San Jose will no longer wait for citizen complaints to remove graffiti, junk cars and trash from city streets in downtown and other selected areas.

San Jose Fire Chief Robert Sapien Jr. told City Council members Tuesday that unspecified “appropriate disciplinary action” had been taken and that he considered his investigation of the Oct. 5 incident at The Pink Poodle closed.

The city’s shifting demographics, a continuing affordable housing shortage, endemic homelessness, a looming budget deficit and the reality of five council elections – plus another mayoral ballot – in just two years create additional uncertainties.

Councilmember Kamei was elected to San José City Council last  year with over 60% of the popular vote, representing District 1 in West San José.

When a divided San Jose City Council decided in December to appoint rather than hold an election to fill two vacant seats in 2023, they pledged the process would be 'transparent.' 

Liccardo, a former city councilman, led the Bay Area city through a pandemic, a mass shooting, a homelessness crisis, a horrific flood and more.

Mahan’s new committees including council members, staff and community representatives will center around key issues raised by his mayoral campaign.

Prior to her election to the city council in June, Kamei served as a Morgan Hill planning commissioner, a trustee of the Santa Clara Valley Water district and a member of the Santa Clara County Board of Education.

In a Tuesday interview, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan discussed prioritizing public safety and accelerating housing construction to address the homelessness crisis.

Despite passionate and eloquent pleas from the City Hall audience, the Dec. 5 San Jose City Council decision wasn’t about taxpayers’ money, or voters’ rights. Cash, political power and private conversations not streamed on Zoom won the night.

The expansion of the quick-build communities increases the total number of units to reach the city’s goal of 1,000 units completed or under development by the end of 2022.

General election victories by Councillmembers Matt Mahan and Sylvia Arenas created two upcoming vacancies on the San Jose City Council., which will decide how to fill the vacated seats of Districts 8 and 10.

Chavez is the architect of many of our city and county’s key policies on crime, homelessness, housing and government accountability. The problem is those policies are failing. They don’t need to be defended; they need to be changed.

Dev Davis: A new era deserves a new type of leadership that can grab the opportunities of the moment and put the politics of division in our rear view mirror.

The San Jose City Council last month already voted to suspend enforcement of the new gun owner insurance law until three lawsuits have been resolved.

The city will donate more than $1 million in safety equipment to first responders in Ukraine, including breathing apparatus air packs, mask-mounted regulators, air cylinders and several hundred breathing apparatus masks.