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...
Advocates want San Jose to divest from companies tied to ICE
San Jose officials are weighing growing calls to divest the city from companies that critics say don’t align with local values. The City Council is set to take up the controversial divestment conversation March 24 during an annual review of the city’s investment policy. A group of local advocates has long been urging the city...
San Jose looks to housing vouchers to fill mostly vacant high-rise
With the launch of a new housing voucher program, San Jose intends to strike two birds with one stone: Provide below-market rate homes downtown and stabilize a financially struggling residential complex. Under the first rollout of the Lower Income Voucher and Equity Program, approved by the City Council Tuesday, San Jose will provide up to...
Serial entrepreneur seeks District 9 San Jose council seat
Serial entrepreneur, classic car collector, TV host, civic organizer — lifelong San Jose resident Mike Hennessy has worn a lot of hats over the years. Now, he said that wide-ranging experience has prepared him well to step into yet another role: District 9 councilmember. “I know I can add some common sense,” Hennessy, 70, told...
UPDATE: San Jose council puts hotel tax measure on June ballot
Facing yet another major budget shortfall, San Jose leaders have greenlit a proposal to hike taxes on hotel stays as a means of boosting revenue for city services. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of placing a measure to increase the city’s hotel tax, also known as a transient occupancy tax, on the...
San Jose faces tough choices to balance budget shortfall
San Jose leaders are warning of “tough” financial decisions and “hard choices” as this year’s budget season officially gets underway. The months-long process kicked off Thursday with a special study session considering how to balance a projected deficit of up to $65 million. While the city managed to balance last year’s shortfall without laying off any workers,...
San Jose loosens rules for local card rooms
San Jose is easing restrictions on its local gambling industry as part of a months-long effort to lighten the regulatory burden placed on the city’s two card houses. The City Council approved a package of five rule changes Tuesday in a unanimous vote, with Mayor Matt Mahan absent. San Jose Police Department officials said the...
San Jose wants industrial land exempt from housing law
With just five months before landmark housing legislation takes effect throughout California, San Jose officials are racing to exempt broad swaths of the city from the law. Sen. Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79, signed into law in October, aims to encourage denser housing construction around transit hubs. In San Jose, the law would cover 40,000...
San Jose boosts incentives to convert offices to housing
San Jose wants to make it easier to convert its underused office buildings into housing with new financial incentives. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to expand an existing housing incentive program covering downtown residential high-rise projects to include conversion projects with at least 20 new homes. The city will cut certain fees and taxes for...
UPDATE: San Jose eases housing development requirements
The San Jose City Council has approved a trio of housing measures intended to spur local development by adjusting certain requirements that homebuilders say have stymied new projects. Two of the measures expand incentive programs that reduce construction taxes and ease affordable housing requirements for developers. A third measure revamps San Jose’s inclusionary housing policy,...