In an effort to spur San Jose’s dwindling housing supply, lawmakers on Tuesday will consider investing $10 million to flip market-rate apartments into affordable ones and peg 30 percent of any new housing dollars for extremely low-income housing. Housing officials this week will ask the City Council to add those two new priorities to the city’s affordable housing investment plan....
Iola Williams, first African-American councilwoman in San Jose, dies
Iola Williams, the first African-American to serve on the San Jose City Council, died Thursday night surrounded by her family in Texas. Williams, who lost a battle with Parkinson’s disease, was 83 years old. In 1979, Williams became the first African-American lawmaker appointed to the City Council after serving on the Franklin-McKinley School Board. Williams served...
Norm Kline drops bid for San Jose Planning Commission
After a blunder left Norm Kline off a list of applicants for the Planning Commission, he dropped out of the competitive process and cleared the field for three others. “Since applying and not being selected, I have volunteered for other public service projects,” Kline wrote in a letter. “This combined with knowing the council has...
Assemblyman Evan Low’s Election Day holiday bill moves ahead
Should California voters have the day off to get to the polls and fulfill their civic duty? One Silicon Valley lawmaker thinks so, and his landmark bill is one step closer to becoming law. Assemblyman Evan Low’s Assembly Bill 177, which could establish a statewide Election Day holiday, is moving ahead in the legislative process....
San Jose lawmakers debate “bond secrecy” on ballot measures
With 2020 elections making headlines across the country, San Jose legislators recently debated disclosing the costs of bond measures as prompted by a controversial state bill. Assembly Bill 195, a bill approved in 2017 by former Gov. Jerry Brown, requires all ballot measures to have 75-word blurbs describing the amount of money to be raised annually, the tax...
San Jose grapples with growing park maintenance backlog
San Jose’s parks are crumbling to a tune of roughly $452 million dollars – $40 million more than they were last year. The perennial issue of the maintenance backlog resurfaced at last week’s City Council meeting. Councilors approved $4.7 million from the sale of a Coleman Avenue property to go back to parks. Funds from the November 2000...
Sam Liccardo won’t support measure to extend his mayoral term
“It’s one of those areas of reform that is fairly easy to make, but can have a pretty big difference in the level of civic participation in our local elections,” said San Jose State political science professor Garrick Percival. The initiative has garnered support from notable local groups and figures, including former Federal Elections Commission...
Silicon Valley leaders push for participation in 2020 census
In a year, Silicon Valley officials will hit the streets to begin counting people for the 2020 U.S. Census, which happens every 10 years. Beginning on April 1, 2020, census officials, volunteers and a multitude of Silicon Valley-area organizations will begin counting the region’s residents. They gathered Tuesday morning at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza to begin...
San Jose to tackle noisy trains and gas leaf blowers
Noisy leaf blowers and blaring late-night trains. San Jose legislators will take them both on during a meeting this week. A San Jose City Council committee on Wednesday will accept a report from city officials about funding a buy-back program for gasoline-powered lawn equipment, which environmentalists say create air pollution and health risks. The council twice...
March for Our Lives draws hundreds to downtown San Jose
A few hundred residents flocked to Downtown San Jose Saturday to rally against gun violence and engage Silicon Valley lawmakers in discussion about gun reform. The focus of the event was galvanizing young voices in the fight against gun-related deaths. “I’m fed up with people saying ‘a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a...