While the unlicensed Silvery Towers subcontractor Job Torres Hernandez received his sentence in federal court for harboring undocumented workers in slave-like conditions, San Jose lawmakers on Tuesday passed a law to prevent construction companies from exploiting low-wage workers on private construction projects that receive tax breaks. Spurring from negotiations with labor unions more than a...
Santa Clara Police Chief Mike Sellers will retire before term ends
Santa Clara Police Chief Mike Sellers will retire on Sept. 1, more than a year before his term ends in December 2020, Sellers told San José Spotlight on Tuesday. Sellers has been Santa Clara’s elected police chief for the past seven years, but he’s worked full-time for the city’s police department for more than three...
Santa Clara County ambulance contract changes raise concern
It’s rush hour when a middle-aged man walking down East Santa Clara Street collapses with a stroke. A few minutes later, a firefighter trained as a paramedic gets on scene. The firefighter takes the patient’s vitals, gives him an IV and stabilizes him. But he can’t take the man to a hospital — only the county’s ambulance provider...
San Jose lawmakers to address ‘missing middle’ housing, prevailing wages
Housing officials had originally deferred the missing middle housing debate earlier this month. Since that time, they pulled together more information about a recent homebuyer downpayment assistance proposal from Councilmember Pam Foley, as well as a backyard unit proposal from Mayor Sam Liccardo and Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco, Sylvia Arenas and Foley. Foley’s homebuyer assistance program proposal, which...
Santa Clara City Council to vote on operations-focused budget
Santa Clara city officials say they’ve balanced the city’s $954.8 million budget ahead of the City Council’s expected vote on the financial forecast on Tuesday. City officials have tried over the past 18 months to find their way out of what was projected to be a $46.4 million deficit over the next two years as...
Silicon Valley legislator pushes to ban conversion therapy
Silicon Valley Assemblyman Evan Low, an openly gay state legislator, has been working since last year to get conversion therapy recognized in California as fraudulent and harmful to LGBTQ+ residents. Low this month introduced a new resolution to denounce conversion therapy services, joining with faith leaders to move California one step closer toward eradicating conversion...
Santa Clara mayor proposes 2020 bond measure in State of City address
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor wants to put a bond measure on the November 2020 ballot that would generate funds to improve public facilities and infrastructure, she announced Thursday during a State of the City address. “While our community is thriving, we need to improve our parks, our libraries and our infrastructure to keep up...
San Jose lawmakers discuss combatting rise in rapes
After examining a report by the San Jose Police Department on a spike in rapes across the city, lawmakers serving on a public safety committee Thursday wanted to know why victims avoid law enforcement and other hurdles with solving cases. Mayor Sam Liccardo also devoted $750,000 to help police leaders increase resources to address the rise...
It’s official: Milpitas Vice Mayor Karina Dominguez joins Assembly race
After serving six months as Milpitas’ vice mayor, Karina Dominguez says she’s ready “to make history” again. Dominguez announced exclusively to San José Spotlight that she’s running for Assembly District 25, a highly-contested seat vacated by Kansen Chu who told this news organization in May that he’s leaving Sacramento to run for county supervisor. Dominguez,...
New #SanJoseSong featuring New Zealander raises concerns
San Jose’s tourism leaders are trying to get more people talking about and visiting the city. People are definitely talking now. For many in the 10th largest city in America, San Jose is their hometown. For Grace Kelly, that’s not the case. That’s why people are sounding off about the city’s new music promo, featuring...