It’s been an interesting culinary year for The Biz Beat, with fast-food burgers competing with Indian and Mexican food for the top spot on the Best of 2024 list. The top two restaurants, Saapaadu and Campus Burger, opened just this year, but Burger Bar, coming in fourth, has been around since 1953. All the restaurants...
2024 in review: San Jose City Council’s top decisions
The San Jose City Council had a busy 2024, topped off with a general election that brings new faces to the dais come next year. It could shift votes toward more pro-business policies, but many of this year’s decisions already leaned in that direction. Councilmembers created policies aimed at shaping the city’s future in housing...
Magnussen Toyota to build large auto center in Mountain View
Magnussen Toyota of Palo Alto, a longtime dealership and service center, is planning to relocate and redevelop a site for a new auto center less than half a mile away on Old Middlefield Road in Mountain View. But it is facing significant opposition from a nearby residential community that is concerned the auto center will severely erode...
The Peninsula may be more affordable now than at the start of 2024
Buying a home on the Midpeninsula is more affordable now than at the start of 2024, according to newly released data from the California Association of Realtors. In the second half of the year, 17% of San Mateo households and 19% of Santa Clara county households could afford to purchase a median-priced home. That’s up from 16%...
Editorial: Santa Clara County leaders face four big problems in 2025
It’s been quite a year for Santa Clara County. Local elections dominated much of 2024, bringing new faces into government and long-term officials bidding farewell. Other than a congressional race that began with a historic three-way runoff and recount in the primaries and an onslaught of political accusations throughout the season, the outcomes ended without a...
2024 in review: Silicon Valley’s biggest stories
From a historic election recount to a San Jose councilmember’s arrest: 2024 was one for the books. As the South Bay turns a page into 2025, San José Spotlight is looking back at the pivotal moments that made this year memorable — from scandals and protests, to historic votes and those we lost. Mental health...
San Jose’s beloved civil rights leader Rev. Jeff Moore dies
Silicon Valley leaders are reeling after the sudden death of the Rev. Jethroe “Jeff” Moore II, a beloved civil rights activist who devoted his life to fighting for social justice and human rights. Moore laid down for a nap a day after Christmas in his favorite chair, friends and family said, and never woke up....
San Jose-PG&E partnership could end power utility plans
Improved relations with PG&E could lead San Jose officials to drop the proposal for a city-owned power utility despite unanimous support from City Hall. As San Jose plans for growth to the north and downtown areas, Deputy City Manager Kip Harkness said in a recent memo that breakthroughs in talks with power giant PG&E could...
Santa Clara County official resigns more than year after infant dies of overdose
Santa Clara County’s Family and Children Services Director Damion Wright is resigning, after more than a year of controversy over the fentanyl overdose death of an infant who the agency – under policies pushed by Wright’s predecessor – refused to separate from her drug-abusing father. Wright’s resignation is effective Jan. 17, according to a farewell letter obtained...
Collins: Predictions for the 2025 housing market
With the election in the rearview mirror, speculation abounds about what next year’s housing market will look like. “We’ve seen after presidential elections — and it doesn’t matter who wins —that there’s usually a slight boost in home sales,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, said. He is predicting a 9%...