San Jose

San Jose

Neighbors decry safe parking site for San Jose homeless

A coalition of San Jose residents are fuming that their elected leader left them out of discussions about a safe parking site for homeless individuals in their neighborhood. An empty parking lot in North San Jose just south of Highway 237 holds at least four RVs and four unhoused residents after close to 70 people were swept from an encampment...

Peralez and Chavez face off in San Jose mayor forum

Two longtime labor leaders faced the first test in their mayoral aspirations Monday—though only one of them has actually announced a campaign for mayor. Downtown Councilmember Raul Peralez, who announced he’s running for the city’s top political job in April, faced off with Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez during a Democratic mayoral candidate forum....

San Jose councilmember proposes prefab housing for homeless

San Jose Councilmember Matt Mahan has a solution to help end homelessness: Prefabricated homes on public land. That’s the proposal the District 10 councilmember will bring before the city’s Rules Committee on Wednesday. He hopes San Jose and Santa Clara County can identify sites to build prefabricated units, or housing that can be assembled quickly off-site while a foundation is being...

Why can’t San Jose solve its homelessness crisis?

Despite decades of robust efforts and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, San Jose’s homelessness crisis continues to grow—leaving residents, officials and advocates frustrated. For some unhoused residents in Columbus Park, the largest encampment in San Jose, the solution to their problem is simple: Give them housing. “Everybody out here wants to live in a home,” said...

State laws upend single-family zoning in Santa Clara County

With a pen stroke, Gov. Gavin Newsom has set the stage for potentially massive changes to how housing is built in Silicon Valley. Newsom signed into law Senate Bills 9 and 10 on Thursday. SB 9 allows for the development of up to four dwelling units on single-family lots throughout California, while SB 10 allows...

San Jose mayor expands trash-picking program for homeless

Some San Jose homeless residents could soon have a job that pays nearly $25 an hour. That’s the announcement that came from Mayor Sam Liccardo Thursday after he expanded the San Jose Bridge program, an initiative that employs homeless residents to pick up trash. The expansion will make room for up to 100 unhoused workers across...

San Jose tourist attractions struggle through COVID pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic hit San Jose tourist attractions hard, but some have found creative ways to bring back visitors. The Children’s Discovery Museum, Tech Interactive and Winchester Mystery House all closed during last year’s shelter in place, and have yet to fully recover. But through rainy day funds, donors and online programming, they stayed afloat despite...

South San Jose liquor store shut down after 36 years

Faisal Gowani still can’t believe his family business has shut down. Owned by Gowani’s parents, Southgate Liquors was a fixture in South San Jose that provided one of the largest selections of craft beer and liquor in the area for the last 36 years. The shop went out of business on Labor Day after being...

UPDATE: San Jose approves high-rise office towers

Woz Way is getting a makeover in the form of a pair of high-rise office towers—and the project is right at the city’s height limit. The Almaden Office Project, led by developer Boston Properties, will be built on a 3.57-acre parking lot on the corner of South Almaden Boulevard and Woz Way. The San Jose...

UPDATE: San Jose activists oppose limiting police reform oversight

San Jose activists Monday pushed back against top city administrators who want to squeeze them out of a process to reform police. In a letter sent Friday to Fred Ferrer, chair of the Charter Review Commission, City Manager Jennifer Maguire advised leaving policing issues to the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Community Advisory Committee, a 46-member...