Big cities like San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles have rolled out what some are calling “dorms for adults.” And now San Jose could be next to approve the trendy new living model that’s all the rage in other cities and is designed to help alleviate the growing housing crisis. The “co-living” concept revolves around the...
Mayor Sam Liccardo unveils plan to strengthen local gun laws
California is home to some of the most stringent gun laws in the nation, but San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo says they don’t go far enough. The mayor on Tuesday announced a plan to strengthen the city’s decades-old gun safety law to fight straw purchases and stop black-market gun sales. “A significant percentage of guns are entering our community from legal gun...
San Jose lawmaker asks: What does it cost to build affordable housing?
Just a week after the San Jose City Council approved spending millions of dollars on five affordable housing projects, Councilmember Johnny Khamis wants to know: “Are we really getting the biggest bang for our buck?” Khamis on Wednesday proposed studying the costs of building affordable housing in San Jose at a council committee meeting, saying the city is...
San Jose officials consider crackdown on abandoned shopping carts
Driving through San Jose on any given day, you might be greeted by abandoned shopping carts flipped over and scattered along underpasses, near railroad tracks or on sidewalks. Now, San Jose councilmember Sergio Jimenez wants to eliminate littering carts by revamping the city’s Abandoned Shopping Cart program, a decades-old policy that hands out fines for carts run awry...
San Jose City Council re-evaluates policy to protect rent control units
A divided San Jose City Council voted Tuesday to study the effects of a law that’s designed to maintain rent-controlled units if a landlord closes down a property and redevelops it. City elected leaders received an update on San Jose’s Rent Stabilization Program, which enforces and implements rent control policies and tenant protections, among other...
San Jose City Council agenda packed with housing proposals
At the beginning of the year, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo called housing one of the most “daunting” challenges facing the city. On Tuesday, Liccardo and his council colleagues will tackle the crisis once again as they review a host of affordable housing projects. If the lengthy list is approved, San Jose could add hundreds of new...
San Jose shelves wage theft talks after open meeting violation
San Jose lawmakers on Wednesday stopped a discussion on wage theft protections for construction workers because of a violation of the state’s open-meeting law. The Brown Act prohibits a majority of any legislative body to discuss public business privately. For San Jose’s 11-member City Council, six or more members cannot talk about city business behind...