After months of preparation, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve the proposed $4.3 billion budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Since March, Mayor Sam Liccardo has released two budget messages that help shape how the city spends public dollars. The mayor’s first message focused on limiting spending to brace for a...
Alviso: Ro Khanna talks Trump impeachment, Iran conflict
Dozens arrived early and waited patiently to shake his hand. The room was thick with excitement, as the crowd gathered in a small, packed auditorium Friday night at a town hall in Alviso to hear Rep. Ro Khanna, the second-term Democrat from Silicon Valley, give his monthly address to voters. The congressman was met with...
San Jose lawmakers fundraised nearly $3.7M last year. Here’s where it went.
Contact Grace Hase at [email protected] or follow @grace_hase on Twitter.
San Jose: Lawmaker calls for public discussion about displacement
San Jose officials spent nearly a year studying displacement with a national research institute and now one lawmaker is ready to make the findings public. East San Jose Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco on Wednesday asked her colleagues to schedule a study session in late August on the topic. The city is expected to unveil a citywide...
San Jose committee pushes to designate murals as historic landmarks
Decades old art can be painted over in a matter of hours. This is what an emergency committee, assembled after the covering of the historic “Mural de la Raza” in East San Jose last year, is trying to avoid. Neighbors were outraged after the beloved mural on Story Road, which was more than three decades old,...
San Jose: Audit highlights need for gang task force improvements
A recent city audit suggests that San Jose Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force — a city-wide coalition aimed at addressing gangs and gang-related crime — is failing to meet expectations and could use some improvements. Formed in 1991, the task force is run by the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services and works with...
San Jose: Law enforcement leaders denounce ICE policy
Law enforcement officials condemned the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in a news conference Wednesday, following a vote Tuesday to not allow local authorities to notify ICE when detainees are released. The unanimous decision sparked outrage amongst police officers, who have been advocating for a change in policy for years. “We cannot protect our...
San Jose mayor focuses on equity and blight in budget message
As San Jose lawmakers prepare to approve next year’s budget, Mayor Sam Liccardo announced in his budget message Monday that he wants to distribute public dollars equitably – focusing limited funding and resources on areas with the greatest needs. “All of us should agree that across several city program areas, high-poverty neighborhoods need greater resources,” Liccardo wrote. “In some...
San Jose political foes join forces against new taxes
Two very unlikely San Jose political leaders joined forces Friday against one common enemy: New taxes. In a memo released late Friday, San Jose Councilmembers Johnny Khamis and Sergio Jimenez — who are often on opposite sides of most social issues — directed city administrators to stop studying placing any new tax measures on the...
San Jose mayor one step closer to suing over overnight trains
In an effort to combat the blaring horns of trains that have been waking San Jose residents from slumber, Mayor Sam Liccardo, along with four of his council colleagues, have signed on to explore legal options against Union Pacific Railroad and consider designating the land along the rail line as public open space. According to...