San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has withdrawn his endorsement of Tam Truong, a City Council candidate and police officer who’s still running for office after county prosecutors charged him with grand theft related to mortgage fraud allegations. District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office last week filed a one-count criminal complaint charging Truong with grand theft of...
State lawmakers raise access concern over San Jose Vietnamese garden
State lawmakers are calling out San Jose officials for changing the locks and community event access to a Vietnamese cultural garden that’s opened a political rift in Little Saigon. A Tuesday letter from San Jose’s elected representatives in Sacramento questions who’s really in control of the city’s parks. It comes after District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan’s...
San Jose expands cleanup crew that employs homeless residents
Neighborhoods stretching outside of immediate downtown San Jose will see cleaner streets and more job opportunities for homeless people in that area. Downtown Streets Team, a nonprofit that beautifies the city and offers a stepping stone for unhoused residents to reenter the workforce, is expanding its services into Luna Park, Alum Rock, Calle Willow and...
UPDATE: San Jose cop running for office to stay in race despite admin leave
A San Jose police sergeant and City Council candidate, Tam Truong, has been placed on administrative leave amid allegations of mortgage fraud. He said he plans to continue his campaign for elected office. Truong, who’s worked in law enforcement for two decades and is running against incumbent Domingo Candelas for the District 8 San Jose...
San Jose selects first homeless sleeping site
San Jose officials have zeroed in on the city’s first location for a sanctioned encampment, where homeless people will be allowed to stay inside tents without fear of being swept. The lot at 1157 E. Taylor St. could open early next year, with more safe sleeping sites opening by next June. The locations will house between...
San Jose police denied immunity in excessive force lawsuit
A legal shield protecting police officers from excessive force lawsuits has taken a major blow in San Jose. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied qualified immunity for Michael Panighetti, a San Jose Police Department officer who shot a Black activist, Derrick Sanderlin, in the groin with a foam round while he held...
San Jose sweeps Columbus Park after homeless return
Emotions ran high at a homeless encampment near a San Jose park as the city began sweeping the streets that unhoused residents called home. Two years ago, the city cleared the sprawling homeless encampment near Columbus Park that sits under the flight path of Mineta San Jose International Airport, after the Federal Aviation Administration threatened...
Failed contract prompts San Jose hotel worker strike
Frustrated San Jose hotel workers launched a three-day strike over Labor Day weekend against the Signia and DoubleTree after more than two months of failed contract negotiations with Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Unite Here Local 19 hotel workers in San Jose chose to strike Monday night and picket through Tuesday, a union representative told San...
Fight brews over San Jose’s Vietnamese garden
Some Little Saigon activists are in uproar after a San Jose councilmember’s office changed the locks and the rules for reserving events at the Vietnamese Heritage Garden. Councilmember Bien Doan announced those new rules last month after becoming the center of political divide over anticommunism earlier this summer among older Vietnamese Americans. The divide has partly played...
San Jose officials want rebate for electric leaf blowers
Advocates and politicians have worked for years to ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in San Jose. A new incentive could be the answer. Although the state has banned the purchase of new gas leaf blowers as of this year, the city is pushing to get existing gas-operated leaf blowers out of circulation. The program...