All night marathon San Jose City Council meetings could soon be a thing of the past. Councilmembers David Cohen and Dev Davis authored a plan to place time limits for lawmakers to speak during council meetings. The proposal, which passed on a 9-2 vote Tuesday, would give each councilmember 10 minutes to speak on an...
San Jose launches program to help small businesses land contracts
San Jose City Hall is looking to diversify its contracts and prioritize local businesses. The city’s Public Works Department, which awards some $4 billion in public contracts each year, is hosting a free six-week seminar to help local businesses secure contracts. Participants in San Jose’s “Construction Academy” will learn how to bid on construction contracts, which include opportunities...
Historic or racist? San Jose lawmakers debate new designation
An effort to create a new historic district in an affluent part of San Jose is raising concerns the city is memorializing segregation and racism. Elected leaders voted 4-1 at a City Council committee meeting this week to nominate a new historic district near downtown called The Alameda Park/Schiele Avenue Historic District. Councilmember Dev Davis championed...
San Jose takes steps to get hospitality employees back to work
Losing her job at the DoubleTree hotel in San Jose during the pandemic meant Maria De Rueda could no longer afford to send her son to college. She got laid off after 21 years of service. “We had to tell our son that we could no longer afford his university tuition,” she said. “I want to...
San Jose police expect rise in sexual assault reports as shelter in place lifts
As Santa Clara County moves into the less restrictive orange tier, San Jose police are bracing for an alarming uptick in reports of sexual violence. Police suspect many cases of sexual violence that took place in 2020 behind closed doors have gone unreported due to shelter in place orders. “When the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was...
San Jose leaders push back against bill to change VTA governance
San Jose councilmembers are pushing against a new state bill that would keep them off the county’s transit board. AB 1091, introduced by Assemblymember Marc Berman, would prohibit elected officials from serving on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) board. Instead, cities can appoint expert residents to represent their communities. San Jose would also...
San Jose to establish COVID-19 ‘Resiliency Corps,’ hire up to 500 youth
San Jose’s mayor hopes to create a jobs program to help bounce back from the economic devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The “Resilience Corps” would hire up to 500 residents, mostly young adults, to focus on five specific areas of need, Mayor Sam Liccardo said, including pandemic response, environmental issues, education support, disaster preparedness...
VTA ponders shifting public comment, advocates cry foul
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority deferred voting on a proposal to limit time for public comment on Thursday, following outcry from transit advocates. VTA’s Governance and Audit Committee — Morgan Hill Mayor Rich Constantine, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, Sunnyvale Vice Mayor Glenn Hendricks and San Jose councilmembers Chappie Jones and Raul Peralez...
San Jose leaders push to limit council meetings that drag until midnight
After debating until midnight and cutting off public comments, San Jose lawmakers are on a mission to make City Council meetings more efficient. But they can’t always agree on next steps. City leaders on Wednesday voted 4-1 in favor of a plan forcing the San Jose City Council to contemplate its time management skills and...
Hazard pay is coming to San Jose for grocery workers
Hazard pay is finally on its way for San Jose grocery workers. After hours of debate, the San Jose City Council voted 7-3 on Tuesday to give retail food workers an extra $3 per hour for putting their health at risk during the pandemic. Hazard pay would apply only to stores that have over 300...