Monthly Archives : May 2015

Land, Rent and Whoppers


The Whopper of the Week is back!  Nothing seems to bring out whoppers like city discussions about land and housing. Recent debates over the conversion of land from commercial to residential use and over renter protection policies (like rent control) vividly demonstrate this correlation. Tweet

Madison Nguyen Courts Labor for Assembly Campaign


Former San Jose City Council member Madison Nguyen is set to launch her campaign for State Assembly to succeed Nora Campos in 2016.  She’s sending invitations for her May 29 kickoff to local labor leaders, hoping to gather their support along with some of the much less labor-friendly allies she has, including former Mayor Chuck Reed. Tweet

Homelessness Study Reveals Some Unexpected Stats


It’s a startling number: $520 million.  That’s the annual cost of homelessness in Santa Clara County, according to a newly released study sponsored by Destination: Home. What does that number account for? More than $300 Million is for health care…every year. $131 million in costs related to the justice system…every year, and social services run more than $77 million…every year. …

Policy Watch: Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community


Sunnyvale Adopting Housing Impact Fee To be heard: Wednesday, May 27, 7 pm Planning Commission One Ordinance and Two Resolutions to Approve Two New Affordable Housing Impact Fees: Housing Impact Fee for Nonresidential Development and Housing Impact Fee for Rental Housing.  Recent Council direction to expand the Housing Mitigation Fee and to establish a new fee for rental housing developments requires…

Labor Council in the Market for New Comms Director


The South Bay Labor Council’s Communications Director is taking off for a new adventure starting next month.  Stacey Hendler Ross came to the Labor Council three and a half years ago to help fight the good fight, and there were big wins, including the San Jose Minimum Wage hike, the Santa Clara County Living Wage ordinance and the election of…

Hyatt Workers March for Justice


Silicon Valley is booming, and it is service workers like those at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara that are making this boom possible. While the region’s top tech firms made a record $103 billion in profits in 2013, one in three Silicon Valley households does not make enough money to meet their most basic needs. It is literally a “Tale…

Sunnyvale Moves to Ensure Good Quality, Local Jobs


The City of Sunnyvale continues on its path to do more to help improve the lives of working families in the South Bay.  City Council member Jim Davis deserves kudos for leading the way on a proposed ordinance that will ensure that large-scale private developments hire, employ and provide on-the-job training to apprentices.  Why is this so important?  Even during…

South Bay Dems Appalled by Sanchez’s Racist Remark


Rising star Ash Kalra, San Jose City Council member and CA Assembly candidate,  had the distinction of co-hosting the Indian American caucus reception at the state Dem Convention this past weekend.   Too bad it was marred by the outrageous gaffe made by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.   Kalra chose not to make a public statement on the insensitive blunder Sanchez…

Poilcy Watch: Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community


San Jose Recommendation to defer salary increase for City Council members The Mayor and three councilmembers: Rocha, Kalra, and Carrasco are asking that the council defer action on giving themselves a raise until the City has finished its contract negotiations with City unions.  The City’s Salary setting commission recommended raises for the Mayor increasing his salary from $114,000 to $125,000…

New Report on Women’s Economic Equality


A new  report released by the Center for Popular Democracy  shows that erratic and abusive work schedules are a major culprit in keeping women prisoners of income volatility – called the new “hidden inequality” by the New York Times. Here are some report highlights:  With 38.8 million women paid by the hour – including 72 percent of Latina workers and 68…

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