San Jose’s COVID-19 booster mandate for those attending large events at city-owned facilities is officially in effect. Some operators are reporting no impact on the amount of visitors so far. The requirement, passed by the City Council in late January, went into effect last Friday and only applies to indoor events with 50 people or more. It...
Top lobbyists give the max to most San Jose mayoral candidates
The San Jose mayoral race is just getting started, but lobbyist donations are already flowing in. Of the nearly $1.5 million raised last December for the San Jose mayoral race, about $44,000 came from lobbyists or their firms. Donors distributed funds almost evenly between the four leading candidates: San Jose Councilmembers Matt Mahan, Dev Davis and Raul Peralez...
San José Spotlight is suing San Jose, Mayor Liccardo over private email use
San José Spotlight has partnered with the First Amendment Coalition to sue San Jose and Mayor Sam Liccardo for improperly withholding public records in violation of the state’s transparency laws. The organizations are seeking reforms to ensure more government transparency in San Jose and compliance with the California Public Records Act. San José Spotlight, represented by...
San Jose mayor’s ally wrote gas exemption to his benefit
A Silicon Valley energy company that lobbied for a last-minute gas ban exemption crafted the policy language it benefited from—with help from Mayor Sam Liccardo’s close friend. San Jose-based Bloom Energy, whose Vice President Carl Guardino is a personal friend to Mayor Sam Liccardo, worked directly with the mayor’s office to shape and write a controversial...
San Jose ends controversial plans for Charcot Avenue extension
Contentious plans for the Charcot Avenue Extension project in North San Jose have reached the end of the road. On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council unanimously voted to drop plans to build an overpass that would cross over Interstate 880 from Paragon Drive to Oakland Road and divert the remaining $3.9 million in budgeted...
Which San Jose council candidates lead in campaign contributions?
With half of the San Jose City Council’s seats up for grabs, this election season will be contested and costly. Candidates are required to disclose campaign contributions—the most recent deadline being Monday for funds raised between Dec. 9-31. While not every candidate has their numbers in, here’s a look at what we do know for the...
Is Cindy Chavez shifting to the right in San Jose mayor’s race?
A recent San Jose mayoral candidate forum left many politicos scratching their heads. Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez—a household name for her work in local labor movements and roots in Working Partnerships USA and the South Bay Labor Council—took two positions that sounded inconsistent to fellow labor-leaning leaders and based on her past policies....
Own a gun in San Jose? Get ready to pay for it
San Jose is now the first city in the nation to mandate gun owners to have liability insurance and pay an annual fee in an effort to curb gun violence. On Tuesday, councilmembers voted to approve the gun control rules requiring San Jose residents who own guns to pay an annual $25 fee per household...
San Jose lawmakers do an about face on food pantry fees
After a costly city permit threatened a downtown food pantry’s operation, the community stepped up to raise more than $18,000. Now, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Councilmember Raul Peralez are asking their council colleagues to step up too. Lighthouse Ministries, located at 309 N. 17th St., fed more than 1,000 people a day, six days a...
Business PAC announces San Jose mayor, City Council endorsements
The 2022 races for San Jose City Council are heating up, with seven candidates scoring endorsements from a local business-backed political action committee. On Wednesday, the Silicon Valley Biz PAC, one of several local PACs representing business interests, announced its support for both Councilmembers Dev Davis and Matt Mahan in the contested San Jose mayoral race. It also...