Browsing Category : Community

Who Else is Running for State Assembly?


Speculation is already hot on who will run for two South Bay open State Assembly seats in 2016.  In the seat that covers the area from Morgan Hill and Gilroy down to the Central Coast, District 30 Assembly Member Luis Alejo terms out in a year and a half. Karina Cervantez, current Watsonville City Council member and Alejo’s wife, is…

Santa Clara County Immigrant Rights Groups Confident In Appeal


Undeterred by the political attacks, Santa Clara County immigrants continue to prepare for new immigration programs and will fight on for a path to citizenship Statement released by SIREN Services,  Immigrant Rights and Education Network Late last night, a district court judge in Brownsville, Texas, issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the implementation process of the new immigrant deferred action programs. Tweet

Policy Watch: Your Weekly Tip Sheet for What’s Going on in Your Community


San Jose City Commission Appointments:  Ethics and Planning Council will interview the 5 applicants for the Ethics Commission [formerly known as the Elections Commission] and appoint up to 3 to terms expiring March 1, 2019. An applicant must receive at least 6 votes to be appointed.  If any vacancy remains, City may continue recruitment efforts and bring forward additional applicants…

Unions to City: Fix Measure B Now


San Jose’s city worker unions are joining together to insist city leaders address the mess that is Measure B and not put it off until 2017, as the Liccardo administration is suggesting.  As one union negotiator put it “these groups have no interest in kicking the can down the road and are looking for a public acknowledgement from the city…

Summer Jobs Program Hopes to Reduce Crime


County leaders hope a program to create summer jobs for teens will help cut down on the crime that traditionally rises that time of year.   The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to create 500 paid summer internship and job opportunities for at-risk and low income youth. Tweet

County School Board Denies Charter Petition


The Santa Clara County Board of Education seems to be getting the message that it can’t just give a rubber stamp to charter schools.  This comes with the addition of new board member Claudia Rossi, elected last November.  Wednesday night, the Board unanimously denied the appeal of the Wei Yu Mandarin Immersion charter petition in West San Jose’s Moreland School…

SJ Council Candidate Orozco Wins Support of Former Opponent


Progressives are lining up behind state legislative aide Tim Orozco in the race to permanently serve out the rest of the District 4 SJ City Council term.  When the Santa Clara County Democratic Party voted last night to endorse Orozco, congressional aide Allen Chiu gracefully bowed out of the race and threw his support behind Orozco as well.  Chiu chose…

A Series by Capital and Main: State of Inequality


CAPITAL & MAIN’S NEW MONTH-LONG SERIES EXPLORES HOW ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IS TRANSFORMING CALIFORNIA, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO REBUILD OUR VANISHING MIDDLE CLASS. The California Chasm As it pushes historic levels, inequality has become a hot topic. Activists have organized around the rich-poor divide, with “The One Percent” and “The 99 Percent” becoming a part of everyday language. Tweet

Election? What Election? Why You Should Care About SJ District 4


No sooner than the November 2014 elections were over, San Jose found itself preparing for another race for City Council seat in District 4, this time on April 7th.  The seat was vacated by Kansen Chu after he won his race for the State Assembly in District 25.  Just like other Council races, this one will be very critical for the…