Chamber of Commerce

A More Conservative San Jose

This week’s inauguration of Republican Johnny Khamis to the San Jose City Council is a bittersweet moment for yours truly. On one hand, I’m disappointed to have worked on the losing end of the District 10 campaign last fall, and as a lifelong Democrat, I’m frustrated that my hometown’s leadership has shifted further to the right. On the other hand, we were already there, and at least this gives me something to write about.

Read More 26

Takeaways from the 2012 Election

Billions spent nationally, two years of nonstop campaigning and essentially nothing changed. But the outcome of Tuesday’s election will help the economy. Gov. Jerry Brown reigns supreme. People voted to tax themselves and Democrats have super majorities in the legislature. Happy days are here again!

Read More 73

Story of the Week: District 8 City Council Race Approaches $1 Million in Spending

Thursday marked the last filing deadline for campaign disclosure forms and independent committee expenditures before the Nov. 6 election. This means the next 11 days will feature a flurry of campaign spending, the details of which won’t be known until after people go to the polls. One thing that can be said for certain, though, is that the District 8 City Council race between Rose Herrera and Jimmy Nguyen is costing major money. How much? More than $700,000 so far, and it could approach $1 million by the time the election is held.

Read More 9

Minimum Wage Increase Won’t Hurt Goodwill; It Is Goodwill

Why don’t members of our business community understand simple macroeconomics? Why are they the first to justify outrageous salaries for CEOs and the first to oppose an increase in the minimum wage? Measure D will enhance our local recovery and provide needed resources to people who need it. It’s the morally right thing to do.

Read More 44

Team San Jose CEO to Retire Next Year

Team San Jose announced Tuesday that CEO Bill Sherry, who also serves as the director of aviation for Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, will retire in September 2013. A nationwide search for Sherry’s replacement is expected to begin early next year.

Read More 2

Q&A: City Manager Debra Figone

San Jose Inside’s Josh Koehn sat down with City Manager Debra Figone for a rare extended interview in late August. The following is an excerpted transcript of their discussion, which touched on Measure B, Figone’s relationship with the mayor and council, her thoughts on the performance of Police Chief Chris Moore, crime in San Jose and when she plans to retire. It should be noted that this interview took place before Moore’s announcement that he will retire from his position at the end of January 2013—Editor

Read More 35

Minimum Wage Effort Dealt Setback

Groups hoping to increase San Jose’s minimum wage in November through Measure D lost a court fight on two fronts Thursday. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Mark H. Pierce ruled that a line about costs from Measure D’s ballot statement must be taken out because it is misleading. He also rejected arguments that opponents of Measure D should have to change their ballot statement because minimum wage backers “failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the subject arguments are false and misleading.”

Read More 3

Every Dollar Counts in District 10

Edesa Bitbadal finished third in the District 10 San Jose City Council primary, just 90 votes short of second place and a spot in the November runoff. That race will feature Johnny Khamis and Robert Braunstein. But a look at how Bitbadal spent money, and how those who opposed her spent their money, paints an interesting picture.

Read More 2

The Great Minimum Wage War

The South Bay Labor Council held a kickoff party Tuesday night promoting the November ballot initiative to raise the city’s minimum wage to $10. While many expect the coming months of debate to be framed in 99 vs. 1 percent terms—labor groups and low-wage workers battling lobbying heavyweights like the California Restaurant Association (word is the lobbyist group has already kicked in millions to defeat a similar federal ballot measure)—it seems some incongruous characters in Silicon Valley are working toward a compromise.

Read More 0

Council to Hold Last Meeting of 2011-12

The last City Council meeting of the fiscal year Tuesday will feature a loaded agenda. Last week, the council unanimously approved next year’s budget, moved past its stalemate on lower benefits for new employees to approve a second tier, and paved the way for paid time off for many city contractors. Here are some of the critical items up for the last meeting of 2011-12.

Read More 6

The Downward Spiral of Local Politics

It happened first at the county Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, when one speaker compared the tactics of Mayor Reed, the Chamber of Commerce and other supporters of Measure B to those of the Nazis that he recalled from a visit to the Holocaust Museum. It happened again yesterday, when four councilmembers signed a memo asking Mayor Reed to sign a declaration with over 200 other U.S. mayors signaling our city’s support of same-sex marriage. A woman stood up at the Rules Committee meeting and compared the tactics of these councilmembers to those very same Nazis. Is this what we’ve come to in one of the most diverse and dynamic communities in the world?

Read More 32

Minimum Wage Goes to Council

Update: The San Jose City Council voted unanimously to send a minimum wage proposal to voters after it failed to be adopted by San Jose City Council Tuesday night. The motion to immediately adopt a higher minimum wage than surrounding cities failed on an 8-3 vote. The proposal will raise the minimum hourly wage in San Jose from $8 to $10, if passed by voters.

Read More 14