Author Archives : The Left Hook

Jul 24, 2018

Superior Court Issues Map of New Santa Clara Election Districts and Designates Districts 2 and 3 for City Council Election

Yesterday’s decision by the Superior Court to create a six district electoral map in Santa Clara was followed-up by an amended Order, released today, that addresses the “sequencing” of district elections. The newly created districts that will be up for election are Districts 2 and 3.  As with other cities that use the district-based electoral system, candidates for Santa Clara…

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Jul 23, 2018

Judge Rules to Divide City of Santa Clara into 6 Electoral Districts

Today, Superior Court Judge Thomas Kuhnle ruled that Santa Clara will be subdivided into six electoral districts for the November 2018 election.  It is anticipated that the City will appeal the judge’s order, possibly putting the current at-large election system back in play this November. The changes set forth by the ruling require the Santa Clara County Register of Voters…

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Jul 23, 2018

Policy Watch: Week of 7/23

City of Cupertino  Report & input on developing a regulatory program for Short-Term Rentals  The Planning Commission will provide comments for the development of a short-term rental regulation program. At the February 5, 2018 study session, Council requested that staff explore Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) collection from STRs and the development of a regulatory framework for STR compliance. Based on…

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Jul 3, 2018

Policy Watch: Week of 7/2

County of Santa Clara Approving resolution to call for ballot measure extending sales tax, with $50M annual revenue The Board may approve a resolution to place on the November ballot a measure to extend the current one-eighth of a cent sales tax on an ongoing basis, which would generate an estimated $50M in general fund revenue annually. The current sales…

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Jun 29, 2018

Why Hirokawa’s Stance on Racists Texts is an Issue

Candidate for Santa Clara County Sheriff John Hirokawa has taken the position that racist, sexist and anti-Semitic texts by Santa Clara County deputy sheriffs are not an issue if those text were sent on their own time and on their own devices. Here’s why that’s wrong: bigotry, whether on the job or off the job, is an issue when you…

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Jun 26, 2018

Vic Ajlouny’s Play for Council Control

Vic Ajlouny, a controversial campaign operative and conservative firebrand, is setting himself up to have considerable sway over the San Jose City Council. Ajlouny served as a campaign consultant for four sitting City Councilmembers: Johnny Khamis, Dev Davis, Chappie Jones and, until recently, Tam Nguyen.  Ajlouny is also running District 9 candidate Pam Foley’s race. In the past Ajlouny has…

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Jun 25, 2018

Policy Watch: Week of 6/25

City of San Jose Progress report on new Downtown EIR & Diridon Station CED will receive a progress report related to Downtown commercial and residential development, economic vitality initiatives, public life and place making, clean and safe activities, special events, and convention and cultural activities. The Downtown Strategy 2040 EIR is on track for completion this year and will evaluate…

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Jun 22, 2018

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Unusual Political Strategy

Decision makers at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) have adopted an unusual approach to local elections: when they don’t like a candidate, they campaign for everyone else. In the Santa Clara County Supervisor District 4 race, SVLG CEO Carl Guardino and several leading SVLG executives formed a PAC to back both Susan Ellenberg and Pierluigi Oliverio, sending out virtually…

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Jun 21, 2018

Grand Jury Report Calls for Resignation of Three Alum Rock Trustees

Today, a civil grand jury released a report calling out the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District for years of poor leadership and fiscal misconduct, and advocated for the resignation of the three-trustee bloc which has controlled the District for years.  The report states that the “three Trustees who frequently vote as a bloc have lost the community’s trust…The Grand…

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