Health care professional and political organizer Ivan Torres faced an uphill battle when he ran against Rep. Zoe Lofgren in 2020. This year, he’s setting his sights on a more local goal: winning a seat on San Jose City Council. He says the only way he knows how to deal with adversity is to confront it head-on. “In order...
San Jose mayor uses private email to skirt public records law
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo appears to have skirted public records laws by directing a resident to contact him on his private Gmail and deleting their correspondence from his public government account. The email thread, obtained by San José Spotlight, shows the mayor promising to delete the conversation from his official email. None of the messages in question—which...
Polling begins in San Jose mayor race
A mysterious text poll is gauging potential mayoral candidates’ viability in the race for San Jose’s top political seat. San José Spotlight learned about the poll from residents who received it. The poll in part asks respondents which potential mayoral candidate they’ll support. The election is next year, with Mayor Sam Liccardo terming out of...
San Jose to receive funding for train quiet zone
San Jose residents might get some respite from blaring trains at night thanks to new funding from the state. Senate Bill 129, authored by state Sen. Nancy Skinner of Berkeley, gives $8 million in one-time funding to partially pay for rail crossing improvements along the Warm Springs Corridor running through Japantown along Seventh, Taylor, Jackson...
San Jose, school districts push for digital equity
Students are resuming in-person instruction this school year, but some will be returning with significantly different experiences from their months of virtual learning. Erendia Diaz, who has sons in the Alum Rock Union School District and East Side Union School District, experienced this gap firsthand. When her sons switched to virtual learning last year due...
San Jose mayor meets with Biden to talk gun violence
Just weeks after the San Jose City Council approved sweeping gun control reforms on two separate occasions, Mayor Sam Liccardo and President Joe Biden met Monday in Washington, D.C. to discuss a national strategy to reduce gun violence. “I had the honor of participating in a robust discussion today with President Biden and a half-dozen civic...
Bloom Energy sues Santa Clara over permits—for a second time
Bloom Energy filed suit against Santa Clara last week—marking the second time the San Jose-based energy company has sued the city to issue permits for its fuel cell boxes. “Climate change is rearing its ugly head,” Santa Clara Councilmember Suds Jain told San José Spotlight. “My main opposition to Bloom Energy is that their carbon footprint...
New proposal calls for investment in East San Jose businesses
Community leaders are calling for San Jose to invest in economic development of the east side, which they say the city has neglected for years. Rolando Bonilla, chair of the San Jose Planning Commission, spearheaded a proposal in June that asked the City Council to purchase vacant retail buildings in East San Jose and then give them...
San Jose closing in on herd immunity for COVID-19
San Jose has partially vaccinated 85% of eligible residents for COVID-19, becoming the first major American city to reach the milestone, according to Mayor Sam Liccardo. Whether that constitutes herd immunity remains to be seen. In partnering with Santa Clara County, the most populous city in the Bay Area has partially vaccinated more than 740,000 residents...
Staedler: Opportunity Housing should be decided on by a vote of the people
One of the most hotly-debated topics in San Jose is Opportunity Housing. It is widely hailed as a leading strategy for solving San Jose’s housing crisis. Let’s take a look at it. The city of San Jose’s planning website says “Opportunity Housing refers to enabling multi-unit housing on properties with a Residential Neighborhood General Plan...