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"content": "\u003cp>State officials will extend their oversight of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>’s beleaguered child welfare agency in the wake of a 2-year-old’s tragic death in foster care, as local leaders expressed outrage and called for further changes to protect kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services is also beefing up guardrails around where children can be placed, even in emergencies, requiring high-level staff to approve such placements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Children should not be dying under the care and custody of a system that exists to protect them. It is unacceptable,” County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said Thursday during a news conference. “This level of system failure demands immediate action, course correction and accountability in a way that we haven’t done before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the April 9 death of Jaxon Juarez, the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services said in a report on Thursday that it’s working with the California Department of Social Services to “extend and update” an existing oversight agreement in place since late 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the expanded state oversight, Arenas called for an “independent entity to take on episodic review” of the Department of Family and Children’s Services’ case files.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something that has helped other counties before, and I believe could support and be the transformative change that is needed here,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arenas is the chair of the Board of Supervisors’ Children, Seniors, and Families Committee, and has been vocal in raising alarms about the outcomes in the county’s child welfare system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">District Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his 2-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The prior oversight effort, which included a “corrective action plan,” was prompted by the deaths of two other children in foster care in 2023, including the fentanyl poisoning of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro and the stabbing death of 6-year-old Jordan Walker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those deaths occurred, Arenas and critics said, while the agency pursued policies focused on keeping children with their families, even in the face of safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The corrective action plan, which the agency was making progress on and was set to conclude in June, was aimed in part at rebalancing the priorities of family reunification and child safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to the child welfare system in this county, the pendulum swung too far. We were prioritizing family preservation over child safety,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While being considerate of family connections and unity remains a valuable part of the child welfare system, those considerations should never overshadow our assessment of whether a home or an environment is safe for a child,” she said.[aside postID=news_12080838 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg']But Richard Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said in the wake of Castro’s death, the county sharply increased removals of children from homes into the foster care system and that had unintended consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That did enormous harm to hundreds of children needlessly taken. It also so overwhelmed workers that they had even less time to investigate any case, or any potential caretaker, carefully,” Wexler said. “That made it more likely that more children in real danger would be missed. So the horrible irony here is that the failed response to the death of Phoenix Castro may well have contributed to the death of Jaxon Juarez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unionized workers employed at the agency have raised alarms about overwhelm, describing chronic understaffing, unsustainable caseloads and burnout, which they say jeopardize the safety of children in the county’s systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon, a special needs child, was placed by the county agency into the care of a relative of his father’s, Bridget Michelle Martinez, in late February. He died on April 9 after authorities said he was repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted by Martinez’s 17-year-old son. The son, who has since turned 18, is facing murder and assault charges in juvenile court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family members of Jaxon have lambasted the agency for ever placing him with Martinez, who court records show was previously convicted of felony child endangerment tied to a DUI in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials previously said that such a conviction would bar child welfare workers from placing a child in Martinez’s care, even in extenuating circumstances. It’s not clear how Jaxon ended up in the home, and the county has not explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, the head of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, said effective immediately, reviews of emergency placements of children with relatives will need to be approved by senior managers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080419\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaxon, a 2-year-old South Bay boy who died while in Santa Clara County’s foster care system after allegedly being sexually assaulted, is seen in this photo provided by his aunt. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Riley Wallace)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any child welfare history or criminal record history will need to be signed off on by executives, she said during the meeting of the Children, Seniors, and Families Committee on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also said the agency is doing a “deeper dive” review of the caseloads of the staff who were connected to Jaxon’s case, “to make sure there are no safety concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Thursday, County Executive James Williams said in a memo that 10 staff members of the agency have been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with Jaxon’s case while local investigations and a separate state investigation of the case continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Depending on the findings of our investigation, staff may face disciplinary action up to and including termination,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams also supported the creation of an independent auditing and oversight body for the agency.[aside postID=news_12080584 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-17-BL-KQED.jpg']“Throughout these reform efforts, the clear and unwavering focus of DFCS leadership and staff has been on child safety and taking all reasonable actions to ensure the safety of each child over whom DFCS has responsibility. Yet it is also clear that much more must be done, and as quickly as possible,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also acknowledged the grief and concern of child welfare staff in the county, and thanked them for doing “incredibly difficult, heart-wrenching work, day in and day out, as\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>our system appropriately faces calls to do more and do better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arenas, during the tense committee meeting, became emotional when talking about the deaths of children in the county’s care, and said everyone should be angry about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to assurances from Williams about the work the county is doing, she openly questioned the leaders of the county agencies sitting to her sides on the dais in the county board chambers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m doubting the leadership that is currently in place. I’m not making any bones about it,” she said, looking at Kinnear-Rausch, Department of Social Services Director Daniel Little and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You all tell me how many children could die under your leadership and you still have a job. If they’re Brown, maybe five, like what is it? If they are white, none?” she said. “You all seem to think that you’re going to give your sorrow to the families and the relatives and the community. But where is your responsibility and your accountability?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the expanded state oversight, Arenas called for an “independent entity to take on episodic review” of the Department of Family and Children’s Services’ case files.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something that has helped other counties before, and I believe could support and be the transformative change that is needed here,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arenas is the chair of the Board of Supervisors’ Children, Seniors, and Families Committee, and has been vocal in raising alarms about the outcomes in the county’s child welfare system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">District Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his 2-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The prior oversight effort, which included a “corrective action plan,” was prompted by the deaths of two other children in foster care in 2023, including the fentanyl poisoning of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro and the stabbing death of 6-year-old Jordan Walker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those deaths occurred, Arenas and critics said, while the agency pursued policies focused on keeping children with their families, even in the face of safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The corrective action plan, which the agency was making progress on and was set to conclude in June, was aimed in part at rebalancing the priorities of family reunification and child safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to the child welfare system in this county, the pendulum swung too far. We were prioritizing family preservation over child safety,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While being considerate of family connections and unity remains a valuable part of the child welfare system, those considerations should never overshadow our assessment of whether a home or an environment is safe for a child,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But Richard Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said in the wake of Castro’s death, the county sharply increased removals of children from homes into the foster care system and that had unintended consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That did enormous harm to hundreds of children needlessly taken. It also so overwhelmed workers that they had even less time to investigate any case, or any potential caretaker, carefully,” Wexler said. “That made it more likely that more children in real danger would be missed. So the horrible irony here is that the failed response to the death of Phoenix Castro may well have contributed to the death of Jaxon Juarez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unionized workers employed at the agency have raised alarms about overwhelm, describing chronic understaffing, unsustainable caseloads and burnout, which they say jeopardize the safety of children in the county’s systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon, a special needs child, was placed by the county agency into the care of a relative of his father’s, Bridget Michelle Martinez, in late February. He died on April 9 after authorities said he was repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted by Martinez’s 17-year-old son. The son, who has since turned 18, is facing murder and assault charges in juvenile court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family members of Jaxon have lambasted the agency for ever placing him with Martinez, who court records show was previously convicted of felony child endangerment tied to a DUI in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials previously said that such a conviction would bar child welfare workers from placing a child in Martinez’s care, even in extenuating circumstances. It’s not clear how Jaxon ended up in the home, and the county has not explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, the head of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, said effective immediately, reviews of emergency placements of children with relatives will need to be approved by senior managers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080419\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaxon, a 2-year-old South Bay boy who died while in Santa Clara County’s foster care system after allegedly being sexually assaulted, is seen in this photo provided by his aunt. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Riley Wallace)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any child welfare history or criminal record history will need to be signed off on by executives, she said during the meeting of the Children, Seniors, and Families Committee on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also said the agency is doing a “deeper dive” review of the caseloads of the staff who were connected to Jaxon’s case, “to make sure there are no safety concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Thursday, County Executive James Williams said in a memo that 10 staff members of the agency have been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with Jaxon’s case while local investigations and a separate state investigation of the case continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Depending on the findings of our investigation, staff may face disciplinary action up to and including termination,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams also supported the creation of an independent auditing and oversight body for the agency.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Throughout these reform efforts, the clear and unwavering focus of DFCS leadership and staff has been on child safety and taking all reasonable actions to ensure the safety of each child over whom DFCS has responsibility. Yet it is also clear that much more must be done, and as quickly as possible,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also acknowledged the grief and concern of child welfare staff in the county, and thanked them for doing “incredibly difficult, heart-wrenching work, day in and day out, as\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>our system appropriately faces calls to do more and do better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arenas, during the tense committee meeting, became emotional when talking about the deaths of children in the county’s care, and said everyone should be angry about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to assurances from Williams about the work the county is doing, she openly questioned the leaders of the county agencies sitting to her sides on the dais in the county board chambers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m doubting the leadership that is currently in place. I’m not making any bones about it,” she said, looking at Kinnear-Rausch, Department of Social Services Director Daniel Little and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You all tell me how many children could die under your leadership and you still have a job. If they’re Brown, maybe five, like what is it? If they are white, none?” she said. “You all seem to think that you’re going to give your sorrow to the families and the relatives and the community. But where is your responsibility and your accountability?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>At least nine \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/south-bay\">South Bay\u003c/a> child welfare workers and managers have been put on paid administrative leave as calls for accountability grow louder following the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080197/south-bay-toddler-dies-in-foster-care-after-alleged-sexual-assault\">death\u003c/a> this month of a toddler in Santa Clara County’s foster care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials confirmed the unusual move on Wednesday, as local and state investigations into the death of Jaxon Juarez, a 2-year-old with special needs, have ramped up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two workers in the Department of Family and Children’s Services, represented by the County Employees Management Association and seven workers represented by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022256/santa-clara-county-social-workers-demand-more-staffing-support-in-troubled-agency/\">SEIU Local 521\u003c/a> are included in the group of those on leave, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A county spokesperson, Peter Gallotta, declined to comment on the workers being placed on leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The county is actively investigating the tragic death of Jaxon Juarez. While we are taking all relevant actions to fully understand what happened in this horrific case and hold people accountable, as appropriate, we cannot comment on specific personnel matters while investigations are underway,” Gallotta said in an emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon was under the supervision of the Department of Family and Children’s Services and living with a paternal relative when authorities allege a 17-year-old cousin repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted the child. He was hospitalized on Easter Sunday and died on April 9.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cousin, who has since turned 18, has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080584/san-jose-teen-charged-with-murder-of-2-year-old-cousin\">charged\u003c/a> in juvenile court with murder and several counts of sexual assault. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office is seeking to transfer the suspect to adult court, where he could face much harsher penalties if convicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080419\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaxon, a 2-year-old South Bay boy who died while in Santa Clara County’s foster care system after allegedly being sexually assaulted, is seen in this photo provided by his aunt. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Riley Wallace)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jaxon’s death followed the deaths of two other children in the county’s foster care system in 2023 — a 3-month-old named Phoenix Castro who died from fentanyl poisoning in a home with addicted parents, and a 6-year-old named Jordan Walker who was stabbed to death by his half-uncle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those deaths occurred, critics said, while the agency pursued policies focused on keeping children with their families, even in the face of safety concerns. Following the deaths, the Department of Family and Children’s Services was put under state oversight and a corrective action plan aimed at rebalancing the priorities of family reunification and child safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that oversight, which had been in place for roughly a year and a half, Jaxon was placed by the agency in February in the home of Bridget Michelle Martinez, a relative who was previously convicted of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080399/south-bay-toddler-placed-with-woman-convicted-of-child-endangerment-before-death\">felony child endangerment\u003c/a> tied to a DUI in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials confirmed that such a conviction should prevent a child from being placed in Martinez’s care, even in extenuating circumstances. It’s not clear how Jaxon ended up in the home, and the county has not explained.[aside postID=news_12080584 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-17-BL-KQED.jpg']In the wake of his death, his family members have lambasted the Department of Family and Children’s Services, saying they plan to sue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, Rosen said he would investigate to determine if anyone else should be held liable in the case, including those at the agency or county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People in the public and myself as the DA would like to know who is responsible criminally, civilly, morally, ethically, and systemically for what happened in this case, because this is not the first time that this has happened,” Rosen said at a news conference on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I think that we should all be asking questions of county officials at the highest level,” he said. “Why are horrible and tragic crimes happening to children in the care and custody of the Department of Family and Children’s Services over and over and over again?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaders at the San José/Silicon Valley NAACP have also demanded full investigations into what they called “the systemic failures of Santa Clara County’s child welfare system” and called for “structural accountability” up the chain of command.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an April 20 statement, the civil rights organization said County Executive James Williams, Chief Operating Officer Greta Hansen, County Counsel Tony LoPresti, Social Services Agency Director Daniel Little, and DFCS Director Wendy Kinnear-Rausch all “bear individual and institutional responsibility for the conditions that produced these outcomes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county, in an emailed response, didn’t address those allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080616\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd listens to District Attorney Jeff Rosen speak outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his two-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The organization’s complaint builds upon an earlier formal complaint that the organization said it filed with Rosen in July 2025, calling on his office to investigate county leaders in relation to the deaths of Castro and Walker. The NAACP said it did not receive a response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization said the county “publicly dismissed the NAACP’s complaint as ‘a distraction,’ stating there was ‘no basis whatsoever’ to suggest criminal conduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county said that it is “investigating every aspect of this horrific tragedy” involving Jaxon and vowed to share its findings publicly when complete. It has also called on the state Department of Social Services to conduct its own investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state agency confirmed it is conducting an independent investigation into the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Collectively, we must do better to support our most vulnerable children and youth to ensure they are safe and can thrive,” the agency said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “We are committed to working with our county partners, local agencies, other state departments, families, communities, and advocates across the state to continuously improve California’s child welfare system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At least nine \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/south-bay\">South Bay\u003c/a> child welfare workers and managers have been put on paid administrative leave as calls for accountability grow louder following the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080197/south-bay-toddler-dies-in-foster-care-after-alleged-sexual-assault\">death\u003c/a> this month of a toddler in Santa Clara County’s foster care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials confirmed the unusual move on Wednesday, as local and state investigations into the death of Jaxon Juarez, a 2-year-old with special needs, have ramped up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two workers in the Department of Family and Children’s Services, represented by the County Employees Management Association and seven workers represented by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022256/santa-clara-county-social-workers-demand-more-staffing-support-in-troubled-agency/\">SEIU Local 521\u003c/a> are included in the group of those on leave, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A county spokesperson, Peter Gallotta, declined to comment on the workers being placed on leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The county is actively investigating the tragic death of Jaxon Juarez. While we are taking all relevant actions to fully understand what happened in this horrific case and hold people accountable, as appropriate, we cannot comment on specific personnel matters while investigations are underway,” Gallotta said in an emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon was under the supervision of the Department of Family and Children’s Services and living with a paternal relative when authorities allege a 17-year-old cousin repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted the child. He was hospitalized on Easter Sunday and died on April 9.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cousin, who has since turned 18, has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080584/san-jose-teen-charged-with-murder-of-2-year-old-cousin\">charged\u003c/a> in juvenile court with murder and several counts of sexual assault. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office is seeking to transfer the suspect to adult court, where he could face much harsher penalties if convicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080419\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaxon, a 2-year-old South Bay boy who died while in Santa Clara County’s foster care system after allegedly being sexually assaulted, is seen in this photo provided by his aunt. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Riley Wallace)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jaxon’s death followed the deaths of two other children in the county’s foster care system in 2023 — a 3-month-old named Phoenix Castro who died from fentanyl poisoning in a home with addicted parents, and a 6-year-old named Jordan Walker who was stabbed to death by his half-uncle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those deaths occurred, critics said, while the agency pursued policies focused on keeping children with their families, even in the face of safety concerns. Following the deaths, the Department of Family and Children’s Services was put under state oversight and a corrective action plan aimed at rebalancing the priorities of family reunification and child safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that oversight, which had been in place for roughly a year and a half, Jaxon was placed by the agency in February in the home of Bridget Michelle Martinez, a relative who was previously convicted of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080399/south-bay-toddler-placed-with-woman-convicted-of-child-endangerment-before-death\">felony child endangerment\u003c/a> tied to a DUI in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials confirmed that such a conviction should prevent a child from being placed in Martinez’s care, even in extenuating circumstances. It’s not clear how Jaxon ended up in the home, and the county has not explained.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the wake of his death, his family members have lambasted the Department of Family and Children’s Services, saying they plan to sue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, Rosen said he would investigate to determine if anyone else should be held liable in the case, including those at the agency or county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People in the public and myself as the DA would like to know who is responsible criminally, civilly, morally, ethically, and systemically for what happened in this case, because this is not the first time that this has happened,” Rosen said at a news conference on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I think that we should all be asking questions of county officials at the highest level,” he said. “Why are horrible and tragic crimes happening to children in the care and custody of the Department of Family and Children’s Services over and over and over again?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaders at the San José/Silicon Valley NAACP have also demanded full investigations into what they called “the systemic failures of Santa Clara County’s child welfare system” and called for “structural accountability” up the chain of command.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an April 20 statement, the civil rights organization said County Executive James Williams, Chief Operating Officer Greta Hansen, County Counsel Tony LoPresti, Social Services Agency Director Daniel Little, and DFCS Director Wendy Kinnear-Rausch all “bear individual and institutional responsibility for the conditions that produced these outcomes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county, in an emailed response, didn’t address those allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080616\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd listens to District Attorney Jeff Rosen speak outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his two-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The organization’s complaint builds upon an earlier formal complaint that the organization said it filed with Rosen in July 2025, calling on his office to investigate county leaders in relation to the deaths of Castro and Walker. The NAACP said it did not receive a response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization said the county “publicly dismissed the NAACP’s complaint as ‘a distraction,’ stating there was ‘no basis whatsoever’ to suggest criminal conduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county said that it is “investigating every aspect of this horrific tragedy” involving Jaxon and vowed to share its findings publicly when complete. It has also called on the state Department of Social Services to conduct its own investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state agency confirmed it is conducting an independent investigation into the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Collectively, we must do better to support our most vulnerable children and youth to ensure they are safe and can thrive,” the agency said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “We are committed to working with our county partners, local agencies, other state departments, families, communities, and advocates across the state to continuously improve California’s child welfare system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A San José teenager has been charged with the murder and assault of a 2-year-old who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080197/south-bay-toddler-dies-in-foster-care-after-alleged-sexual-assault\">died in Santa Clara County’s embattled foster care system\u003c/a> earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 18-year-old was charged Monday with murder for allegedly killing his foster brother, Jaxon Juarez, and assaulting him repeatedly, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The counts add to other sexual assault charges already brought in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Monday that while the suspect, who was a minor at the time of Juarez’s death, is currently being tried in juvenile court, he has moved to have the case transferred to the adult criminal division. The juvenile court judge overseeing the case will decide on the motion, Rosen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The rape and murder of a child are two of the most serious crimes that we prosecute. These crimes should be heard in our most serious criminal courts,” he told reporters following the suspect’s first court appearance on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon had been under the care of a relative, Bridget Michelle Martinez, the mother of the teen suspect, for just a few weeks before he died in the hospital on April 9. His “small, bruised and battered body” was found by San José police officers days earlier, on Easter Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District Attorney’s office said evidence showed that after he was placed in the home in February, Jaxon had been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">District Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his 2-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s son, who is Jaxon’s cousin, was initially charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, including forced sodomy. During Monday’s short, emotional hearing, new rape and murder charges were added to the case. Among the assault charges, the suspect is accused of putting a hair tie around Jaxon’s neck, causing significant injury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While no official cause of death has been announced, the DA’s office said it does have preliminary indications, but did not elaborate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He did not deserve this,” said Evangeline Dominguez-Estrada, a friend of Jaxon’s late mother, who was at the hearing on Monday. “He deserved to be protected. He deserved to be cared for. Every child deserves that. They need us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon is the third child who has died while under the care of the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services in the last several years. The department has been subject to state oversight since 2023, when two other young children died under its supervision. Critics have accused the department of prioritizing family reunification over child safety, though in recent years, it’s been recognized for making progress under a corrective action plan that aims to rebalance focus between reunification and safety.[aside postID=news_12080399 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg']The DA’s office said it is still investigating whether it might bring charges against anyone else in connection with Jaxon’s death, both inside and out of the county agency. Martinez was briefly arrested but released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not the first time that this has happened,” Rosen told reporters after Monday’s hearing. “People in the public, and myself as the DA, would like to know who is responsible criminally, civilly, morally, ethically, systemically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are horrible and tragic crimes happening to children in the care and custody of the Department of Family and Children’s Services over and over and over again?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosen’s comments come after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080399/south-bay-toddler-placed-with-woman-convicted-of-child-endangerment-before-death\">revelations about Martinez’s criminal history\u003c/a> last week renewed scrutiny of the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to court and police records, Martinez had a prior felony conviction for child endangerment, which prohibits the Department of Family and Children’s Services from placing a child in her care, even in an emergency, per the county’s own policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez was convicted of felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor DUI in 2014, when she was found with “red watery eyes, slurred speech and a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage” while driving her 1-year-old daughter. At the time of her arrest, her license was suspended due to a prior DUI conviction in 2011. She was also charged with another DUI in 2020 in Stanislaus County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear if the Department of Child Services knew of the charges against Martinez. The county did not explain how Jaxon came to be placed under her care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080617\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080617 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign says, “Justice for Jaxon” outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When he was born, Jaxon lived with his mother, Brianna Burton, and his father, Albert Juarez. Burton died of alcohol abuse last year, and he was placed in the county’s custody. Jaxon then lived with a foster family before he was transferred to a maternal grandparent near Sacramento for six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there, the grandparent had to bring the boy to the South Bay for regular visits with his father, a requirement that prevented the grandparent from continuing to serve as a guardian. In February, Jaxon was transferred to live with Martinez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riley Wallace, Jaxon’s aunt, said she and family members in Arizona had asked the court to allow Jaxon to live with them, but were denied because of the distance from Jaxon’s father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is completely unacceptable,” Wallace told KQED last week. “They did not protect a child, and that’s their job, that’s what they took the child for, to protect him. And they failed him so terribly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080616 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd listens to District Attorney Jeff Rosen speak outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said they were told they’d need to wait for Jaxon to be put up for adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Wallace, the family plans to sue the agency, saying Jaxon never should have been placed with Martinez. The Department of Family and Children’s Services is already facing a lawsuit by the grandfather of another young child, 6-year-old Jordan Walker, who died in 2023. He was stabbed to death by a relative in a home in San José that August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a one-off. It’s the third time, and that’s just murder,” Rosen said. “We’re not talking about the other children under the care of the Department of Family and Children’s Services who have been abused sexually and physically in the last few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s important questions to ask officials at the highest level in the county,” Rosen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080613\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080613 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zariah Garduno (left) and Ethan Guadamuz wait outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Both the San José Police Department and the Department of Family and Children’s Services are investigating Jaxon’s case, and the county has asked the state’s Department of Social Services to conduct its own independent investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s son is due back in court on May 21 to be appointed an attorney. According to Rosen, it could be months before the judge determines whether to grant the DA’s office request to transfer the case to adult court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside the courtroom on Monday, Dominguez-Estrada and a high school classmate of the suspect were among a group calling for him to be tried as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This should be in the court where people can see, and it’s open to the public,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jgeha\">\u003cem>Joseph Geha\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/aaliahmad\">\u003cem>Ayah Ali-Ahmad\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A San José teenager has been charged with the murder and assault of a 2-year-old who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080197/south-bay-toddler-dies-in-foster-care-after-alleged-sexual-assault\">died in Santa Clara County’s embattled foster care system\u003c/a> earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 18-year-old was charged Monday with murder for allegedly killing his foster brother, Jaxon Juarez, and assaulting him repeatedly, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The counts add to other sexual assault charges already brought in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Monday that while the suspect, who was a minor at the time of Juarez’s death, is currently being tried in juvenile court, he has moved to have the case transferred to the adult criminal division. The juvenile court judge overseeing the case will decide on the motion, Rosen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The rape and murder of a child are two of the most serious crimes that we prosecute. These crimes should be heard in our most serious criminal courts,” he told reporters following the suspect’s first court appearance on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon had been under the care of a relative, Bridget Michelle Martinez, the mother of the teen suspect, for just a few weeks before he died in the hospital on April 9. His “small, bruised and battered body” was found by San José police officers days earlier, on Easter Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District Attorney’s office said evidence showed that after he was placed in the home in February, Jaxon had been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">District Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his 2-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s son, who is Jaxon’s cousin, was initially charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, including forced sodomy. During Monday’s short, emotional hearing, new rape and murder charges were added to the case. Among the assault charges, the suspect is accused of putting a hair tie around Jaxon’s neck, causing significant injury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While no official cause of death has been announced, the DA’s office said it does have preliminary indications, but did not elaborate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He did not deserve this,” said Evangeline Dominguez-Estrada, a friend of Jaxon’s late mother, who was at the hearing on Monday. “He deserved to be protected. He deserved to be cared for. Every child deserves that. They need us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon is the third child who has died while under the care of the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services in the last several years. The department has been subject to state oversight since 2023, when two other young children died under its supervision. Critics have accused the department of prioritizing family reunification over child safety, though in recent years, it’s been recognized for making progress under a corrective action plan that aims to rebalance focus between reunification and safety.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The DA’s office said it is still investigating whether it might bring charges against anyone else in connection with Jaxon’s death, both inside and out of the county agency. Martinez was briefly arrested but released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not the first time that this has happened,” Rosen told reporters after Monday’s hearing. “People in the public, and myself as the DA, would like to know who is responsible criminally, civilly, morally, ethically, systemically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are horrible and tragic crimes happening to children in the care and custody of the Department of Family and Children’s Services over and over and over again?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosen’s comments come after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080399/south-bay-toddler-placed-with-woman-convicted-of-child-endangerment-before-death\">revelations about Martinez’s criminal history\u003c/a> last week renewed scrutiny of the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to court and police records, Martinez had a prior felony conviction for child endangerment, which prohibits the Department of Family and Children’s Services from placing a child in her care, even in an emergency, per the county’s own policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez was convicted of felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor DUI in 2014, when she was found with “red watery eyes, slurred speech and a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage” while driving her 1-year-old daughter. At the time of her arrest, her license was suspended due to a prior DUI conviction in 2011. She was also charged with another DUI in 2020 in Stanislaus County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear if the Department of Child Services knew of the charges against Martinez. The county did not explain how Jaxon came to be placed under her care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080617\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080617 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign says, “Justice for Jaxon” outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When he was born, Jaxon lived with his mother, Brianna Burton, and his father, Albert Juarez. Burton died of alcohol abuse last year, and he was placed in the county’s custody. Jaxon then lived with a foster family before he was transferred to a maternal grandparent near Sacramento for six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there, the grandparent had to bring the boy to the South Bay for regular visits with his father, a requirement that prevented the grandparent from continuing to serve as a guardian. In February, Jaxon was transferred to live with Martinez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riley Wallace, Jaxon’s aunt, said she and family members in Arizona had asked the court to allow Jaxon to live with them, but were denied because of the distance from Jaxon’s father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is completely unacceptable,” Wallace told KQED last week. “They did not protect a child, and that’s their job, that’s what they took the child for, to protect him. And they failed him so terribly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080616\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080616 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd listens to District Attorney Jeff Rosen speak outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said they were told they’d need to wait for Jaxon to be put up for adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Wallace, the family plans to sue the agency, saying Jaxon never should have been placed with Martinez. The Department of Family and Children’s Services is already facing a lawsuit by the grandfather of another young child, 6-year-old Jordan Walker, who died in 2023. He was stabbed to death by a relative in a home in San José that August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a one-off. It’s the third time, and that’s just murder,” Rosen said. “We’re not talking about the other children under the care of the Department of Family and Children’s Services who have been abused sexually and physically in the last few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s important questions to ask officials at the highest level in the county,” Rosen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080613\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080613 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zariah Garduno (left) and Ethan Guadamuz wait outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Both the San José Police Department and the Department of Family and Children’s Services are investigating Jaxon’s case, and the county has asked the state’s Department of Social Services to conduct its own independent investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s son is due back in court on May 21 to be appointed an attorney. According to Rosen, it could be months before the judge determines whether to grant the DA’s office request to transfer the case to adult court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside the courtroom on Monday, Dominguez-Estrada and a high school classmate of the suspect were among a group calling for him to be tried as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This should be in the court where people can see, and it’s open to the public,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jgeha\">\u003cem>Joseph Geha\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/aaliahmad\">\u003cem>Ayah Ali-Ahmad\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "san-jose-residents-sue-city-saying-flock-safety-cameras-allow-mass-surveillance",
"title": "San José Residents Sue City, Saying Flock Safety Cameras Allow ‘Mass Surveillance’",
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"headTitle": "San José Residents Sue City, Saying Flock Safety Cameras Allow ‘Mass Surveillance’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Residents are suing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José \u003c/a>over its Flock Safety cameras, alleging that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">city’s use of the license-plate reading technology\u003c/a> creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil rights suit, filed in federal court on Wednesday, said the cameras allow the San José Police Department to monitor residents’ movements in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unlawful search and seizure, and asks a judge to require the city to delete most data the cameras capture after 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is operating nearly 500 license plate reader cameras connected with AI technology around the city to essentially spy on everyday people going about their business,” said Daniel Woislaw, an attorney with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which is representing the plaintiffs. “This kind of intrusive technology that collects basically a dossier on people on a rolling basis is a search, and therefore has to have some constitutional guardrails around it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three San José residents bringing the suit have alleged that the city’s system of readers conducts constant monitoring, allowing the SJPD and other agencies to track residents’ whereabouts without a warrant or probable cause of a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re seeking a class-action status on behalf of all city dwellers who have or will have their license plate data recorded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No officer ever has to establish probable cause, swear to the facts in a warrant application, or await the approval of a judge,” the suit said. “Officers can run searches based on a hunch, idle curiosity, or even personal animus. Around the country, officers have been caught using [automated license-plating reader] databases to stalk their ex-partners, monitor protestors and even track down a woman who reportedly had an abortion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety license plate recognition camera is seen near the intersection of Marine Street and Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder on March 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s legal challenge follows a similar state-level suit \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">brought against San José by civil liberties groups in the fall\u003c/a>, alleging their use of Flock Safety cameras violates the California constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes as dozens of municipalities across the U.S. terminate or rethink contracts with Flock, a leading company selling the technology, over growing privacy and legal concerns stemming from its data-sharing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data sharing is an advertised part of Flock’s offerings — the company offers contracted agencies multiple options to share data with other customers, including “National” and “State” lookups, which share data between Flock Safety customers who opt in across the U.S., or only in the agency’s home state, respectively. Alternatively, customers can choose a 1:1 sharing option, which requires that they add agencies they would like to share data with individually.[aside postID=news_12079887 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/GettyImages-2259952730.jpg']City officials have said this can be helpful to follow a suspect’s vehicle movements between nearby jurisdictions. In recent months, though, some Bay Area cities have amended their controls around data sharing after discoveries that their records had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, including to aid in federal immigration enforcement activities in violation of local Sanctuary policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two dozen municipalities across the U.S. — including\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\"> Santa Cruz\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\"> Los Altos Hills \u003c/a>— have terminated contracts with Flock altogether. Others, like Oakland and San Francisco, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067461/oakland-council-expands-flock-license-plate-reader-network-despite-privacy-concerns\">doubled down on their contracts\u003c/a>, lauding the technology’s benefits to aid in investigations and even curb dangerous vehicle collisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the San José residents represented in the suit say that the city’s more than 470 cameras have created a system of “mass surveillance.” Plaintiff Zhaocheng Anthony said in court documents that the system “reminds him of the Chinese surveillance state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pervasively tracking a person’s movements and then storing them in a government database … creates precisely the type of suffocating atmosphere of surveillance the Framers adopted the Fourth Amendment to prevent,” the suit reads. “Police no longer need to identify suspects in advance to place them under surveillance; they just surveil everyone instead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The residents say that Flock can create “vehicle journey maps” that can be traced to a driver, allowing the city to track residents’ routines, habits and outings, especially to sensitive locations like health care clinics, places of worship and protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan helps to install a Flock Safety brand automated license plate reader on April 23, 2024. Civil liberties groups are now suing the city and Mahan over the technology’s uses. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">San José’s city council put restrictions\u003c/a> on where the city can position cameras, including near reproductive health care facilities and places of worship; reduced the default data retention period from one year to 30 days; and added new documentation and authentication requirements for agencies requesting sharing access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The San Jose Police Department has robust, transparent policies in place to ensure that the information is not misused in any way, including policies that prohibit direct access to the data to private entities, out-of-state law enforcement agencies, or federal agencies,” City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said in a statement. “Access to our ALPR system is tightly controlled and limited to authorized SJPD personnel only.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJPD said it conducted a review of internal and external searches in 2025, and found that “all searches were in compliance with department policy and California law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Residents are suing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José \u003c/a>over its Flock Safety cameras, alleging that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">city’s use of the license-plate reading technology\u003c/a> creates an unconstitutional “mass surveillance system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil rights suit, filed in federal court on Wednesday, said the cameras allow the San José Police Department to monitor residents’ movements in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unlawful search and seizure, and asks a judge to require the city to delete most data the cameras capture after 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is operating nearly 500 license plate reader cameras connected with AI technology around the city to essentially spy on everyday people going about their business,” said Daniel Woislaw, an attorney with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which is representing the plaintiffs. “This kind of intrusive technology that collects basically a dossier on people on a rolling basis is a search, and therefore has to have some constitutional guardrails around it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three San José residents bringing the suit have alleged that the city’s system of readers conducts constant monitoring, allowing the SJPD and other agencies to track residents’ whereabouts without a warrant or probable cause of a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re seeking a class-action status on behalf of all city dwellers who have or will have their license plate data recorded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No officer ever has to establish probable cause, swear to the facts in a warrant application, or await the approval of a judge,” the suit said. “Officers can run searches based on a hunch, idle curiosity, or even personal animus. Around the country, officers have been caught using [automated license-plating reader] databases to stalk their ex-partners, monitor protestors and even track down a woman who reportedly had an abortion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GETTYIMAGES-2265184865-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Flock Safety license plate recognition camera is seen near the intersection of Marine Street and Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder on March 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s legal challenge follows a similar state-level suit \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064587/civil-liberties-groups-sue-san-jose-over-license-plate-reader-use\">brought against San José by civil liberties groups in the fall\u003c/a>, alleging their use of Flock Safety cameras violates the California constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes as dozens of municipalities across the U.S. terminate or rethink contracts with Flock, a leading company selling the technology, over growing privacy and legal concerns stemming from its data-sharing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data sharing is an advertised part of Flock’s offerings — the company offers contracted agencies multiple options to share data with other customers, including “National” and “State” lookups, which share data between Flock Safety customers who opt in across the U.S., or only in the agency’s home state, respectively. Alternatively, customers can choose a 1:1 sharing option, which requires that they add agencies they would like to share data with individually.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>City officials have said this can be helpful to follow a suspect’s vehicle movements between nearby jurisdictions. In recent months, though, some Bay Area cities have amended their controls around data sharing after discoveries that their records had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, including to aid in federal immigration enforcement activities in violation of local Sanctuary policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two dozen municipalities across the U.S. — including\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069705/santa-cruz-the-first-in-california-to-terminate-its-contract-with-flock-safety\"> Santa Cruz\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074467/santa-clara-county-leaders-cut-out-flock-safety-in-new-surveillance-policy\"> Los Altos Hills \u003c/a>— have terminated contracts with Flock altogether. Others, like Oakland and San Francisco, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067461/oakland-council-expands-flock-license-plate-reader-network-despite-privacy-concerns\">doubled down on their contracts\u003c/a>, lauding the technology’s benefits to aid in investigations and even curb dangerous vehicle collisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the San José residents represented in the suit say that the city’s more than 470 cameras have created a system of “mass surveillance.” Plaintiff Zhaocheng Anthony said in court documents that the system “reminds him of the Chinese surveillance state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pervasively tracking a person’s movements and then storing them in a government database … creates precisely the type of suffocating atmosphere of surveillance the Framers adopted the Fourth Amendment to prevent,” the suit reads. “Police no longer need to identify suspects in advance to place them under surveillance; they just surveil everyone instead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The residents say that Flock can create “vehicle journey maps” that can be traced to a driver, allowing the city to track residents’ routines, habits and outings, especially to sensitive locations like health care clinics, places of worship and protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064595\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064595\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/image-9-1536x1024.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan helps to install a Flock Safety brand automated license plate reader on April 23, 2024. Civil liberties groups are now suing the city and Mahan over the technology’s uses. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075999/san-jose-is-the-latest-bay-area-city-to-restrict-flock-license-plate-cameras\">San José’s city council put restrictions\u003c/a> on where the city can position cameras, including near reproductive health care facilities and places of worship; reduced the default data retention period from one year to 30 days; and added new documentation and authentication requirements for agencies requesting sharing access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The San Jose Police Department has robust, transparent policies in place to ensure that the information is not misused in any way, including policies that prohibit direct access to the data to private entities, out-of-state law enforcement agencies, or federal agencies,” City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said in a statement. “Access to our ALPR system is tightly controlled and limited to authorized SJPD personnel only.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJPD said it conducted a review of internal and external searches in 2025, and found that “all searches were in compliance with department policy and California law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "cambrian-park-plaza-a-beloved-san-jose-strip-mall-awaits-a-new-future",
"title": "Cambrian Park Plaza, A Beloved San José Strip Mall, Awaits a New Future",
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"headTitle": "Cambrian Park Plaza, A Beloved San José Strip Mall, Awaits a New Future | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing a lot of people notice about Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> is the sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s big; it’s yellow; and it has a carousel on top, complete with playful figures encircling the outside. At one point, the carousel actually rotated — but like many things in this shopping plaza — it has seen better days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaza itself is low slung with a massive parking lot that is often empty. Storefronts are made of brick and nestle under a covered walkway. It’s not your average strip mall with a big grocery store at the center and smaller chains flanking it. Instead, there’s a bit more charm. Shops are clustered around little courtyards with white picket fences, picnic benches and trees. Some stores have window boxes with flowers. There are roses and palm trees. It’s quaint, but faded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has a circus slash English garden theme, cottage theme,” Connie Young said. “I was like, ‘This seems like an interesting place, and a place that has a lot of history.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young was visiting Cambrian Park to volunteer at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ibokrescue.org/info/display?PageID=21948\">Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe\u003c/a>, a pet adoption organization located in the plaza. She was surprised to see many nostalgic memories of the place online. She wanted to learn more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079115\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079115\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A covered walkway lined with storefronts stretches through Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There seem to be a lot of people who are mourning the loss of Cambrian Park Plaza, a 1950s era strip mall in San José that is set to be demolished for housing and retail space,” she wrote in to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>. “What’s the history of that place?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Valley of Heart’s Delight\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood represents the quintessential story of San José development. For a long time, San José was small, an agricultural center for the many orchards and farms nearby. But after World War II, the Defense industry was booming and more people were moving to the area for jobs. The city manager at the time, Dutch Hammond, wanted to create the Los Angeles of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Largely what got developed here was track housing, which was very cheap to build,” said Michael Brillot, a retired San José city planner. “You just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard, and you plop in houses like you build Model T Fords on an assembly line, except the workers move as opposed to the product.”[aside postID=news_12077572 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251027-ALMADENQUICKSILVER00034_TV-KQED.jpg'] The push was to develop outwards from San José’s core and to build enough housing to supply the workforce to places like Sunnyvale and Cupertino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood — and its shopping mall — was part of that history. A large landowner named Paul Schaeffer owned the orchards that became Cambrian Park. He decided to tear out the trees and build houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He recognized people need to buy stuff,” said Peter Clarke, a Cambrian Park resident and member of the Friends of Cambrian Park group. “They need a post office and a grocery store. So he assembled this particular plaza as the only real center in this area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, many families only had one car. It was common for the breadwinner to drive north to work while the other parent stayed home with the children. During its heyday, Cambrian Park Plaza had everything families needed within walking distance of their home — a grocery store, a hardware store, clothing stores, a post office, a bowling alley, even doctors’ and dentists’ offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was the downtown,” said Bob Burres, another local resident. “There is no ‘main street’ in the Cambrian Park area. This was it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A slow decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That remained true for decades, but over time, the plaza began to fade and social patterns changed. People drove more and further for things, making the plaza less central to their needs. The Schaeffer family retained ownership of the plaza \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">until 2015\u003c/a>. Peter Clarke guesses that it was passive income for owner Paul Schaeffer and his wife in their later years. But when they died, their children sold the plaza to a developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it was bought, and people said, ‘We’re going to redevelop it,’ we were in favor,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079113\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cambrian Park Plaza sign, built in 1953 with the shopping center, features a rotating carousel and received historic status in 2016, on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many Cambrian Park residents were ready for an updated space that might once again be the center of community life. The Friends of Cambrian Park group stayed involved as the developer, Texas-based Weingarten Realty, proposed various uses for the property. But residents did not like early proposals that resembled more traditional strip malls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The community was very clear,” Clarke said. “They wanted to see a place that was a location that people would come to linger at, that had sit-down dining. They didn’t want more fast food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They wanted something like \u003ca href=\"https://www.thepruneyard.com/\">The Pruneyard\u003c/a> in Campbell or the Los Gatos’ downtown, two locations residents currently go to for entertainment and dining.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An iterative process\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">Over many years,\u003c/a> after lots of city planning meetings featuring \u003cem>some\u003c/em> yelling, there’s finally a proposal on the table that many residents can get behind. It was approved by the city council in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new development would include underground parking, retail with apartments built above, a central plaza, a hotel, an assisted living facility, 48 single-family homes and 25 townhouses.[aside postID=news_12078615 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00242_TV-KQED.jpg'] But four years later and nothing has been built yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build,” said Kelly Snider, a professor at San José State University and a development consultant. “There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said no one developer specializes in all those various uses. On top of that, very few big projects like this are moving forward anywhere in the Bay Area. The economics just don’t work out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest rates are high, construction materials and labor are expensive and people’s work and consumer habits have changed. Brick-and-mortar retail stores have a lot of competition online. There’s fewer business travelers in San José. More people are working remotely, so office spaces sit empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Will the Cambrian Park project ever get built?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I think that the interest rates, at some point, [will] come down,” Brilliot said. “And I think some projects will come back. But I think it’s gonna be slower, more flat growth. And because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see a massive amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For their part, Bob Burres and Peter Clarke are waiting nervously to see how it all turns out. They know that of all the elements in the approved plan, the single-family homes and townhouses will be the easiest for the developer to recoup investment. After all, housing is always in demand in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Red roses rise above a white picket fence in a garden at Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land, it’s never going to be commercial again,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if that happens, the neighbors’ dream of a central gathering spot — like the Pruneyard — will never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The permit for the current \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/planning-building-code-enforcement/planning-division/major-development-projects/cambrian-park-plaza-signature-project\">Cambrian Park Signature Project\u003c/a> will expire in 2028. But the developer recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*An earlier version of this article called this project the “Cambrian Park Urban Village” when in fact its official name is “Cambrian Park Signature Project.” A Signature Project is one element of a larger urban village area. We regret the error.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes questions come from the most random places.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I volunteer for a San José-based kitten rescue and it’s called Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Connie Young, from Mountain View.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we have adoptable foster kittens that come every weekend. And there’s two playrooms. And you can book a 50-minute slot.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The kitten cafe where she volunteers is located in Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of San José.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I went there to volunteer and I saw that plaza and it was kind of different than the other strip mall plazas in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cambrian Park Plaza isn’t one long flat fronted building like a typical strip mall. It was built to mimic the experience of a town’s main street, so the facade turns often, creating little plazas with white picket fences and brickwork. There are window boxes and roses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has kind of like a circus slash like English garden theme, cottage theme.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Circus because one of the defining features of this plaza is a huge yellow sign with a carousel on top. The figures \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to rotate, although like many things in this plaza, it has seen better days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was like, this seems like an interesting place and a place that has a lot of history. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This shopping mall is slated for redevelopment, and Connie wants to know more about its history and what it could become. Connie also noticed that online many people have shared fond memories of this plaza’s heyday in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Let’s hear a few…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember driving by Cambrian Plaza and seeing the carousel from when we first arrived in San José.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was always a grocery store there when I was a little kid. So we’d walk up to the grocery store to do our shopping for the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a go-to. I mean, you could do everything there. You could go to a delicatessen and get your meats and cheeses, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There was Ben Franklin, which was the coolest store on the face of the planet. It was like a dime store and you could get anything there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were hardware stores there. There were pet shops, as I said, the clothing stores, very lot of practical things that, you know, people would need.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it was in walking distance.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The minute I think of the smell of bubblegum ice cream, which for a four-year-old that was like Nirvana, I picture myself inside that ice cream parlor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember going to the bowling alley. We used to go there a lot during high school and hang out with the other teenagers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To this day remember the sound of the pins hitting the the back wall and the balls striking and people laughing and having a good time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We’d go down in a little group of you know five or six or eight kids and be back before dinner. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were so many things that, that as a kid, it made my life feel a little bit bigger and richer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those were nearby residents Jaime Portillo, Carolyn Robinson and Janet Gillis sharing their memories.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz headed to San José to find out more about the fate of Cambrian Park Plaza. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first Cambrian Park neighbors I meet are characters…they’ve been attending city meetings and organizing their neighbors to influence what gets built here for years. And they aren’t shy about some of the tactics they used..\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m the guy who kicked over the apple cart, repeatedly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Bob Burres — a proud instigator. His friend and neighbor, Peter Clarke, has a different approach he says…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He’s nice, he’s polite, he’s a proper English gentleman.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am the Brit, which is the funny accent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob and Peter like this neighborhood for its views of the mountains and quiet, neighborly charm. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was originally all farmland. Then the farmers decided they could make more money by essentially selling up and having housing developed on the periphery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The guy who owned all the land that became the neighborhood of Cambrian Park was named Paul Schaeffer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But then he recognized, you know, people need to buy stuff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was the heart of Cambrian Park. This was the downtown. There is no main street in Cambrian park area. This was it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Peter and Bob are showing me around it’s clear this mall is no longer the heart of the neighborhood. But the neighbors hope it could be again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you go through you see there’s numerous little plazas and sitting spaces all around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plaza has a faded quality. We walk down the outside of the building, which has covered walkways that protect us from the rain that’s falling. Many storefronts are empty and I hear just as much about what it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used to be\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as what it is now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This used to be the Cambrian Post office for years.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That used to be a Mexican restaurant, but closed down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The things that are left… a boxing gym, a pet adoption agency, a store for kids baseball gear…are on short term leases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can’t put a lot of investment into a retail space for a six month lease.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob have both lived in Cambrian Park for 30 years… but even back in the late 80s and early 90s the plaza was already in slow decline. The Schaeffer family owned it for most of its existence, but stopped keeping it up in later years. When Paul Schaffer and his wife died, their children sold it to a developer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it was bought and people said we’re going to redevelop it, we were in favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob are part of a group called the Friends of Cambrian Park Plaza. They’ve been pushing the city and developers to create a vibrant place to live, shop and gather.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We have hopes that something beautiful will come out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They look to a place like The Pruneyard in Campbell as their model. It’s got local businesses alongside chains..and is a pleasant place to hang out.We’ll dig into the details of what could be built here and explore why achieving that vision could be a tough sell in San José right now. All that, coming up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SPONSOR MESSAGE\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost a million people live in San José. It’s the largest city in Northern California, but its development hasn’t followed the pattern of a typical big city. That’s why despite being dubbed the Heart of Silicon Valley…many people think a more apt term would be “the bedroom” of Silicon Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you look at San José, it very much feels like you’re in the San Fernando Valley or somewhere in Los Angeles, not the old urban part, but the more auto suburban track housing part of LA. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michel Brilliot worked for the city of San José for 27 years…retiring as the deputy director of long range projects. He says the sprawling, residential character of the city can be traced back to one man\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michalel Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dutch Hammond. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like Cambrian Park, the rest of San José was mostly agricultural. Before Dutch Hammond came along, there were fruit trees as far as the eye could see. But after World War II, the defense industry was booming and Hammond understood its workers needed somewhere to live. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Largely what got developed here was track housing which was very cheap to build you just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard and you just you plop in houses like you build model t fords on an assembly line except the workers move as opposed to the product.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Cambrian Park neighborhood was part of this era…built in the late 1950s. The homes are largely ranch style with yards and garages. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People historically would have a family and settle down and work and they would drive north for their job in what became and is now Silicon Valley. And that to a large extent has not changed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem with that, Michael says, is that running a city that is mostly residential, with few big businesses, is expensive. Residents want services.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They want code enforcement to deal with the RV that someone’s living in down the street or parks and maintaining the parks and they want libraries and. So they want all these things which cost money. Businesses generally don’t want as much services from the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As early as the 1970s, San José city leaders realized it needed a better balance of businesses and homes. The goal was to bring more jobs into the city itself, to increase the tax base and to reduce congestion on the roads. Those are still the goals of city planners, says Michael.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the idea now is really to, instead of growing out, growing up, and growing up really along transit corridors and transit stations and in the downtown and create these places that are called urban villages.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The proposed plan for Cambrian Park Plaza is one of these urban villages – a cluster of amenities, housing and jobs near a transit corridor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music to emphasize back and forth\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would have underground parking with retail above.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A six-story apartment block on top of retail. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shops would be built around a central plaza for families and neighbors to gather. Then there’d be…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An assisted living building\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">48 single family homes, 25 townhouses, and…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A hotel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music ends\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But nothing has actually been built by the developer, Kimco Realty.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we’ve seen very little higher density projects break ground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly Snider is an adjunct professor at San José State and a development consultant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly says there’s no one developer who specializes in so many different types of buildings…hotels, assisted living, single family homes… retail..they’re all very different. And the economic picture right now makes it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">even less likely \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this project will be completed anytime soon. It’s a story we see around the Bay Area. Labor is expensive. Construction materials cost more than ever… and interest rates aren’t favorable. Plus, Michael Brilliot says, the population of San José is now shrinking, not growing.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, will the Cambrian Park urban village ever get built?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think that when the interest rates, at some point, they’ll come down. And I think some projects will come back. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I think it’s gonna be a slower, more flat growth and because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see masses of amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a post-COVID world, it may not make sense to build hotels and offices. Brick and mortar stores have to compete with online retailers. It’s a different real estate picture now than when this plan was conceived a few years ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob Burres, Peter Clarke and the other Friends of Cambrian Park are watching this play out nervously. They worry the only economically feasible thing to do with the property is to build townhouses…after all, in the Bay Area, housing is always in high demand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the things that we have heard over and over from the folks in the city is developers come in with fairly grand plans. And they’re gonna do some housing, and they’re going to do some sort of commercial, and they are going to something else. Well, housing is the only thing that’s profitable. And so they decide to build, we’re going to build the housing first. And then phase two and phase three will have these other things. They build the housing and then they say, sorry, it doesn’t pencil and they abandon the project. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land it’s never going to be commercial again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if that happens, their dream of a gathering spot like the one in Campbell…the Pruneyard…will never become a reality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I brought all this back to Connie Young, our question asker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can see why they would want to kind of redevelop it into something more community focused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connie grew up in the South Bay and remembers wishing there was more to do…more places she could go without a ride from her parents. Now she’s living in Mountain View and has enjoyed the way streets have been closed downtown to make space for dining and gathering.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I feel like that’s what the South Bay is missing in a lot of the cities, especially San José, like a central plaza or the neighborhood where everybody gathers in the evening and their kids run around and play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The permit for the current Cambrian Park Urban Village plan will expire in 2028. Getting new ones would be expensive for the developer…maybe that’s why the company recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process. The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was Bay Curious editor and producer, Katrina Schwartz. Thanks to Connie Young for asking this week’s question. It was selected by you in a monthly voting round on Bay \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://curious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curious.or\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">g. That’s one of the things I think makes Bay Curious unique… it is driven by you – your questions, about your community. And, it’s funded by you too. We need your support to keep things going, so please consider making a donation to KQED today. It only takes a few minutes. You can do it right from your phone. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the place to do it. Thanks!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our show is produced by Christopher Beale, Katrina Schwartz and Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With extra support from Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Cambrian Park Plaza, A Beloved San José Strip Mall, Awaits a New Future | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing a lot of people notice about Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> is the sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s big; it’s yellow; and it has a carousel on top, complete with playful figures encircling the outside. At one point, the carousel actually rotated — but like many things in this shopping plaza — it has seen better days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaza itself is low slung with a massive parking lot that is often empty. Storefronts are made of brick and nestle under a covered walkway. It’s not your average strip mall with a big grocery store at the center and smaller chains flanking it. Instead, there’s a bit more charm. Shops are clustered around little courtyards with white picket fences, picnic benches and trees. Some stores have window boxes with flowers. There are roses and palm trees. It’s quaint, but faded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has a circus slash English garden theme, cottage theme,” Connie Young said. “I was like, ‘This seems like an interesting place, and a place that has a lot of history.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young was visiting Cambrian Park to volunteer at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ibokrescue.org/info/display?PageID=21948\">Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe\u003c/a>, a pet adoption organization located in the plaza. She was surprised to see many nostalgic memories of the place online. She wanted to learn more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079115\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079115\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A covered walkway lined with storefronts stretches through Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There seem to be a lot of people who are mourning the loss of Cambrian Park Plaza, a 1950s era strip mall in San José that is set to be demolished for housing and retail space,” she wrote in to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>. “What’s the history of that place?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Valley of Heart’s Delight\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood represents the quintessential story of San José development. For a long time, San José was small, an agricultural center for the many orchards and farms nearby. But after World War II, the Defense industry was booming and more people were moving to the area for jobs. The city manager at the time, Dutch Hammond, wanted to create the Los Angeles of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Largely what got developed here was track housing, which was very cheap to build,” said Michael Brillot, a retired San José city planner. “You just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard, and you plop in houses like you build Model T Fords on an assembly line, except the workers move as opposed to the product.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> The push was to develop outwards from San José’s core and to build enough housing to supply the workforce to places like Sunnyvale and Cupertino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood — and its shopping mall — was part of that history. A large landowner named Paul Schaeffer owned the orchards that became Cambrian Park. He decided to tear out the trees and build houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He recognized people need to buy stuff,” said Peter Clarke, a Cambrian Park resident and member of the Friends of Cambrian Park group. “They need a post office and a grocery store. So he assembled this particular plaza as the only real center in this area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, many families only had one car. It was common for the breadwinner to drive north to work while the other parent stayed home with the children. During its heyday, Cambrian Park Plaza had everything families needed within walking distance of their home — a grocery store, a hardware store, clothing stores, a post office, a bowling alley, even doctors’ and dentists’ offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was the downtown,” said Bob Burres, another local resident. “There is no ‘main street’ in the Cambrian Park area. This was it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A slow decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That remained true for decades, but over time, the plaza began to fade and social patterns changed. People drove more and further for things, making the plaza less central to their needs. The Schaeffer family retained ownership of the plaza \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">until 2015\u003c/a>. Peter Clarke guesses that it was passive income for owner Paul Schaeffer and his wife in their later years. But when they died, their children sold the plaza to a developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it was bought, and people said, ‘We’re going to redevelop it,’ we were in favor,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079113\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cambrian Park Plaza sign, built in 1953 with the shopping center, features a rotating carousel and received historic status in 2016, on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many Cambrian Park residents were ready for an updated space that might once again be the center of community life. The Friends of Cambrian Park group stayed involved as the developer, Texas-based Weingarten Realty, proposed various uses for the property. But residents did not like early proposals that resembled more traditional strip malls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The community was very clear,” Clarke said. “They wanted to see a place that was a location that people would come to linger at, that had sit-down dining. They didn’t want more fast food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They wanted something like \u003ca href=\"https://www.thepruneyard.com/\">The Pruneyard\u003c/a> in Campbell or the Los Gatos’ downtown, two locations residents currently go to for entertainment and dining.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An iterative process\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">Over many years,\u003c/a> after lots of city planning meetings featuring \u003cem>some\u003c/em> yelling, there’s finally a proposal on the table that many residents can get behind. It was approved by the city council in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new development would include underground parking, retail with apartments built above, a central plaza, a hotel, an assisted living facility, 48 single-family homes and 25 townhouses.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> But four years later and nothing has been built yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build,” said Kelly Snider, a professor at San José State University and a development consultant. “There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said no one developer specializes in all those various uses. On top of that, very few big projects like this are moving forward anywhere in the Bay Area. The economics just don’t work out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest rates are high, construction materials and labor are expensive and people’s work and consumer habits have changed. Brick-and-mortar retail stores have a lot of competition online. There’s fewer business travelers in San José. More people are working remotely, so office spaces sit empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Will the Cambrian Park project ever get built?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I think that the interest rates, at some point, [will] come down,” Brilliot said. “And I think some projects will come back. But I think it’s gonna be slower, more flat growth. And because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see a massive amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For their part, Bob Burres and Peter Clarke are waiting nervously to see how it all turns out. They know that of all the elements in the approved plan, the single-family homes and townhouses will be the easiest for the developer to recoup investment. After all, housing is always in demand in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Red roses rise above a white picket fence in a garden at Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land, it’s never going to be commercial again,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if that happens, the neighbors’ dream of a central gathering spot — like the Pruneyard — will never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The permit for the current \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/planning-building-code-enforcement/planning-division/major-development-projects/cambrian-park-plaza-signature-project\">Cambrian Park Signature Project\u003c/a> will expire in 2028. But the developer recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*An earlier version of this article called this project the “Cambrian Park Urban Village” when in fact its official name is “Cambrian Park Signature Project.” A Signature Project is one element of a larger urban village area. We regret the error.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes questions come from the most random places.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I volunteer for a San José-based kitten rescue and it’s called Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Connie Young, from Mountain View.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we have adoptable foster kittens that come every weekend. And there’s two playrooms. And you can book a 50-minute slot.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The kitten cafe where she volunteers is located in Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of San José.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I went there to volunteer and I saw that plaza and it was kind of different than the other strip mall plazas in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cambrian Park Plaza isn’t one long flat fronted building like a typical strip mall. It was built to mimic the experience of a town’s main street, so the facade turns often, creating little plazas with white picket fences and brickwork. There are window boxes and roses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has kind of like a circus slash like English garden theme, cottage theme.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Circus because one of the defining features of this plaza is a huge yellow sign with a carousel on top. The figures \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to rotate, although like many things in this plaza, it has seen better days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was like, this seems like an interesting place and a place that has a lot of history. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This shopping mall is slated for redevelopment, and Connie wants to know more about its history and what it could become. Connie also noticed that online many people have shared fond memories of this plaza’s heyday in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Let’s hear a few…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember driving by Cambrian Plaza and seeing the carousel from when we first arrived in San José.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was always a grocery store there when I was a little kid. So we’d walk up to the grocery store to do our shopping for the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a go-to. I mean, you could do everything there. You could go to a delicatessen and get your meats and cheeses, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There was Ben Franklin, which was the coolest store on the face of the planet. It was like a dime store and you could get anything there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were hardware stores there. There were pet shops, as I said, the clothing stores, very lot of practical things that, you know, people would need.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it was in walking distance.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The minute I think of the smell of bubblegum ice cream, which for a four-year-old that was like Nirvana, I picture myself inside that ice cream parlor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember going to the bowling alley. We used to go there a lot during high school and hang out with the other teenagers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To this day remember the sound of the pins hitting the the back wall and the balls striking and people laughing and having a good time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We’d go down in a little group of you know five or six or eight kids and be back before dinner. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were so many things that, that as a kid, it made my life feel a little bit bigger and richer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those were nearby residents Jaime Portillo, Carolyn Robinson and Janet Gillis sharing their memories.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz headed to San José to find out more about the fate of Cambrian Park Plaza. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first Cambrian Park neighbors I meet are characters…they’ve been attending city meetings and organizing their neighbors to influence what gets built here for years. And they aren’t shy about some of the tactics they used..\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m the guy who kicked over the apple cart, repeatedly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Bob Burres — a proud instigator. His friend and neighbor, Peter Clarke, has a different approach he says…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He’s nice, he’s polite, he’s a proper English gentleman.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am the Brit, which is the funny accent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob and Peter like this neighborhood for its views of the mountains and quiet, neighborly charm. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was originally all farmland. Then the farmers decided they could make more money by essentially selling up and having housing developed on the periphery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The guy who owned all the land that became the neighborhood of Cambrian Park was named Paul Schaeffer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But then he recognized, you know, people need to buy stuff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was the heart of Cambrian Park. This was the downtown. There is no main street in Cambrian park area. This was it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Peter and Bob are showing me around it’s clear this mall is no longer the heart of the neighborhood. But the neighbors hope it could be again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you go through you see there’s numerous little plazas and sitting spaces all around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plaza has a faded quality. We walk down the outside of the building, which has covered walkways that protect us from the rain that’s falling. Many storefronts are empty and I hear just as much about what it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used to be\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as what it is now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This used to be the Cambrian Post office for years.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That used to be a Mexican restaurant, but closed down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The things that are left… a boxing gym, a pet adoption agency, a store for kids baseball gear…are on short term leases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can’t put a lot of investment into a retail space for a six month lease.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob have both lived in Cambrian Park for 30 years… but even back in the late 80s and early 90s the plaza was already in slow decline. The Schaeffer family owned it for most of its existence, but stopped keeping it up in later years. When Paul Schaffer and his wife died, their children sold it to a developer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it was bought and people said we’re going to redevelop it, we were in favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob are part of a group called the Friends of Cambrian Park Plaza. They’ve been pushing the city and developers to create a vibrant place to live, shop and gather.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We have hopes that something beautiful will come out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They look to a place like The Pruneyard in Campbell as their model. It’s got local businesses alongside chains..and is a pleasant place to hang out.We’ll dig into the details of what could be built here and explore why achieving that vision could be a tough sell in San José right now. All that, coming up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SPONSOR MESSAGE\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost a million people live in San José. It’s the largest city in Northern California, but its development hasn’t followed the pattern of a typical big city. That’s why despite being dubbed the Heart of Silicon Valley…many people think a more apt term would be “the bedroom” of Silicon Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you look at San José, it very much feels like you’re in the San Fernando Valley or somewhere in Los Angeles, not the old urban part, but the more auto suburban track housing part of LA. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michel Brilliot worked for the city of San José for 27 years…retiring as the deputy director of long range projects. He says the sprawling, residential character of the city can be traced back to one man\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michalel Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dutch Hammond. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like Cambrian Park, the rest of San José was mostly agricultural. Before Dutch Hammond came along, there were fruit trees as far as the eye could see. But after World War II, the defense industry was booming and Hammond understood its workers needed somewhere to live. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Largely what got developed here was track housing which was very cheap to build you just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard and you just you plop in houses like you build model t fords on an assembly line except the workers move as opposed to the product.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Cambrian Park neighborhood was part of this era…built in the late 1950s. The homes are largely ranch style with yards and garages. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People historically would have a family and settle down and work and they would drive north for their job in what became and is now Silicon Valley. And that to a large extent has not changed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem with that, Michael says, is that running a city that is mostly residential, with few big businesses, is expensive. Residents want services.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They want code enforcement to deal with the RV that someone’s living in down the street or parks and maintaining the parks and they want libraries and. So they want all these things which cost money. Businesses generally don’t want as much services from the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As early as the 1970s, San José city leaders realized it needed a better balance of businesses and homes. The goal was to bring more jobs into the city itself, to increase the tax base and to reduce congestion on the roads. Those are still the goals of city planners, says Michael.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the idea now is really to, instead of growing out, growing up, and growing up really along transit corridors and transit stations and in the downtown and create these places that are called urban villages.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The proposed plan for Cambrian Park Plaza is one of these urban villages – a cluster of amenities, housing and jobs near a transit corridor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music to emphasize back and forth\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would have underground parking with retail above.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A six-story apartment block on top of retail. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shops would be built around a central plaza for families and neighbors to gather. Then there’d be…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An assisted living building\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">48 single family homes, 25 townhouses, and…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A hotel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music ends\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But nothing has actually been built by the developer, Kimco Realty.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we’ve seen very little higher density projects break ground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly Snider is an adjunct professor at San José State and a development consultant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly says there’s no one developer who specializes in so many different types of buildings…hotels, assisted living, single family homes… retail..they’re all very different. And the economic picture right now makes it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">even less likely \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this project will be completed anytime soon. It’s a story we see around the Bay Area. Labor is expensive. Construction materials cost more than ever… and interest rates aren’t favorable. Plus, Michael Brilliot says, the population of San José is now shrinking, not growing.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, will the Cambrian Park urban village ever get built?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think that when the interest rates, at some point, they’ll come down. And I think some projects will come back. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I think it’s gonna be a slower, more flat growth and because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see masses of amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a post-COVID world, it may not make sense to build hotels and offices. Brick and mortar stores have to compete with online retailers. It’s a different real estate picture now than when this plan was conceived a few years ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob Burres, Peter Clarke and the other Friends of Cambrian Park are watching this play out nervously. They worry the only economically feasible thing to do with the property is to build townhouses…after all, in the Bay Area, housing is always in high demand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the things that we have heard over and over from the folks in the city is developers come in with fairly grand plans. And they’re gonna do some housing, and they’re going to do some sort of commercial, and they are going to something else. Well, housing is the only thing that’s profitable. And so they decide to build, we’re going to build the housing first. And then phase two and phase three will have these other things. They build the housing and then they say, sorry, it doesn’t pencil and they abandon the project. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land it’s never going to be commercial again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if that happens, their dream of a gathering spot like the one in Campbell…the Pruneyard…will never become a reality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I brought all this back to Connie Young, our question asker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can see why they would want to kind of redevelop it into something more community focused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connie grew up in the South Bay and remembers wishing there was more to do…more places she could go without a ride from her parents. Now she’s living in Mountain View and has enjoyed the way streets have been closed downtown to make space for dining and gathering.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I feel like that’s what the South Bay is missing in a lot of the cities, especially San José, like a central plaza or the neighborhood where everybody gathers in the evening and their kids run around and play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The permit for the current Cambrian Park Urban Village plan will expire in 2028. Getting new ones would be expensive for the developer…maybe that’s why the company recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process. The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was Bay Curious editor and producer, Katrina Schwartz. Thanks to Connie Young for asking this week’s question. It was selected by you in a monthly voting round on Bay \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://curious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curious.or\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">g. That’s one of the things I think makes Bay Curious unique… it is driven by you – your questions, about your community. And, it’s funded by you too. We need your support to keep things going, so please consider making a donation to KQED today. It only takes a few minutes. You can do it right from your phone. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the place to do it. Thanks!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our show is produced by Christopher Beale, Katrina Schwartz and Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With extra support from Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "in-east-san-jose-an-ethnic-studies-teacher-reckons-with-cesar-chavezs-legacy",
"title": "An East San José Teacher Reckons With Cesar Chavez’s Legacy",
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"content": "\u003cp>Victoria Duran grew up in East San José, and remembers celebrating her community’s ties to labor activist and United Farm Workers co-founder Cesar Chavez. His legacy looms large on the East Side, where he \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">held his first organizing meetings \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and where his former home still stands. \u003c/span>But for many people in San José, that sense of pride was shattered after a\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/cesar-chavez-sexual-abuse-allegations-ufw.html\">\u003cem>New York Times’\u003c/em> investigation\u003c/a> into allegations of sexual abuse by Chavez.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now Duran, who teaches ethnic studies and psychology at William C. Overfelt High School in East San José,\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is reckoning with how to teach about Chavez in light of these sexual abuse allegations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/us/cesar-chavez-san-jose-reckoning.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why This City’s Reckoning With Cesar Chavez Is So Complicated (\u003cem>NYTimes\u003c/em>)\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1546389935\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"\" title=\"\">\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Cesar Chavez has been a big part of California history for decades. But his legacy looms especially large in East San Jose, where the co-founder of the United Farm Workers held his first organizing meetings and where his former home still stands today. And for Victoria Duran, who grew up on San Jose’s East Side in the 90s, Chavez was celebrated as a hometown hero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:00:40] A sense of pride, a sense of honor, a sense of recognition of someone who was for the people was what was really cultivated at an early age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:52] But last month, \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> published an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against Chavez, including allegations of rape by co-organizer Dolores Huerta. And for Duran, who teaches ethnic studies at William C. Overfelt High School in East San Jose now, she has to reckon with how to teach about the legacy of Cesar Chavez to the next generation of East Side kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:01:26] One of the in-class responses to that was, “so we were lied to this entire time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:34] Today, how one ethnic studies teacher in East San Jose is reckoning with the legacy of Cesar Chavez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:01:52] My name is Dr. Victoria Isabel Duran, and I am from East San Jose. I am the daughter of working-class parents who had visions and really instilled with us just a desire and love for community and I come from grandparents who’ve worked the fields and I feel deeply seated from a land and a place that holds rich history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:27] So you grew up in East San Jose, you’re from there. What was that like for you growing up in east San Jose? And I’m also curious what your earliest memories of learning about Cesar Chavez were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:02:40] I attended a school led by a Chicana principal, which I thought was really powerful in the 90s. And in that, when I think of Cesar Chavez, as we would line up for lunch, I remember the image of him, where you would see the fields and then the skulls and then figures embedded in the signs. And that would be something that I would see daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:02] Like a mural?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:03] It wasn’t a mural, it was an art piece of him in the cafeteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:06] Oh wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:07] And that was consistently there. What really comes to mind is a sense of pride, a sense honor, a sense recognition of someone who was for the people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:20] And he was rooted in the same community you were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:24] Growing up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:24] Yeah, you had that connection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:27] Ties to the Guadalupe Church, recognizing that his home was here and, you know, attending in middle school and high school, there were competitions for art, annual luncheons, and gatherings to be able to bring student performers in the context of his legacy and just recognizing that through heroes, through historical figures, there is a sense of mapping out what the disability looks like in our own activism. And so attending these, it was a lot of honor, a lot of seeing yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079046\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1125px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079046\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/IMG_4173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1125\" height=\"1115\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/IMG_4173.jpg 1125w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/IMG_4173-160x159.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1125px) 100vw, 1125px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victoria Duran (R), meeting legendary labor organized and UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta (L), in 1995. \u003ccite>(Victoria Duran)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:04] It’s such a, I feel like a unique way to grow up, to see yourself reflected in history, to feel that so close to home. And obviously now you teach back in East San Jose. I’m curious before the news how you were teaching the history of Cesar Chavez, especially as a teacher rooted in East San Jose and having. This upbringing and this connection to that history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:04:35] We had a moment where we would unpack and analyze music, the chants, having an understanding of materials that were shared, news clippings, audio recordings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cesar Chavez \u003c/strong>[00:04:49] And we went to the people of this country and we said, in whichever way we could, with leaflets, going to meetings, to students, to union meetings, to church meetings, and everywhere and anywhere that they would have us. And we told the people in America, help us, we need your help. And they responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:05:05] And students came in with a critique, right, where students also began to expand that, oh, he didn’t fight for everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cesar Chavez \u003c/strong>[00:05:16] These are the illegals from Mexico. As long as we have a poor country bordering California, it’s gonna be very difficult to win strikes, so therefore the only way to win strike is by then taking our fight to the citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:05:32] He had feelings about Mexicans, undocumented folks, and we, you know, through the language and terminology of ethnic studies, recognizing that as xenophobia. And recognizing that, okay, if, you, know, students amongst the class, like, who would not be represented within the movement? When students critique that you know they come in and are just kind of wary…and then others just, well, what do you mean? This is someone who’s always been revered and recognized within my community. And so then they begin to have that exchange and unpacking, which is powerful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:16] I mean, it sounds like, you know, this critique was already happening in your classrooms around Cesar Chavez, but obviously on March 18th, the New York Times published this investigation that found, I mean very extensive evidence that he groomed and sexually abused girls who worked in the movement for years. And do you remember where you were when you found out this news?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:06:45] I’m thankful that one of my alumni students reached out to me. He offered me. Want to offer you some caution as you interact with the news these next days. Some information came out around Cesar Chavez. It was kind of one of those things, like I don’t know that I’m ready to even search up the information at that moment. So I allowed myself that space after school and I started to read and learn about and just feeling like a weight on your chest of — how devastating. Here we are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:07:30] I found that out on the 18th. I had the day off on the 19th for myself. And on the 20th, I went back to school. So I was able to go into the conversations with some rest. I said, I will respond if students say they’re ready. And my first period of that day, they said, “are we gonna talk about this?” And I said of course, what questions do you have? One of the in-class responses was, “so we were lied to this entire time.” “I chanted for him. I marched for him!” “We have these things at schools for him, what do you mean? Did he do no good?” “Why are they moving so fast to remove his monuments when we’ve heard of these Epstein cases and the files and the harms done here? Why isn’t accountability being held across?” And these were honest, in real time questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:46] How do you respond to that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:08:48] Your feelings are valid. And I don’t think you’re alone, feeling that alone right now. I had one student in particular who offered. I did not participate in elementary school on these marches. And I was shamed by my peers and by teachers and adults because my family and I had a critique of him already. We are not a monolith in how we regard a person, especially with rooted within the context of Eastside and the history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:20] And what are these that you brought? Just their written responses in the days?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:09:24] Yes. After the news? This is some of their art from watching a documentary. So after the news, we went into an overview of patriarchy, sexism, and intersectionality to preface and guide into watching Dolores. When we watched Dolores, there were also segments from her childhood and to her adulthood, and then they left with a sense of… Oh, look at these interactions between Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and one in particular when he spoke about the role of women and that they are to be protected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:02] Oh, gosh, wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:10:04] And I asked myself, should I pause it? I said, are you all ready for this? Is this something that you wanna discuss? And they said that we do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:13] It’s like amazing to see some of this art and some of the things that they have on here. I mean, this drawing of a woman. I’m assuming it’s Dolores Huerta covering her mouth. I feel like what you’re describing is your students very much, and also you as a teacher, really navigating this news in real time. How does this news change? How you’re thinking about teaching the history of Cesar Chavez. I mean, he will always be someone who played a big role in history, right? And who will always have this connection to San Jose, but how are you thinking about how you now acknowledge the harm?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:10:58] I’m thinking about the feeling of driving up here and seeing Cesar Chavez, Portola Avenue, right? There’s a responsibility, right, and shaping, and I think that’s where the agency of young people, when they shape a curriculum too, because ethnic studies within San Jose is a different experience of ethnic studies within San Francisco, within any other region. There’s deep grief. Challenging work and I think part of, you know, moving from this too was what are the necessary elements of a proper apology. How do we name the harm that occurs? How do we establish consent and young people want to practice and talk about that? I can only measure how I move forward as an educator being responsive to what students craft together with me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] I know it’s been a couple of weeks now since this news, maybe for other people outside of East San Jose, this has sort of faded, you know? It’s not something they’re thinking about. Maybe they don’t have a street near them named after Cesar Chavez. But for you, teaching ethnic studies, being rooted in this place that’s so connected to him and his legacy, is this still coming up for you on the day-to-day?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:12:33] Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:36] And you’re still navigating it. You’re still figuring it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:12:39] Yes. It illuminates how patriarchy functions and how we’re all participants, as bell hooks says. I look to this as a reminder of, okay, do we have our heroes? Do we have, like, situating the stories around an individual person? Because a sustaining movement is focused on the movement. The work runs deep. This didn’t happen overnight. And the repair and healing is not gonna be overnight. And it is gonna be generational.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Victoria Duran grew up in East San José, and remembers celebrating her community’s ties to labor activist and United Farm Workers co-founder Cesar Chavez. His legacy looms large on the East Side, where he \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">held his first organizing meetings \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and where his former home still stands. \u003c/span>But for many people in San José, that sense of pride was shattered after a\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/cesar-chavez-sexual-abuse-allegations-ufw.html\">\u003cem>New York Times’\u003c/em> investigation\u003c/a> into allegations of sexual abuse by Chavez.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now Duran, who teaches ethnic studies and psychology at William C. Overfelt High School in East San José,\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is reckoning with how to teach about Chavez in light of these sexual abuse allegations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/us/cesar-chavez-san-jose-reckoning.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why This City’s Reckoning With Cesar Chavez Is So Complicated (\u003cem>NYTimes\u003c/em>)\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1546389935\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"\" title=\"\">\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Cesar Chavez has been a big part of California history for decades. But his legacy looms especially large in East San Jose, where the co-founder of the United Farm Workers held his first organizing meetings and where his former home still stands today. And for Victoria Duran, who grew up on San Jose’s East Side in the 90s, Chavez was celebrated as a hometown hero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:00:40] A sense of pride, a sense of honor, a sense of recognition of someone who was for the people was what was really cultivated at an early age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:52] But last month, \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> published an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against Chavez, including allegations of rape by co-organizer Dolores Huerta. And for Duran, who teaches ethnic studies at William C. Overfelt High School in East San Jose now, she has to reckon with how to teach about the legacy of Cesar Chavez to the next generation of East Side kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:01:26] One of the in-class responses to that was, “so we were lied to this entire time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:34] Today, how one ethnic studies teacher in East San Jose is reckoning with the legacy of Cesar Chavez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:01:52] My name is Dr. Victoria Isabel Duran, and I am from East San Jose. I am the daughter of working-class parents who had visions and really instilled with us just a desire and love for community and I come from grandparents who’ve worked the fields and I feel deeply seated from a land and a place that holds rich history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:27] So you grew up in East San Jose, you’re from there. What was that like for you growing up in east San Jose? And I’m also curious what your earliest memories of learning about Cesar Chavez were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:02:40] I attended a school led by a Chicana principal, which I thought was really powerful in the 90s. And in that, when I think of Cesar Chavez, as we would line up for lunch, I remember the image of him, where you would see the fields and then the skulls and then figures embedded in the signs. And that would be something that I would see daily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:02] Like a mural?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:03] It wasn’t a mural, it was an art piece of him in the cafeteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:06] Oh wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:07] And that was consistently there. What really comes to mind is a sense of pride, a sense honor, a sense recognition of someone who was for the people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:20] And he was rooted in the same community you were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:24] Growing up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:24] Yeah, you had that connection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:03:27] Ties to the Guadalupe Church, recognizing that his home was here and, you know, attending in middle school and high school, there were competitions for art, annual luncheons, and gatherings to be able to bring student performers in the context of his legacy and just recognizing that through heroes, through historical figures, there is a sense of mapping out what the disability looks like in our own activism. And so attending these, it was a lot of honor, a lot of seeing yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079046\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1125px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079046\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/IMG_4173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1125\" height=\"1115\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/IMG_4173.jpg 1125w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/IMG_4173-160x159.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1125px) 100vw, 1125px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victoria Duran (R), meeting legendary labor organized and UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta (L), in 1995. \u003ccite>(Victoria Duran)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:04] It’s such a, I feel like a unique way to grow up, to see yourself reflected in history, to feel that so close to home. And obviously now you teach back in East San Jose. I’m curious before the news how you were teaching the history of Cesar Chavez, especially as a teacher rooted in East San Jose and having. This upbringing and this connection to that history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:04:35] We had a moment where we would unpack and analyze music, the chants, having an understanding of materials that were shared, news clippings, audio recordings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cesar Chavez \u003c/strong>[00:04:49] And we went to the people of this country and we said, in whichever way we could, with leaflets, going to meetings, to students, to union meetings, to church meetings, and everywhere and anywhere that they would have us. And we told the people in America, help us, we need your help. And they responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:05:05] And students came in with a critique, right, where students also began to expand that, oh, he didn’t fight for everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cesar Chavez \u003c/strong>[00:05:16] These are the illegals from Mexico. As long as we have a poor country bordering California, it’s gonna be very difficult to win strikes, so therefore the only way to win strike is by then taking our fight to the citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:05:32] He had feelings about Mexicans, undocumented folks, and we, you know, through the language and terminology of ethnic studies, recognizing that as xenophobia. And recognizing that, okay, if, you, know, students amongst the class, like, who would not be represented within the movement? When students critique that you know they come in and are just kind of wary…and then others just, well, what do you mean? This is someone who’s always been revered and recognized within my community. And so then they begin to have that exchange and unpacking, which is powerful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:16] I mean, it sounds like, you know, this critique was already happening in your classrooms around Cesar Chavez, but obviously on March 18th, the New York Times published this investigation that found, I mean very extensive evidence that he groomed and sexually abused girls who worked in the movement for years. And do you remember where you were when you found out this news?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:06:45] I’m thankful that one of my alumni students reached out to me. He offered me. Want to offer you some caution as you interact with the news these next days. Some information came out around Cesar Chavez. It was kind of one of those things, like I don’t know that I’m ready to even search up the information at that moment. So I allowed myself that space after school and I started to read and learn about and just feeling like a weight on your chest of — how devastating. Here we are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:07:30] I found that out on the 18th. I had the day off on the 19th for myself. And on the 20th, I went back to school. So I was able to go into the conversations with some rest. I said, I will respond if students say they’re ready. And my first period of that day, they said, “are we gonna talk about this?” And I said of course, what questions do you have? One of the in-class responses was, “so we were lied to this entire time.” “I chanted for him. I marched for him!” “We have these things at schools for him, what do you mean? Did he do no good?” “Why are they moving so fast to remove his monuments when we’ve heard of these Epstein cases and the files and the harms done here? Why isn’t accountability being held across?” And these were honest, in real time questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:46] How do you respond to that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:08:48] Your feelings are valid. And I don’t think you’re alone, feeling that alone right now. I had one student in particular who offered. I did not participate in elementary school on these marches. And I was shamed by my peers and by teachers and adults because my family and I had a critique of him already. We are not a monolith in how we regard a person, especially with rooted within the context of Eastside and the history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:20] And what are these that you brought? Just their written responses in the days?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:09:24] Yes. After the news? This is some of their art from watching a documentary. So after the news, we went into an overview of patriarchy, sexism, and intersectionality to preface and guide into watching Dolores. When we watched Dolores, there were also segments from her childhood and to her adulthood, and then they left with a sense of… Oh, look at these interactions between Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and one in particular when he spoke about the role of women and that they are to be protected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:02] Oh, gosh, wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:10:04] And I asked myself, should I pause it? I said, are you all ready for this? Is this something that you wanna discuss? And they said that we do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:13] It’s like amazing to see some of this art and some of the things that they have on here. I mean, this drawing of a woman. I’m assuming it’s Dolores Huerta covering her mouth. I feel like what you’re describing is your students very much, and also you as a teacher, really navigating this news in real time. How does this news change? How you’re thinking about teaching the history of Cesar Chavez. I mean, he will always be someone who played a big role in history, right? And who will always have this connection to San Jose, but how are you thinking about how you now acknowledge the harm?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:10:58] I’m thinking about the feeling of driving up here and seeing Cesar Chavez, Portola Avenue, right? There’s a responsibility, right, and shaping, and I think that’s where the agency of young people, when they shape a curriculum too, because ethnic studies within San Jose is a different experience of ethnic studies within San Francisco, within any other region. There’s deep grief. Challenging work and I think part of, you know, moving from this too was what are the necessary elements of a proper apology. How do we name the harm that occurs? How do we establish consent and young people want to practice and talk about that? I can only measure how I move forward as an educator being responsive to what students craft together with me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] I know it’s been a couple of weeks now since this news, maybe for other people outside of East San Jose, this has sort of faded, you know? It’s not something they’re thinking about. Maybe they don’t have a street near them named after Cesar Chavez. But for you, teaching ethnic studies, being rooted in this place that’s so connected to him and his legacy, is this still coming up for you on the day-to-day?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Victoria Duran \u003c/strong>[00:12:33] Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:36] And you’re still navigating it. You’re still figuring it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Fire officials and bike advocates are warning people to take precautions when buying, charging and storing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/e-bikes\">e-bikes\u003c/a> following the death of a man who tried to extinguish a battery fire in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/south-bay\">South Bay\u003c/a> last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the popularity of e-bikes grows, so does the risk of fires from damaged, failing or lower-quality battery packs that power them. Taking safety measures, such as never leaving an e-bike charging unattended, can help reduce the likelihood of a fire, injuries or death if the batteries do ignite, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All across the country, we’re seeing a rapid increase in lithium-ion battery fires,” San José Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Fielding said Monday during a news conference. “It is becoming a much more common problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, fire officials received reports of a fire in an apartment on Norwalk Drive in West San José. Firefighters arrived to find one person collapsed in a hallway, and another who had escaped the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the incident report from SJFD, a woman who lived in the apartment told fire investigators she heard “buzzing and popping” coming from the e-bike, and it immediately caught fire, looking like “it had fireworks coming from it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The woman ran to the balcony, while a man came out of a bedroom and tried to extinguish the fire amid thick smoke. The man went out to the balcony briefly, as he was struggling to breathe, then went back in to attempt to control the fire before going to the hallway, where he collapsed, officials and the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078946\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1770px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078946\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1770\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed.jpg 1770w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed-1536x1157.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1770px) 100vw, 1770px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Battalion Chief Jeff Fielding of the San José Fire Department speaks about an e-bike fire during a press conference on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A neighbor ran to the balcony to rescue the woman, and then performed CPR on the man, who was taken by paramedics to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. He has not yet been publicly identified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire department said the cause of the fire was the failure of the battery, which ignited while it was plugged into a wall outlet. The crews were able to contain the fire quickly enough that there was little damage to the structure, and it didn’t spread outside of the apartment where the bike was stored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fielding said that when lithium-ion batteries fail or catch fire, they do so with little to no warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire spreads very rapidly and produces a very large amount of toxic smoke that spreads very quickly,” he said. ”It can overwhelm victims very quickly and can also make it very, very difficult to escape the fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of toxic chemicals in them, a lot of heavy metals, a lot of different chemicals in that smoke that is very, very much different than traditional structure-fire smoke, which is what makes them so deadly,” he said.[aside postID=news_12070694 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250805-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED-1.jpg']Lithium-ion batteries power many consumer products, from cell phones to vacuum cleaners, as well as electric vehicles, and the e-bike market is a fast-growing one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Battery packs for e-bikes are much larger than those for personal electronics, and they are exposed to the elements more. Bicycle advocates and fire officials have raised concerns about regulations on manufacturing standards, user modifications to enhance speed or power and the risk of damage to the batteries from impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fielding said if e-bike users notice a battery beginning to show signs that it might be damaged, like an odor, bulging shape, or if it is starting to smoke, and they have time, they can take it outside to avoid a fire in a living space. But more often, he said, firefighters recommend simply evacuating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Try and enclose that living space and get out. Your life is not worth any property, so close that living place, shut all the doors, get out and call 911. It’s the best advice,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been an estimated 198,000 lithium-ion battery fires in structures since 2011, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nist.gov/publications/understanding-risk-lithium-ion-battery-fires-multi-source-data-analysis\">analysis\u003c/a> of multiple data sources on such incidents by the National Institute of Standards and Technology last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumer-level lithium-ion battery fires appear to be growing at a rate of about 10% per year, the analysis said. Fires starting with e-bikes and micromobility devices “are among the leading causes of home-related lithium-ion battery fires, especially in urban areas,” the analysis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078945\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1066px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1066\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-2_qed.jpg 1066w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-2_qed-160x200.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1066px) 100vw, 1066px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San José Fire Department shared this photo of an e-bike that ignited causing a fire at an apartment on Friday, April 3, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of San José Fire Department)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fielding and biking advocates said following some simple steps can help avoid a fire in the first place, including only charging e-bike batteries under supervision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a lithium e-bike battery is plugged in for too long, it can get overheated and for a variety of reasons, it can catch on fire. Not leaving your battery plugged in overnight is key, and then keeping an eye on it while it’s charging is very important,” said Jared Sanchez, the policy director at the nonprofit California Bicycle Coalition, known as CalBike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, California passed SB 1271, a law that went into effect this year and requires all e-bikes sold in the state to include batteries that meet certain standards based on lab testing. But Sanchez said it’s still important to verify that an e-bike a rider is considering buying or renting meets and displays those certifications, and to use manufacturer parts if anything needs to be replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we often see, most battery fires are in unregulated or aftermarket products that will often be more likely to catch fire than the certified ones,” he said. “Make sure the battery is designed for the motor for your particular bike. Extension cords have been linked to battery fires, so always plug in your battery charger directly into an outlet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a fire sparked by a lithium-ion battery displaced dozens of residents of an apartment building in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, lawmakers there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078969/sf-legislation-aims-to-crack-down-on-uncertified-batteries-as-fires-grow-more-common\">considering legislation\u003c/a> to outlaw uncertified batteries and devices in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A good way for cyclists to ensure they are purchasing a quality product is to buy directly from a reputable bike store or dealer. They will be required to follow the laws around battery certification, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re concerned about making the right choices, you can also seek help or advice from local organizations, like the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, which offers an “\u003ca href=\"https://bikesiliconvalley.org/learn-ride/learn\">E-Bike Basics\u003c/a>” class in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we see e-bikes really surge in popularity, it’s so important that people know what they’re buying so that they can use this transportation tool that really does have the power to be transformative safely and effectively and never put themselves in harm’s way,” said Amy Thomson, the policy director at Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051118\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051118\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An electric bicycle sits on display at Tam Bikes in Mill Valley on July 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the class helps people understand what they’re buying, including whether the products have the proper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070694/these-bay-area-researchers-say-the-e-bike-problem-may-be-an-e-moto-problem\">power levels\u003c/a>. Many products on the market have motors with too much power and too high a top speed — above 28 miles per hour — to be classified as an e-bike in California. Instead, experts say those devices are more akin to an e-motorcycle or an e-moped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of options out there, and not all of them are legitimate. We see e-devices called e-bikes when they are not legal e-bikes. And you run the same risk with the battery that’s inside the bike,” Thomson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomson said that because an e-bike can be plugged in, some consumers might think it can be treated like any rechargeable home item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a transportation tool. It’s a powerful device, and that brings us really great mobility in terms of getting places more comfortably, in terms of carrying heavy objects or putting children on the back,” she said. “But that does require more powerful batteries, and so it is necessary to know what you’re buying and take a look at the instructions on how to charge it, how to take care of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Fire officials and bike advocates are warning people to take precautions when buying, charging and storing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/e-bikes\">e-bikes\u003c/a> following the death of a man who tried to extinguish a battery fire in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/south-bay\">South Bay\u003c/a> last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the popularity of e-bikes grows, so does the risk of fires from damaged, failing or lower-quality battery packs that power them. Taking safety measures, such as never leaving an e-bike charging unattended, can help reduce the likelihood of a fire, injuries or death if the batteries do ignite, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All across the country, we’re seeing a rapid increase in lithium-ion battery fires,” San José Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Fielding said Monday during a news conference. “It is becoming a much more common problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, fire officials received reports of a fire in an apartment on Norwalk Drive in West San José. Firefighters arrived to find one person collapsed in a hallway, and another who had escaped the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the incident report from SJFD, a woman who lived in the apartment told fire investigators she heard “buzzing and popping” coming from the e-bike, and it immediately caught fire, looking like “it had fireworks coming from it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The woman ran to the balcony, while a man came out of a bedroom and tried to extinguish the fire amid thick smoke. The man went out to the balcony briefly, as he was struggling to breathe, then went back in to attempt to control the fire before going to the hallway, where he collapsed, officials and the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078946\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1770px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078946\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1770\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed.jpg 1770w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-1_qed-1536x1157.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1770px) 100vw, 1770px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Battalion Chief Jeff Fielding of the San José Fire Department speaks about an e-bike fire during a press conference on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A neighbor ran to the balcony to rescue the woman, and then performed CPR on the man, who was taken by paramedics to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. He has not yet been publicly identified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire department said the cause of the fire was the failure of the battery, which ignited while it was plugged into a wall outlet. The crews were able to contain the fire quickly enough that there was little damage to the structure, and it didn’t spread outside of the apartment where the bike was stored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fielding said that when lithium-ion batteries fail or catch fire, they do so with little to no warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire spreads very rapidly and produces a very large amount of toxic smoke that spreads very quickly,” he said. ”It can overwhelm victims very quickly and can also make it very, very difficult to escape the fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of toxic chemicals in them, a lot of heavy metals, a lot of different chemicals in that smoke that is very, very much different than traditional structure-fire smoke, which is what makes them so deadly,” he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lithium-ion batteries power many consumer products, from cell phones to vacuum cleaners, as well as electric vehicles, and the e-bike market is a fast-growing one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Battery packs for e-bikes are much larger than those for personal electronics, and they are exposed to the elements more. Bicycle advocates and fire officials have raised concerns about regulations on manufacturing standards, user modifications to enhance speed or power and the risk of damage to the batteries from impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fielding said if e-bike users notice a battery beginning to show signs that it might be damaged, like an odor, bulging shape, or if it is starting to smoke, and they have time, they can take it outside to avoid a fire in a living space. But more often, he said, firefighters recommend simply evacuating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Try and enclose that living space and get out. Your life is not worth any property, so close that living place, shut all the doors, get out and call 911. It’s the best advice,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been an estimated 198,000 lithium-ion battery fires in structures since 2011, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nist.gov/publications/understanding-risk-lithium-ion-battery-fires-multi-source-data-analysis\">analysis\u003c/a> of multiple data sources on such incidents by the National Institute of Standards and Technology last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumer-level lithium-ion battery fires appear to be growing at a rate of about 10% per year, the analysis said. Fires starting with e-bikes and micromobility devices “are among the leading causes of home-related lithium-ion battery fires, especially in urban areas,” the analysis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078945\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1066px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1066\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-2_qed.jpg 1066w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-EBIKEFIRE-KQED-2_qed-160x200.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1066px) 100vw, 1066px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San José Fire Department shared this photo of an e-bike that ignited causing a fire at an apartment on Friday, April 3, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of San José Fire Department)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fielding and biking advocates said following some simple steps can help avoid a fire in the first place, including only charging e-bike batteries under supervision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a lithium e-bike battery is plugged in for too long, it can get overheated and for a variety of reasons, it can catch on fire. Not leaving your battery plugged in overnight is key, and then keeping an eye on it while it’s charging is very important,” said Jared Sanchez, the policy director at the nonprofit California Bicycle Coalition, known as CalBike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, California passed SB 1271, a law that went into effect this year and requires all e-bikes sold in the state to include batteries that meet certain standards based on lab testing. But Sanchez said it’s still important to verify that an e-bike a rider is considering buying or renting meets and displays those certifications, and to use manufacturer parts if anything needs to be replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we often see, most battery fires are in unregulated or aftermarket products that will often be more likely to catch fire than the certified ones,” he said. “Make sure the battery is designed for the motor for your particular bike. Extension cords have been linked to battery fires, so always plug in your battery charger directly into an outlet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a fire sparked by a lithium-ion battery displaced dozens of residents of an apartment building in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, lawmakers there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078969/sf-legislation-aims-to-crack-down-on-uncertified-batteries-as-fires-grow-more-common\">considering legislation\u003c/a> to outlaw uncertified batteries and devices in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A good way for cyclists to ensure they are purchasing a quality product is to buy directly from a reputable bike store or dealer. They will be required to follow the laws around battery certification, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re concerned about making the right choices, you can also seek help or advice from local organizations, like the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, which offers an “\u003ca href=\"https://bikesiliconvalley.org/learn-ride/learn\">E-Bike Basics\u003c/a>” class in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we see e-bikes really surge in popularity, it’s so important that people know what they’re buying so that they can use this transportation tool that really does have the power to be transformative safely and effectively and never put themselves in harm’s way,” said Amy Thomson, the policy director at Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051118\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051118\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250729-MARINEBIKES-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An electric bicycle sits on display at Tam Bikes in Mill Valley on July 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the class helps people understand what they’re buying, including whether the products have the proper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070694/these-bay-area-researchers-say-the-e-bike-problem-may-be-an-e-moto-problem\">power levels\u003c/a>. Many products on the market have motors with too much power and too high a top speed — above 28 miles per hour — to be classified as an e-bike in California. Instead, experts say those devices are more akin to an e-motorcycle or an e-moped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of options out there, and not all of them are legitimate. We see e-devices called e-bikes when they are not legal e-bikes. And you run the same risk with the battery that’s inside the bike,” Thomson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomson said that because an e-bike can be plugged in, some consumers might think it can be treated like any rechargeable home item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a transportation tool. It’s a powerful device, and that brings us really great mobility in terms of getting places more comfortably, in terms of carrying heavy objects or putting children on the back,” she said. “But that does require more powerful batteries, and so it is necessary to know what you’re buying and take a look at the instructions on how to charge it, how to take care of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "how-skyrocketing-housing-costs-and-policy-choices-reshaped-the-bay-area",
"title": "Housing, Tech and Taxes: 50 Years of Unaffordability in the Bay Area",
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"headTitle": "Housing, Tech and Taxes: 50 Years of Unaffordability in the Bay Area | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">How We Get By\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">full series here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The carefully curated flower pots, matcha mixing bowls and Buddhist prayer beads at Kogura Co. in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José’s\u003c/a> Japantown have drawn shoppers for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Kogura’s family has operated the Japanese gift and home goods store, now near the corner of Jackson and North Sixth streets, since his grandfather Kohei Kogura started the company in 1928.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the decades, the store’s inventory has shifted — from radios and sewing machines to home goods and gifts — mirroring the changes unfolding outside its doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as the wares have changed over the years, so has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904788/san-jose-japantown-changes-minato-gombei-shuei-do-santo-market\">Japantown\u003c/a>: evolving from a working-class neighborhood to a haven of high-priced apartments as handsomely paid tech workers and developers have flocked to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As I look at folks that are moving into our neighborhood,” Kogura said, “the only people who can afford to move into the neighborhood right now are the high-tech.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the street from his shop is Sixth and Jackson, a 518-apartment complex opened two years ago that lists studios for rent beginning at roughly $3,000 per month, climbing to roughly $11,000 for the highest-end three-bedroom units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sponsors of our Little League teams were the Plumbers, the Carpenters, the Teamsters,” Kogura, 70, recalled as he walked the aisles of his family’s shop on a sunny Tuesday in March and reflected on his upbringing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077577 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richard Kogura, a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, poses for a portrait at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you needed a job, there was always work because of the canneries,” he said, referring to companies like Del Monte that once anchored the local economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those jobs are gone. In their place: a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/category/silicon-valley\">tech-driven economy\u003c/a> that brought immense wealth — and costs that many longtime residents can no longer afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past half-century, the Bay Area has transformed from a region where working- and middle-class families could build stable lives into one of the most expensive places in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That shift was driven by the collision of explosive tech-fueled wealth with decades of constrained housing growth, shaped by local opposition to development, environmental regulation and tax policies like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/proposition-13\">Proposition 13\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077583 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cards made by Tracie Kogura, Richard Kogura’s daughter, are sold at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The result is a region where soaring home prices and rents have outpaced wages, deepened inequality and pushed longtime residents to the margins or out altogether — forces now \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952476/san-jose-japantown-photo-night-cukui\">reshaping communities like San José’s Japantown\u003c/a> and affecting the people struggling to remain in them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powered by decades of tech expansion, limited housing construction and policies that restrict turnover and development, the region’s cost of living first got out of sync with the rest of the country around 50 years ago, experts say, with more recent tech booms only furthering sky-high costs and wide disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bay Area is rich and prosperous, and that creates a very high demand for housing, and that drives up prices,” said Richard Walker, professor emeritus of geography at UC Berkeley and an expert on California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spurning growth\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the 1970s, communities across the Bay Area pushed back against rapid development, reshaping how — and whether — new housing would be built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hard shift toward anti-growth policies and environmental regulation flourished, as residents fought displacement and sprawl caused by major urban and suburban development efforts, such as highways and commercial projects. Their effects linger today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers browse at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In the same way that California was the poster child for uncontrolled growth in the first two and a half decades of the post-war era from the mid-1940s to the mid to late 1960s, not coincidentally, it is the epicenter of the most concerted and most politically successful effort to reign in growth into the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s,” said Jacob Anbinder, a research fellow at Cornell University, who is writing a book about the roots of America’s housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until last year, when the Legislature enacted major reforms, the California Environmental Quality Act — the state’s landmark environmental law, passed in 1970 — hamstrung projects of all stripes. Meanwhile, a Byzantine patchwork of county and local policies slows down and limits new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region’s collective failure to build enough homes has made it tougher for everyday workers to secure reasonably priced housing. Over the last nearly 50 years, the Bay Area has had one of the lowest permitting rates for new homes per capita in the nation, compared to other major metros, according to an analysis by the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research\u003c/a> performed for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Housing Permits, 1980-Present\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-MXDLW\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/MXDLW/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"575\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phil Cosentino’s livelihood has been shaped by the rise and fall of that pro-building ethos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After World War II, as defense and technology companies grew and hastened the rise of Silicon Valley, developers built out suburbs that sprawled farther and farther from job centers, prompting the construction of more roads and highways to transport more workers to offices throughout San José and the Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cosentino’s father opened a family farm in South San José 81 years ago, the property stretched 10 acres. But it was whittled to about two acres after California officials used eminent domain to buy the land in the 1950s to build what is now Highway 85, which cuts along the edge of the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077607\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077607\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heidi Shimamoto shops at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, the 96-year-old’s small farm is sandwiched between the highway and a residential neighborhood that sprouted over the decades as developers bought up neighboring farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was closing in, closing in, closing in, and there was nothing we could do about it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, homes in the area sell for well above $1 million to tech workers drawn in part by easy access to the highway. The orchards that helped sustain generations of Cosentinos, however, some years fail to break even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077605\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077605 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A drone photo of the farm and a family photo hang on the wall at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The situation we’re living in today is the product of decisions that were made not just 10, 20 years ago, but 50, 60, even 70 years ago,” Anbinder said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as a range of factors constrained housing supply, the region’s economy continued to boom, bringing in more residents and driving up demand and prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 50 years ago, you can start to see a very clear upward movement in housing prices that deviates from the rest of the country by California, and also even more so by the Bay Area,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising housing costs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Around 1970, the median home value in the U.S. was about $20,000. In California, it was roughly $23,000, and in the Bay Area it was higher still — reaching $28,000 in San Francisco, according to the U.S. Census.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 2024, the census found, the median home value in the city was around $1.4 million, compared to less than $400,000 nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077584\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077584 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carolyn Kogura (center right), a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, helps customer Nick Marozick (left) at the cash register at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">rise in real estate values\u003c/a> has far outstripped the growth in average wages, greatly diminishing buying power for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the tech industry has fueled extreme wealth and financial stability for a significant number of residents capable of scooping up much of the available supply of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why is our housing more expensive than anywhere in the country? It’s because we are richer than anywhere in the country, on average,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Home Values on Zillow\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-FmS51\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FmS51/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"486\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kogura and his grown children have been able to maintain family-owned homes in Japantown. But that’s largely because his grandfather and parents were able to buy and pass on properties before prices skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t think his kids would be able to buy their own homes now due to the high prices and property taxes, which he said are exacerbated by investors who buy and sell historic buildings in the area in hopes of redeveloping them and cashing in on the neighborhood’s cachet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Median Income for Select Professions\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-iiZQd\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/iiZQd/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"675\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erika McEntarfer, the former head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and a research scholar at SIEPR, said that while tech wages have long dwarfed those of other professions like nurses, teachers and retail or sales workers, a tech boom in the years following the great financial crisis of 2008 pushed compensation in that industry even higher, with direct impacts on housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can see it in the housing price statistics. You can see it in income data. The Bay Area starts to have housing prices that increase faster than other cities, right as the tech boom is taking off and incomes are also going way up,” McEntarfer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That takeoff in earnings didn’t happen for everybody. The latest U.S. Census data shows median Bay Area tech worker income hovering a little above $180,000 annually in 2024, compared with just over $120,000 for nurses, while teachers and sales workers earned less than half of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tech compensation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rachel Massaro, vice president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a think tank that studies the region, said inequality is “escalating exponentially” in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What high earners are able to pay for a good or service affects what people will charge, Massaro said, which impacts everyone. Tech workers are willing and able to pay more for everyday essentials, from housing to child care, influencing costs for the whole region and exacerbating historic imbalances.[aside postID=news_12078480 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Lede.jpg']This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/13-publications/silicon-valley-index\">Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, an annual snapshot of the region published by the nonprofit, highlighted that investment income — such as dividends from stock portfolios and earnings from rental properties — is “overwhelmingly concentrated among higher-income households,” bringing in $200,000 or more each year. For households earning less than that, “investment income is nearly absent,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those investments, Massaro said, can generate much more income than wages alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, those assets for tech workers can feel like bonuses, making it easier to snap up a rental property or to upgrade to a bigger home, “things that might seem out of reach for a lot of other people in our region,” Massaro said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compounding all of this is the fact that the Bay Area — in addition to being flush with well-paid product managers, engineers, programmers and marketers — has one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the country. Executives and founders like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are some of the 126 billionaires who call the area home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people across the country talk about the wealth gap in terms of the top 1%. But in Silicon Valley, the concentration goes way beyond that. It’s the top 0.001% alone that holds 18% of all of our liquid wealth,” Massaro said. “And the top 1% hold roughly a third. So things are different here, particularly because of billionaire liquid wealth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other indicators reaffirm the Bay Area’s higher cost of living, including data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which researchers from SIEPR analyzed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Far Does $100,000 Go?\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-44DiX\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/44DiX/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"550\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Between 2012 and the pandemic, prices in the Bay Area increased faster than other metros and the nation at large,” researchers at SIEPR said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One way to think of this is that if you make $100,000 in San Francisco, the purchasing power it gives you relative to living in Houston is $85,000,” McEntarfer said. “And relative to living in Birmingham, Alabama, that money would go [as far as] $110,000.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area workers looking to stretch their dollars have fled San Francisco and Silicon Valley for the East Bay and beyond in search of a lower cost of living. But as more people make that move, the limited housing supply has meant rising prices in previously affordable neighborhoods, which has pushed many families out of the region entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Proposition 13\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>McEntarfer said economists sometimes compare housing stock to lasagna, where layers accommodate the different circumstances people experience in their lives and careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s controversial Proposition 13 and high home prices have complicated that notion locally, with many older residents staying in larger homes after their children have moved out and partners have died because downsizing is too expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages is located on 609 North 13th St., in San José, on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For those who have already secured a home in the Bay Area, especially members of the Baby Boomer generation, the nearly 50-year-old Proposition 13 has shielded them from high annual property tax increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enacted in 1978 by California voters frustrated about unpredictable inflationary pressures and increasing property tax bills, Proposition 13 requires the state to assess properties based on their purchase price, not current market value, and caps the annual increase in assessed value at 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It means, for instance, that the buyer of a house who purchased the property in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/prop-13/\">pays dramatically more\u003c/a> in property taxes than their neighbor who bought a comparable home in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077591\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077591\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dried pasta and sauce are sold at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The law benefits residential and commercial property owners, but disincentivizes them from moving and severely \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11701044/how-proposition-13-transformed-neighborhood-public-schools-throughout-california\">limits funding for schools\u003c/a> and other municipal services, prompting officials to more frequently ask local voters for tax increases and bond measures.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>“It definitely transfers the burden of paying for all of the expensive services that we have to pay for in communities to the younger up-and-coming working families,” said Kelly Snider, a developer and professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Louis Chiaramonte, owner of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages, poses for a portrait at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some analyses have shown that Proposition 13 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911156/prop-13-offers-bigger-tax-breaks-to-homeowners-in-wealthy-white-neighborhoods\">disproportionately benefits white and wealthier homeowners\u003c/a> in higher-value neighborhoods because the difference between their homes’ assessed value and market value is greater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The upshot, McEntarfer said, is that in the Bay Area, “even relatively well-off working professionals like the nurses, educators, people with good middle-class jobs, they can’t afford to buy a house anymore, so they’re renting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Average rental rates in the San José and San Francisco metro areas hover around $3,000 a month for apartments, and about $4,200 a month for single-family homes, the Silicon Valley index reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077594\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A.J. Fernandez makes a sandwich at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A.J. Fernandez pays far less than that — just $600 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s the grand-nephew of Louis Chiaramonte, the 81-year-old proprietor of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José’s Northside neighborhood, which has operated for 118 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chiaramonte said people of his generation could buy a home “even with a regular type of job where you didn’t have to have a special education or special talents,” but Fernandez said he “couldn’t do that in my lifetime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Share of Super-Commuters\" aria-label=\"Grouped column chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-sYKh5\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sYKh5/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"601\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 34-year-old, who works crafting the deli’s housemade Italian sausage sandwiches, rents a room in a family-owned home with his grandmother. “They charge me very modestly, and even then, it’s hard to live in the Bay Area,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s this huge crunch in terms of how expensive it is to just simply have a roof over your head,” said Stasia Hansen, the research and policy director for \u003ca href=\"https://workingeastbay.org/\">East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that advocates for economic, racial, and social justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hansen said that when the pinch of increasing housing costs pushes people farther from the region’s major job centers, it disconnects them from their families and communities and adds to their transportation costs as commutes increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077592\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077592\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Old photos of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages from the 1920s and onward are hung on a shelf at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving from bigger cities like Oakland to smaller burbs in Contra Costa and Solano counties also means tenants often give up renter protections, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One consequence of all that movement has been an explosion of supercommuters, people who commute more than an hour to their workplaces. In the Bay Area in 2019, just under 9% of regional workers identified as supercommuters, according to U.S. Census data, nearly double the national rate at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pandemic-driven remote work wave “took the edge off of the number of supercommuters in the Bay Area,” McEntarfer said, but the percentage of these commuters in the region in 2024 was still well above the national average.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Increasing strain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As more people fan out in search of housing they can afford, that puts pressure on lower-income neighborhoods and the people who live there. Black workers have historically been underrepresented in tech and other white-collar sectors, Hansen said. They are also more likely, according to the index, to be paid less even when they do hold the same degrees and jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About half of Black workers in the East Bay were considered rent burdened, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058985\">an October report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center. More than four in every 10 Latino workers were rent-burdened, compared to about a third of white renters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Twenty-four-year-old Kassandra Gutierrez embraces her 4-year-old son Esteban while getting him ready for school at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kassandra Gutierrez said the financial strain of trying to stay in the Bay Area has taken a huge toll on her emotional well-being. She works full-time and is a single parent to a 4-year-old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been trying to see if I can get a second job just to make sure I can maintain a roof over my son’s head. It’s very mentally frustrating, mentally draining,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutierrez, 24, is a case worker at a mental health care agency in Oakland, where she serves up to 30 clients at a time. Despite living in an affordable apartment complex in Richmond, she worries she could face eviction because she’s struggling to pay a recent $250 increase in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078834\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078834\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kassandra Gutierrez, a single mother, gets ready at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raised in Oakland, she said, “everything was easier” when she was younger, and it’s been painful to see the costs of daily life spiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first started driving, gas was like $2.50, so filling up [my car]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>wasn’t such an issue. Just seeing that increase in gas, seeing an increase in groceries, just buying a pack of strawberries is already almost 10 bucks, or a gallon of milk is six bucks,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a fast increase that no one can really catch up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What comes next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Walker, the Berkeley professor emeritus, said the inequality gripping the Bay Area is difficult to escape without drastic action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What comes next? Well, nothing. It’ll just be more of the same unless you get a mass popular movement and significant political change. We need to reclaim our state and reclaim our country from the rich,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He suggested everything from higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, to stricter AI regulation and more subsidized housing like the public housing projects of the New Deal era that helped house the burgeoning workforce of the Bay Area after WWI. A proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires in the state has gained momentum in recent months but faces vehement opposition from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/business/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-opposition-6a00047d?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcxAnMF28subEWffDfgqSmdc38fyPNQOMOVQdP7pWka8zRT2Z8xERxYnwFSNLk%3D&gaa_ts=69c6c184&gaa_sig=tcbkMNY46yjBYaXnaTCAb1Os9mLrNtN7ZWT_ZDJ86L2LPBzWIWU-my8nNz26ctCDKI4uHEyUIv61kij89en1Cw%3D%3D\">subjects of the tax\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12069608 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/019_KQED_RichmondHousing_08162022_qed.jpg']McEntarfer, who moved from Washington, D.C., to the Bay Area in the fall and lived in accessory dwelling units before finding an apartment, said she loves the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really easy to see why the area is in high demand,” she said. “There is great weather, natural beauty and a lot of jobs. There are very few places in the U.S. that are blessed with all three of those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those blessings come with a downside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Silicon Valley, San Francisco — they’ve created an enormous number of jobs, but they haven’t built enough housing to house all of those workers. And it’s pushing up prices, it’s pushing people to take very long commutes to try and find some affordable housing,” she said. “Consistently, what you hear on the East Coast about San Francisco and the Bay Area is that it’s lovely but it’s unaffordable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Kogura, whose family business is approaching the century mark in Japantown, the rising costs are eroding the close-knit neighborhood he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our people know each other, and it’s a real small community,” he said. “But we’re losing that, and it’s almost inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ebaldassari\">\u003cem>Erin Baldassari\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Housing, Tech and Taxes: 50 Years of Unaffordability in the Bay Area | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">How We Get By\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">full series here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The carefully curated flower pots, matcha mixing bowls and Buddhist prayer beads at Kogura Co. in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José’s\u003c/a> Japantown have drawn shoppers for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Kogura’s family has operated the Japanese gift and home goods store, now near the corner of Jackson and North Sixth streets, since his grandfather Kohei Kogura started the company in 1928.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the decades, the store’s inventory has shifted — from radios and sewing machines to home goods and gifts — mirroring the changes unfolding outside its doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as the wares have changed over the years, so has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904788/san-jose-japantown-changes-minato-gombei-shuei-do-santo-market\">Japantown\u003c/a>: evolving from a working-class neighborhood to a haven of high-priced apartments as handsomely paid tech workers and developers have flocked to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As I look at folks that are moving into our neighborhood,” Kogura said, “the only people who can afford to move into the neighborhood right now are the high-tech.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the street from his shop is Sixth and Jackson, a 518-apartment complex opened two years ago that lists studios for rent beginning at roughly $3,000 per month, climbing to roughly $11,000 for the highest-end three-bedroom units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sponsors of our Little League teams were the Plumbers, the Carpenters, the Teamsters,” Kogura, 70, recalled as he walked the aisles of his family’s shop on a sunny Tuesday in March and reflected on his upbringing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077577 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richard Kogura, a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, poses for a portrait at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you needed a job, there was always work because of the canneries,” he said, referring to companies like Del Monte that once anchored the local economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those jobs are gone. In their place: a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/category/silicon-valley\">tech-driven economy\u003c/a> that brought immense wealth — and costs that many longtime residents can no longer afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past half-century, the Bay Area has transformed from a region where working- and middle-class families could build stable lives into one of the most expensive places in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That shift was driven by the collision of explosive tech-fueled wealth with decades of constrained housing growth, shaped by local opposition to development, environmental regulation and tax policies like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/proposition-13\">Proposition 13\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077583 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cards made by Tracie Kogura, Richard Kogura’s daughter, are sold at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The result is a region where soaring home prices and rents have outpaced wages, deepened inequality and pushed longtime residents to the margins or out altogether — forces now \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952476/san-jose-japantown-photo-night-cukui\">reshaping communities like San José’s Japantown\u003c/a> and affecting the people struggling to remain in them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powered by decades of tech expansion, limited housing construction and policies that restrict turnover and development, the region’s cost of living first got out of sync with the rest of the country around 50 years ago, experts say, with more recent tech booms only furthering sky-high costs and wide disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bay Area is rich and prosperous, and that creates a very high demand for housing, and that drives up prices,” said Richard Walker, professor emeritus of geography at UC Berkeley and an expert on California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spurning growth\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the 1970s, communities across the Bay Area pushed back against rapid development, reshaping how — and whether — new housing would be built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hard shift toward anti-growth policies and environmental regulation flourished, as residents fought displacement and sprawl caused by major urban and suburban development efforts, such as highways and commercial projects. Their effects linger today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers browse at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In the same way that California was the poster child for uncontrolled growth in the first two and a half decades of the post-war era from the mid-1940s to the mid to late 1960s, not coincidentally, it is the epicenter of the most concerted and most politically successful effort to reign in growth into the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s,” said Jacob Anbinder, a research fellow at Cornell University, who is writing a book about the roots of America’s housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until last year, when the Legislature enacted major reforms, the California Environmental Quality Act — the state’s landmark environmental law, passed in 1970 — hamstrung projects of all stripes. Meanwhile, a Byzantine patchwork of county and local policies slows down and limits new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region’s collective failure to build enough homes has made it tougher for everyday workers to secure reasonably priced housing. Over the last nearly 50 years, the Bay Area has had one of the lowest permitting rates for new homes per capita in the nation, compared to other major metros, according to an analysis by the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research\u003c/a> performed for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Housing Permits, 1980-Present\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-MXDLW\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/MXDLW/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"575\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phil Cosentino’s livelihood has been shaped by the rise and fall of that pro-building ethos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After World War II, as defense and technology companies grew and hastened the rise of Silicon Valley, developers built out suburbs that sprawled farther and farther from job centers, prompting the construction of more roads and highways to transport more workers to offices throughout San José and the Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cosentino’s father opened a family farm in South San José 81 years ago, the property stretched 10 acres. But it was whittled to about two acres after California officials used eminent domain to buy the land in the 1950s to build what is now Highway 85, which cuts along the edge of the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077607\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077607\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heidi Shimamoto shops at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, the 96-year-old’s small farm is sandwiched between the highway and a residential neighborhood that sprouted over the decades as developers bought up neighboring farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was closing in, closing in, closing in, and there was nothing we could do about it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, homes in the area sell for well above $1 million to tech workers drawn in part by easy access to the highway. The orchards that helped sustain generations of Cosentinos, however, some years fail to break even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077605\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077605 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A drone photo of the farm and a family photo hang on the wall at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The situation we’re living in today is the product of decisions that were made not just 10, 20 years ago, but 50, 60, even 70 years ago,” Anbinder said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as a range of factors constrained housing supply, the region’s economy continued to boom, bringing in more residents and driving up demand and prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 50 years ago, you can start to see a very clear upward movement in housing prices that deviates from the rest of the country by California, and also even more so by the Bay Area,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising housing costs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Around 1970, the median home value in the U.S. was about $20,000. In California, it was roughly $23,000, and in the Bay Area it was higher still — reaching $28,000 in San Francisco, according to the U.S. Census.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 2024, the census found, the median home value in the city was around $1.4 million, compared to less than $400,000 nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077584\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077584 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carolyn Kogura (center right), a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, helps customer Nick Marozick (left) at the cash register at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">rise in real estate values\u003c/a> has far outstripped the growth in average wages, greatly diminishing buying power for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the tech industry has fueled extreme wealth and financial stability for a significant number of residents capable of scooping up much of the available supply of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why is our housing more expensive than anywhere in the country? It’s because we are richer than anywhere in the country, on average,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Home Values on Zillow\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-FmS51\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FmS51/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"486\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kogura and his grown children have been able to maintain family-owned homes in Japantown. But that’s largely because his grandfather and parents were able to buy and pass on properties before prices skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t think his kids would be able to buy their own homes now due to the high prices and property taxes, which he said are exacerbated by investors who buy and sell historic buildings in the area in hopes of redeveloping them and cashing in on the neighborhood’s cachet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Median Income for Select Professions\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-iiZQd\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/iiZQd/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"675\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erika McEntarfer, the former head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and a research scholar at SIEPR, said that while tech wages have long dwarfed those of other professions like nurses, teachers and retail or sales workers, a tech boom in the years following the great financial crisis of 2008 pushed compensation in that industry even higher, with direct impacts on housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can see it in the housing price statistics. You can see it in income data. The Bay Area starts to have housing prices that increase faster than other cities, right as the tech boom is taking off and incomes are also going way up,” McEntarfer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That takeoff in earnings didn’t happen for everybody. The latest U.S. Census data shows median Bay Area tech worker income hovering a little above $180,000 annually in 2024, compared with just over $120,000 for nurses, while teachers and sales workers earned less than half of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tech compensation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rachel Massaro, vice president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a think tank that studies the region, said inequality is “escalating exponentially” in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What high earners are able to pay for a good or service affects what people will charge, Massaro said, which impacts everyone. Tech workers are willing and able to pay more for everyday essentials, from housing to child care, influencing costs for the whole region and exacerbating historic imbalances.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/13-publications/silicon-valley-index\">Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, an annual snapshot of the region published by the nonprofit, highlighted that investment income — such as dividends from stock portfolios and earnings from rental properties — is “overwhelmingly concentrated among higher-income households,” bringing in $200,000 or more each year. For households earning less than that, “investment income is nearly absent,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those investments, Massaro said, can generate much more income than wages alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, those assets for tech workers can feel like bonuses, making it easier to snap up a rental property or to upgrade to a bigger home, “things that might seem out of reach for a lot of other people in our region,” Massaro said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compounding all of this is the fact that the Bay Area — in addition to being flush with well-paid product managers, engineers, programmers and marketers — has one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the country. Executives and founders like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are some of the 126 billionaires who call the area home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people across the country talk about the wealth gap in terms of the top 1%. But in Silicon Valley, the concentration goes way beyond that. It’s the top 0.001% alone that holds 18% of all of our liquid wealth,” Massaro said. “And the top 1% hold roughly a third. So things are different here, particularly because of billionaire liquid wealth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other indicators reaffirm the Bay Area’s higher cost of living, including data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which researchers from SIEPR analyzed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Far Does $100,000 Go?\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-44DiX\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/44DiX/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"550\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Between 2012 and the pandemic, prices in the Bay Area increased faster than other metros and the nation at large,” researchers at SIEPR said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One way to think of this is that if you make $100,000 in San Francisco, the purchasing power it gives you relative to living in Houston is $85,000,” McEntarfer said. “And relative to living in Birmingham, Alabama, that money would go [as far as] $110,000.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area workers looking to stretch their dollars have fled San Francisco and Silicon Valley for the East Bay and beyond in search of a lower cost of living. But as more people make that move, the limited housing supply has meant rising prices in previously affordable neighborhoods, which has pushed many families out of the region entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Proposition 13\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>McEntarfer said economists sometimes compare housing stock to lasagna, where layers accommodate the different circumstances people experience in their lives and careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s controversial Proposition 13 and high home prices have complicated that notion locally, with many older residents staying in larger homes after their children have moved out and partners have died because downsizing is too expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages is located on 609 North 13th St., in San José, on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For those who have already secured a home in the Bay Area, especially members of the Baby Boomer generation, the nearly 50-year-old Proposition 13 has shielded them from high annual property tax increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enacted in 1978 by California voters frustrated about unpredictable inflationary pressures and increasing property tax bills, Proposition 13 requires the state to assess properties based on their purchase price, not current market value, and caps the annual increase in assessed value at 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It means, for instance, that the buyer of a house who purchased the property in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/prop-13/\">pays dramatically more\u003c/a> in property taxes than their neighbor who bought a comparable home in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077591\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077591\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dried pasta and sauce are sold at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The law benefits residential and commercial property owners, but disincentivizes them from moving and severely \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11701044/how-proposition-13-transformed-neighborhood-public-schools-throughout-california\">limits funding for schools\u003c/a> and other municipal services, prompting officials to more frequently ask local voters for tax increases and bond measures.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>“It definitely transfers the burden of paying for all of the expensive services that we have to pay for in communities to the younger up-and-coming working families,” said Kelly Snider, a developer and professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Louis Chiaramonte, owner of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages, poses for a portrait at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some analyses have shown that Proposition 13 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911156/prop-13-offers-bigger-tax-breaks-to-homeowners-in-wealthy-white-neighborhoods\">disproportionately benefits white and wealthier homeowners\u003c/a> in higher-value neighborhoods because the difference between their homes’ assessed value and market value is greater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The upshot, McEntarfer said, is that in the Bay Area, “even relatively well-off working professionals like the nurses, educators, people with good middle-class jobs, they can’t afford to buy a house anymore, so they’re renting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Average rental rates in the San José and San Francisco metro areas hover around $3,000 a month for apartments, and about $4,200 a month for single-family homes, the Silicon Valley index reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077594\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A.J. Fernandez makes a sandwich at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A.J. Fernandez pays far less than that — just $600 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s the grand-nephew of Louis Chiaramonte, the 81-year-old proprietor of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José’s Northside neighborhood, which has operated for 118 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chiaramonte said people of his generation could buy a home “even with a regular type of job where you didn’t have to have a special education or special talents,” but Fernandez said he “couldn’t do that in my lifetime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Share of Super-Commuters\" aria-label=\"Grouped column chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-sYKh5\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sYKh5/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"601\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 34-year-old, who works crafting the deli’s housemade Italian sausage sandwiches, rents a room in a family-owned home with his grandmother. “They charge me very modestly, and even then, it’s hard to live in the Bay Area,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s this huge crunch in terms of how expensive it is to just simply have a roof over your head,” said Stasia Hansen, the research and policy director for \u003ca href=\"https://workingeastbay.org/\">East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that advocates for economic, racial, and social justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hansen said that when the pinch of increasing housing costs pushes people farther from the region’s major job centers, it disconnects them from their families and communities and adds to their transportation costs as commutes increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077592\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077592\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Old photos of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages from the 1920s and onward are hung on a shelf at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving from bigger cities like Oakland to smaller burbs in Contra Costa and Solano counties also means tenants often give up renter protections, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One consequence of all that movement has been an explosion of supercommuters, people who commute more than an hour to their workplaces. In the Bay Area in 2019, just under 9% of regional workers identified as supercommuters, according to U.S. Census data, nearly double the national rate at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pandemic-driven remote work wave “took the edge off of the number of supercommuters in the Bay Area,” McEntarfer said, but the percentage of these commuters in the region in 2024 was still well above the national average.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Increasing strain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As more people fan out in search of housing they can afford, that puts pressure on lower-income neighborhoods and the people who live there. Black workers have historically been underrepresented in tech and other white-collar sectors, Hansen said. They are also more likely, according to the index, to be paid less even when they do hold the same degrees and jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About half of Black workers in the East Bay were considered rent burdened, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058985\">an October report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center. More than four in every 10 Latino workers were rent-burdened, compared to about a third of white renters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Twenty-four-year-old Kassandra Gutierrez embraces her 4-year-old son Esteban while getting him ready for school at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kassandra Gutierrez said the financial strain of trying to stay in the Bay Area has taken a huge toll on her emotional well-being. She works full-time and is a single parent to a 4-year-old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been trying to see if I can get a second job just to make sure I can maintain a roof over my son’s head. It’s very mentally frustrating, mentally draining,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutierrez, 24, is a case worker at a mental health care agency in Oakland, where she serves up to 30 clients at a time. Despite living in an affordable apartment complex in Richmond, she worries she could face eviction because she’s struggling to pay a recent $250 increase in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078834\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078834\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kassandra Gutierrez, a single mother, gets ready at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raised in Oakland, she said, “everything was easier” when she was younger, and it’s been painful to see the costs of daily life spiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first started driving, gas was like $2.50, so filling up [my car]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>wasn’t such an issue. Just seeing that increase in gas, seeing an increase in groceries, just buying a pack of strawberries is already almost 10 bucks, or a gallon of milk is six bucks,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a fast increase that no one can really catch up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What comes next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Walker, the Berkeley professor emeritus, said the inequality gripping the Bay Area is difficult to escape without drastic action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What comes next? Well, nothing. It’ll just be more of the same unless you get a mass popular movement and significant political change. We need to reclaim our state and reclaim our country from the rich,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He suggested everything from higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, to stricter AI regulation and more subsidized housing like the public housing projects of the New Deal era that helped house the burgeoning workforce of the Bay Area after WWI. A proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires in the state has gained momentum in recent months but faces vehement opposition from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/business/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-opposition-6a00047d?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcxAnMF28subEWffDfgqSmdc38fyPNQOMOVQdP7pWka8zRT2Z8xERxYnwFSNLk%3D&gaa_ts=69c6c184&gaa_sig=tcbkMNY46yjBYaXnaTCAb1Os9mLrNtN7ZWT_ZDJ86L2LPBzWIWU-my8nNz26ctCDKI4uHEyUIv61kij89en1Cw%3D%3D\">subjects of the tax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>McEntarfer, who moved from Washington, D.C., to the Bay Area in the fall and lived in accessory dwelling units before finding an apartment, said she loves the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really easy to see why the area is in high demand,” she said. “There is great weather, natural beauty and a lot of jobs. There are very few places in the U.S. that are blessed with all three of those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those blessings come with a downside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Silicon Valley, San Francisco — they’ve created an enormous number of jobs, but they haven’t built enough housing to house all of those workers. And it’s pushing up prices, it’s pushing people to take very long commutes to try and find some affordable housing,” she said. “Consistently, what you hear on the East Coast about San Francisco and the Bay Area is that it’s lovely but it’s unaffordable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Kogura, whose family business is approaching the century mark in Japantown, the rising costs are eroding the close-knit neighborhood he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our people know each other, and it’s a real small community,” he said. “But we’re losing that, and it’s almost inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ebaldassari\">\u003cem>Erin Baldassari\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "san-jose-unified-plans-to-close-5-schools",
"title": "San José Unified Plans to Close 5 Schools",
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"headTitle": "San José Unified Plans to Close 5 Schools | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003cspan data-slate-fragment=\"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\">Last week, the San José Unified Board of Education voted 3-2 to close 5 elementary schools and relocate another. District leaders, citing declining enrollment, say that these closures will make it easier to provide adequate services and programs to students. But many parents are furious and are vowing to fight back.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"sc-kpDqfm eIbtbk\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-fragment=\"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\">\n\u003cli data-slate-node=\"element\">\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-cPiKLX jzJBXG\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077803/san-jose-school-district-moves-to-close-5-elementary-schools\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cu>San José School District Moves to Close 5 Elementary Schools | KQED\u003c/u>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-slate-node=\"element\">\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-cPiKLX jzJBXG\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077640/alleging-discrimination-san-jose-parents-try-to-fight-school-closures\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cu>Alleging Discrimination, San José Parents Try to Fight School Closures | KQED\u003c/u>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-slate-node=\"element\">\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">Email us: \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-cPiKLX jzJBXG\" href=\"mailto:thebay@kqed.org\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cu>thebay@kqed.org\u003c/u>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC2492719115\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz-Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Bay Area public schools are really struggling right now. And even if your local school district isn’t struggling financially, it’s probably facing an enrollment decline. And in San Jose, one school district says low enrollment is prompting them to close schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:00:29] We’re here tonight because we have a responsibility to lead with care, with clarity and with courage. Leadership sometimes requires us to acknowledge painful realities even when the path forward is difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:43] Last week, San Jose Unified’s Board of Education voted three to two to close five elementary schools and relocate another. And it’s making a lot of parents really angry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Public comment \u003c/strong>[00:00:58] We overwhelmingly do not want schools to close. We cannot be more clear. We don’t need to go fast. Don’t make this mistake. Vote no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:07] Today, school closures at San Jose Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:26] How would you describe San Jose Unified, especially compared to other districts in the Bay Area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:01:31] San Jose Unified doesn’t cover the entire city, there’s actually more than a dozen school districts that make up San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:41] Katie DeBenedetti is a reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:01:47] Also it’s in an urban area like San Francisco, like Oakland, but it’s smaller than both of those districts. It’s about 25,000 students. It’s made up of about 40 schools. More than half of those are elementary schools. And the district is predominantly Latino. About 43% of the students qualify as low income, which is. Again, slightly lower than some neighboring urban districts. Like other districts around the Bay Area, San Jose Unified is struggling with declining enrollment, but it doesn’t affect their budget in the same way. The district is unique in the way that it’s funded. This is probably one of the biggest differences between San Jose and other districts in the Bay area. They actually are primarily funded by their own property taxes. Basically, this means that while their finances are still impacted by the enrollment decline and other factors that impact other schools across the state, they’re a little more stable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:00] And considering how expensive it is to live in San Jose, it sounds like perhaps the district might be doing actually pretty well financially or okay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:03:10] I think they’re doing okay. They just approved their second interim budget report, which is kind of like the check-in mid-year of how the district’s doing, and they’re gonna meet their financial obligations. And so they’re kind of doing, yeah, okay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:29] And yeah, that seems pretty unique compared to many of the other districts that we’ve talked with you about on the show. So that said, things have been blowing up there a little bit after a San Jose Unified School Board meeting last week, what were they meeting to do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School Board Meeting \u003c/strong>[00:03:49] We’re now gonna move on to item I-2 resolution 2026-03-2601, on consolidating existing elementary schools, redrawing attendance boundaries and relocating special programs. Before we do…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:04:00] The San Jose Unified School Board has approved closing five elementary schools and moving a sixth to a new campus. The schools that are going to close are Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas, and Terrell Elementary Schools, and then they’re relocating Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus. And they said that they chose these schools because they were lower enrolled. And they also said that when they were deciding which schools not to close, they took into account schools that had special day programs or bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:34] I guess the question coming to my mind is, if the district isn’t struggling necessarily financially like other districts around the Bay Area, why close schools? What’s the district’s rationale for why this is happening?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:04:50] Yeah, I think, like you mentioned, like, we usually see a district kind of backed into a corner where they’re like, We are falling off a fiscal cliff, and so we need to do this right now. Right. But that’s not the case here. San Jose Unified has really put this on declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:05:09] If we do not act, we are not preserving quality as it exists today. Superintendent Nancy Alberran spoke about this at the school board meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:05:19] We are allowing the effects of declining enrollment to continue shaping student experiences in ways that limit opportunity, stretch resources, and make it harder to deliver the excellent education our community expects and our students deserve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:05:37] Since 2017, they’ve lost 6,000 students, which is 20% of their total enrollment. And this is because of the same factors that are affecting the whole state. Birth rates are down. The cost of living has forced a lot of families out. And what’s interesting is in Santa Clara County, enrollment in charter schools is actually also down about the same amount in the last decade. All that to say, they say that because they have this enrollment problem, elementary schools are falling below 350 students. They have 12 elementary schools with less than that number. And when they have fewer students, it means that they can put fewer staff at that school. And then when they had fewer staff at the school, they have to cut back on programs like art or music, science. And they might even have to pursue combination classes, combining grades with one teacher. And so basically the district is saying that the quality of the school will suffer if they don’t consolidate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:06:43] Every student deserves access to quality instruction, caring adults, robust programs, collaboration among teachers, and the kind of school community that helps them thrive. That is what this recommendation is trying to protect and strengthen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:00] I mean, obviously, anytime you close a school, it’s gonna cause a lot of ruckus. What has the reaction been from parents in San Jose?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:07:10] I think there was a lot of anger, a lot of disappointment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Paula Gisela-Silver \u003c/strong>[00:07:16] Hello, my name is Paula Gisela-Silver. I am appalled and saddened. I’m confused as to why you guys would want to remove Gardener and Empire. Shame on all of you. This is putting the kids at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:07:33] A lot of parents kind of saying that this is going to rip their kid from a community that they have been a part of for years. Their friends are at this school. They know the teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tatiana Pineda \u003c/strong>[00:07:47] My name is Tatiana Pineda and I am a TWBI teacher and also a TWBI parent. Throughout the north side in downtown San Jose, parents are not just frustrated, they feel that their voices have not been heard and that their concerns about the proposed school closures are not being taken seriously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:08:07] There was just a lot of emotion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ethan Dutra \u003c/strong>[00:08:15] I’m Ethan Dutra, a fifth grade student at Gardner Elementary. My sister goes to Gardner as well. She has a best friend and a favorite teacher. Are you willing, are you really willing to end that? I don’t know what this is, what you’re doing, but it isn’t right. Save Gardner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:08:36] Also a lot are worried about logistics, you know, how are they gonna be able to drop off and pick up their kid if the new school that they’re assigned has different schedule times? Is it gonna be a longer commute? If their kid walks, how is their route going to be different? And is it going to safe for them to walk to school?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dina Solnit \u003c/strong>[00:08:54] My name is Dina Solnit, I’m a teacher at Canoas Elementary, transportation is a real barrier for our families. Many of our families live far from the proposed schools. If a student misses a bus, their only options may be an unsafe walk or missing school altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:09:10] The district is guaranteeing a year of transportation for students who live outside of like, a one and a half mile radius from their new school. But we don’t know if that will continue beyond that. And so I think there’s just a lot of nervousness about, you know, what will this look like?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:26] And I know there’s also some parents who are arguing that this will actually disproportionately affect lower income students of color, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:09:35] Yes, so that’s kind of the big argument from parents here is that all five of the schools that have been approved for closure are Title I schools, which mean they serve a significant number of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. And all of them have higher Latino populations than the district average. Four of them have more than 70% Latino student bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Elizabeth \u003c/strong>[00:10:02] Hi, my name is Elizabeth. I’ve lived in this community for the last 12 years, and I’m against these school closures. Disproportionately low-income immigrant, Latinx, black, and disabled students will suffer more with these school closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:16] And so a coalition of parents has filed a legal complaint with the school district alleging discrimination in the closure process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>David Friedlander \u003c/strong>[00:10:27] The kids in these schools deserve a district that solves hard problems with their families and not over their objections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:36] David Friedlander is a parent of a student at Hammer Montessori, and he’s kind of leading this legal challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>David Friedlander \u003c/strong>[00:10:43] We haven’t seen that leadership tonight, and certainly tonight’s vote doesn’t change that. So we’ll be at the next board meeting and the one after that and the after that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:53] The district says that some of these schools with higher percentages of disadvantaged students have lower enrollment on average because of prior consolidations, demographic changes, and the cost of living crisis already. It seems like parents\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:09] Students are also really upset about the process of how they went about deciding to close these schools. Is that right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:11:16] Yeah, I think some parents wish that they had known what the schools were going to be sooner. I don’t think that schools started being named as options for closure until like February. So I think it can feel really abrupt. I think also there’s like questions about the language that’s used. When you started this process in September, it’s all, we’re looking at our portfolio. We’re thinking about the ideal school size and that all. Sounds very different than we are going to close schools. And I think it has felt, you know, pretty quick and these are changes that are taking effect in a matter of months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:56] Yeah, when exactly will these schools close? Is it gonna be for the next school year?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:12:00] Yes, the schools will close at the end of the year and then the students will move to their new campuses in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:11] I think what’s interesting about this story is that it’s about schools closing, not necessarily because of a lack of funds. How would you say this story fits in with other districts that you’ve covered here in the Bay Area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:12:26] The enrollment decline issue is the same. Having less students in your district and having less students in your classroom causes major problems for school districts that honestly, they don’t really have a solution for right now. The state is saying that they expect enrollment to continue declining in the next decade. So it’s kind of an open-ended question of how fundamentally are school districts in the state going to deal with this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:59] Katie, it sounds like this process has sort of led to a lot of mistrust and frustration among parents. How will the district know that this decision was all worth it despite all the anger?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:13:13] One good indicator will be, will they see kind of a mass exodus of families who are angry, like, will this further their enrollment decline? And two, I think, like in a few years, are they seeing that all of the elementary schools are still operating, have, you know, these thriving arts, music, enrichment programs that they’re saying are so important? Do they have full classrooms with enough teachers, campus supervisors, librarians? Or are they seeing more schools fall below the kind of 300 student threshold because they are continuing to have enrollment decline and will this need to happen again? Yeah, will this make things?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:53] Actually better for the schools, yeah. Well, Katie, thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:14:02] Thanks so much.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"headline": "San José Unified Plans to Close 5 Schools",
"datePublished": "2026-04-03T03:00:57-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003cspan data-slate-fragment=\"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\">Last week, the San José Unified Board of Education voted 3-2 to close 5 elementary schools and relocate another. District leaders, citing declining enrollment, say that these closures will make it easier to provide adequate services and programs to students. But many parents are furious and are vowing to fight back.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"sc-kpDqfm eIbtbk\" data-slate-node=\"element\" 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data-slate-node=\"element\">\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-cPiKLX jzJBXG\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077803/san-jose-school-district-moves-to-close-5-elementary-schools\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cu>San José School District Moves to Close 5 Elementary Schools | KQED\u003c/u>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-slate-node=\"element\">\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-cPiKLX jzJBXG\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077640/alleging-discrimination-san-jose-parents-try-to-fight-school-closures\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cu>Alleging Discrimination, San José Parents Try to Fight School Closures | KQED\u003c/u>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-slate-node=\"element\">\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">Email us: \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-cPiKLX jzJBXG\" href=\"mailto:thebay@kqed.org\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dAlyuH hNlDMA\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">\u003cu>thebay@kqed.org\u003c/u>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC2492719115\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz-Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Bay Area public schools are really struggling right now. And even if your local school district isn’t struggling financially, it’s probably facing an enrollment decline. And in San Jose, one school district says low enrollment is prompting them to close schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:00:29] We’re here tonight because we have a responsibility to lead with care, with clarity and with courage. Leadership sometimes requires us to acknowledge painful realities even when the path forward is difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:43] Last week, San Jose Unified’s Board of Education voted three to two to close five elementary schools and relocate another. And it’s making a lot of parents really angry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Public comment \u003c/strong>[00:00:58] We overwhelmingly do not want schools to close. We cannot be more clear. We don’t need to go fast. Don’t make this mistake. Vote no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:07] Today, school closures at San Jose Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:26] How would you describe San Jose Unified, especially compared to other districts in the Bay Area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:01:31] San Jose Unified doesn’t cover the entire city, there’s actually more than a dozen school districts that make up San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:41] Katie DeBenedetti is a reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:01:47] Also it’s in an urban area like San Francisco, like Oakland, but it’s smaller than both of those districts. It’s about 25,000 students. It’s made up of about 40 schools. More than half of those are elementary schools. And the district is predominantly Latino. About 43% of the students qualify as low income, which is. Again, slightly lower than some neighboring urban districts. Like other districts around the Bay Area, San Jose Unified is struggling with declining enrollment, but it doesn’t affect their budget in the same way. The district is unique in the way that it’s funded. This is probably one of the biggest differences between San Jose and other districts in the Bay area. They actually are primarily funded by their own property taxes. Basically, this means that while their finances are still impacted by the enrollment decline and other factors that impact other schools across the state, they’re a little more stable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:00] And considering how expensive it is to live in San Jose, it sounds like perhaps the district might be doing actually pretty well financially or okay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:03:10] I think they’re doing okay. They just approved their second interim budget report, which is kind of like the check-in mid-year of how the district’s doing, and they’re gonna meet their financial obligations. And so they’re kind of doing, yeah, okay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:29] And yeah, that seems pretty unique compared to many of the other districts that we’ve talked with you about on the show. So that said, things have been blowing up there a little bit after a San Jose Unified School Board meeting last week, what were they meeting to do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School Board Meeting \u003c/strong>[00:03:49] We’re now gonna move on to item I-2 resolution 2026-03-2601, on consolidating existing elementary schools, redrawing attendance boundaries and relocating special programs. Before we do…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:04:00] The San Jose Unified School Board has approved closing five elementary schools and moving a sixth to a new campus. The schools that are going to close are Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas, and Terrell Elementary Schools, and then they’re relocating Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus. And they said that they chose these schools because they were lower enrolled. And they also said that when they were deciding which schools not to close, they took into account schools that had special day programs or bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:34] I guess the question coming to my mind is, if the district isn’t struggling necessarily financially like other districts around the Bay Area, why close schools? What’s the district’s rationale for why this is happening?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:04:50] Yeah, I think, like you mentioned, like, we usually see a district kind of backed into a corner where they’re like, We are falling off a fiscal cliff, and so we need to do this right now. Right. But that’s not the case here. San Jose Unified has really put this on declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:05:09] If we do not act, we are not preserving quality as it exists today. Superintendent Nancy Alberran spoke about this at the school board meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:05:19] We are allowing the effects of declining enrollment to continue shaping student experiences in ways that limit opportunity, stretch resources, and make it harder to deliver the excellent education our community expects and our students deserve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:05:37] Since 2017, they’ve lost 6,000 students, which is 20% of their total enrollment. And this is because of the same factors that are affecting the whole state. Birth rates are down. The cost of living has forced a lot of families out. And what’s interesting is in Santa Clara County, enrollment in charter schools is actually also down about the same amount in the last decade. All that to say, they say that because they have this enrollment problem, elementary schools are falling below 350 students. They have 12 elementary schools with less than that number. And when they have fewer students, it means that they can put fewer staff at that school. And then when they had fewer staff at the school, they have to cut back on programs like art or music, science. And they might even have to pursue combination classes, combining grades with one teacher. And so basically the district is saying that the quality of the school will suffer if they don’t consolidate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Alberran \u003c/strong>[00:06:43] Every student deserves access to quality instruction, caring adults, robust programs, collaboration among teachers, and the kind of school community that helps them thrive. That is what this recommendation is trying to protect and strengthen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:00] I mean, obviously, anytime you close a school, it’s gonna cause a lot of ruckus. What has the reaction been from parents in San Jose?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:07:10] I think there was a lot of anger, a lot of disappointment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Paula Gisela-Silver \u003c/strong>[00:07:16] Hello, my name is Paula Gisela-Silver. I am appalled and saddened. I’m confused as to why you guys would want to remove Gardener and Empire. Shame on all of you. This is putting the kids at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:07:33] A lot of parents kind of saying that this is going to rip their kid from a community that they have been a part of for years. Their friends are at this school. They know the teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tatiana Pineda \u003c/strong>[00:07:47] My name is Tatiana Pineda and I am a TWBI teacher and also a TWBI parent. Throughout the north side in downtown San Jose, parents are not just frustrated, they feel that their voices have not been heard and that their concerns about the proposed school closures are not being taken seriously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:08:07] There was just a lot of emotion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ethan Dutra \u003c/strong>[00:08:15] I’m Ethan Dutra, a fifth grade student at Gardner Elementary. My sister goes to Gardner as well. She has a best friend and a favorite teacher. Are you willing, are you really willing to end that? I don’t know what this is, what you’re doing, but it isn’t right. Save Gardner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:08:36] Also a lot are worried about logistics, you know, how are they gonna be able to drop off and pick up their kid if the new school that they’re assigned has different schedule times? Is it gonna be a longer commute? If their kid walks, how is their route going to be different? And is it going to safe for them to walk to school?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dina Solnit \u003c/strong>[00:08:54] My name is Dina Solnit, I’m a teacher at Canoas Elementary, transportation is a real barrier for our families. Many of our families live far from the proposed schools. If a student misses a bus, their only options may be an unsafe walk or missing school altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:09:10] The district is guaranteeing a year of transportation for students who live outside of like, a one and a half mile radius from their new school. But we don’t know if that will continue beyond that. And so I think there’s just a lot of nervousness about, you know, what will this look like?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:26] And I know there’s also some parents who are arguing that this will actually disproportionately affect lower income students of color, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:09:35] Yes, so that’s kind of the big argument from parents here is that all five of the schools that have been approved for closure are Title I schools, which mean they serve a significant number of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. And all of them have higher Latino populations than the district average. Four of them have more than 70% Latino student bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Elizabeth \u003c/strong>[00:10:02] Hi, my name is Elizabeth. I’ve lived in this community for the last 12 years, and I’m against these school closures. Disproportionately low-income immigrant, Latinx, black, and disabled students will suffer more with these school closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:16] And so a coalition of parents has filed a legal complaint with the school district alleging discrimination in the closure process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>David Friedlander \u003c/strong>[00:10:27] The kids in these schools deserve a district that solves hard problems with their families and not over their objections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:36] David Friedlander is a parent of a student at Hammer Montessori, and he’s kind of leading this legal challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>David Friedlander \u003c/strong>[00:10:43] We haven’t seen that leadership tonight, and certainly tonight’s vote doesn’t change that. So we’ll be at the next board meeting and the one after that and the after that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:10:53] The district says that some of these schools with higher percentages of disadvantaged students have lower enrollment on average because of prior consolidations, demographic changes, and the cost of living crisis already. It seems like parents\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:09] Students are also really upset about the process of how they went about deciding to close these schools. Is that right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:11:16] Yeah, I think some parents wish that they had known what the schools were going to be sooner. I don’t think that schools started being named as options for closure until like February. So I think it can feel really abrupt. I think also there’s like questions about the language that’s used. When you started this process in September, it’s all, we’re looking at our portfolio. We’re thinking about the ideal school size and that all. Sounds very different than we are going to close schools. And I think it has felt, you know, pretty quick and these are changes that are taking effect in a matter of months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:56] Yeah, when exactly will these schools close? Is it gonna be for the next school year?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:12:00] Yes, the schools will close at the end of the year and then the students will move to their new campuses in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:11] I think what’s interesting about this story is that it’s about schools closing, not necessarily because of a lack of funds. How would you say this story fits in with other districts that you’ve covered here in the Bay Area?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:12:26] The enrollment decline issue is the same. Having less students in your district and having less students in your classroom causes major problems for school districts that honestly, they don’t really have a solution for right now. The state is saying that they expect enrollment to continue declining in the next decade. So it’s kind of an open-ended question of how fundamentally are school districts in the state going to deal with this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:59] Katie, it sounds like this process has sort of led to a lot of mistrust and frustration among parents. How will the district know that this decision was all worth it despite all the anger?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:13:13] One good indicator will be, will they see kind of a mass exodus of families who are angry, like, will this further their enrollment decline? And two, I think, like in a few years, are they seeing that all of the elementary schools are still operating, have, you know, these thriving arts, music, enrichment programs that they’re saying are so important? Do they have full classrooms with enough teachers, campus supervisors, librarians? Or are they seeing more schools fall below the kind of 300 student threshold because they are continuing to have enrollment decline and will this need to happen again? Yeah, will this make things?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:53] Actually better for the schools, yeah. Well, Katie, thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kate DeBenedetti \u003c/strong>[00:14:02] Thanks so much.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area residents were jolted awake by a magnitude 4.6 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/earthquakes\">earthquake\u003c/a> early Thursday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake, which was centered about a mile from Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains, around 1:40 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South Bay residents reported feeling the strongest tremors, with some saying they felt a sharp jolt followed by about 30 seconds of rolling and shaking. Across the Bay Area, the quake’s impacts were felt in San Francisco and Oakland, and as far north as Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was originally recorded as a magnitude of 5.1, but was downgraded to 4.6 by the USGS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early reports indicated little damage and no injuries as a result.[aside postID=news_11999982 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1020x679.jpg']It’s not clear what fault the quake occurred on. The San Andreas Fault, which caused the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the Hayward Fault, which has spurred multiple smaller seismic events over the last year, both run through the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of 8 a.m., no significant aftershocks have been reported. While any earthquake can be a foreshock of a larger one to come, the likelihood is generally quite low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to USGS, there’s about a 25% chance of a magnitude 3.0 or greater quake in the next week, but the likelihood of a stronger 4.0 magnitude quake in that time drops to just 3%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area residents were jolted awake by a magnitude 4.6 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/earthquakes\">earthquake\u003c/a> early Thursday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake, which was centered about a mile from Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains, around 1:40 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South Bay residents reported feeling the strongest tremors, with some saying they felt a sharp jolt followed by about 30 seconds of rolling and shaking. Across the Bay Area, the quake’s impacts were felt in San Francisco and Oakland, and as far north as Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was originally recorded as a magnitude of 5.1, but was downgraded to 4.6 by the USGS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early reports indicated little damage and no injuries as a result.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It’s not clear what fault the quake occurred on. The San Andreas Fault, which caused the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the Hayward Fault, which has spurred multiple smaller seismic events over the last year, both run through the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of 8 a.m., no significant aftershocks have been reported. While any earthquake can be a foreshock of a larger one to come, the likelihood is generally quite low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to USGS, there’s about a 25% chance of a magnitude 3.0 or greater quake in the next week, but the likelihood of a stronger 4.0 magnitude quake in that time drops to just 3%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-jose-school-district-moves-to-close-5-elementary-schools",
"title": "San José School District Moves to Close 5 Elementary Schools",
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"content": "\u003cp>San José’s school district will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077640/alleging-discrimination-san-jose-parents-try-to-fight-school-closures\">shutter five elementary schools\u003c/a> and relocate another at the end of the year, despite pleas from parents and community members to halt the closure process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school board voted three to two late Thursday night in favor of the consolidation plan, which will close Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board Vice President Brian Wheatley and trustee Nicole Gribstad voted against the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would not be honest to suggest that a recommendation like this comes without loss. There is grief and change, especially when it touches schools and neighborhoods that people love,” Superintendent Nancy Albarrán said. “But there is also hope … the goal of this work is to create stronger, more stable, more resource school communities for students now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD staff said it would alert families who will be affected by the closures on Friday and finalize students’ new school assignments by May 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closures come as districts across the Bay Area combat significant enrollment declines. San José Unified School District’s student population has shrunk 20% — a total of 6,000 students — since 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077727\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077727\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gardner Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District staff said that SJUSD cannot continue to provide the necessary resources to fully staff and resource its current number of small campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As schools get smaller, it becomes harder to provide the level of programming, staffing stability, teacher collaboration, student supports and enrichment opportunities that our students deserve,” Albarrán said. “This is not about buildings alone. It is about whether we’re willing to act so that students have access to the kind of school experience we want every child in this district to have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, the district announced a plan to consider school closures, known as the “Schools of Tomorrow” initiative, and earlier this month, a committee made up of parents, staff and community volunteers recommended the plan that was ultimately approved by the board.[aside postID=news_12077640 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-08-BL.jpg']The committee identified the schools based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents and educators packed into the district’s office for Thursday night’s meeting said the process has been rushed, and closures will cause stress and instability that harms their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canoas Elementary teacher Dina Solnit told district leaders she’s worried about how her students will get to their new schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transportation is a real barrier for our families,” she said during Thursday’s meeting. “Many of our families live far from the proposed schools. If a student misses a bus, their only options may be an unsafe walk or missing school altogether.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD has said it will provide students who live more than a mile and a half from their new school with transportation, but has only guaranteed that for the next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another chief concern among parents is that the closures will disproportionately affect Latino and socio-economically disadvantaged students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 70% of students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data. All five are Title I campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents are not just frustrated, they feel that their voices have not been heard, and that their concerns about the proposed school closures are not being taken seriously,” parent and teacher Tatiana Pineda said. “This lack of representation is especially pervasive among our Spanish-speaking parents, whose voices have been underrepresented and misrepresented in this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, some filed a legal complaint with the school district, alleging that the closure plan violates state and federal anti-discrimination regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077728\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077728\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During Thursday’s meeting, Silvia Scandar Mahan read a statement from her husband, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, calling on the district to consider the effect the plan would have on historically marginalized communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I respectfully urge the board not to move forward with this Schools of Tomorrow proposal and instead work directly with parents and educators who are most affected by these decisions,” she read. “Please also do not neglect communities of color and low-income communities who have historically been left off of decision-making tables. Parents should be partners in shaping their schools, not an afterthought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district will have to investigate the parents’ discrimination claims and report their findings within 60 days. Depending on their conclusions, the parents could escalate the legal challenge to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San José’s school district will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077640/alleging-discrimination-san-jose-parents-try-to-fight-school-closures\">shutter five elementary schools\u003c/a> and relocate another at the end of the year, despite pleas from parents and community members to halt the closure process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school board voted three to two late Thursday night in favor of the consolidation plan, which will close Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board Vice President Brian Wheatley and trustee Nicole Gribstad voted against the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would not be honest to suggest that a recommendation like this comes without loss. There is grief and change, especially when it touches schools and neighborhoods that people love,” Superintendent Nancy Albarrán said. “But there is also hope … the goal of this work is to create stronger, more stable, more resource school communities for students now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD staff said it would alert families who will be affected by the closures on Friday and finalize students’ new school assignments by May 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closures come as districts across the Bay Area combat significant enrollment declines. San José Unified School District’s student population has shrunk 20% — a total of 6,000 students — since 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077727\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077727\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gardner Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District staff said that SJUSD cannot continue to provide the necessary resources to fully staff and resource its current number of small campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As schools get smaller, it becomes harder to provide the level of programming, staffing stability, teacher collaboration, student supports and enrichment opportunities that our students deserve,” Albarrán said. “This is not about buildings alone. It is about whether we’re willing to act so that students have access to the kind of school experience we want every child in this district to have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, the district announced a plan to consider school closures, known as the “Schools of Tomorrow” initiative, and earlier this month, a committee made up of parents, staff and community volunteers recommended the plan that was ultimately approved by the board.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The committee identified the schools based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents and educators packed into the district’s office for Thursday night’s meeting said the process has been rushed, and closures will cause stress and instability that harms their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canoas Elementary teacher Dina Solnit told district leaders she’s worried about how her students will get to their new schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transportation is a real barrier for our families,” she said during Thursday’s meeting. “Many of our families live far from the proposed schools. If a student misses a bus, their only options may be an unsafe walk or missing school altogether.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD has said it will provide students who live more than a mile and a half from their new school with transportation, but has only guaranteed that for the next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another chief concern among parents is that the closures will disproportionately affect Latino and socio-economically disadvantaged students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 70% of students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data. All five are Title I campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents are not just frustrated, they feel that their voices have not been heard, and that their concerns about the proposed school closures are not being taken seriously,” parent and teacher Tatiana Pineda said. “This lack of representation is especially pervasive among our Spanish-speaking parents, whose voices have been underrepresented and misrepresented in this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, some filed a legal complaint with the school district, alleging that the closure plan violates state and federal anti-discrimination regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077728\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077728\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During Thursday’s meeting, Silvia Scandar Mahan read a statement from her husband, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, calling on the district to consider the effect the plan would have on historically marginalized communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I respectfully urge the board not to move forward with this Schools of Tomorrow proposal and instead work directly with parents and educators who are most affected by these decisions,” she read. “Please also do not neglect communities of color and low-income communities who have historically been left off of decision-making tables. Parents should be partners in shaping their schools, not an afterthought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district will have to investigate the parents’ discrimination claims and report their findings within 60 days. Depending on their conclusions, the parents could escalate the legal challenge to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> parents are attempting to stop the city’s public school district from shuttering five campuses, alleging in a legal complaint that the plan would disproportionately impact low-income students and students of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families filed the complaint with the San José Unified School District’s school board ahead of a vote on the closure plan on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This process has been discriminatory in its impact, misleading in how it has been presented to families, and procedurally deficient,” parent David Friedlander, who is leading the effort, said at a press conference on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, a committee of about 20 teachers, principals, parents and other community members recommended the board shutter Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It said the reorganization plan, dubbed “Schools of Tomorrow,” aims to address a 20% decline in enrollment — a loss of 6,000 students — since 2017. In that time, the number of elementary schools with fewer than 350 students has doubled from six to 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee’s recommendation said that shrinking enrollment could lead to reduced staffing, hurting programs like art and music at small schools, and increasing the need for combined grade classes at district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077731\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The Schools of Tomorrow process is a response to these challenges that will enable us to address declining enrollment in a positive, student-centered way,” SJUSD said on its website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents say the plan to close schools has been rushed, and should be a “last resort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want our community to have input. We want to improve the programs that are in the schools. We want to do this in a thoughtful way,” Friedlander, a Hammer Montessori parent, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also said the final list of campuses that will close discriminates against students of color and low-income families.[aside postID=news_12055955 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-BERRYESSAUNIONCLOSURES_03248_TV-KQED.jpg']According to Maeve Naughton, a parent at Terrell Elementary, all five of the campuses that could shutter are Title I schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Title I schools exist for one reason — to serve children living in poverty. Children who already carry burdens that most of us will never fully understand,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said that up to nine school closures were initially considered, but “when they moved to fewer schools, it really shifted to targeting entirely Title I schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These schools are heavily Latino. They are also primarily socioeconomically disadvantaged students, foster youth, kids with special needs,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 72% and 91% of the students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are way higher on that metric than the district average, and those are the schools targeted,” Friedlander continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint alleges that this discrimination violates state and federal protections and that the closure process hasn’t included enough community input or an analysis examining the equity for affected students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The district said it identified the schools to close based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district will be required to conduct an investigation into the claims and report its findings within 60 days. Depending on its conclusion, the parents could appeal to the state department of education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said, in part, parents filed the complaint to get ahead of any decision the school board makes Thursday night. He said, depending on the outcome of the meeting, further legal challenges could follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going away. We are organized, we are filing through proper legal channels, and we expect answers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> parents are attempting to stop the city’s public school district from shuttering five campuses, alleging in a legal complaint that the plan would disproportionately impact low-income students and students of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families filed the complaint with the San José Unified School District’s school board ahead of a vote on the closure plan on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This process has been discriminatory in its impact, misleading in how it has been presented to families, and procedurally deficient,” parent David Friedlander, who is leading the effort, said at a press conference on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, a committee of about 20 teachers, principals, parents and other community members recommended the board shutter Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It said the reorganization plan, dubbed “Schools of Tomorrow,” aims to address a 20% decline in enrollment — a loss of 6,000 students — since 2017. In that time, the number of elementary schools with fewer than 350 students has doubled from six to 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee’s recommendation said that shrinking enrollment could lead to reduced staffing, hurting programs like art and music at small schools, and increasing the need for combined grade classes at district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077731\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The Schools of Tomorrow process is a response to these challenges that will enable us to address declining enrollment in a positive, student-centered way,” SJUSD said on its website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents say the plan to close schools has been rushed, and should be a “last resort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want our community to have input. We want to improve the programs that are in the schools. We want to do this in a thoughtful way,” Friedlander, a Hammer Montessori parent, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also said the final list of campuses that will close discriminates against students of color and low-income families.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to Maeve Naughton, a parent at Terrell Elementary, all five of the campuses that could shutter are Title I schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Title I schools exist for one reason — to serve children living in poverty. Children who already carry burdens that most of us will never fully understand,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said that up to nine school closures were initially considered, but “when they moved to fewer schools, it really shifted to targeting entirely Title I schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These schools are heavily Latino. They are also primarily socioeconomically disadvantaged students, foster youth, kids with special needs,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 72% and 91% of the students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are way higher on that metric than the district average, and those are the schools targeted,” Friedlander continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint alleges that this discrimination violates state and federal protections and that the closure process hasn’t included enough community input or an analysis examining the equity for affected students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The district said it identified the schools to close based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district will be required to conduct an investigation into the claims and report its findings within 60 days. Depending on its conclusion, the parents could appeal to the state department of education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said, in part, parents filed the complaint to get ahead of any decision the school board makes Thursday night. He said, depending on the outcome of the meeting, further legal challenges could follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going away. We are organized, we are filing through proper legal channels, and we expect answers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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