San Jose officials are looking to match a lofty goal set by the county: 85% of residents vaccinated by Aug. 1. City officials on Tuesday introduced a set of priorities for the next three months, including expanding to 20 mobile vaccination sites, partnering with 10 health care providers to distribute vaccines and creating a strategy focused...
Why does San Jose close Roosevelt Park during Cinco de Mayo?
Last year was the worst Cinco de Mayo that Corena Medina ever experienced. “It was a complete wreck,” said Medina, a resident of the Roosevelt Park neighborhood. “Literally, smoke filled the air from all the (tire) burnouts.” For at least the last 15 years, San Jose has fenced off Roosevelt Park during the week of...
UPDATE: San Jose City Council approves new downtown landmark
San Jose’s new iconic landmark has cleared another hurdle but will now face environmental analysis. Councilmembers on Tuesday unanimously approved “The Breeze of Innovation,” a project that won an international competition launched in 2019 for a new landmark at Arena Green, located at the southern tip of Guadalupe River Park. The council’s unanimous vote will...
San Jose building department sees revenue decline during pandemic
One of San Jose’s most powerful city departments is just beginning to recover from a pandemic-driven decline in revenues—but some operations still lag behind. When Santa Clara County’s shelter-in-place order went into effect last year, leaders in the city’s Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Department described a chaotic situation. “Once they shut down, everybody went...
Road conditions, police force most common claims against San Jose
Poorly-designed streets, excessive use of force and car accidents caused by city officials are just a few examples out of hundreds of claims made against San Jose this past year. The city spends millions of dollars in legal fees annually to resolve claims and lawsuits filed by residents and organizations. Most recently, the city faced two...
San Jose airport grapples with fewer passengers
While industries across Silicon Valley are slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline industry is having a tougher time. Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport saw a 53% drop in passengers in early April of this year compared to before the pandemic. Nearby San Francisco International Airport saw a 60% drop in passengers during the...
San Jose unites to support undocumented immigrants, workers
At San Jose’s May Day march on Saturday — organized in tandem with Papeles Para Todos, a campaign to secure rights for the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants — one message resounded above all: unity. “Everybody comes here for the opportunity for a better life,” said Mauricio Carrera, who attended the downtown rally. “Unless you’re indigenous...
San Jose Legends: Norm Mineta—from council to cabinet
Editor’s Note: San Jose Legends is a new series that tells remarkable stories of the historic and legendary people who helped shape and transform our city. The morning after Norm Mineta broke barriers by becoming San Jose’s first Asian-American mayor, he woke up to a racist message sprawled on the garage door of his Japantown...
Neglected downtown San Jose to get greener
San Jose is looking to fill empty downtown lots with three new parks in an effort to revitalize a long-neglected part of the city. City officials proposed two new parks Tuesday, tentatively called Basset Park and North San Pedro Park. Both are approximately two blocks away from San Pedro Square centered around North San Pedro and...
Can San Jose reduce its pension debt by issuing bonds?
As San Jose prepares its annual budget proposal, one factor looms larger than any other: Pensions. As of June 30, San Jose had $3.5 billion in unfunded liability—pension debt owed to city retirees that’s not covered by the return on investments made by the city’s two retirement plans. The city’s retirement plan for police and firefighters...