A Santa Clara County leader is leaving her role after 40 years of fighting for homeless youth. Sparky Harlan, CEO of the Bill Wilson Center, is retiring after joining the housing nonprofit in 1983. The center opened in 1973. Her legacy involves a yearslong commitment to supporting unhoused youth and the tenacity to back it up,...
Former San Jose pub owners put community first
For John McKay, owning a pub is in his Scottish blood. For Englishman Michael North, it’s his calling. Together, the two former owners of Britannia Arms of Almaden Valley built a business that focused on giving back and treating every customer like family. For North, 60, who grew up poor in England, doing things for...
San Jose State University statue defaced
One of the most iconic statues in San Jose and the racial justice movement was defaced over the weekend. The “Victory Salute” statue at San Jose State University—which depicts alumni and African American Olympic athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos—was found defaced on Saturday, university officials said in a campus-wide email. The statue, which has...
Security contract gives San Jose labor majority the upper hand
Early signs point to a shift toward pro-labor politics in San Jose after the actions of several city councilmembers resulted in a contractor reversing position to earn a multi-million-dollar agreement. In a unanimous vote earlier this week, the San Jose City Council approved a $9 million agreement to hire a new contractor, Good Guard, to...
San Jose mayor’s chief of staff accused of conflict of interest
While working in the top offices of San Jose government, Jim Reed helped raise six figures to elect Mayor Matt Mahan. Then he went to work for him. Many say that could be considered a conflict of interest. And some in political circles are even considering a call to demand Reed step down as Mahan’s...
State law may overshadow San Jose affordable housing policy
A controversial policy that could make affordable housing more attainable is coming back to the San Jose City Council—but it might be a moot point if a similar policy is passed at the state level. The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, is a policy that would give qualified nonprofits first rights to make an offer...
How San Jose plans to tackle its worst problems
The San Jose mayor’s transition committees have finally made their private discussions public. Mayor Matt Mahan created five closed-door committees to meet and advise him on the city’s most pressing problems ahead of this year’s budget process—a move highly criticized because it lacked transparency and potentially flouted the law. The now-dissolved committees were tasked to...
San Jose expands police patrol on walking trails
San Jose police officers will soon routinely patrol an area that once was the city’s largest homeless camp in an effort to help revitalize the region. The San Jose City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $400,000 to expand the successful police bike patrol program to cover the Guadalupe River Trail in addition to the...
Surveillance cameras gone near San Jose park
About four months after San Jose installed two pole-mounted cameras to surveil the area where Alviso residents are trying to illegally spiff up an undeveloped plot, the city has taken them down. The city first installed the cameras in October after resident Mark Espinoza began work with a group of volunteers to improve parts of...
San Jose boosting security at City Hall
San Jose City Hall is beefing up its security in light of employee harassment. Last week, the city installed metal detectors in the lobby of the North Tower—requiring all who enter to be screened by detectors and security wands. The plan was initially approved in February 2022 at a cost of more than $1 million. It...