Author Archives : Nadia Lopez

Feb 13, 2020

San Jose Spotlight: San Jose measure to shift mayoral elections one step closer to ballot

After six months of campaigning for support, top labor leaders announced on Wednesday they’ve secured enough signatures to qualify the Fair Elections Initiative for the November 2020 ballot, a measure they say will put a cap on money in politics and increase voter turnout by aligning mayoral elections with presidential years. With the help of community organizations and powerful groups like the…

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Jan 10, 2020

San Jose Spotlight: San Jose measure to shift mayoral elections won’t extend Liccardo’s term

A labor-backed initiative, which seeks to shift San Jose’s mayoral elections to presidential years to boost voter turnout, will no longer extend Mayor Sam Liccardo’s term for an extra two years to align local and national elections. Instead, South Bay labor groups who are leading the initiative they hope will attract a higher concentration of voters — particularly minorities and communities of…

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Dec 17, 2019

San Jose Spotlight: By discussing past, San Jose officials aim to temper racial bias in future

With an eye toward building a more equitable San Jose, the City Council last week re-examined San Jose’s history and discussed racial inequities that have kept hundreds of immigrants — predominantly of Mexican descent — from keeping up economically with white residents. A panel of three top experts on race and equity — Stephen Pitti, a Yale University professor, Leon…

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Aug 6, 2019

San Jose Spotlight Blog: San Jose lawmaker accused of dating a senior staffer

San Jose Councilmember Lan Diep is the target of an anonymous political poll released late May that alleges he “violated city policy” by dating a senior staffer and taking her with him on last year’s taxpayer-funded sister city trip to Japan.  The three-day telephone poll — released to more than 400 households in Diep’s District 4 — asked participants how convincing…

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May 24, 2019

San Jose Spotlight: San Jose activists push back against metal detectors in City Hall

Silicon Valley advocates pushed back Thursday on a controversial proposal to increase security at City Hall by installing metal detectors, calling the move “undemocratic” and “hostile to the public.” In a memo to San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Councilmember Johnny Khamis proposed that his colleagues consider safety measures at City Hall by implementing metal detectors before the final budget for…

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Apr 12, 2019

San Jose Spotlight: Labor leaders condemn Sam Liccardo over stance on immigration

A band of top labor leaders Thursday signed onto a resolution condemning Mayor Sam Liccardo’s push to revise the county’s sanctuary city policy in the wake of the murder of a San Jose woman by an undocumented immigrant. In the resolution, the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council executive board and two other organizations — Latinos United for a New America and Human Agenda…

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Mar 19, 2019

San Jose Spotlight: Burrito Factory in San Jose settles wage theft claims for $1 million

By Nadia Lopez A Mexican burrito chain that’s been part of the San Jose dining scene for more than 20 years has agreed to pay a $1 million settlement over wage theft complaints from at least 239 employees, the Department of Industrial Relations announced on Monday. The restaurant Burrito Factory has four locations across San Jose, and came under investigation by the California Labor Commissioner’s…

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