Posts by Take Back San Jose

Image by Wikimedia Commons Historian April Halberstadt whisks us back to Christmas a century ago in her historic San Jose home—when local agriculture was booming, the city rapidly expanding via annexations, and the faith-centered Wright family (living in now-Halberstadt’s home) making their mark on CA politics. An Opp Now exclusive. We live in an old…

The fed’s unsustainable financial house may not yet be affecting Californian voters as they decide just how much they want to let their state government borrow. Economist Mike ter Maat says Prop 5 likely failed because it would have enabled indescribable future debt that affects voters’ taxes directly. Yet Props 2 and 4 sailed through,…

Image by San Diego State University Press In 1769, Father Juan Crespi journeyed with Spanish officials to establish mission settlements in Alta (Upper) California. His diary, excerpted below, recalls Christmas ’69 as “biting” cold—but abounding in good food, gifts, and jovial communion, between friends and strangers alike. From The Journal of San Diego History. Christmases…

Image by Geoth on Flickr It’s not North Beach, but SJ has its own legacy of Beat Literature from the 1950s. And perhaps none is more stirring than this dreamy, little-remarked passage from Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums, in which the narrator hitches a (literal and spiritual) ride on a southbound Xmas Eve train, beginning…

Watson Park: Pearls and Perils   Let me say this as clearly and strongly as I can: We must get Watson Park right.   I’m referring to the sanctioned homeless encampment the City is in the process of developing near Empire Gardens Elementary School in the Watson neighborhood of D3.   We have to get it…

Image generated using Dall-E SF Valencia St’s center-corridor bike lane took out parking places and made cyclists feel unsafe. To restore business to local merchants, SFMTA finally agreed to return the bike lane back to the sides of the road. But this won’t be cheap. The design, which might include dangerous “floating parklets,” will slash…

Image by James Vaughan In a strange mea culpa, liberal SF senator Scott Wiener admits that progressive governance has failed local cities in many respects. But his apologia suggests he doesn’t really mean it. From an SF Standard editorial. Democrats must distinguish ourselves as the party of results by focusing on governing well in the places…

Image generated using Dall-E SF Valencia St’s center-corridor bike lane took out parking places and made cyclists feel unsafe. To restore business to local merchants, SFMTA finally agreed to return the bike lane back to the sides of the road. But this won’t be cheap. The design, which might include dangerous “floating parklets,” will slash…

Image by James Vaughan In a strange mea culpa, liberal SF senator Scott Wiener admits that progressive governance has failed local cities in many respects. But his apologia suggests he doesn’t really mean it. From an SF Standard editorial. Democrats must distinguish ourselves as the party of results by focusing on governing well in the places…

In 2022, then-SJ State professor Dr. Elizabeth Weiss drew attention to the university’s rule (now rescinded) against “menstruating personnel” handling anthropological remains. Last week, Weiss wrote in the Martin Center that SJSU’s alleged silencing of volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose indicates a larger issue of “failing to protect and respect women.” [SJSU having a transgender player…