With limited resources and time, the San Jose City Council each year must decide where its priorities fall. On Tuesday, the lawmakers will duel on which policy proposals they consider imperative for the city’s growth and progress. Since 2011, lawmakers have crafted a high-priority list of policy initiatives to steer the direction of the city’s...
San Jose council candidate loses endorsements after divorce claims come to light
Political and business leaders on Wednesday pulled their endorsements of San Jose District 8 candidate Jim Zito, after San José Spotlight reported details about his divorce that include an alleged history of controlling behavior and emotional abuse. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Councilmembers Pam Foley and Johnny Khamis, the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors and...
San Jose council OKs $6.8 million to make city streets safer
It’s been five years since San Jose joined a national effort dedicated to reducing traffic fatalities, but the city’s pedestrian and cyclist death toll hit an all-time high last year. In an effort to reduce deaths, city lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved pumping $6.78 million over the next year into the Vision Zero plan, which...
Rule change prompts San Jose lawmakers to reduce travel
San Jose lawmakers have significantly reduced city-funded travel, a San José Spotlight analysis found, and some say it’s because of a trip five elected officials took to Japan nearly two years ago. The city has since implemented a new travel policy, which restricts how many councilmembers can travel at a given time. The policy, approved in...
San Jose lawmakers vote against supporting Measure B funds reallocation
Silicon Valley climate activists are urging the VTA to declare a climate emergency and reallocate funds from a 2016 half-cent sales tax to public transit projects in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the San Jose City Council on Tuesday, which has five directors on the VTA board that includes Mayor Sam Liccardo...
UPDATE: San Jose approves amnesty program for illegal granny units
San Jose leaders kicked off the new year Tuesday by unanimously approving an accessory dwelling unit amnesty program for residents who need to get a permit for their backyard cottages and get them up to code. The program is one of the final steps in the city’s plan to make accessory dwelling units easier to...
Khamis: Potential highway/streets funding diversion — and how I’m fighting it
We have an important vote coming up at City Council on Jan. 28 when we will decide whether to discuss a memo I authored, along with my colleagues, Vice Mayor Chappie Jones and Councilmembers Dev Davis and Pam Foley. We are calling on VTA to keep its commitment to the voters who approved 2016’s Measure...
Cambrian Park Plaza redevelopment will include more bike amenities, open space
Plans for a massive renovation of the historical Cambrian Park Plaza shopping center are taking a new direction to include public art and more pedestrian and bike friendly amenities. “It is substantially different from the original proposal,” said Councilmember Pam Foley whose district includes the 17-acre shopping center famous for its carousel display. Foley met...
Silicon Valley candidates rally for support in San José Spotlight forum
Eighteen Silicon Valley candidates across four local and legislative races answered dozens of questions this month about homelessness, transportation, climate change and economic development in a two-hour discussion hosted by San José Spotlight. The Dec. 4 forum, held at CreaTV San Jose’s downtown studios and moderated by senior reporter Janice Bitters, was the first of two...
San Jose earned perfect score for LGBTQ equality, despite some shortcomings
For the fifth year in a row, the Human Rights Campaign gave San Jose a perfect score for equality in services, laws and protection for its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer residents. The eighth annual Municipal Equality Index researched 49 criteria for local communities, including hot-button issues such as actions against conversion therapy and...