Fourteen candidates vying for a seat on the San Jose City Council fielded rapid-fire questions about homelessness, public safety, environmental issues, taxes and development in a two-hour discussion hosted by San José Spotlight. The Dec. 5 forum, held at CreaTV San Jose’s downtown studios and moderated by San Jose City Hall reporter Nadia Lopez, was...
Silicon Valley candidates rally for support in San José Spotlight forum
Eighteen Silicon Valley candidates across four local and legislative races answered dozens of questions this month about homelessness, transportation, climate change and economic development in a two-hour discussion hosted by San José Spotlight. The Dec. 4 forum, held at CreaTV San Jose’s downtown studios and moderated by senior reporter Janice Bitters, was the first of two...
2019 was the year of housing in San Jose
If the San Jose City Council’s policy work this past year could be summarized in one word it would be housing. In 2019, San Jose passed a slew of housing initiatives meant to increase the city’s housing supply, while also tweaking crucial rent control and tenant protections, which housing officials enforce and implement through the city’s Rent...
Silicon Valley’s minimum wage workers will see bigger paychecks in 2020
The lowest wage earners across Santa Clara County will get a boost in pay in 2020, with workers in Sunnyvale and Mountain View due to get the biggest bump as both cities increase their minimum wages to $16.05 in January. And San Jose, once a leader in raising the minimum wage, will fall in last...
San Jose earned perfect score for LGBTQ equality, despite some shortcomings
For the fifth year in a row, the Human Rights Campaign gave San Jose a perfect score for equality in services, laws and protection for its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer residents. The eighth annual Municipal Equality Index researched 49 criteria for local communities, including hot-button issues such as actions against conversion therapy and...
Silicon Valley Leadership Group appeals to business leaders on $100B transit ballot measure
A trio of Bay Area planning and business leaders are ramping up efforts to promote a years-long initiative to get a $100 billion tax measure for transit investment on the ballot in Nov. 2020, as opponents of the measure start to push back. The measure, called FASTER Bay Area, is backed by The Silicon Valley...
Zoe Lofgren’s bill to provide green cards to undocumented farmworkers passes House
WASHINGTON. D.C. — A bill that would give undocumented farmworkers a way to earn citizenship status passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, marking a major victory for agricultural workers. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, or H.R. 5038, was a major bipartisan agreement spearheaded by San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. It passed, 260 to...
Milpitas Councilmember Anthony Phan joins Assembly race
Another Milpitas politician is yearning to go to Sacramento. Milpitas Councilmember Anthony Phan filed papers Wednesday to run for an open California Assembly seat in District 25, a contest that has now garnered interest from every single member of the Milpitas council — except Bob Nunez. But Phan, 26, told San José Spotlight in an...
Evergreen college district sued over development deal’s collapse
Four months after threatening litigation, a prominent San Jose developer has sued a major community college district after negotiations over a swath of land stalled and a high-profile development deal fell apart. “I think this case will raise important issues about the relationship between developers and public entities and how they go about getting property...
Major changes planned for Santa Clara County foster care system
Santa Clara County is proposing sweeping reforms to how it treats children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse and neglect. If implemented, the reforms would result in a major expansion and overhaul of the county’s foster care system and concentrate efforts to reunite children with family members. The proposed reform package,...
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