City Attorney Rick Doyle cautioned the council on rejecting the contract extension on the grounds of religious or political beliefs, which could be considered a First Amendment violation. Instead, they opted to reject the extension since Chick-Fil-A is not open on Sundays – one of the airport’s busiest travel days. At the suggestion of Yeager...
Kyra Kazantzis will lead Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits
Kyra Kazantzis, a senior policy advisor to Mayor Sam Liccardo and a longtime attorney, is the new CEO of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits following Patricia Gardner’s retirement, officials announced Tuesday. “I am thrilled to be joining Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits and am ready to hit the ground running as CEO of this...
Santa Clara County paid $13,000 a day to house homeless after project delay
Downtown San Jose’s first long-term affordable housing development, Second Street Studios, is set to open this month, but unexpected delays forced Santa Clara County to pay up to $1.15 million in motel costs for the future residents. The first-of-its kind project — meant to address the growing homelessness crisis — will house 134 individuals, considered some...
Providing food and child care: Ideas to boost civic engagement in San Jose
How effective is San Jose at public outreach and community engagement? One Silicon Valley organization says the city could do more, partly by providing food and child care at public governmental meetings. “We’re Silicon Valley. It’s 2019,” said Alex Shoor, co-founder of Catalyze SV, a nonprofit that focuses on sustainable development and growth. “How is...
Bramson: The price of admission
Saturday night in downtown San Jose. My family is going to watch The Public, a new film by Emilio Estevez. It tells the tale of a group of homeless patrons who convince a few city staff members to help them take over a public library to use as an emergency shelter for a night to...
San Jose City Council to mull new affordable housing funding
In an effort to spur San Jose’s dwindling housing supply, lawmakers on Tuesday will consider investing $10 million to flip market-rate apartments into affordable ones and peg 30 percent of any new housing dollars for extremely low-income housing. Housing officials this week will ask the City Council to add those two new priorities to the city’s affordable housing investment plan....
Cordell: Santa Clara County must keep sanctuary policy intact
The killing of Bambi Larson, a beloved San Jose resident, has caused an outpouring of grief. I join with people from all walks of life in offering condolences to Ms. Larson’s family and friends. In the wake of this tragedy, many of us, understandably, feel anger and some are fearful. Our elected officials must now...
Iola Williams, first African-American councilwoman in San Jose, dies
Iola Williams, the first African-American to serve on the San Jose City Council, died Thursday night surrounded by her family in Texas. Williams, who lost a battle with Parkinson’s disease, was 83 years old. In 1979, Williams became the first African-American lawmaker appointed to the City Council after serving on the Franklin-McKinley School Board. Williams served...
VTA recommends saving Route 22 overnight bus
A VTA bus line dubbed ‘Hotel 22’ that provides shelter to countless Silicon Valley homeless residents is safe — at least for now. Transportation officials on Friday recommended saving Route 22, a bus line that travels from Palo Alto to East San Jose. Earlier this year, officials recommended eliminating the route from 1 a.m. to...
Norm Kline drops bid for San Jose Planning Commission
After a blunder left Norm Kline off a list of applicants for the Planning Commission, he dropped out of the competitive process and cleared the field for three others. “Since applying and not being selected, I have volunteered for other public service projects,” Kline wrote in a letter. “This combined with knowing the council has...