The San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved making massive cuts to the city budget for the fiscal year, as officials brace for an expected shortfall of least $45 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s going to be a long road for us,” Budget Director Jim Shannon said. “When we released our forecasts...
Coronavirus: Bay Area’s stay-home order will be extended through May
Bay Area residents will continue to shelter in place through May, the top health officials across the region announced Monday, about one week before the current order to stay-home was set to expire. The official order will come “later this week,” according to a joint statement by the seven Bay Area health officers who have...
UPDATED: San Jose approves rent freeze, extends moratorium on evictions
San Jose city leaders approved a citywide rent freeze after an hours-long debate that ended in a 7-4 vote Tuesday night. The vote comes after last week’s attempt to implement a rent suspension for San Jose families financially affected by COVID-19 was quickly struck down over concerns the proposal violated the Constitution. Councilmembers Raul Peralez...
Reports detail Silicon Valley’s housing crisis pre-coronavirus
As the stock market plunges, so may the real estate market. The coronavirus pandemic will shatter San Jose’s ambitious plans for housing growth over the next two years, some officials said. “We absolutely need to build more housing and we’re not going to make our target (of) 25,000 homes by 2022,” San Jose Councilmember Pam...
Lawmakers push Santa Clara County to reverse in-store recreational cannabis sales ban
Three members of the San Jose City Council wrote to Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody on Monday, urging her to reconsider a recent order that banned the sale of recreational cannabis inside San Jose’s dispensaries. Pam Foley, Magdalena Carrasco and Maya Esparza sent a letter Monday afternoon pleading with Cody to...
San Jose lawmakers unanimously approve paid sick leave policy
Low-wage workers in San Jose employed during the coronavirus pandemic will soon receive paid sick leave if they start to feel ill on the job. Following a unanimous vote Wednesday, the San Jose City Council decided to move forward with the emergency ordinance, one week after Mayor Sam Liccardo introduced policy. “We believe that compliance is...
Sam Liccardo joins California mayors to support tax break reform to tackle homelessness
Mayor Sam Liccardo is among nine mayors across California’s biggest cities to support proposed legislation that would reduce state tax breaks for homeowners, raising funding to tackle the state’s burgeoning homeless crisis. Assembly Bill 1905, introduced by San Francisco Assemblymember David Chiu, would eliminate the mortgage interest deduction (MID) for taxpayers’ second homes. It would...
San Jose approves new zoning rules for mobile homes to bolster protections
San Jose lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved creating a new land use designation for mobile home parks that would prevent hundreds of low-income residents from being forced to lose their homes as developers eye the land to build extravagant new homes. The stricter redevelopment protections will apply to all 58 mobile home parks in the...
San Jose leaders to craft a suicide prevention policy
Nearly three years after one lawmaker proposed the idea, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved adopting a citywide suicide prevention policy to raise awareness and shift resources toward a mental health epidemic that results in the death of dozens of residents each year. Councilmember Raul Peralez in 2017 pitched the plan, which calls for...
Khamis: Recycling the once un-recyclable: My push for a dirty plastics recycling facility
On Tuesday, San Jose took a large step toward environmental sustainability when my colleagues on the City Council voted to include my recent proposal for attracting a Polypropylene Plastic Purification & Recycling Plant (PRP) to San Jose on the list of approved city priorities for the coming six months. I am especially grateful to my...