One in 10 Santa Clara County residents are refusing a COVID-19 vaccine due to fear of side effects or safety concerns, misinformation and scheduling issues—a problem that county health officials are quickly trying to ameliorate. Misinformation still persists, researchers hired by the county discovered, with 19% of county residents surveyed believing vaccines can give you...
Campaign season lasts year-round in Santa Clara County
In Santa Clara County, politicians can fundraise for their campaigns all year and keep the excess money to pay off incurred debt. That’s much different than campaign finance rules in San Jose, which has strict laws to prevent officials from holding year-round campaign accounts that critics say undermine politicians’ integrity. “People running for office are...
Santa Clara County puts another $350M toward affordable housing
Santa Clara County supervisors are set Tuesday to pump another $350 million of affordable housing bond money to build more low-income housing. In 2016, Santa Clara County residents approved a $950 million housing bond, known as Measure A, to fund construction of 4,800 housing units across the Bay Area. The premise of Measure A has...
How much do Silicon Valley nonprofits pay their executives?
In Silicon Valley, leading a nonprofit fighting for a noble cause can be a profitable business. Many of these organizations receive millions of dollars in public funding to solve homelessness, feed the needy, build shelters, help troubled youth and alleviate other social problems. Earlier this year, San Jose authorized $11.3 million to pay for homeless...
San Jose RV dwellers fear displacement
As county leaders push plans to revitalize the barren Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, dozens of RV dwellers could soon be pushed out. Tenant Pam Eisenbarth said staff from the nonprofit running the RV park, Fairgrounds Management Corporation, told her and husband Joe Rodriguez in December 2019 that the park would soon close. The corporation was...
Silicon Valley trans community faces workplace discrimination, harassment
As the LGBTQ community mourns the murder of Natalia Smüt and pushes back on violence, some say transgender people face a more subtle form of violence and hostility—workplace discrimination. Roxanne built a decades-long career as an attorney and judge, then she went public with her identity as a transgender woman. “I haven’t even been able to...
Silicon Valley libraries slowly reopening. Here’s what you need to know
For patrons and staff alike, the reopening of the Santa Clara City Library feels like Christmas morning. The public institution recently expanded access to indoor services alongside the Santa Clara County Library District and some branches of the San Jose Public Library. At all three branches of the Santa Clara City Library—Central Park, Mission Branch and Northside Branch—patrons...
Johnson & Johnson vaccine back on in Santa Clara County
Bay Area health leaders, including Santa Clara County’s top health official, are lifting the pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The county halted administration of the one-shot vaccine after reports of extremely rare cases of blood clotting. The pause came a month after Santa Clara County received its first doses of the highly-anticipated shot...
Will South Bay keep expanded homeless housing post-pandemic?
Santa Clara County made strides in housing its unsheltered residents during the pandemic. Now county officials want to make sure it doesn’t backslide as the region prepares for a post-pandemic future. With the help of emergency federal and state funding, the county’s Office of Supportive Housing provided shelter to more than 5,500 households over the last year. COVID-19...
1 million South Bay residents received at least one COVID-19 shot
Santa Clara County announced Friday that it’s administered one million COVID-19 vaccines. “We need to take a moment and take a deep breath and really celebrate,” said Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody. “This is a really big deal.” The milestone comes just over four months after the county vaccinated its first person and one...