Nominations will be open from July 14 through Aug. 8 for candidates seeking to do one elected job: Determining property taxes. Candidates who wish to avoid paying a filing fee can gather petitions for their candidacy until July 9. Two names – Former Saratoga Mayor Yan Zhao and Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor – have so far emerged in the looming race to replace outgoing Assessor Larry Stone, who is the county’s longest serving elected official and finished his last day on the job July 3. He was making more than $330,000 in total pay and benefits as of 2023, according to the government tracking website Transparent California.

Whoever emerges victorious from the Nov. 4 election – with a possible runoff Dec. 30 – could be a major influence over the region through the remainder of Stone’s term, which ends in December 2026. Not only do school districts reliant on property tax revenue have a stake. So do tech companies and speculative housing investors.

“It impacts everybody in the county – whether you’re a property owner or have kids in school,” Stone told San José Spotlight. “It’s the only elected office that I can say impacts everyone.”

Both Zhao and Fligor hail from the West Valley, where housing development has been a point of heated debate and resistance. Stone has endorsed Fligor, who served as special assistant to the assessor under Stone and helped overhaul the office’s outdated computer system this year.

“She has great relationships with county management. She’s a certified appraiser with the state of California,” Stone said. “I know of nobody else that is even close to being qualified to be the assessor and manage an $8 billion enterprise, a $700 billion assessment roll and 500,000 property owners. That’s a big job. It’s not a job for somebody who believes they can get elected because of their political background.”

Fligor wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Zhao, who earned her appraiser license after launching her candidacy, said she can bring a fresh perspective to the office. She’s undeterred by Stone’s endorsement of her opponent and argues residents don’t want a “hand off” to an “insider.”

“This is an office that should not be given – it should be earned. I plan to earn it,” Zhao told San José Spotlight.

The Saratoga resident said she’s directly fundraised more than $450,000 so far in the race – and is confident she can cross $500,000 by the July 31 campaign finance reporting deadline.

Bob Staedler, a principal at the San Jose-based land use and development consulting firm Silicon Valley Synergy, said the assessor’s office is the linchpin of how county government operates.

“I think the assessor makes a lot of judgement calls — there’s a lot of art in how you evaluate properties and how you determine how things get on the roll. And then there’s how you manage personnel and how quickly things get adjudicated, dealing with all the appeals — there’s a huge amount of appeals – and then there’s also the outward looking optics the assessor puts out about the region’s property values,” Staedler told San José Spotlight. “The assessor can set the tone in the mood of how the values of properties are doing.”

If you’re a large property owner in the valley, you’re going to support someone you feel is going to be pro-property owner, Staedler said.

“It would also be interesting to see if the next assessor will be more political – advocating for stuff in Sacramento — things like split rolls, dealing with Prop. 13, dealing with exemptions for certain properties, especially with what we’re seeing in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “We could have someone with a completely different personality.”

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

The post Next Santa Clara County assessor could reshape the valley appeared first on San José Spotlight.

There are eight light shows across the county ready to dazzle residents. San Jose is hosting the city’s first drone show at Lake Cunningham. The city had planned to shoot off fireworks at Lake Cunningham, but lost its reserve of fireworks in the Yolo County warehouse explosion Wednesday.

“The tragedy in Yolo County has affected multiple fireworks displays across the state,” Councilmember Domingo Candelas said statement. “While we have to cancel the fireworks, the celebration is still on.”

Cities like Sunnyvale have shifted to a festival this year, complete with carnival games and food. Last year the city hosted the county’s first drone show on July 4th, which it touted as safer and better for the environment compared to traditional fireworks.

But after thousands of people showed up unexpectedly, Sunnyvale spokesperson Rachel Davis said the city needed to rethink its budget, logistics and safety plans going forward.

“We are actively exploring holding a Sunnyvale drone show in 2026 for the United States Semiquincentennial,” Davis told San José Spotlight.

While Almaden and Sunnyvale’s light shows are a no go this year, Cupertino’s fireworks display has returned thank to a healthy budget.

Cupertino’s fireworks show, the only one in the West Valley, was canceled last year as the city grappled with a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. The city is now projecting surpluses and can fund the $42,000 show set to light up the sky at 9:30 p.m.

Viewing spots include Creekside Park, Sedgwick Elementary School and Miller Avenue near Bollinger Road. The city will close road sections for cars from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., including parts of Miller, Atherwood and Hyde avenues; Disney, Phil, Stendhal, Willowgrove, Brookgrove and Ferngrove lanes; Howard Court, Shadygrove Drive and Calle de Barcelona.

Councilmember R “Ray” Wang said he’s looking forward to having the fireworks back, in addition to the pancake breakfast and children’s parade.

“There’s very few things that bring us all together, and that’s really what we should do, is keep promoting those activities that are more inclusive, that are more encompassing,” he told San José Spotlight.

Gilroy, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Mountain View and Santa Clara also plan to have fireworks displays.

Erica Ray, public information specialist with the Santa Clara County Fire Department, said last year was particularly dangerous because the extra rain from early 2024 created more plants that turned into dry  fuel by summer. This year’s conditions are more typical, but Ray stressed fire risk is still alive.

“It’s basically normal dry vegetation conditions that we’re used to,” Ray told San José Spotlight. “There’s just a lot we really want to make sure that people understand, that all fireworks, even the safe and sane ones, are dangerous.”

“Safe and sane” fireworks are supposedly less dangerous, according to the California Health Codes. These are fireworks that don’t explode or fly. Ray said these types of fireworks are illegal everywhere in the county except Gilroy, where they can be purchased and used in designated areas.

Fire departments throughout the county are constantly on alert during the July 4th holiday.

San Jose Fire Department spokesperson Jake Pisani said the Fourth of July has the highest call volume. He added that it has the potential to delay other emergency responses.

“It puts a strain on our resources,” Pisani told San José Spotlight. “Our ability to take 911 calls, to dispatch resources, to get on a scene quickly — all of those things are greatly impacted.”

An annual city report on fireworks from earlier this year shows there were 102 fireworks-related calls in 2024, including 59 fires, 12 medical emergencies and 31 smoke and noise complaints. That’s up from 2023, when SJFD received 86 fireworks-related calls, and even higher compared to 2022 with 79 fireworks-related calls.

The city has a minimum fine of $1,000 for illegal firework use, and up to $100,000 and jail time for the illegal possession of dangerous fireworks. Residents can learn more about San Jose’s responses to fireworks at sanjoseca.gov/fireworks.

If a resident sees someone setting off illegal fireworks, Ray encourages them to call their city’s non emergency line, so the 911 emergency line doesn’t get backed up with calls. San Jose officials are encouraging residents to fill out the 311 online form to report illegal fireworks.

Three more fireworks displays will happen on July 5, at Excite Ballpark, Great America and PayPal Park. For more information on firework displays countywide, check the county’s fire department’s website.

“We really just want the public to be safe this Fourth of July,” Ray told San José Spotlight. “If they want to enjoy fireworks, please do it safely by attending one of the public displays that are planned throughout the county.”

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at sakura@sanjosespotlight.com or @SakuCannestra on X. Contact Annalise Freimarck at annalise@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @annalise_ellen on X. 

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The Senate reconciliation bill would cut $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would be the largest cut in the program’s history. SNAP, known as CalFresh in California, provides low income families a stipend every month for groceries. The cuts would push the onus on states to shoulder some benefit costs—a departure from how the program traditionally has worked—and impose work requirements on certain adults. The bill is now with the House of Representatives for a final vote before reaching Trump’s desk.

In Santa Clara County, where CalFresh participation is at its highest level in the past decade, these cuts would mean some families could lose their benefits if the state can’t fill in the gap. Overall, cuts to food stamps, Medi-Cal, housing vouchers and more could cost Santa Clara County up to $1 billion in federal funding.

“The bill proposes changes to eligibility that will make it harder for families to access benefits while also shifting a significant portion of costs to states—costs that are simply untenable for state and local governments to absorb,” County Executive James Williams told San José Spotlight. “Food is essential to survival…we are profoundly concerned about what these unprecedented cuts mean for so many families in our community, and we are continuing to evaluate impacts to our community.”

As of last July, the federally funded food assistance program has more than 130,000 individuals receiving food stamps in the county, almost double what it was in 2019, according to CalFresh data.

Some 5.3 million Californians in 2024 received an average of $189 per month in food stamps, totaling $12 billion. Trump’s bill would cut the state’s CalFresh’s funding down between $5.4 billion to $2.8 billion, resulting in more than 735,000 people losing their benefits, according to the governor’s office.

Traditionally, the federal government covered food stamp benefits while costs of administering the program is shared by counties, states and the federal government. This formula works since the federal government can operate at a deficit and print money when needed, unlike state governments.

Fullwell Executive Director Eli Zigas operates a Bay Area nonprofit that creates policies to tackle food insecurity in the state. He said requiring states to cover anywhere from 5% to 25% of the benefits means cuts are inevitable.

“The federal government is walking away from its commitment to fully fund this program, and they’re pushing some of the costs onto the states without really caring whether the states can handle it,” Zigas told San José Spotlight. “Or they know that the states can’t handle it, and therefore they’ll see a reduction in the number of people receiving assistance.”

California provides assistance

While the federal government continues to pare back money for these vital resources, the California Legislature is trying to bolster some programs in a difficult budget year. Included in the state’s budget for this new fiscal year is $36 million for the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, a pilot program which allows people with EBT cards to receive instant rebates up to $60 a month when buying produce at select grocery stores.

“It’s more money than the program’s ever received,” Zigas said. “It’s an example of California providing some money to boost the safety net, but the magnitude of the SNAP cuts dwarfs that.”

The state also added $60 million for CalFood, a program that allows food banks to purchase California-grown foods for the communities they serve. Many food banks use these dollars to buy more expensive items like eggs.

“We are incredibly grateful to the governor and legislature for the $60 million in CalFood, which will help food banks serve over 6 million Californians each month,” Itzúl Gutierrez, senior policy advocate with the California Association of Food Banks, told San José Spotlight. “However, if these devastating cuts to SNAP in the Budget Reconciliation bill get passed, food banks will not be able to fill the gap. For every meal that a food bank provides, SNAP provides nine,” Gutierrez said.

During times of food insecurity, families turn to food banks for assistance—and food banks will see longer lines as people lose CalFresh benefits. However, food banks are already being stretched to the limit.

Second Harvest of Silicon Valley serves approximately 500,000 people a month in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties — the same number as during the height of the pandemic. Prior to that, the food bank served 250,000 people every month through food distributions and grocery programs.

“In our two counties alone, people receive about 32 million in benefits (from CalFresh) a month,” Second Harvest CEO Leslie Bacho told San José Spotlight. “So those are dollars that people are spending in our local grocery stores. And so the cuts will have an impact, not just on individuals, but also on our local economy.

“Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included lower projected cuts prior to the passing of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.

Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X. 

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Yet the total net assessed value of all real estate and personal property – known as the assessment roll – reached a new height of nearly $726 billion, County Assessor Larry Stone announced Wednesday. Home sales increased by 3% and accounted for 86% of roll growth.

This year marks Stone’s final assessment roll before he steps down on July 7 – marking an end to one of the county’s longest serving public officials.

“Just a few years ago, office buildings were the darling of commercial real estate investment. That’s not the case anymore,” Stone told San Jose Spotlight. “Foreclosures are almost weekly — hotels, office, some industrial. They’re just throwing the keys and giving them back to lenders.”

Stone said several significant commercial development projects have stalled due to high interest rates, surging construction cost and sinking demand for office space. Google’s “Downtown West” project in San Jose was slated to begin in 2023, but remains in limbo. Stone also pointed to “The Rise” development at the former Vallco Mall in Cupertino, a planned mixed-use development that required a redesign and cutbacks before it could move forward. The 240-acre mixed-use development, known as “Related Santa Clara,” is another significant project facing construction delays.

Surging vacancies, dropping rental rates, a shortage of big leasing deals, and the continuation of hybrid and remote work have kept the office vacancy rate in Silicon Valley at roughly 20%  for the past two years, according to the assessor’s office.

Stone said office buildings are being sold at major discounts. He points to VTA’s purchase of Sobrato Office Tower at 488 Almaden Blvd this year. Stone said VTA paid 61% of the assessed value. He said he doesn’t expect the commercial market to turn around for another few years.

Elsewhere, Stone said Silicon Valley is experiencing different trends compared to the rest of the nation.

“Job growth throughout the country is pretty good. Around here it’s not. The high tech companies have jettisoned about 11,000 jobs this year,” Stone said. “Silicon Valley and Santa Clara County are experiencing a different level of trends related to property values than you’re finding in other parts of the state or country.”

The assessment shows that while home sales are slow, the residential market is still strong.

Brett Caviness, a local realtor and former president of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, said the current market has opened new opportunities for potential buyers who felt priced out due to more aggressive competition in prior years.

“We’re seeing more people able to access homeownership than they were to before. That’s a bright point,” Caviness told San Jose Spotlight. “The takeaways for me are: it’s still a good time to be selling and an even better time to be buying.”

Changes in ownership and new construction added $16.1 billion and $3.8 billion to the total increase, respectively. Business and personal property values added $1.8 billion. Nearly 8,700 properties remain in declining value status due to Prop. 8, which allowed temporary reductions in assessed value in cases where real property suffered a decline in value.

Prop. 13, which restricts property taxes, added $14.4 billion to the assessment roll. But Stone said it continues to come at a cost to schools and local governments who depend on property tax revenue to support essential services.

Slow home sales and stalled construction will likely continue to lag assessment roll growth in the years ahead, Stone said. But he’s optimistic about the region’s long-term outlook, as some of the world’s largest tech companies – Apple, Microsoft and NVIDIA – are still concentrated in Silicon Valley.

“We still lead the country in the amount of venture capital investment and a lot of it is based on Artificial Intelligence,” Stone said. “It doesn’t mean we aren’t facing trends that are pretty discouraging right now. But I think the future is bright.”

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

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Over the course of 2024, the Sheriff’s Office of deputy misconduct investigations were routinely completed just days or weeks before the one-year statute of limitations had expired, according to the June 17 annual report from the Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring. Still, the report offers  hope that a recent restructuring of the Sheriff’s Internal Affairs Office — and expanded staffing — will lead to more timely inquiries. Roughly 60 internal affairs cases are pending at the sheriff’s office, according to the oversight monitors.

The oversight office – composed of the county-contracted police reform consultant OIR Group – attributed the problem to chronic understaffing that spread investigators thin with large caseloads. This caused delays in opening investigations, time lags in assigning investigators and frequent turnover in the internal affairs unit.

Such time pressures can hamstring internal affairs probes relying on the fresh memories of involved parties and timely follow-up interviews, Michael Gennaco, the head of OIR Group and the county’s oversight office, said.

“If you are still conducting active investigations and interviews in the 10th or 11th month, witnesses or subject officers may have trouble recollecting what happened. If the case is open for almost a year, it doesn’t give complaining witnesses a lot of confidence that they’re complaint is being taken seriously,” Gennaco told San José Spotlight. “And if there’s a need for discipline and the investigation lags — a deputy may end up getting into trouble repeatedly if remediation hasn’t occurred.”

Sheriff Bob Jonsen said things are turning around.

“We agree that timely Internal Affairs investigations are essential to public trust and agency accountability. In 2024, we faced challenges stemming from staffing shortages and structural issues, but we’ve taken meaningful steps to address them,” Jonsen told San José Spotlight. “We added personnel, restructured leadership under the newly formed Professional Standards and Compliance Division, and have already seen progress, with investigations being completed more efficiently than in prior years.”

The oversight report said it was not uncommon for sheriff’s office to open an internal affairs investigation but not assign it to an investigator for months, or to reassign it one or more times as investigators moved in or out of the unit. This approach significantly backlogged cases and forced investigators to focus only on those with the most pressing statute of limitations deadlines.

NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley President Sean Allen, a former correctional officer, said he has witnessed the problem firsthand.

“There are people who have not been disciplined because their case exceeded that one year,” Allen told San José Spotlight.

Allen, who has criticized the sheriff oversight office as being too deferential, remains doubtful of the report’s optimistic turns. He’s continuing to demand answers as to lack of deputy supervision around the widely reported February torture and murder of 22-year-old Oscar Umulxicay by three other inmates, while incarcerated at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas.

The oversight office said it became aware of Umulxicay’s death as it was finishing the annual report and will review the circumstances that led to it. Allen previously raised concerns about the lack of deputy intervention and supervision when the incident occurred.

“Welfare checks were past due,” Allen said. “If you don’t have people properly checking on people in the jails in a timely fashion, the death rate is going to go up.”

Improvements to the system

Oversight monitors praised the thoroughness of the internal affairs investigations themselves. The oversight monitors praised Sheriff Bob Jonsen’s office for continuing to probe cases even after a deputy left the agency while criminal charges were still pending.

Examples of misconduct cases that fell under internal affairs last year included inappropriate use of deputy leave, inappropriate use of internal confidential databases and failure to conduct timely or robust welfare checks in the jails. It also included showing inappropriate photos to other employees while on duty and failure to report a romantic relationship with a subordinate.

The internal affairs unit also restructured itself and added additional staff last year. The unit now falls under the command of a captain at the newly-formed Professional Standards and Compliance Division, according to Gennaco’s office. Oversight monitors said they saw “at least some progress” toward the end of 2024, with cases being concluded closer to the 10-month mark rather than right up against the one-year deadline.

Internal affairs investigations, when completed, are sent to the Internal Affairs Review Board – a panel of command staff chaired by an assistant sheriff, which reviews the facts of the case. The oversight office said there was greater willingness last year for the board to disagree with investigators’ recommended findings. This dynamic, according to Gennaco’s office, shifted investigators’ approach to cases.

For example, Gennaco’s office said this led to more regular interviews between internal affairs investigators and incarcerated people where deputies used force. It also shifted investigators’ understanding of the office’s standards for deputy strikes to people’s heads and necks.
The oversight office also explored last year’s 10 jail deaths. This news outlet first reported the 20-year high in Santa Clara County’s jails. Five of the deaths were attributed to natural causes —cancer and cardiovascular disease —  three were ruled suicides and two were the result of drug overdoses, according to Gennaco’s report.

The breakdown in causes made it hard to pinpoint the uptick to a systemic issue, Gennaco said.

“Whenever there’s an uptick, it’s obviously something worthy of concern,” he told San José Spotlight.  “The numbers are not as nearly high this year, so far. Knock on wood.”

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

The post Santa Clara County sheriff’s office struggles to probe misconduct appeared first on San José Spotlight.

The county connected 17,485 homeless individuals to permanent housing as of 2024, and is on track and may even exceed the goal of housing 20,000 individuals by the end of 2025. But on the flipside, preventing more people from falling into homelessness remains a struggle, according to the 2020-2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness.

“We work really closely to have our system be tied together,” Santa Clara County Deputy Executive Consuelo Hernandez told San José Spotlight. “That is really what has been successful, is the political will to say yes to shelter, yes to housing (and) recognizing prevention is a critical component of stopping the inflow.”

Households were connected to permanent housing through various means, whether that was reuniting with a family member, finding an apartment on their own or receiving subsidies for rent through housing vouchers. A majority connected to permanent housing through vouchers, including 3,789 people placed in permanent supportive housing — 95% who have remained housed. Included in the nearly 17,500 people connected to stable housing are 5,514 individuals placed in rapid rehousing, a program that provides short-term rental assistance. Approximately 74% still remain housed.

In addition to connecting people to housing, over the last five years the county has added 1,240 shelter spaces — growing shelter capacity to 3,122 spaces — and expects to have a total of 3,858 in fiscal year 2025-26. More than 23,000 people have been served in the shelter system since 2020. Last year, 22% of people in the system moved into permanent housing, or nearly 1,750 people. Half of them received rental subsidies.

The county also expanded its Homelessness Prevention System by 65% to serve more than 2,500 households each year. The system provides rental subsidies to those on the verge of eviction. In 2023, families received an average assistance of nearly $7,400.

But the county faces a rocky future as it charts the next five years and struggles to keep up with the number of people falling into homelessness.

The county set to reduce the inflow of new households becoming homeless to 3,330 by the end of 2025. However, last year 4,098 new households fell into homelessness, about 200 families less than the year prior — and about 800 households higher than its goal for this year. In 2024, for every one person housed, 1.8 fell into homelessness.

Homelessness is at an all-time high in Santa Clara County with 10,711 homeless residents, compared to 9,903 in 2023 and 10,028 to 2022, based on preliminary results from this year’s point in time count conducted in January.

This has happened despite significant investments in temporary and permanent housing, with more than 1,300 affordable apartments constructed over the past two years funded through Measure A, a $950 million affordable housing bond approved by voters in 2016.

“I really think it’s a math problem at this point. We can give services all day long and it’s never going to change the fact that nobody can pay the rent,” Debra Townley, who serves on the Community Plan to End Homelessness steering committee, told San José Spotlight. “Everyone can get healthy mentally (and) physically, everybody can get trained on a new job. But if they can’t pay the rent, they’re still going to be homeless.”

As the cost of living continues to increase and looming federal cuts undermine social safety nets, more people will face precarious circumstances. In addition, state funding for homeless solutions could be slashed  for the next fiscal year, sending cities and counties scrambling to close the funding gap.
Santa Clara County officials said they remain committed to finding solutions to reduce homelessness. As the county strategizes the next five years, officials are focused on maintaining the current shelter capacity over the next year. It’s also conducting a randomized control trial for rapid rehousing to find what works in the system.

“We’re really committed to demonstrating the effectiveness of these programs so that we can show that these public dollars are, in fact, having a positive impact on thousands of folks in our community, even though we still are in the midst of the homelessness crisis,” Kathryn Kaminski, acting director of the county Office of Supportive Housing, told San José Spotlight.

Officials are waiting to see what cuts will come down from the federal level before diving into creating the next phase of the Community Plan to End Homelessness. Although the federal budget needs to be finalized before the close of the fiscal year in September, the Trump administration is aiming to have it done by July 4.

“The (office of supportive housing) team is very creative. They’re always looking at streamlining their operations, reducing costs, leveraging other resources in the county,” Hernandez said.

Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X.

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She never expected him to be held in the Bakersfield Federal Detention Center or to be threatened by federal agents that her children would be taken away. Alvarez’s husband is still in Bakersfield, but Alvarez said she has hope because of the support she’s received in Santa Clara County.

Alvarez stood with more than a dozen local representatives and leaders Monday outside the Mexican Heritage Plaza as they urged all public officials to join them in a pledge to protect the immigrant community — including the roughly 134,000 undocumented residents who call the county home according to the latest data. The call to action comes amid the Trump administration’s national crackdown on immigration, which has placed more than 50,000 people in immigration detention centers and ramped up deportations.

“This is not a show,” Alvarez told San José Spotlight. “This is costing us a lot — taking care of the kids, working, paying the bills, paying the rent (by myself).”

County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas was one of the elected officials who spearheaded the pledge for residents like Alvarez. The pledge includes upholding the dignity and rights of all immigrants regardless of immigration status, championing comprehensive immigration reform, ensuring an investment in Latino neighborhoods and meeting consistently with Latino-led organizations for collaboration.

Arenas said as the daughter of immigrants, it’s important to defend the community she comes from. More than 40% of the county’s residents — an estimated 789,000 community members — were born outside of the United States like Arenas’ parents.

“This is the first time as elected officials that we’re coming together and we’re standing in unified solidarity for our Latino and our immigrant community,” Arenas said at the event.

The efforts come while the county is beefing up its protection for immigrants, even as the Trump administration considers protecting certain populations from deportation, including immigrant farmworkers. The county earmarked more than $8 million this month toward immigration-related services. It’s a historic investment despite an uncertain fiscal future.

Those millions will go toward services such as the Rapid Response Network, a community defense project that protects and helps immigrant families like Alvarez’s from deportation threats. The network has received 2,590 calls since January, with nearly one-third, or 840, of those calls coming in this month as ICE activity spikes across the country.

The efforts haven’t stopped at the county level.

The San Jose City Council recently allocated $1 million for immigrant defense organizations like Amigos de Guadalupe and the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) out of its $5.5 billion budget. School districts are refusing to cooperate with ICE and the business community is banding together.

San Jose Councilmember Pamela Campos has had residents detained in her district. She said it’s important to stand up against the federal administration’s harmful policies.

“We are dealing with a federal government that is determined to abuse their power and disregard our constitutional protections,” Campos said at the event. “We will counter Trump’s lies with the truth about our community and the fact is, immigrant families are the hardest-working taxpayers in our country.”

Alvarez’s husband’s next hearing is set for August. She said her children ask about their dad constantly and won’t leave her side for fear of separation. But they remain optimistic they’ll see him again.

“My children and I are holding on day by day, believing he will come home,” she said. “Still, this experience has left deep scars.”

Contact Annalise Freimarck at annalise@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @annalise_ellen on X.

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The county has started gathering community input on the needs of its crumbling jail system while simultaneously assessing the facilities’ conditions. Those efforts could lead to the construction of a new jail — the cost of which has historically ballooned the longer officials wait, from $390 million at one point to $689 million, then $747 million.

The Main Jail and Elmwood campus have significantly deteriorated and can’t provide minimally adequate confidential intake space for medical and mental health care or programming, according to county documents.

The situation hamstrings the county’s ability to provide basic services under two federal consent decrees the county entered in 2019 to address the unconstitutional use of solitary confinement under a former sheriff, among other issues.

“What is set in stone is we are absolutely going to build something,” Deputy County Executive Consuelo Hernandez, who is overseeing the community engagement efforts, told San José Spotlight. “Given that the jail population has actually decreased, it’s turned into this process of making sure we understand what we need to build. We know the buildings there are bad — but how bad are they? Can the existing buildings be rehabbed, or do we need to demolish?”

Jail dilemma

The resurrection of the jail dilemma comes as the county Public Safety and Justice Committee considers reviving its zero bail program, which could further reduce the incarcerated population.

None of this is going to easy because the county is grappling with another problem — getting community input from residents who don’t support building a new jail.

One of the region’s most high-profile civil rights networks, Silicon Valley De-Bug, has refused to be part of the county’s community input process — arguing the county would misconstrue its participation as support for the facility.

The organization’s founder, Raj Jayadev, said the county has a history of presenting new jail plans as open for public input, while quietly treating them as a done deal.

“We had actually asked the county to take our names off their list,” Jayadev told San José Spotlight.

It’s prompted the county to get creative about how to conduct community outreach. Hernandez listed a number of ways, including taking feedback without names attached.

“As a government, we have to be responsive and say, ‘You decide how you want to engage,'” Hernandez said. “We’re not trying to change De-Bug’s mind. We’re not going to force somebody to engage, but we’re going to be very clear about what we’re doing, and they can decide. They can decide exactly where and when to show up.”

Jayadev believes the construction of a new jail can still be stopped.

“I don’t think it’s certain,” he said.

One sign he points to is the Board of Supervisors voting in 2021 to cancel plans to replace Main Jail South. The old building had been demolished, and county leaders had momentum to approve construction of its replacement. But Jayadev’s group aggressively lobbied against it.

“They were so close to putting shovels into the ground to build that new jail. And this time around — until the final bell’s rung — we’re going to keep fighting,” Jayadev said.

Other community leaders are engaging. Walter Wilson, a member of the county’s Community Corrections Law Enforcement Monitoring Commission, said he understands but disagrees with De-Bug’s rationale.

“Everybody else is at the table,” Wilson told San José Spotlight. “At the end of the day, we have to have a jail. It’s a matter of degrees. To me, we don’t need a 5,000-bed jail.”

He said these discussions — and De-Bug’s involvement, despite its “no jail” stance — would be important to ensuring the new facility is as minimally scaled as possible. His vision, he said, is to build a carceral facility with several hundred beds and a mental health treatment facility with twice as many.

“There are people who must be locked up because they are a danger to themselves and to the general public. They just are. If you can’t acknowledge those people exist, you live in a bubble,” Wilson said. “The thing is, a bulk of people that are in jail right now — those people need to be in behavioral health facilities.”

Next steps

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Brooks Jarosz said the office isn’t leading the effort on planning for a new jail facility, but is committed to being involved in the conversations “every step of the way.”

“We’ll be part of the community engagement efforts to help build trust through open, honest conversations,” Jarosz told San José Spotlight. “Our shared goal is to create a safer, more humane facility — one that supports rehabilitation and wellness, reflects community values and enables staff to deliver essential services effectively while maintaining safety and security for everyone.”

Jayadev agrees the existing jails’ conditions are unacceptable. He said he still doesn’t think that should mean building a new jail over upgrades to existing facilities. He points to the environment surrounding the new jail discussions. The county is in the midst of considering the revival of its zero cash bail policy, a move that would greatly reduce the jail population.

Hernandez said the simultaneous weighing of zero bail’s revival is why the county is starting public outreach so early.

“We’re saying to the community, ‘You should weigh in on these policies that the county is is promoting or trying to implement. This is your opportunity to impact the numbers,” Hernandez said. “So if they get traction, if the county is successful in implementing those policies and introducing the bail bond program again, just like we did during COVID, then there’s no need for us to build (a major facility).”

The county has gone back and forth on a new jail for years. After supervisors canceled the Main Jail South project in 2021 they directed officials to gather community input on jail alternatives. The county compiled a summary report highlighting the themes that emerged from the engagement process, but officials argued it didn’t lead to viable alternatives. In 2022, supervisors again approved the idea of creating a new jail. But that too was later scrapped.

Supervisors last October then moved forward with a more holistic “Jail Facility Transformation Process.” It was a vessel for the persisting idea of a new jail, but one that would also looks at ways to upgrade existing facilities to better meet the county’s constitutional mandates.
Wilson said he agrees on the need for a reduced jail population — an experiment the county pulled off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You reduce that number by 1,500 like what we did during COVID, the number of guards you need and cost of maintaining that facility goes down dramatically,” he said.

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

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Among proposed cuts is the planned elimination of the $3.3 billion Community Development Block Grant program tied to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. San Jose distributes millions of dollars annually through the program to nonprofits implementing services that benefit low- and moderate-income residents with community development needs. Nonprofits facing potential negative impacts include the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, The Health Trust and SOMOS Mayfair.

“The future of Community Development Block Grant funds for local nonprofits is unclear,” Jeff Scott, spokesperson for the housing department, told San José Spotlight. “The city of San Jose is monitoring the evolving nature of the situation and other matters regarding our relationship with the federal government.”

San Jose received almost $13 million in block grant funding for the 2024-25 fiscal year and $7.8 million for 2025-26. As of May 12, the remaining fund balance sits at $4.3 million. Scott said the city is focused on spending the already approved funds.

“As new restrictions and procedures are proposed, we are working across departments to understand the impact and implementation,” he said.

Law Foundation of Silicon Valley Chief Program Officer Cynthia Chagolla said they have relied on the block grant funds for more than a decade to support legal services provided to residents, including low-income renters. Organizations under the nonprofit’s umbrella including Asian Law Alliance, Project Sentinel and Senior Adult Legal Assistance will be hurt by a loss of funding.

“In terms of the funding that we get directly from the city of San Jose for housing work and legal services for low-income tenants — this (funding) is it,” Chagolla told San José Spotlight. “It’s really a safety net service for individuals who are either at risk of losing their housing or are experiencing some sort of discrimination, like for their disabilities, and are prevented from even getting housing.”

Kyra Kazantzis, CEO of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, said the federal administration is targeting cuts toward organizations providing services counter to President Donald Trump’s policies. This includes nonprofits focused on gender, culture and topics deemed “culture war” issues.

“The administration is hitting nonprofits in particular ways,” Kazantzis told San José Spotlight. “It’s impacting nonprofits that are serving folks without federal funding, as well as nonprofits that are funded by the federal government.”

Alexandra Urbanowski, CEO of SVCreates and a San José Spotlight columnist, said federal funding cuts have a cumulative impact that trickles down to state and local governments.
In a recent column, Urbanowski said the range of local organizations impacted by the federal retraction of existing grants includes Opera San Jose, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, San Jose Jazz, Opera Cultura, CreaTV, San Jose Museum of Art, MACLA, San Jose Taiko and more.

“The policy changes create substantial turmoil and financial uncertainty —threatening the stability of a sector already traumatized by the effects of a range of presidential executive orders and current economic pressures,” she said.

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The California Transportation Commission awarded two grants to the BART expansion project on Thursday and Friday, totaling about $100 million. At the same time, the VTA board of directors has approved recommendations to look for a different contractor to bore the expansion’s 5-mile tunnel, hoping to save on the expensive contract.

While VTA representatives are excited about the funding, the public transit agency still needs to find millions in savings on the $12.75 billion project. Estimates show the funding gap to be between $700 million and $1 billion, even with a $5.1 billion federal funding commitment.

VTA Board Chair and Campbell Mayor Sergio Lopez said he’s glad the grants were fulfilled at the requested amounts, especially as agency officials discuss ways to cut costs.

“I know oftentimes at the city level, even getting partially funded for some of these grants is positive, so it speaks to the importance of this project for the region,” Lopez told San José Spotlight. “It’s definitely welcomed, but we’re going to continue having (discussions) where we take a big picture look at every level of cost savings, as we’ve been doing.”

Construction has already begun at the Newhall Maintenance Yard on the border of San Jose and Santa Clara, where Kiewit Shea Traylor is building the launch structure for the tunnel boring machine. The VTA board approved plans to keep Kiewit Shea Traylor on to finish the launch structure, but to look for another contractor to bore the tunnel.

VTA officials said they negotiated with Kiewit Shea Traylor for about 18 months, but their prices were nearly twice what VTA could afford. Tom Maguire, VTA chief megaprojects delivery officer, said the agency spoke with other possible contractors and heard multiple cost estimates well below Kiewit Shea Traylor’s offer.

Suds Jain, a VTA board member and Santa Clara councilmember, said he feels the decision to cut the contract should have been made earlier, when the public transit agency’s negotiations team knew Kiewit Shea Traylor wouldn’t come down.

Jain said the agency needs to look at bigger cost savings, such as a smaller tunnel size, because of the large funding gap.

“We can’t apply to the feds until we have all the money. We have to prove we can build the project and in my opinion, I personally can’t see that we have the money,” Jain told San José Spotlight. “It’s good news, but I don’t think it’s enough for us to build the 54-foot tunnel.”

It’s unclear how large the project’s funding gap is now, as VTA has adjusted elements to bring the cost lower, such as changing parking lots and designs. Officials estimate those cuts could total about $400 million in savings.

They don’t have an estimate on how much can be saved by cutting the contract with Kiewit Shea Traylor, since it’ll depend on the cost of the new contract. Finding another contractor will delay groundbreaking on the tunnel by about 18 months, though officials said they’re looking for ways to save time during construction — aiming to maintain the expansion’s 2037 expected opening.
Monica Mallon, a transit activist and San José Spotlight columnist, said the state grant shows momentum and commitment from VTA officials and the state. She said the awarded money is especially important given concerns around federal funding cuts to other services and the administration’s hostility against California and transit projects.

“What gives me a lot of hope is that it’s very clear that our elected officials and everyone working on the project still really care about moving the project forward and getting funding,” Mallon told San José Spotlight. “(The grants) show the state is committed to the project and wants to see it move forward, and has confidence that VTA will be able to deliver it.”

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at sakura@sanjosespotlight.com or @SakuCannestra on X.

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