Since Google first announced plans to build a new mega-campus in San Jose, the top concern raised by residents has been how the project will impact rising rents and displacement. Over the past decade, the tech boom has brought nearly 200,000 new workers to Santa Clara County, but fewer than 50,000 new homes have been...
Silicon Valley has no women in state Capitol. This group is changing that.
While the Bay Area is known for its diversity in language and ethnicity, the state legislators representing districts from San Francisco to San Jose have at least one thing in common. They’re all men. As elections for the California State Legislature approach next year, Close The Gap, a group that scouts and grooms women to run...
Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce is rebranding, expanding its footprint
The Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce is ringing in a new era this week, unveiling a new name, logo and broadening its footprint to include more of Silicon Valley. The organization announced Friday during its sold-out New Years in June Awards Gala that it will become the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce, focusing on...
Bob Wieckowski jumps from Congress to supervisorial race
Three weeks after declaring his candidacy for Congress to succeed presidential hopeful Rep. Eric Swalwell, Fremont state Sen. Bob Wieckowski is shifting gears. Now he wants to run for Alameda County Supervisor to replace Supervisor Scott Haggerty, a position that would afford him no term limits. Wieckowski, a bankruptcy attorney who sat on the Senate...
Uber set to make South Bay debut with big Sunnyvale lease
Barely a month after its ballyhooed IPO, Uber Technologies Inc. is set to make its big entrance into the South Bay via a major lease in a growing part of downtown Sunnyvale. The San Francisco-based rideshare company is slated to take two five-story buildings, at 190 and 200 Mathilda Place, totaling about 290,000 square feet...
Burnett Middle School to be renamed Ohlone Middle School
After a process that brought together students, teachers and the local community, Burnett Middle School will have a new name: Ohlone Middle School. The school’s outgoing namesake is California’s first governor, Peter Burnett, whose racist policies included the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and attempts to keep black Americans out of California. He also believed...
San Jose art studio squeezed out amid downtown growth
Moving was inevitable. That’s what Exhibition District executive director Erin Salazar kept in mind when securing a vacant building space for Local Color, a spot for budding artists to produce their work. After city officials in February approved the demolition of the building on 27 South First Street to make way for a mixed-use residential and...
Kline: VTA light rail extension to Eastridge was a bad decision
The Valley Transit Agency (VTA) Board last week approved a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR) paving the way for extending light rail from Alum Rock to Eastridge Shopping Center along Capitol Expressway. It was a bad decision, but like a transportation version of a Greek tragedy, it was the only decision they could make. According...
Hundreds of Santa Clara County workers rally for health care, wages
Hundreds of union members poured out in front of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors’ chambers Wednesday in the blistering heat, rallying for an increase in wages and services for county workers as the supervisors inside deliberated on next year’s funding priorities during a budget hearing. Union leaders from SEIU Local 521 advocated for...
San Jose looks to boost energy resiliency in wake of wildfire-driven blackouts
Since the California Public Utilities Commission decided to allow energy providers to unilaterally turn off the lights when the risk for wildfires is high, San Jose lawmakers want to know how it will affect the more than one million residents in the city. In a new memo, Mayor Sam Liccardo, Vice Mayor Chappie Jones and Councilmembers Sergio...