Downtown San Jose’s CityView Plaza is set to turn from a 1970s mixed-use campus to a modern glass-lined, three-tower, 3.8 million-square-foot office park after locking in the final vote of approval Tuesday. Councilmembers on Tuesday unanimously voted to approve the project by San Francisco developer Jay Paul Co., which is already working on a 1...
San Jose lawmakers approve a new office to address racial inequities
San Jose lawmakers took a major step Tuesday in addressing systemic racism in the nation’s 10th largest city by approving the creation of a new office to address racial inequities. But now the questions linger: how much will the cash-strapped city devote to the new office and how will it foot the bill? City councilmembers...
San Jose homeless trailer park residents forced out after three weeks
Homeless residents living inside trailers at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo set up for those with COVID-19 or at risk of contracting the deadly virus were evicted after three weeks when the trailer park was suddenly shut down on Monday. The residents were moved into hotels instead. “It was one of the hardest things I’ve...
Hundreds ask San Jose lawmakers to defund police ahead of budget vote
On the eve of San Jose lawmakers’ vote on the city’s annual budget, hundreds logged into a virtual public hearing Monday, most with a singular message: defund the police. Residents and advocates got 60 seconds each to make a case to councilmembers on what changes should be reflected in the $4.1 billion budget for the...
Santa Clara County nonprofits say Meals on Wheels program is at risk
A group of prominent South Bay nonprofit leaders say a meals program that feeds hundreds of thousands of local seniors a year is at risk because of contract changes with nonprofit Sourcewise. But Santa Clara-based Sourcewise, which was accused in 2016 by a county lawmaker of diverting federal funds meant for senior meals, denied accusations that the...
State proposal would drain $145M from Santa Clara County’s general fund
Santa Clara County officials said that a proposed amendment in a state bill would strip the county’s general fund of about $145 million annually, draining its budget for homeless services, supportive housing and child care among many programs if the proposal passes. “It’s the county’s core services that are most in jeopardy so we must...
South Bay leaders demand Kansen Chu resign over racially-charged remarks
Bay Area civil rights organizations joined forces Monday to call for Assemblymember Kansen Chu’s resignation in response to his “racist and hateful” comments. Condemning Chu’s comments to the Chinese language publication World Journal, Walter Wilson, a community leader from the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet, said leaders in Silicon Valley’s Asian, Black and Latinx communities will...
Liccardo focuses on police, inequality in San Jose’s $4.1B budget
San Jose’s $4.1 billion budget will be finalized this week, a major annual decision that comes this year in the midst of a pandemic that’s caused enormous projected deficits. But Mayor Sam Liccardo’s focus in a recently-released proposed budget was first on police reforms and inequality. Liccardo’s annual June budget proposal addresses head-on community calls...
San Jose activists storm Liccardo’s house, call for defunding police
Sandy Sanchez was moved to tears in front of San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s house Friday evening. Her son, Anthony Nunez, was fatally shot by two San Jose police officers four years ago. He was 18 years old. “I received his high school diploma a year later. He was working so hard to get it,”...
BART opens in Santa Clara County after 31 years in the making
It was one of the best days of former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales’ life. “I feel like a kid at Disneyland for the first time,” he said. But instead of riding the rollercoaster on Space Mountain, Gonzales rode the first BART train departing from San Jose — a moment 31 years in the making....