Despite Mayor Sam Liccardo denouncing President Donald Trump’s threat of ICE raids in sanctuary cities, local activists say San Jose lawmakers and police must do more to build trust with the undocumented community. Immigrant rights advocates say Liccardo and San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia’s comments on Santa Clara County’s proposal to amend its ICE detainer policy stirred...
San Jose approves prevailing wages for private construction projects
While the unlicensed Silvery Towers subcontractor Job Torres Hernandez received his sentence in federal court for harboring undocumented workers in slave-like conditions, San Jose lawmakers on Tuesday passed a law to prevent construction companies from exploiting low-wage workers on private construction projects that receive tax breaks. Spurring from negotiations with labor unions more than a...
San Jose lawmakers to address ‘missing middle’ housing, prevailing wages
Housing officials had originally deferred the missing middle housing debate earlier this month. Since that time, they pulled together more information about a recent homebuyer downpayment assistance proposal from Councilmember Pam Foley, as well as a backyard unit proposal from Mayor Sam Liccardo and Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco, Sylvia Arenas and Foley. Foley’s homebuyer assistance program proposal, which...
Silicon Valley legislator pushes to ban conversion therapy
Silicon Valley Assemblyman Evan Low, an openly gay state legislator, has been working since last year to get conversion therapy recognized in California as fraudulent and harmful to LGBTQ+ residents. Low this month introduced a new resolution to denounce conversion therapy services, joining with faith leaders to move California one step closer toward eradicating conversion...
San Jose lawmakers discuss combatting rise in rapes
After examining a report by the San Jose Police Department on a spike in rapes across the city, lawmakers serving on a public safety committee Thursday wanted to know why victims avoid law enforcement and other hurdles with solving cases. Mayor Sam Liccardo also devoted $750,000 to help police leaders increase resources to address the rise...
New #SanJoseSong featuring New Zealander raises concerns
San Jose’s tourism leaders are trying to get more people talking about and visiting the city. People are definitely talking now. For many in the 10th largest city in America, San Jose is their hometown. For Grace Kelly, that’s not the case. That’s why people are sounding off about the city’s new music promo, featuring...
San Jose OKs three new fire stations, relocating two existing stations
San Jose is now in the market to build three new fire stations and relocate two existing ones after the City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to move forward with the search for five new sites. Emergency responses have spiked 83 percent in the last decade, according to a memo from San Jose Fire Chief...
Silicon Valley has no women in state Capitol. This group is changing that.
While the Bay Area is known for its diversity in language and ethnicity, the state legislators representing districts from San Francisco to San Jose have at least one thing in common. They’re all men. As elections for the California State Legislature approach next year, Close The Gap, a group that scouts and grooms women to run...
San Jose lawmakers narrowly approve budget amid inequity concerns
San Jose City Councilmembers on Tuesday narrowly voted to approve Mayor Sam Liccardo’s June budget message, despite criticism that it didn’t go far enough to address racial and economic inequities in the city. The split vote marked the first time in recent history that nearly half the City Council voted against a mayor’s fiscal budget, which is historically...
San Jose lawmakers call on mayor to address inequity
Five progressive San Jose lawmakers on Monday criticized Mayor Sam Liccardo for not going far enough in his proposed budget to address inequities that plague Silicon Valley’s poorest neighborhoods. “San Jose’s working families face issues of poverty, blight, crime and neglect that sometimes go back generations,'” said Councilmember Sylvia Arenas during a news conference at...