For May, housing inventory is up 8% year over year, according to Dave Walsh, vice president and manager at Compass. “Buyers have been waiting for their opportunity to have multiple choices on available properties. This is their time,” he said. Not surprisingly, the number of sales also rose to nearly 7.5%. What’s a little surprising...
San Jose preps plan to reach zero traffic deaths
A San Jose task force aimed at finding ways to eliminate traffic deaths is folding at the end of the year — and while road safety improvements have been made, the city still has work to do in reducing fatalities. San Jose saw its highest rate of traffic fatalities in recent history in 2022 with...
Silicon Valley officials worry about homeless shelter transition
Homeless residents, advocates and local officials have questions about the Sunnyvale Shelter as the facility changes nonprofit operators. The Santa Clara County-owned, 145-bed homeless shelter will change operators on July 1 from HomeFirst to the Bill Wilson Center. Residents are fearful they will be kicked out as the shelter switches from serving unhoused individuals to...
Heat scorches East San Jose playground equipment
An 18-foot-tall chicken named Chiquita overlooks children racing across the playground, while Alexandra Villalobos sits on a picnic blanket with her 12-year-old son Max at Emma Prusch Farm Park in East San Jose. Her two younger children are using the newly renovated playground, and Villalobos has warned them to avoid the sizzling-hot metal slides and...
Robinson: The politics of Willie Mays
Imagine banning the greatest baseball player from a hotel or diner because of the color of his skin. Even in San Francisco, Willie Mays faced housing discrimination. In 21st century America, that dystopian past may be a harbinger for the nation if the MAGA authoritarian right comes back to power. The indignities suffered by Willie...
San Jose has 4th highest homeless population in U.S.
San Jose has the fourth highest number of homeless people per capita in the U.S. based on a recent survey, and advocates blame it on multiple problems. An Insider Monkey report shows that for every 100,000 people per capita, San Jose has 363 residents that are homeless. New York City ranks third, Los Angeles ranks...
Santa Clara County politician gets top job in New Mexico
After two attempts to leave Silicon Valley, a South Bay political fixture was chosen to lead a county hundreds of miles away — in New Mexico. Elected leaders in Bernalillo County chose Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez to be the county’s top administrator in a split 3-2 vote Tuesday. If she accepts the job...
Santa Clara County loses top election official before November races
Santa Clara County’s top elections official is bowing out four months before the November election and shortly after her office landed in the hot seat over a historic recount. After nearly 30 years leading the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters through myriad controversies, Shannon Bushey is retiring on Friday due to medical reasons, according...
San Jose BART expansion needs federal funding to finish the job
Construction workers broke ground on BART’s expansion in Santa Clara this week, and officials are banking on federal funding to help finish the job. Santa Clara County Supervisor and VTA Board Chair Cindy Chavez and other labor leaders urged the Federal Transportation Agency on Tuesday to approve VTA’s $6.2 billion funding request to support the...
Op-ed: Full federal funding is essential for future of Bay Area transit
Silicon Valley is ready to “Build Back Better” with a transportation infrastructure project that will generate 75,000 jobs, provide housing for 76,000 people and reduce carbon emissions by 50 tons a year. We have secured more than half the funding for the project. All we need to make this shovel-ready project happen is for the...