Browsing Category : Government

Policy Watch: Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community


Santa Clara County Santa Clara County Board of Education: Update on fingerprinting, TB clearance and credentials for Spark Charter School Staff will provide an update on the status of Spark Charter School regarding procedures for conducting employee fingerprint and TB clearance. Where: Santa Clara County Board of Education When: Oct. 7, 2015, 5 pm Link to item: http://sccoe.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=1&event_id=57&meta_id=5668 Link to…

Multi-City Nexus Effort to Address Affordable Housing Crisis


The need to preserve and construct affordable housing in Silicon Valley is critical. One way to combat the housing crisis we are facing is through a multi-city nexus effort that would help jurisdictions explore the feasibility to fund affordable housing through impact fees on new commercial and/or residential development. The current efforts underway in Santa Clara County are modeled after an…

Spark Charter School Failure Was Predicted by County Board


Parents and the media seemed surprised when Spark Charter School in Sunnyvale was forced to close down after one of its students was molested by a staff person.  The school had failed to keep the required background checks or TB tests for the majority of its employees.  But some saw this coming. The Sunnyvale Unified School District Board, denied the…

Policy Watch: Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community


City of San Jose  Council Members Khamis, T. Nguyen call for Crime Free Multi-Housing program to be implemented in San Jose; would evict residents for any violation Council Members Khamis and T. Nguyen recommend the City Manager report out, at the October 6th City Council meeting, on progress toward the implementation of an opt-in Crime Free Multi-Housing Program to be…

Sunnyvale Adopts Silicon Valley’s Strongest Short-Term Rental Ordinance


This week the City of Sunnyvale adopted Silicon Valley’s strongest ordinance to regulate short-term rentals of residential properties, such as Airbnb, HomeAway, or FlipKey. The ordinance, which is aimed at mitigating the impact of short-term rentals on affordable housing, allows hosted-only short-term rentals, requires a permit from the City, and does not extend the policy to mobile home parks. It…

Policy Watch: Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community


City of San Jose MEMOS regarding Liccardo’s proposed minimum wage study The memo from Councilmembers Kalra, Peralez, Rocha, and T. Nguyen recommends the Council approve the memo from Mayor Liccardo, and Councilmembers Jones and M. Nguyen which puts forth a study on minimum wage increases, adding additional direction. New directions include: The study should fully consider the potential positive effects…

Santa Clara County Ends Contract with Turner Construction


Today, the County of Santa Clara decided to terminate its contract with Turner Construction. Turner is years behind schedule for completing the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and is costing the County thousands of dollars a day in lost revenue.  In addition, last year’s steam explosion at the Medical Center, which injured workers, raised questions about the company’s safety procedures.…

Santa Clara County Cities Association Joins Silicon Valley Rising in Regional Effort to Raise the Wage


Last night, the efforts started by Silicon Valley Rising (SVR) to achieve a regional minimum wage took a solid step forward at the Santa Clara County Cities Association (Cities Association) meeting. For more than a year, Silicon Valley Rising has been leading the charge to raise the minimum wage throughout the Valley and has seen success in Sunnyvale, Mountain View,…