GOVERNMENT

Pacifica artist Jon Pogorelskin continues to take home awards for his distinctive painted sculptural work. Most recently, he won the best of show award at this year's San Mateo County Fair for "Brill Building Brilliance," a towering homage to the building that became the hub of American music in the early 1960s.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Emergency preparedness was identified as one of the Menlo Park City Council’s top priorities for the year, and to achieve that goal, Menlo Park has created a new position to help the city develop a streamlined system to tackle emergencies and disasters. The...

REDWOOD CITY – Due to the impact of state budget cuts, the San Mateo County Superior Court will implement workforce and public service reductions as it continues to adapt to increased operational costs with significantly reduced state funding. The Fiscal Year 2024-25 state budget, which became effective July 1,...

The National Alliance on Mental Illness, San Mateo County, and the NAMI Advocacy Committee are deeply concerned about the recent deaths at Maguire Jail, where five individuals have died since January 2023. Based on available information, it appears that two of these deaths were suicides, and two were drug-related. We...

After a process stretching back years, the city of Saratoga has received final state approval on its housing element, which outlines all housing to be built in the city over the next eight years. The city submitted the fifth draft of its housing element to the state’s department of Housing...

The Rolling Stones return to Santa Clara on Wednesday, July 17th and heavy traffic congestion is expected around the stadium throughout the day and evening. Expect significant delays on Highways 101, 237, 880, Lawrence Expressway, Great America Parkway and San Tomas Expressway. Traffic will likely be heavy throughout the day and could linger for several hours after the concert ends.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... BUENA NEWS … Palo Alto’s ambitious plan to redevelop the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park continued to hum along this week when the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission approved a plan to split the property to create a new apartment building and replace the park’s mobile homes. The commission unanimously and enthusiastically gave the green light to the Santa Clara County Housing Authority for a vesting tentative map that would create two subdivisions on the 4.5-acre parcel, one to accommodate a 61-unit apartment building and another to house 44 mobile homes or recreational vehicles. The Housing Authority, which purchased the mobile home park in 2017 with help from the city and the county, will give all current residents of the mobile home park at 3980 El Camino Real an opportunity to return to Buena Vista after the construction is complete and is currently working with them on temporary relocation options. Flaherty Ward, the Housing Authority’s director of real estate, told the City Council on June 18 that 76% of the households had already affirmed their housing decisions. Much like the council, the planning commission strongly supported the project. “I think there is a lot to like and I really appreciate all the attention that everyone has put in from the city, the county and the neighborhood,” Commissioner Cari Templeton said during the July 10 review. Her colleagues agreed. “Every time we see this project advance another step it’s really good news for the city of Palo Alto. … Congratulations, another hurdle down!” Commissioner Doria Summa said.

Saratoga restaurant owner Nick Miller has fond memories of growing up in the city, spending time with family in its downtown area, trying out restaurants and attending community events. Miller eventually left Saratoga for college, but it was those memories that brought him back to the South Bay city to...

Santa Clara officials have to come to an agreement on how to respond to a report about how their disagreements and infighting have hurt the city. The Santa Clara City Council addressed the recent report from the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, which lambasted councilmembers for their inability to work together and claimed their... The post Santa Clara officials respond to being labeled ‘dysfunctional’ appeared first on San José Spotlight.

The trial of Santa Clara City Council Member Anthony Becker is scheduled to start on July 29, but with less than two weeks to go, a judge has yet to hear the motions filed by the prosecution and the defense. The defense issued its subpoenas for potential witnesses in early...

About a month after the town council approved its plan for housing development over the next eight years, Los Gatos is still contending with 15 builder’s remedy projects. Until the town’s housing element was approved in June, Los Gatos had been vulnerable to builder’s remedy projects. Developers can propose these housing developments in cities or towns without an approved housing element; the developments can be of any size and height as long as they contain 20% affordable housing units.

One Friday afternoon in March 1904, a group of Santa Clara women met to create the Santa Clara Woman’s Club as a civic improvement club. On April 4, 2024 another group of women met to celebrate the founders and reflect on 120 years of community service. Mayor Lisa Gillmor presented the club with a City proclamation honoring its 120-year history.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Henry Etzkowitz has spent decades studying the science of innovation, a field that has taken him on research projects in England, China and Stanford University. But the tech-savvy sociologist didn’t become fully engaged in local affairs until 2022, when Stanford University bought Oak Creek...

SAN JOSE SPOTLIGHT: HEAT WAVE HIGHLIGHTS SILICON VALLEY HOMELESS RESPONSE PROBLEMS

San Francisco Shakespeare Festival has announced that the 2024 Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Shakespeare's The Tempest will return this summer to Cupertino's revitalized Memorial Park Amphitheater, performing Saturdays and Sundays at 6 pm, July 20 to August 4. The show will run approximately 90 minutes without intermission.