Palo Alto is preparing to lead the charge in support of a new legislative effort to limit builder’s remedy applications, which allow housing developers to bypass zoning regulations in cities that don’t have compliant housing plans. The city is working with Sen. Josh Becker to modify the Housing Accountability Act in a way that would...
Santa Clara County health care workers go on strike
Scores of Santa Clara County hospital and health lab workers are on strike as the county scrambles to relaunch lifesaving care at a long-depleted East San Jose hospital. Nearly 200 clinical lab scientists, microbiologists, medical laboratory technicians and other workers at county hospitals and public health labs are on strike until Thursday. The strike will affect...
Campbell hits the brakes on new tobacco shops
One small West Valley city has some of the most smoke shops per person in Santa Clara County. Officials are taking steps to change that statistic. The Campbell City Council unanimously approved a temporary ban Tuesday preventing new tobacco retailers from opening in the city for at least 45 days. Officials want to curb tobacco sales...
San Jose mayor and county clash over homelessness crackdown
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan wants Santa Clara County to scale up shelter and health treatment options in response to the city’s renewed crackdown on homelessness. During Tuesday’s City Council discussion on Mayor Matt Mahan’s 2025-26 March budget message, Councilmembers David Cohen and Domingo Candelas sought to involve county officials in the mayor’s “Responsibility to...
San Jose policy gives housing developer millions in tax breaks
City leaders have agreed to give a San Jose housing developer multimillion-dollar tax breaks as part of a recently-passed program meant to win over builders. The San Jose City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to approve a seven-story, 345-apartment complex at 905 North Capitol Ave., signing off on $4.9 million in construction tax cuts and fee...
San Jose tenants protest poor living conditions
San Jose tenants are fed up with years of longstanding problems at their apartment complex — and took their complaints to the property owner’s front door. A dozen tenants from Summerwind Apartments near the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose gathered Friday at an upscale neighborhood in Saratoga to protest issues in their complex such...
Silicon Valley VTA strike from a commuter’s lens
My morning commute usually goes like this: I hop on the BART Green Line from San Francisco’s Mission District for an hour-plus train ride to Berryessa Station in East San Jose. From there, I hold on for dear life — with gratitude — as VTA’s Rapid 500 bus hurtles toward San José Spotlight’s downtown newsroom...
VTA strike strands Sunnyvale high school students
Janeth Zarate is a freshman at Fremont High School who wakes up at 6 a.m. to get to school on time. On any normal day, she takes VTA’s 255 bus, but for the past two weeks service has stopped due to a historic union worker strike. VTA’s operator union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, has...
San Jose leader made unusual move to change staff email addresses
A San Jose politician directed the city to change the email addresses of three staffers who went to work for a colleague, an unusual move that comes after she was accused of turning a blind eye to child sex abuse allegations against a former councilmember. District 1 Councilmember Rosemary Kamei has seen an exodus of...
VTA board chair absent in first week of strike
Thousands of VTA riders have been stranded without public transportation for 10 days due to an ongoing union strike, and the agency’s board chair has been out of town. Social media posts show Sergio Lopez, chair of the VTA board of directors and Campbell mayor, was in Yosemite over the weekend for a policymakers conference,...