Mayor Sam Liccardo joined with political rivals to propose sweeping changes to the Planning Commision following community outcry, changes that could reshape the size and diversity of the powerful panel. In a new proposal, Liccardo and Vice Mayor Chappie Jones teamed up with progressives Magdalena Carrasco and Maya Esparza to suggest prohibiting more than two...
San Jose has nearly 600 job openings, but it’s an improvement
San Jose has reported a steady decline in job vacancies and employee turnover for the last three years, a statistic that city officials say is the result of sweeping efforts to improve employee retention and compensation following an economic downturn in 2012. According to data requested by San José Spotlight, the city had 650 vacancies in...
Initiative to align San Jose mayoral election with the presidential election fails
Despite a push from community advocates to align San Jose’s mayoral election with the presidential election cycle, the votes to make the change just weren’t there on Tuesday. Mayor Sam Liccardo, Vice Mayor Chappie Jones and Councilmembers Lan Diep, Pam Foley, Johnny Khamis and Dev Davis voted against the measure, citing concerns that the presidential...
Silicon Valley Democratic Club endorses Kimberly Ellis for state party chair
Candidates running for Chair of the California Democratic Party swung by the South Bay to answer questions at a forum on Monday — each making the case for why they are fit for the role. Following the hourlong candidate forum, the Silicon Valley Democratic Club voted to endorse Kimberly Ellis, a progressive activist and former...
San Jose City Council to debate moving mayoral elections
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Vice Mayor Chappie Jones on Tuesday will implore their City Council colleagues to make no changes to the mayoral election cycle and instead explore alternative ideas to increase voter turnout. Liccardo previously told San José Spotlight that he wouldn’t support an initiative to align the mayoral election year with...
San Jose lawmakers propose giving low-income areas more public funding
Instead of giving San Jose’s affluent, privileged neighborhoods such as Almaden Valley and Willow Glen the same amount of money as struggling areas such as East San Jose and Meadowfair, five city lawmakers want to make the budget process more equitable. They’re calling for the city’s public funding to be divvied up based on each...
Labor leaders condemn Sam Liccardo over stance on immigration
A band of top labor leaders Thursday signed onto a resolution condemning Mayor Sam Liccardo’s push to revise the county’s sanctuary city policy in the wake of the murder of a San Jose woman by an undocumented immigrant. In the resolution, the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council executive board, Latinos United for a New America, Human Agenda and...
Santa Clara County law enforcement have taken 6,000 guns off streets
More assault weapons were received in 2016 and 2018 than years prior. Last year, LaCap said her department capped buybacks at $400 maximum because “we had these people that would bring in like 40 guns, and they would wipe out all of our funds on one person.” “A lot of it was gun dealers who...
East San Jose leaders decry San Jose planning commission appointment
When Ada Márquez stepped down from San Jose’s most powerful city commission last year, community leaders were hopeful that lawmakers would appoint another person of color from East Side to fill her spot. But that’s not what happened. “The council had a chance to embrace diversity and instead they chose to replace a seat that...
Santa Clara County to explore changes to sanctuary city policy
Amid a brewing battle on immigration, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors announced Tuesday that it will explore changes to the county’s sanctuary city policy following immense backlash from the community. After an emotional meeting that included three hours of public testimony, county lawmakers voted 4-1 in favor of requesting county staff to come...