Changes may be coming to the composition of San Jose’s commissions, but that decision is in the hands of voters. Measure I, on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election, would amend the city charter. If passed, proponents believe it will make changes that allow the city to operate in a fair and ethical manner....
Polls show mixed results in San Jose mayor’s race
San Jose will pick a new mayor in less than a month, but which candidate has the edge to win depends on who you ask. Three new polls paint different pictures for the two candidates vying to replace Mayor Sam Liccardo, who terms out this year. In one poll, conducted between late August to early September, San Jose Councilmember...
San Jose mayor cleared of fundraising complaint
A citizen-led city board has dismissed a complaint that accuses San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo of breaking campaign rules through a political action committee he formed. The Board of Fair Campaign and Political Practices voted unanimously last month to close a complaint alleging Liccardo violated state and local rules as a sitting elected official by opening and fundraising...
Will San Jose OK mayor’s last overseas trip?
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo will likely be on another continent when voters decide who will replace him next month. On Wednesday, the city Rules and Open Government committee approved Liccardo’s travel request to Egypt from Nov. 4-12. He’s flying on his own dime to the U.N. Climate Change Conference to speak about San Jose’s innovative...
San Jose homeless handed lifesaving tools
Fire extinguishers, Narcan and headlamps aren’t gifts that typically elicit a giddy reaction, but the cruel reality of living on the streets of San Jose can change that. For homeless residents in Santa Clara County, encampment fires, drug overdoses and collisions between people and vehicles are part of life, and with that comes death. Homeless deaths...
Former San Jose school leader wins $2M discrimination case
Women earn about 83 cents for every dollar men make. For the first-ever woman superintendent at one Silicon Valley school district, that number was closer to 81 cents compared to her male predecessors. Former Evergreen School District Superintendent Kathy Gomez won a more than $2 million settlement, after a federal court validated her claims last month...
Downtown San Jose gets Google — and a power grid
Google is coming into San Jose and bringing its own electrical grid. The tech behemoth is opening a massive complex in downtown San Jose and wants to construct its own electric distribution system, or microgrid, to power the 80-acre site. By the end of this year, San Jose will approve a business plan to make...
San Jose releases withheld Liccardo emails
A new trove of Mayor Sam Liccardo’s private emails released by San Jose raises more questions about the city’s practice of improperly withholding public records. The city last week released 132 pages of previously withheld documents, prompted by a lawsuit by San José Spotlight and the First Amendment Coalition. The emails detail Liccardo’s conversations with city...
San Jose preps sweep of migrating homeless camp
San Jose spent September sweeping homeless people from a large encampment near Columbus Park—now it’s clearing out another growing camp nearby. More than 100 people living in a baseball field at the corner of Asbury and Irene streets—many who moved over from last month’s sweep—are finding themselves in a familiar situation. Dubbed the “field of...
‘A chain that doesn’t let go’: San Jose State helps expunge criminal records
After being raped and kicked out of her parents house at the age of 13, Diana Carreras slept behind dumpsters or underneath friends’ beds trying to make it to her high school classes. She managed to survive the elements of San Jose streets until her junior year of high school. She was kidnapped and forced...