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Santa Clara County supervisors are set to approve more layoffs across county government to prepare their 2021-22 budget for shortfalls due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Supervisors on Nov. 18 discussed eliminating about 170 county jobs. They will cast a final vote Nov. 20 on the layoffs, which are part of a broader plan to...
San Jose hospital pleads for donations to help with COVID-19 surge
As COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the South Bay, hospitals are struggling to keep up with the demand for resources. San Jose-based Valley Medical Center Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center hospital system, is pleading with charities across the valley for donations to help deal with the pandemic. Foundation...
VTA postpones Santa Clara County cuts to service for next year
The Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority postponed voting on its proposed service cuts for next year, bringing transit advocates a sense of cautious relief. “This isn’t over,” said public transit advocate Monica Mallon. “We’re going to be needing to fight the cuts next year.” VTA announced Nov. 17 it would delay committee and board votes...
Santa Clara County moves forward with airport closure, plans to repurpose land
Santa Clara County is moving forward with closing the Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose, county lawmakers decided Tuesday after hundreds of pleas from the community to use the land for affordable housing and other community needs. The supervisors voted 4-1 to begin preparing for a potential airport closure and begin the planning process for...
Santa Clara County grapples with how to build mental health facility in place of jail
Santa Clara County supervisors doubled down on their commitment to eliminate jail beds and create a new mental health facility to replace the recently-demolished Main Jail South in San Jose. But they are discovering moving forward with the idea is complicated. In October, supervisors decided to halt a decade-long plan to replace failing jail facilities and instead...
Santa Clara County eyes subpoena for Sheriff’s Office conduct reports
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, after months of negotiation, refuses to sign an agreement allowing a civilian law enforcement watchdog access to critical records. Now, county officials are stepping in and subpoenas might be on the way. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Nov. 3 to direct the county’s attorney to draft a policy...
Future of San Jose’s Reid-Hillview airport back on the drawing board next week
The long-simmering debate over closing Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose and replacing it with a neighborhood development is expected to heat up again next week as Santa Clara County supervisors consider potential uses for the land. The Reid-Hillview airport, built more than 80 years ago, occupies nearly 200 acres that advocates say could be...
What the failure of Prop. 16 means for the future of affirmative action in San Jose
On Election Day, California voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot proposition which would have reversed the state’s 24-year ban on affirmative action programs that use race or gender to decide who deserves a leg up in public employment, contracting and college admissions. Fewer than 44 percent of voters in the state voted to approve Prop. 16...
Santa Clara County scraps new jail plans for mental health facility
After pushing for construction of a new county jail in downtown San Jose for years, Santa Clara County supervisors are now putting the project on hold and proposing a mental health facility instead. When 2020 began, the tumultuous year became an unintended pilot program in reduced incarceration in the county. With a third of the...
UPDATE: Supervisors approve $1 million to review sex discrimination policies at county schools
After emotional and contentious debate about federal changes to campus sex discrimination laws, supervisors agreed to spend up to $1 million to study the issue in Santa Clara County schools. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Oct. 20 to begin the process of reviewing county compliance with Title IX and other laws regarding sexual harassment...