Eight years ago, Santa Clara County had less than 300 affordable apartments that served homeless individuals with disabilities. Thousands of homes have been built since then due to an affordable housing bond measure. The county is set to exceed its affordable housing goals with 4,777 deeply affordable apartments constructed or in the pipeline across 10 cities from Gilroy...
UPDATE: Silicon Valley water agency delays decision to fine homeless people
The penalization of homeless people living along regional waterways appears to be less imminent after leaders of Santa Clara County’s largest water agency delayed a policy on penalties and fines for later this year. The Valley Water board of directors on Tuesday postponed voting on a policy that poses $500 fines or up to 30...
Silicon Valley homeless nonprofit CEO steps down amid turmoil
HomeFirst CEO Andrea Urton is stepping down, leaving questions about the future of one of Santa Clara County’s largest homeless support service providers. The group’s board of directors said today Urton’s departure is effective immediately. She led the nonprofit through expansions and setbacks during her nine-year tenure. In recent years, HomeFirst has come under intense...
San Jose officials support retail theft crackdown reform
San Jose’s top political leader supports harsher penalties for drug dealers as voters consider new measures to hold thieves and drug suppliers accountable. California voters passed the criminal justice proposition in 2014 and established a $950 threshold for determining whether a theft would be considered a misdemeanor or a felony. But opponents of Proposition 47...
San Jose nurses say hospital leaders undermine patient care
Santa Clara County nurses who keep oxygen flowing to people with spinal cord and brain injuries already work in a tense environment, but some fear their jobs are about to get harder. Three nurses in the acute respiratory rehabilitation unit at Valley Medical Center — who spoke to San José Spotlight under condition of anonymity...
Santa Clara County to increase transparency on lawsuit settlements
Santa Clara County leaders are still trying to lift the curtain on how taxpayer money is used to pay for lawsuit settlements on issues such as jail deaths. The Board of Supervisors took action to publicize such settlements last year, but reports haven’t fully delivered. Now supervisors want to include even more details for the...
State bill affecting Santa Clara County landlines pulled after backlash
A state bill that would have let AT&T off the hook for emergency landline service — circumventing state regulators and affecting remote pockets of Santa Clara County — is on hold after public backlash. Assembly Bill 2797 has been pulled from the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee meeting slated for Tuesday. It comes...
Santa Clara County oversight office under fire over Tasers
As the Santa Clara County Sheriff pushes to arm deputies with Tasers, one local civil rights group argues the sheriff’s oversight office acts more as a rubber stamp. In May, the county Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring voiced support for a policy outlining how deputies would use Tasers if deployed in jails and certain...
San Jose LGBTQ+ center namesake embraced everyone
Not much is known about William Price, the drag queen whose name adorns the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center in San Jose. Price, an African American drag queen and activist who performed under the name “Billy DeFrank,” used his performances to fundraise for various causes, according to Gabrielle Antolovich, president of the center’s board of...
Santa Clara County politician gets top job in New Mexico
After two attempts to leave Silicon Valley, a South Bay political fixture was chosen to lead a county hundreds of miles away — in New Mexico. Elected leaders in Bernalillo County chose Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez to be the county’s top administrator in a split 3-2 vote Tuesday. If she accepts the job...