Santa Clara County wants to purchase a tiny home village for homeless residents from San Jose and use it to house formerly incarcerated people — sparking safety concerns from nearby homeowners. San Jose launched the Monterey/Bernal tiny home site as emergency housing in October 2020 to house residents who became homeless during the pandemic, with...
San Jose police to get $400K in military equipment
San Jose leaders have greenlit the purchase of more than $400,000 in military equipment for the city’s police department to replenish its existing inventory of weapons and devices. Approved purchases for San Jose police officers include 125 new .556 caliber patrol rifles for $112,132 and close to $100,000 in new rifles for use by the MERGE unit...
UPDATE: Legendary San Jose mayor’s name will grace city rotunda
Political leaders across San Jose say the time to honor Janet Gray Hayes, the city’s first woman mayor, is long overdue — and she will soon have a building to carry her name alongside Silicon Valley’s most influential changemakers. Hayes was the first woman mayor of a major American city when she was elected in...
Legal woes won’t stop downtown San Jose park revamp
San Jose is on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars after being sued over a planned concert venue at its historic but blighted St. James Park. Yet the plans are undeterred – and poised to start this year. The San Jose City Council on Aug. 27 is slated to approve a $400,000 settlement to...
Historic Japanese farmhouse in San Jose will be saved
San Jose officials want to save the historically significant residence once home to a Japanese community leader, farmer and survivor of World War II internment camps in California. Preservationists pledged last week to save the North San Jose farmhouse once owned by Eiichi “Ed” Sakauye after the San Jose City Council approved 1,472 apartments and townhomes on 23...
San Jose sees safe sleeping sites as option for homeless residents
As San Jose develops plans for sanctioned homeless encampments, Mayor Matt Mahan traveled to San Diego to see what he could glean. San Diego, at the forefront of safe sleeping sites for unhoused people in California, has two sanctioned locations that support a total of 533 insulated tents. The locations provide on-site case management and resource referrals, restrooms,...
Ireland trip almost costs San Jose its ability to govern
The San Jose City Council has avoided voting against its own travel policy with two of six elected officials suddenly backing out of a trip to Ireland. The city clamped down on how many councilmembers can travel during council sessions back in 2018 when more than half of the city council took a trip to...
UPDATE: San Jose drops parks maintenance tax measure
San Jose city officials have delayed plans to put a measure to fund parks maintenance on the November ballot after multiple surveys showed it would likely fail to gain support from residents. The San Jose City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to reconsider the idea for the 2026 election, or possibly later. The proposed ballot...
Heat wave highlights Silicon Valley homeless response problems
Los Gatos’ temperature hit 107 degrees as Mason, wearing a black coat and backpack, walked from his camp in the brush toward Highway 17. He started having heat-related symptoms and laid down, heaving. He didn’t want to die on the streets. Mason, who asked to only use his first name, made it back to the...
San Jose ramps up funding to enforce ‘no return zones’
San Jose is set to pay for more employees and police patrols to enforce “no return zones” for homeless camps along the Guadalupe River and those surrounding temporary shelter sites citywide. An initial plan to expel more than a dozen homeless residents off the trail between Julian Street and Woz Way earlier this year has expanded to...