San Jose residents and elected officials are frustrated with the buildup of more than 200 homeless encampments. The city plans to clean up some of them by next spring. The San Jose City Council reviewed the city’s ongoing encampment management policy on Tuesday. City officials will come back with a plan to identify encampments across the...
After being battered by COVID-19 and business closures, Silicon Valley eateries have an advocacy group—a local restaurant association. The Silicon Valley Restaurant Association, formed by San Jose consultant Sean Kali-rai and former Silicon Valley Organization (SVO) government relations director Eddie Truong, launches Tuesday. Kali-rai is a longtime policy analyst and cannabis lobbyist, while Truong rose...
San Jose Flea Market owners will pay millions to help vendors relocate amid looming development plans. But it will be some time before the retailers see a cent of that money. Roberto Gonzalez, president of the Berryessa Flea Market Vendors Association, told San José Spotlight he believed the Bumb family, which owns the flea market,...
A former South Bay sports reporter is fighting back after his employer filed for a restraining order—a move he says could shatter his chances for a normal life. A hearing could decide whether Paul Gackle—a former hockey reporter at the Mercury News—will be forced to stay away from the newspaper and its employees, setting off...
A San Jose employee is questioning whether a food distribution company won millions of dollars in city contracts because of its ties to an ally of the mayor. Jill Mariani, a city official since 2017, is blowing the whistle on her bosses with the city manager’s office for awarding lucrative contracts to Revolution Foods after...
Donning traditional áo dài dresses and Vietnamese heritage flag face masks, hundreds of South Bay residents joined county officials Saturday to celebrate the opening of the first-ever Vietnamese American Service Center. Ai Duong Truong came to the event with her friends from the Hội Người Việt Cao Niên San Jose (Vietnamese Senior Group in San...
A former sworn San Jose police officer and current community service officer is being charged with gun-related crimes after garnering attention from the FBI for allegedly advocating to shoot cops. Denis Shevchenko, 40, was charged this week with three misdemeanor counts of illegal weapons possession. An investigation by the FBI, which SJPD was informed of...
San Jose Flea Market vendors are upset by a new agreement that requires six months of rent in advance to get a better long-term rental option. Vendors asked the market owners for something akin to long-term leases for protection against immediate displacement. But it appears they misinterpreted the flea market’s license offer as a lease. A...
Overtime is the only way to keep certain key services afloat in San Jose, with the search for skilled labor a constant struggle. The city relies on some employees working longer hours and picking up extra shifts to keep operations running, a practice officials and experts say is fueled by persistent vacancies and uncompetitive compensation....
San Jose already has a “weak mayor” system, but the city’s top elected office could soon see its powers diminished further. The San Jose Charter Review Commission voted Monday to “increase equitable practices,” which gives the City Council and the mayor joint power to nominate the city manager. This takes the sole responsibility away from the...
