A routine appointment to the San Jose Planning Commission became a somewhat contentious affair Monday after former commissioner Norm Kline was granted an interview under unusual circumstances. Kline applied for the appointment ahead of the deadline, said City Clerk Toni Taber, but his name didn’t appear alongside the nearly two dozen other applicants. Taber said...

“The revised numbers show that out of nearly 4,000 housing units permitted or approved last year, only 6 percent were affordable,” Auerhahn told San José Spotlight. “We need to be looking at solutions that add to affordable housing, not proposals to further subsidize luxury downtown homes while zeroing out their affordable housing contributions.” During Tuesday’s council...

San Jose on Tuesday will grapple with waiving its wage theft policy to award a major banking contract to Chase — which has disclosed prior wage theft violations — or to create its own public bank. The city’s current banking agreement with Wells Fargo is set to expire on June 30. City officials put the...

Mayor’s budget plan In preparation for the City Manager’s Office creating next year’s budget, the council is poised to approve a budget plan issued by Liccardo earlier this month. Liccardo’s proposal calls for tightening the city’s purse strings as City Hall braces for an economic downturn. “The recent release of the City’s five-year general fund forecast shows...

The reverberations of a well-planned “terrorist attack,” in the words of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday have left Muslim communities in the South Bay reeling. Prayers for the 49 dead and scores who were injured could be heard in Friday sermons across the Bay Area, as...

San Joseans now have a place to change their children’s diapers in City Hall — for the first time. The Capital of Silicon Valley had no diaper changing stations in any of the 42 public restrooms inside City Hall. Now, on the first floor of City Hall, in both the men’s and women’s restrooms, two pull-down changing tables...

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s new budget priorities align closely with his goal of alleviating Silicon Valley’s housing crisis by investing in affordable housing, pursuing another housing bond and cutting red tape for developers. “We need a lot of tools in the toolbox in order to meet our goals,” Liccardo told San José Spotlight in...

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday halting the executions of 737 death row prisoners in the state, repealed California’s lethal injection protocols and shuttered the San Quentin State Prison execution chamber. Of the 737 condemned inmates, who now have stays of execution, 25 of them had their trial in Santa Clara County. Silicon Valley lawmakers...

The San José-Evergreen Community College District Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to extend an exclusive negotiating agreement with a San Jose developer for an ambitious mixed-use project slated for roughly 13.5 acres of district property near Evergreen Valley College. Republic Urban Properties, LLC, is behind the massive development project called “Montgomery Place.” While some...

More than a decade after it was proposed and following months of contentious debate, city lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved height increases of up to 35 feet downtown and up to 150 feet in the Diridon Station Area. The discussion has been riddled with controversy as advocates, airport commissioners and city officials debated the impact of the proposed...