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Chavez Paid 2012 Political Campaign Staff With Santa Clara County Funds

The Working Partnerships USA executive’s signature appears on county contracts that included salary reimbursements for herself, South Bay Labor Council’s then-chief of staff and current chief executive, Ben Field, and other key campaign officials. The county gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Working Partnerships USA, including more than $200,000 to expand local anti-smoking ordinances […]

Council Considers Revamp of The Alameda

Contractors’ bids overshot the city budget to revamp The Alameda last year, so the City Council will consider a second set of proposals when it meets Tuesday. Even this time, the lowest bid comes in 15 percent over the $3.487 million budget. The city will have to take $936,000 from the Department of Transportation to cover the difference if the council agrees to the plan. Other items on Tuesday’s agenda include the sale of several surplus city properties, as well as public safety and clean tech grants.

San Jose’s 5-Year Sexual Harassment Anniversary

Today represents the unfortunate five-year anniversary of a very painful situation for the city of San Jose. As reported previously in the San Jose Mercury News, 2008 was the year city officials terminated, or at least tried to terminate, a firefighter on charges of sexual harassment against female co-workers.

Next San Jose Mayor Needs to Get ‘It’

San Jose’s 2014 mayoral race will be as crowded as an elevator going down to the parking garage at quitting time. I view this as a good thing, because the issues need to to be discussed in detail more than ever. I am certain there are some announced and unannounced candidates that get “it.” The “it” is the results we get from our educational institutions.

How Would You StartUp San Jose?

Nearly every civic official in San Jose agrees that promoting a stronger local economy is our highest priority. Regardless of our political perspectives, we all understand that supporting vibrant small businesses and high-wage jobs are key to putting our friends and neighbors back to work. We can revitalize our economy one street—and one vacant storefront—at a time. The small business incentive package currently pending before the City Council is important. The idea is simple—where landlords of long-vacant, street-facing parcels are willing to reduce their asking lease rates, City Hall should waive permit fees for new businesses seeking to get up and running.

Ugly Hotel Coming to Downtown San Jose?

Scott Knies hopes the artist renderings of a Hampton Inn planned for a prime slice of land in downtown San Jose are just placeholders until developers come up with a real design. The executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association saw drawings of the six-story hotel proposed for the corner of Highway 87 and Santa Clara Street for the first time earlier this week. His reaction to the design, to paraphrase: Dear, god, no.

A Compilation of San Jose Police Chief Larry Esquivel’s Best, Worst Tweets

Larry Esquivel inherited San Jose’s chief of police position without ever putting his name up for consideration. In fact, none of the San Jose Police Department’s deputy chiefs showed a genuine interest in the job, leaving the applicant pool to some uninterested and/or unqualified candidates outside of the area. But Esquivel is learning the ropes, and a perusal of his Twitter account shows a man who loves emoticons, classic cars and ... the Mercury News? Yes, the Mercury News.

Rules to Look at Renting Space at City Hall, Nonprofit Health Care Investigation

Parts of City Hall, left a bit empty after layoffs and the Redevelopment Agency’s closure, may soon be open to anyone looking to lease a slice of the swanky 18-story downtown centerpiece. Proceeds from the market-rate rents will go right to the city’s general fund, according to a memo going before the Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday. Other items include the Pete Constant-Johnny Khamis memo asking the city to investigate how public funds were used to fund a county sales tax measure carried out by organized labor.

Council Takes on Annual Housing Report, Samsung Incentives

The dissolution of redevelopment agencies and state budget cuts to municipal housing funds have made it tougher for San Jose to meet its goal of building more affordable homes in recent years, according to an annual housing report going before the City Council on Tuesday. Other items on the council agenda include an incentives package for Samsung, a commendation for a police officer who never clocks off and a North San Jose cemetery that is running out of space.

JP Morgan is San Jose’s Payday Lender

Last week, I participated as the alternate for Mayor Chuck Reed on the oversight board for the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency (SARA). The primary focus of the meeting concerned the approval of a one-year extension to the existing Letter of Credit (LOC) with JP Morgan bank. This extension had already been passed by the City Council, but it was still up to the SARA Oversight Board to approve the extension as well.

CommUniverCity Helps Downtown Thrive

For decades, institutions of higher learning have been at the forefront of social change. San Jose State University’s CommUniverCity San Jose program is an excellent partnership between residents, the campus community and government partners like the city of San Jose and Santa Clara County.

Councilmembers Constant, Khamis Call for Investigation of Health Care Nonprofits

Two members of the San Jose City Council are calling for an investigation into whether city funds were illegally used in local campaigns. Councilmembers Pete Constant and Johnny Khamis are asking the city manager and city attorney to “investigate whether any city funds that were provided to either Santa Clara Family Health Foundation or VMC Foundation were used to fund any campaign activities in any manner,” according to a memo released Thursday. The memo notes that the city has given the foundations more than $6 million in the last three years.

San Jose Seniors Should Come First

San Jose has spent approximately $1 billion on affordable housing, which has produced tens of thousands of units being built within our city limits. The city has always done more than its fair share in this area. In fact, San Jose has carried the region—to its own economic detriment—by shouldering most of the affordable housing needs, resulting in fewer jobs.

Council to Discuss Samsung Incentives

UPDATE: The Samsung item on this week’s agenda has been deferred to March 26.

An incentives package designed to convince Samsung to make San Jose home to its new North American research headquarters goes before the City Council on Tuesday for final approval. Other items on the agenda include the sale of some small properties, a proposal to extend debt payments to JP Morgan and a labor negotiations update.

Nonprofits Funded Labor Council Political Campaigns

Funds from two local non-profit health care foundations made their way to phone banks and mail campaigns of the South Bay Labor Council in 2012 after routing the money through a Measure A’s campaign committee. Both the VMC Foundation and the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation gave more than a quarter-million dollars each—a total of $539,000—to support an 1/8th cent county sales tax measure, Measure A. At least $90,000 of those monies were transferred to the South Bay Labor Council. An incestuous tangle of organizations, directors and consultants characterized the transactions, with common decision-makers on both the giving and receiving ends. None of the organization are willing to discuss how the funds were used and how decisions were made. Former San Jose vice mayor and South Bay Labor Council CEO Cindy Chavez currently heads up the nonprofit SBLC-linked Working Partnerships USA (WPUSA) and sits on the board for the Health Trust and Santa Clara Family Health Foundation.