The San Jose-Evergreen Community College District has sent a letter to developer Republic Urban Properties LLC saying it doesn’t intend to further extend or modify the exclusive negotiation agreement to develop surplus land. In a July 11 letter to Michael Van Every, president of the San Jose-based development company, SJECCD Chancellor Byron D. Clift Breland...
Santa Clara City Council votes on Tasman East plan, grand jury response
Santa Clara elected officials returned from a monthlong legislative break Tuesday to discuss traffic safety, brainstorm a response to a scathing transportation audit and rework part of a plan that will guide future development in an area slated for major growth. Response to Civil Grand Jury’s VTA Report City leaders are required to respond to a Santa...
San Jose lawmakers adopt new fee for Diridon Station, discuss airport closure
For decades, local officials have wanted to shut down San Jose’s Reid- Hillview Airport, serving local pilots, aviation students and educators as a hub for flight trainings and the local community as a resource for disaster relief. But after hours of discussion, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday reviewed how the nearly 60-year-old airport’s closure...
National watchdog investigates San Jose’s award to Catholic school
One day after a San José Spotlight report highlighted concerns over a six-figure grant the city awarded to a private Catholic school, a national watchdog group announced it is investigating the “unconstitutional grant.” “The city’s decision to award more than 800,000 dollars of discretionary funds to a private religious school, subsidizing religious instruction, is unconstitutional,”...
San Jose: A hundred families scramble after charter school opening stalls
Parents of would-be students at Promise Academy — a charter school first expected to open at Allen at Steinbeck in the San Jose Unified School District last year — say they are devastated again after the district pulled the plug on their agreement just before school started last week. That left nearly 100 families scrambling...
Residents rally to ‘reclaim’ demolished downtown Santa Clara
Mary Grizzle still gets emotional when she remembers the old downtown Santa Clara, torn down decades ago after spending much of her youth there. “Just thinking about it, I cry to see the wrecking ball wrecking the City Hall,” she said. “To see all my memories in a week or two just bulldozed.” Much of...
San Jose lawmakers to discuss Reid-Hillview Airport closure
After months of delay, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday will discuss a report on the possible closure of Reid-Hillview Airport, a move many opponents said will burden the city’s downtown airport and shrink city resources in the case of an emergency. In December, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors took a big leap...
San Jose superintendents raise concern over six-figure award to Catholic school
Two leading superintendents from the three public high school districts in San Jose say the city failed to notify them of a six-figure grant proposal for a work-study program that was instead awarded to a private, Catholic school. Two weeks ago, the San Jose City Council unanimously voted to award a contract to the sole...
Santa Clara County lawmakers approve firearm safe storage laws
Some elected leaders say gun laws can lead to trouble when equally applied to urban and rural areas – and that’s what Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese is trying to avoid. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved his proposal requiring safe storage for firearms in homes on unincorporated county land. The ordinance, which primarily aims...
Community leaders plan to bring little free libraries to East San Jose
Little Free Libraries — those birdhouse-like structures used for sharing free books — are cropping up everywhere in San Jose. Everywhere, that is, except for East San Jose and Evergreen neighborhoods, some of the city’s most vulnerable communities. The newly-formed Evergreen Valley Rotary Club is looking to change that and its Community Service Chair Jeannette...