Feb 4, 2020
Embattled Council Member Lan Diep’s campaign for re-election just got harder. A new digital ad from the South Bay Labor Council hits him for using his office for personal gain while voting for giveaways to developers. Diep, who is heavily supported by developers and landlords, faces two tough opponents, Berryessa School Board Member David Cohen and worker rights attorney Huy…
|| Santa Clara County || VTA: Approve Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with Lincoln Property Group for redevelopment of Cerone site, incl. hotel, office & adv. manufacturing Issue summary: The committee will consider approving a staff recommendation allowing the General Manager to enter into exclusive negotiations with LPC West to redevelop a VTA-owned site at VTA Cerone Maintenance Yard. VTA received proposals…
|| Santa Clara County || Cortese referral to adopt “support with amendments” position on SB50 “Equitable communities incentives” (ECI) are the bonuses that takes the form of relief from certain local develop controls for qualifying projects. Under SB 50, residential developments must meet a variety of conditions in order to receive ECI benefits. Developments must be proposed on a site zoned…
Sep 27, 2019
Tuesday night San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and a bare City Council majority voted to give nine developers a $67 million subsidy for the sole purpose of increasing the developers’ profits. An independent study commissioned by the City showed that downtown high rises are profitable, but not at the level of return desired by the nine developers. In accordance with…
Sep 17, 2019
Republican Jonathan Fleming, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council District 7 in 2018, is trying a unique campaign tactic in San Jose. In his current campaign for City Council District 2 he is running to the right, the far right. Fleming pictured above with Vice President Mike Pence at a visit to Moffett Field earlier this year, tweeted he was…
Sep 11, 2019
Lan Diep, the last remaining Republican on the San Jose City Council, quietly left the Republican Party several months ago and re-registered as Decline to State. Records at the Santa Clara County Registrar of voters indicate that he made the change on March 11 of this year. Diep is running for reelection in a hotly contested race against two Democrats,…
Aug 12, 2019
Santa Clara County Chavez referral for report on the development of Measure A Extremely Low-Income (ELI) housing at 5 County-owned sites Following passage of the 2016 Measure A Housing Bond Measure, Santa Clara County set a goal of creating 4,800 new homes for the homeless within 10 years. To date, the Board of Supervisors has already approved funding for over…
Jun 26, 2019
Following multiple scandals uncovering wage theft and human trafficking at some on the city’s largest development projects, San Jose City Council voted to approve a groundbreaking ordinance requiring prevailing wages as a condition of any tax and fee breaks, development incentives, or other public subsidies provided to for-profit private developments. Other elements relating to expanding the workforce pipeline, including providing…
Jun 24, 2019
Today, Josh Becker, candidate for State Senate District 13, announced that he has received the endorsement of California Governor Gavin Newsom. The announcement, which came via email, included a quote from Newsom which in part read, “Josh is a long-time, dedicated community leader and I look forward to continuing to work with him on the key issues of education, housing,…
Jun 24, 2019
City of San Jose 6/21 CARRASCO, LICCARDO, ARENAS, FOLEY MEMO – Direction on moderate-income housing strategy, including approving a forgivable loan program for ADU construction 6/21 Memo – The Mayor and 3 councilmembers recommend: Directing staff to continue to pursue process improvements that can streamline the ADU permitting process Adopt Councilmember Foley’s memorandum to the extent that a loan program…