Local News

Local News Palo Alto Struggles to Plan for South San Antonio Growth The South San Antonio area is slated for up to 2,000 new housing units in the next eight years under the City of Palo Alto’s housing plan. However, city infrastructure and particularly poor traffic management are complicating these plans. At a recent Planning and Transportation Commission meeting, commissioners agreed they would need to work closely […]
Local News Sunnyvale Still Considering Tax Measures The Sunnyvale City Council debated ideas to raise revenue this week despite not being able to nail down specific revenue goals. It was shared that $100 million was needed to replace city traffic lights, $450 million for grade separations, and unspecified amounts for fire station, library and public works upgrades. Additionally, city staff noted that […]
Local News Cupertino Rebuffs State on Permit Streamlining Act Cupertino has once again been put on notice that it is in violation of state housing laws. In this case, it involves the Permit Streamlining Act, which is intended to offer clarity and transparency when submitting development proposals. At the crux of the issue is that Cupertino is rejecting applications that it deems incomplete 90 […]
Local News Apple Embarks on Buying Spree While “spree” may be a relative term, Apple recently purchased two commercial campuses in Silicon Valley. This move departs from the trend of most tech companies scaling back their planned footprint since the pandemic. Apple Real Estate Executives commented that they’ve “been here for more than 40 years, and we’re proud to continue investing in […]
Local News Santa Clara County Sued Over Sales Tax In placing the recent five-eighths of a cent sales tax on the ballot, Santa Clara County supervisors evoked an emergency declaration that allowed them to circumvent certain noticing requirements. If an emergency had not been declared, the tax would have had to be on a regular ballot, such as the November 2026 ballot, instead of […]
Local News Saratoga Vineyard Could Become 200 Housing Units An 11-acre vineyard off Chester Ave. in Saratoga is currently being reviewed as a site for more than 200 housing units. City staff members are assessing the initial environmental impact reports before providing them to the City Council for review. The development aims to include 24 single-family homes, 85 town homes, 84 homes with tandem […]
Local News Sunnyvale Moves Forward with Electric Update Requirements The City of Sunnyvale passed a requirement that would require anyone applying for a city building, electrical or mechanical permit to also upgrade the electrical wiring and panel space to show they have the capacity for future electrification of all appliances. While this is not a strict mandate, it has the potential to require an […]
Local News Palo Alto Seeks to Spur Downtown Housing Growth Fueled by an $800,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), an advisory committee has kicked off efforts to bring more housing growth to downtown Palo Alto. Accepting that grant alone was controversial, as two years ago, the council was split 4-3 on whether to work on downtown housing growth. However, changes to state law, […]
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Local News Liccardo Legislation Finances ADUs Congressmember Sam Liccardo introduced H.R. 4479, which would create a federal financing mechanism for accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The bill, dubbed the SUPPLY Act, essentially would allow federal housing agencies to back loans for the creation or construction of ADUs. The bill has 16 co-sponsors and has bipartisan support. The Bipartisan Policy Center notes that […]
Local News VTA Allocates Funding for Highway 17 Relief A plan to add a third lane to Highway 17 in Los Gatos received more than $11 million in funding from the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in its recent budget. The goal of the project is to help relieve the bottleneck often caused by summer beachgoers on their way to Santa Cruz. Los Gatos Vice […]
Local News Growth in Assessed Property Values Slow in 2024 Growth in assessed property value for Santa Clara County was at its lowest point since 2012 over the past year. Growth across the county was approximately 4.15%, but several cities were quite a bit lower. Mountain View’s growth was at the bottom, as the city saw only a 0.51% increase in assessed value. Morgan Hill […]
Local News Cupertino Loses Another City Manager The City of Cupertino has now parted ways with another city manager. This, unsurprisingly, comes after the anti-growth and divisive Better Cupertino coalition won a majority of City Council seats. This is the sixth change in leadership since 2018, although turnover had decreased in recent years when Better Cupertino had lost control of the board. […]
Local News Federal Legislation for First-Time Buyers Introduced Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), along with Reps. Al Green (D-Texas), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), reintroduced the Downpayment Toward Equity Act (H.R. 4069) this week. The legislation would provide $100 billion in direct assistance to help first-time, first-generation homebuyers purchase homes. The bill provides up to $20,000 for first-generation homebuyers and up to […]
Local News Palo Alto Raises Utility Rates Again Palo Alto customers will see utility rates increase by about 10% to help pay for infrastructure needs. The average customer’s bill will increase by $30 over the next 12 months, totaling about $390 per year. City leadership stated that these infrastructure needs across multiple services are necessary to meet minimum federal regulations and maintain service […]
Local News Assessor Larry Stone Resigns Larry Stone, who has served as Assessor in Santa Clara County since 1994, announced his resignation effective July 6. Stone’s assistant, Deputy Assessor Greg Monteverde, will serve in his place until Tuesday, Aug, 12, when the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will appoint an interim assessor. Stone has been a formidable political leader and […]
Local News State Budget Seeks to Close $12B Deficit This month, the California Legislature approved a state budget that closes a projected $12 billion deficit. Much of the concern, however, revolves around losing federal funding. The state is contemplating withholding income tax revenue from the federal government if it deems any funding cuts unconstitutional or illegally enforced. Overall, the state budget reaches above $325 […]
Local News Atherton Considers Charter Status and Transfer Tax The Atherton City Council is considering whether to pursue charter city status. While the council says the primary motivation is not to raise revenue, members have discussed a potential funding measure based on real estate values. Since Atherton has very little commercial property, residential real estate is the most likely source of additional revenue. Most […]
Local News Becker Bill to Limit Builder’s Remedy Dies Senator Josh Becker’s legislation, SB 457, which aimed to place certain limits on builder’s remedy projects, failed in committee recently. Senator Becker stated that the primary motivation behind the bill was the proposed project at the Sunset Magazine site in Menlo Park. This proposed project includes a 37-story building, a hotel and thousands of square […]
Local News State Bill Pushes Regional Transit Tax SB 63, spearheaded by Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Senator Jesse Arreguin of Berkeley, aims to implement a regional transit tax across the Bay Area. Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) previously discussed whether to participate in a regional tax measure or pursue its own local measure. This legislation appears to lean them more towards […]
Local News Palo Alto Considers Revenue Options for Affordable Housing At last week’s city council meeting, Palo Alto council members discussed whether to pursue a revenue measure to help fund affordable housing projects in the city. Palo Alto is expected to add 6,000 units in the next eight years, with half of those being below market rate. However, funding for those below-market-rate units is significantly […]