Feb 9, 2018
Santa Clara County officials are alarmed. Trump Administration actions could cost the County $200-$400 million per year, decimating the County’s social safety net. Among the gravest threats are: Increased cost of healthcare to those no longer insured by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and once more uninsured. This alone would impact the County healthcare system by approximately $150 million per…
Jan 24, 2018
This morning, nearly a hundred San Jose residents demonstrated at Google’s Mountain View headquarters over the tech giant’s plans to build a new mega-campus in San Jose. Google is negotiating with San Jose City Council to buy valuable public land near Diridon Station for its proposed 6-8 million square foot campus that will be home to up to 20,000 Google…
Jan 22, 2018
The signs at Saturday’s Women’s March in San Jose did not disappoint. They were witty, clever, poignant, and downright hilarious. Thank you to all who joined the march and brought us these, and many more, catchy and meaningful words of wisdom: 80% Pay = 100% Wrong No one says “grab em by the weenie” We are not ovary acting I…
Jan 22, 2018
County of Santa Clara Update & direction on Child Care Services, plus approving $50,000 increase for 4Cs The board is consider approving a funding increase for the Community Child Care Council and receive a report on the state and budget of the Child Care Services department. The recommended actions will have the following fiscal impact Recommended Action (a) The CalWORKs…
Jan 18, 2018
Last week, labor organizations and local residents filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court to prevent the City of San Jose from planning development of a site, contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals, without evaluating the public and worker health risks and safety and environmental impacts. The Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health found that the project site, located in downtown…
Jan 17, 2018
In 2016, my union, the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers-West (SEIU-UHW) saw that we had a gap in our leadership. At SEIU-UHW, young workers are twenty-eight percent of our union’s membership, and it is growing every day. At that time there were less than five leaders under 35 on our 300 seat executive board. So we hosted…
Jan 15, 2018
Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We reflect and honor his commitment to improving the lives of thousands of Americans, while continuously putting his own life at risk. We respect his non-violent approach, we are grateful for his courage and wisdom. He was a man of action and his unyielding desire for equality…
Jan 15, 2018
Santa Clara County Discussion on possible ballot measure to extend County’s 1/8-cent sales tax The current County 1/8 cent sales tax (2012 Measure A) is set to expire on March 31, 2023. The Board directed the Administration to provide information to the Board regarding the County’s one-eighth cent tax, including: Workplan or decision matrix for the Board to examine the…
Jan 10, 2018
Tomorrow morning, the Committee to Recall Judge Persky (Committee) will submit nearly 100,000 signatures to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, placing the recall of Judge Persky on the June 5, 2018 ballot. After four months, the Committee has completed its signature gathering efforts and with the number of signatures gathered, the recall appears to be one of the…
Jan 10, 2018
In January of every year, the Mountain View City Council elects one of its members as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor. Last night, the Council voted Vice Mayor Leonard (Lenny) Siegel to the office of Mayor and Councilmember Lisa Matichak to the position of Vice Mayor. Both Siegel and Matichak are progressive leaders. Siegel is replacing Mayor Ken Rosenberg.…