Jan 15, 2018
Santa Clara County Discussion on possible ballot measure to extend County’s 1/8-cent sales tax The current County 1/8 cent sales tax (2012 Measure A) is set to expire on March 31, 2023. The Board directed the Administration to provide information to the Board regarding the County’s one-eighth cent tax, including: Workplan or decision matrix for the Board to examine the…
Jan 12, 2018
In recent days there have been rumblings that former Congressman Mike Honda might consider running for San Jose Mayor. To date, Honda has only said that he is not ruling out the possibility. The City of San Jose has been plagued with a number of issues that have not been adequately addressed by the current Mayor – increase in crime…
Jan 12, 2018
San Jose Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco will face an opponent in her bid for re-election. Yesterday, Jennifer Imhoff, Secretary for the Santa Clara County Libertarian Party and Communications Director for the Libertarian Party of California, submitted her Candidate Intention Statement for District 5 to the San Jose City Clerk. Currently, there are 156 registered Libertarians out of 32,500 registered voters…
Jan 11, 2018
In our January 5th post, The Silicon Valley Organization and Its Employee Candidates, The Left Hook shared that the Silicon Valley Organization (SVO), formerly known as the Chamber of Commerce, had committed to staying out of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors race because it employs Susan Ellenberg, a candidate for the open Board seat. The SVO stated that…
Jan 10, 2018
Tomorrow morning, the Committee to Recall Judge Persky (Committee) will submit nearly 100,000 signatures to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, placing the recall of Judge Persky on the June 5, 2018 ballot. After four months, the Committee has completed its signature gathering efforts and with the number of signatures gathered, the recall appears to be one of the…
Jan 10, 2018
In January of every year, the Mountain View City Council elects one of its members as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor. Last night, the Council voted Vice Mayor Leonard (Lenny) Siegel to the office of Mayor and Councilmember Lisa Matichak to the position of Vice Mayor. Both Siegel and Matichak are progressive leaders. Siegel is replacing Mayor Ken Rosenberg.…
Jan 8, 2018
County of Santa Clara Provide direction regarding 10-year Capital Improvement Program, including possible GO bond or other revenue strategies The Board will receive a report on the 10-year Capital Improvement Program Development. It is estimated that current capital needs over the 10-year horizon is approximately $4 to 5 billion. The administration has identified an approximately $2 billion funding gap between…
Jan 5, 2018
In the January 3rd blog, The Left Hook presented two seemingly unrelated projects, and like a tricky LSAT question, asked readers to find the invisible thread connecting them. The first project is the proposed Google mega campus in the Diridon Station area. Still in the negotiations stage, residents and activists are voicing concerns over how the project will exacerbate the…
Jan 5, 2018
Immediately after the Silicon Valley Organization (SVO) announced that Madison Nguyen would be their new Executive Vice President, rumors that she was positioning herself to take over the organization from Matt Mahood began to swirl. However, that seems unlikely as Nguyen is already poised to run for Santa Clara County Supervisor District 3 in 2020 and has $83,000 cash on…
Jan 5, 2018
Starting mid-January, Madison Nguyen will be the new Executive Vice President for the Silicon Valley Organization (SVO), formerly known as the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. She is replacing Derrick Seaver. Nguyen’s role at the SVO will be to drive the organization’s public policy strategies, which she regularly supported during her final years on the City Council and which consistently…