May 9, 2016
County of Santa Clara Approving Master Development Agreement with Lowe for master plan & entitlements/CEQA review for redevelopment of 55-acre Civic Center site This is the next step in the redevelopment of the 55-acre County-owned Civic Center site in north San Jose. Pursuant to the terms of the Predevelopment Facilities Agreement with Lowe Enterprises, approved by the Board on February…
May 4, 2016
While attack ads are not uncommon in the world of political races, the level of negative campaigning by the Chamber of Commerce in the San Jose City Council primary and the weakness of the attacks is unprecedented. The Chamber has spent a whopping $120,000 on attack ads so far, and there is still over a month to the election. Yesterday’s…
May 2, 2016
City of San Jose Council to vote on remaining renters’ rights issues, incl. Ellis Act evictions, demolitions & condo conversation (a) Direct staff to return with an Ellis Act ordinance to address the process to be followed for owners of ARO apartments subject to the ARO (ARO apartments) seeking to remove their building from the rental business. (b) Direct staff…
Apr 30, 2016
Thursday’s filing deadline left some candidates with a solid financial footing and others with long road to catch up. Let’s start with the San Jose City Council District 8 race, which has the most outside money coming in. Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León, representing the Los Angeles area, Senator Connie Leyva, representing a large portion of San Bernardino…
Apr 28, 2016
As the date for the 2016 primary election approaches, campaign spending is starting to flow more freely. Here’s the latest: Earlier this week, the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce ChamberPAC dropped $11,000 on a mailer for San Jose District 6 City Council Candidate Dev Davis, and that was after the Chamber had already spend $9,000 on research, polls…
Apr 19, 2016
County of Santa Clara Code enforcement revisions include fee/fine adjustments and creating a Community Restitution Fund At the November 19, 2015 HLUET meeting, the Department presented a strategy to reduce the incidence of violations and the costs and staff time associated with abating violations once they are identified. Staff is returning with a report that provides an update on Code…
Apr 18, 2016
County of Santa Clara Code enforcement revisions include fee/fine adjustments and creating a Community Restitution Fund At the November 19, 2015 HLUET meeting, the Department presented a strategy to reduce the incidence of violations and the costs and staff time associated with abating violations once they are identified. Staff is returning with a report that provides an update on Code…
Apr 13, 2016
By a vote of 4-1-1 last night, the Sunnyvale City Council chose to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018, four years sooner than mandated by California’s new minimum wage law. Sunnyvale is the first city in California to advance the timeline by which it gets to the $15 minimum wage since Governor Brown signed the legislation…
Apr 12, 2016
County of Santa Clara Adopting policy for Community Workforce Agreements on public works In its February 23, 2016 meeting, the Board directed Administration to require the consideration of a Project Labor Agreement for all public works contracts over $2,000,000 and to include a hiring program that (1) targets employment for current and past County clients, including but not limited to…
Apr 1, 2016
April Fools! While we all know that Trump refuses to support any good policy that helps working families, our Governor, State legislature and labor movement prioritize our workers. This week’s passage of the $15 minimum wage was historic and when Governor Jerry Brown signs the bill, he will again show the nation why California is a champion for worker rights…