As San Jose officials prepare a budget proposal that’s sure to involve significant cuts, Mayor Matt Mahan has marked out his own spending priorities for the city. The mayor’s annual March budget message, released Tuesday, directs city administrators to strive for maintaining key service areas — around homelessness, neighborhood blight, public safety, housing affordability and economic...
UPDATE: San Jose restricts use of license plate readers
San Jose is tightening controls over its automated license plate reader program, as the city faces mounting public pressure over surveillance concerns and a lawsuit. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a range of new safeguards for San Jose’s network of 474 cameras, including limits on where the devices may be installed and...
San Jose mayor’s social media use faces criticism
Just weeks after announcing his run for governor, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan launched two new social media accounts on X and Instagram, each one designated as a city-backed account for official messaging. The move in February came amid City Hall grumbles about the mayor’s longstanding practice of using individual social media accounts for both...
Santa Clara County brings mental health services to shelters
An at-times icy relationship between San Jose and Santa Clara County seems to have thawed as the county works to bring mental health services to the city’s temporary housing sites for homeless residents. Last year, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan claimed the county wasn’t doing enough to address homelessness, and called for more county investments....
San Jose mayor adds $2.5M to CA governor campaign
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s billionaire-backed campaign for California governor just got another shot in the arm. Mahan’s campaign disclosed a $2.5 million windfall on Wednesday — amounting to $6 million in total direct fundraising reported since the launch of his bid for statewide office. Mahan has said publicly he’s raised $7 million. The filings...
Silicon Valley lawmakers criticize Mahan, endorse opponent
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s moderate campaign for California governor has fared well with billionaires and tech moguls. But two progressive state lawmakers in his own backyard are less enthused. Democratic Assemblymembers Ash Kalra and Alex Lee are spurning Mahan’s bid for statewide office as a “handpicked” vessel for big tech’s movement to consolidate control...
Billionaire techies back Matt Mahan’s run for CA governor
Billionaires and tech moguls are spending mountains of cash to catapult San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan to the front of the race for California governor. Recent campaign finance reports show Mahan has raised more than $2 million, though he has touted raising a total of $7 million so far on social media. Google co-founder Sergey Brin,...
Conservative heads San Jose mayor’s governor campaign
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has bristled at being labeled right-leaning while stressing he’s a lifelong Democrat. His hiring of a self-described conservative to run his California governor campaign could fuel fresh skepticism. Mahan’s 23-year-old campaign manager, Adrian Rafizadeh, registered as a Republican in 2020, voter records show. Rafizadeh previously worked on Mahan’s mayoral campaign from...
Here’s who paid for San Jose mayor’s Super Bowl ad
From Peter Thiel-linked tech investors to the creator of “Law & Order,” several notable people are gunning to vault San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s bid for California governor to frontrunner status — starting with a Super Bowl ad. The 30-second ad, which vaunts Mahan for making San Jose the “safest big city in America,” brought the...
San Jose homeless relocation program serves few
A pilot program to reconnect homeless people in San Jose to family outside the city had minimal effect in the past year. Homeward Bound, proposed by Mayor Matt Mahan as another option to help get homeless people off the streets, reconnected 42 individuals to their support systems since it began last February. Out of the...