II of BART’s Silicon Valley expansion project, just...
San Jose leaders consider backing mayor’s plan for PG&E ratepayer takeover
With growing support from a host of 114 elected leaders in 58 cities and 10 counties, Mayor Sam Liccardo recently announced that his vision of turning PG&E into a customer-owned utility has received widespread recognition statewide. Nearly a month after introducing the proposal to the California Public Utilities Commission — which will ultimately decide on...