South Bay

FREE Citizenship Workshop

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:48:23 -0500

CITIZENSHIP WORKSHOPS Free Orientation and Application Assistance
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VTA Strike Avoided For Now

Editor2 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500
San Jose, Cailf. (KCBS/Mercury News) -- The union representing some 1,400 Santa Clara Valley bus and light rail workers threatened to hold a strike vote Wednesday, but Michael Burns, General Manager of the Valley Transportation Authority, says the two sides are still talking.

“We have requested that they have come back to the bargaining table and they have agreed… that’s good news. We hope that we’ll be successful in collective bargaining and coming to an agreement.”

Burns says a strike would be catastrophic and would potentially shutdown the entire transit system.

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Despite declines, Silicon Valley still has most costly U.S. housing, survey says

Editor2 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500
STRONG JOB GROWTH SUPPORTS PRICE LEVELS IN SAN JOSE AREA
By Sue McAllister

Don't let those "price reduced" signs get you thinking that homeownership in Silicon Valley is a bargain: The San Jose metro area is still the nation's most expensive housing market, according to a national survey released Thursday.

True, the median price of houses sold in the San Jose metro area in the second quarter fell nearly 13 percent compared with a year earlier. But despite the decline, the median price of $755,000 was the highest of any metropolitan area in the country, a report from the National Association of Realtors said.

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Bay Meadows nears finish

Editor2 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

By Tim Simmers
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Data shows nearly even racial mix in Silicon Valley

Editor2 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500
BLEND OF ASIAN, WHITE, LATINO UNIQUE TO AREA
By Mike Swift

Marty Loo, a white 54-year-old legal secretary who works in San Jose, doesn't mind being a racial minority in Silicon Valley. The population currents shaping the Bay Area this decade mean that everybody, increasingly, has become a minority.

"You kind of work together," Loo said of the mix, "or you don't work here."

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City challenges initiative to reduce affordable housing

Editor2 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
By Natalie Everett

City officials have asked the Santa Clara County Superior Court to review an initiative headed for the November ballot that would greatly reduce the amount of affordable housing.

The petition states that the initiative would make it impossible for the city to abide by state housing laws.

On Friday City Manager Ed Tewes released the city's formal request, an attempt to thwart the Citizens for a Balanced Community's effort to exempt developers from building any so-called below market-rate homes and lower the current maximum from 30 to 20 percent of new housing created in the city.

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The new look of county bus service set for reveal today

Editor2 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Vehicles in Santa Clara County will be sleeker, faster

By Gary Richards / Bay Area News Group
The future of bus service in Santa Clara County will be unveiled today, when the public gets its first glimpse at plans for a new, rapid-service line along Alum Rock Avenue and Santa Clara Street in San Jose.

Instead of boxy city buses, chugging along in the far-right lane, stopping at every red light, these sleek roadsters will look more like Amtrak trains and will speed along special bus lanes built into the median on Alum Rock. They'll even allow the bus drivers to keep traffic lights green.

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It's a train! No, just a bus - but faster

Editor2 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
By Gary Richards

The future of bus service in Santa Clara County will be unveiled today, when the public gets its first glimpse at plans for a new, rapid-service line along Alum Rock Avenue and Santa Clara Street in San Jose.

Instead of boxy city buses, chugging along in the far-right lane, stopping at every red light, these sleek roadsters will look more like Amtrak trains and will speed along special bus lanes built into the median on Alum Rock. They'll even allow the bus drivers to keep traffic lights green.

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Overworked and Underpaid in the Silicon Valley (You're Not the Only One)

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:12:12 -0500
SOUTH BAY FIRST THURSDAYS (SBFT) presents:

OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID IN THE SILICON VALLEY (YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE)

We've all experienced the severe pressures of work: the looming, high-pressure deadlines, the lack of respect for work by our managers, being expected to work late or through the weekend just to "get the job done," the bitter taste of getting paid too little for what it takes to survive in the Valley. Unless you're a highly educated, highly skilled, upper income worker, there is little upside to being a rat in the rat race. Yet what's it like being a rat in the race when you do mostly invisible and unrespected work? Or when labor is back-breaking instead of paper pushing?

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New rent increases to hit 'Page Mill' tenants

Editor2 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

by Sue Dremann
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