City of San Jose Government News Digest

The San Jose City Council passed laws to ban homeless encampments near schools and placed restrictions on RV and lived-in vehicle parking.

Planning is underway to expand the homeless tiny home facility at 5898 Rue Ferrari in South San Jose with an additional 124 beds, a laundry area and community center.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is adding his support for a local ordinance drafted to assist low-income tenants in San Jose remain in their neighborhoods.

A permit application has been filed to convert the historic Bank of Italy office tower in San Jose to 100+ units of housing.

Contrary to prior predictions, San Jose will not see a budget shortfall this upcoming fiscal year. The city is in better financial shape than expected for the 2024-25 budget.

King Road, a six-mile street bounded by Berryessa Road to the north and East Capitol Expressway to the south, is slated for improvements. From 2018 to 2023, eight people, including an infant, were killed on the road.

Incumbent Councilmember Domingo Candelas, Surinder “Suri” Kaur Dhaliwal, Sukhdev Bainiwal and Tam Truong spoke to about 50 residents at a forum hosted by the community’s democratic club.

The San Jose City Council unanimously approved allocating $200,000 to remove roughly 20 people living by the Guadalupe River Trail and work with community partners to encourage residents to frequent the trail.

Two San Jose cannabis dispensaries, MedMen and Herbs, have temporarily closed—and the city stands to lose millions in revenue if they go out of business.

For three years West San Jose residents have been fighting the city over construction of a Costco in their neighborhood, especially when there are four others just minutes away.

Months after work crews removed tattered tarps and worn wraps from a languishing, historic former church in downtown San Jose, preservationists are worried city officials have lost urgency around protecting the building for the long term.

Under San Jose’s Focus Area Service Team program (FAST), a six-month pilot program that aims to address blight in six neighborhoods that have historically received the most complaints for exterior code violations, residents can receive fines ranging from $250 to $1,000 for common issues such as junk and furniture in front yards visible from the street, graffiti, inoperable vehicles and overgrown vegetation.

A historic race for the District 2 seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors may shape how residents in East San Jose vote in the March primary, with two local Vietnamese leaders vying for the job.

The federal government dished out $88 million in grants to California school districts for electric buses, but San Jose schools lost out.

An analysis by San José Spotlight found that of the 1,122 claims filed by residents over the last three years, the city settled 208. Of that 208, 123 were car accidents—56 of which involved San Jose police officers.

Downtown San Jose’s Pacific Motor Inn is transforming from a hotel that once used to shelter people from COVID-19 into a massive mixed-income apartment complex.

In celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, the African American Community Service Agency in San Jose aims to connect residents with educational and supportive services.

There's something improbable about the existence of Poor House Bistro in San Jose, as if the fates were playing a game of chance with unlikely twists and turns that made this stellar New Orleans-themed restaurant land in the center of Little Italy.

The city will spend $50 million to subsidize affordable housing construction to bring 400 homes online, and $4.7 million to prevent 1,700 people from falling into homelessness through rent relief and other supportive services.

Villas at 4th Street in San Jose provides 93 apartments for formerly homeless senior residents.

The San Jose City Council unanimously approved prohibiting "foreign-influenced corporations" from making political contributions in city races in hopes that election results reflect the will of residents, rather than wealthy international moguls and associated companies.

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, who represents District 28, plans to introduce a bill in the coming weeks to ban political advertising materials deceptively altered through AI.

State Sen. Dave Cortese introduced a bill that would require public officials to forward communications on personal accounts and devices that deal with public business to an official channel.

Outfront Media won its lawsuit against the city after contending that San Jose did not follow proper procedure and bid out the construction of two digital billboards south of Highway 101 on San Jose Mineta International Airport property.

A five-year data analysis conducted by the Vision Zero Task Force, a San Jose traffic safety program, shows a sharp increase in homeless traffic fatalities from 2018 to 2022, with five deaths in 2018 that grew to a total of 51 by 2022.

A former executive team member of San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s office is suing the mayor, his chief of staff and the city for defamation nearly a year after she was fired.

San Jose is spending nearly $2 million to lease land it has yet to use for homeless people living in their vehicles — and council members, residents and advocates want things done quicker.

San Jose is allocating millions of dollars to double the capacity of its oldest temporary housing site for homeless residents, pushing long-term operating costs into overdrive.

While other travelers across the country have fallen victim to long check-ins, cancellations and delays amid winter weather, San Jose Mineta International Airport spokesperson Ana State said this year’s holiday travel season has been without any hitches.

A political action committee that supports local pro-business candidates has announced its endorsements for next year’s San Jose City Council and mayoral elections.