Author Archives : The Left Hook

Report Release: Silicon Valley construction boom leading local workers into poverty


A report released today by Working Partnerships USA finds that Silicon Valley is suffering from a lack of middle-income, family-supporting jobs for blue-collar construction workers. In Santa Clara County, the majority of job openings over the next 10 years are projected to pay either less than $40,000 per year, or more than $100,000 – with less than one-third being middle-wage,…

Policy Watch: Week of 3/5


County of Santa Clara Adopting a strategy and approving funding to ensure complete count in 2020 Census The proposal is for an aggressive strategy and a commensurate budget appropriation to enable the County to identify every possible household for census response, deeply and broadly engage the community, implement a smart communications strategy, take leadership with key partners, and launch its…

San Jose residents endorse community demands for Google mega-campus land deal


While Google and the City of San Jose have excluded the public from their negotiations, last night nearly 100 community members and leaders gathered at a public meeting to review and endorse a set of community demands for Google’s proposed San Jose mega-campus. Attendees assessed a set of proposed demands developed through eight months of consultation with San Jose communities. Around 1,500 San…

Policy Watch: Week of 2/26


County of Santa Clara Amending Garbage Collection Franchise Agreement to reassign some service from GreenTeam to Green Waste Recovery This is an amendment to the Franchise Agreement with GreenTeam for garbage collection services.  This amendment reassigns collection services for 51 residential accounts or unimproved parcels and one commercial account receiving solid waste services in unincorporated Portola Valley.  This amendment shifts responsibility for service from Waste Connections of California dba GreenTeam San Jose…

Silicon Valley Organization Backs Pierluigi Oliverio for County Supervisor


The Silicon Valley Organization (SVO), formally the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, has endorsed Pierluigi Oliverio, a candidate accused of sexually harassing and berating a female staff member while he was a San Jose City Councilmember. Earlier this month a video titled #HimToo, based upon a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Oliverio, was released. SVO’s new Executive Vice President, Madison Nguyen should…

San Jose Unified Trustee Paymon Zarghami Resigns


San Jose Unified Trustee Paymon Zarghami stepped down from his post on the Board earlier this month. Zarghami, who had served on the Board since 2014, had been embroiled in a controversy regarding his treatment of a district parent who questioned his possible conflict of interest on the Perseverance Charter School petition vote. The resulting investigation found that Zarghami’s interactions…

Policy Watch: Week of 2/20


City of San Jose Successor Agency to approve compensation agreement for Google Diridon parcels Staff rec is to approve a Compensation Agreement by and among the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Jose, the City of San Jose, the County of Santa Clara and other affected taxing entities under Health and Safety Code Section 34180…

Community groups demand transparency in Google negotiations after non-disclosure agreements exposed


Community groups have called for answers from the City of San Jose after it was revealed that the Mayor, various councilmembers and other City officials had signed non-disclosure agreements with Google over the sale of a number of valuable parcels of publicly owned land (source). Community members have long voiced concerns about the lack of transparency throughout the negotiation process…

South Bay Labor Council Announces Endorsements for County Supervisor and San Jose Council Races


Yesterday the South Bay Labor Council announced its candidate endorsements for the Santa Clara County Supervisor District 4 race and the San Jose City Council races.  In the supervisorial race, the Labor Council endorsed both San Jose Council Member Don Rocha and Santa Clara Council Member Dominic Caserta.  In the San Jose Council races, the Labor Council endorsed: Council Member…

Kathleen King Wins Appointment to County Board of Education


In December of 2017, Santa Clara County Board of Education Member Michael Chang stepped down from his post on the Board.  His sudden resignation left the Board in a challenging position, often tying on critical issues it faced and being divided between members who rubber stamp charter school petitions and those who take a more balanced approach. Yesterday, the Board…