Let’s make billionaires and corporations pay their fair share
In 1978, an underhanded tax law was passed to let huge corporations get away with paying artificially low commercial taxes. Forty years later, Proposition 13 has drained our state’s finances and deteriorated our public services. Billionaires and huge multinational corporations have…
Crisis and opportunity in Silicon Valley construction
Construction is one of the fastest growing industries in Silicon Valley, yet thousands of construction workers are being paid such low wages that they cannot afford to live in the communities they are helping to build. That is one of the…
Our visit to the Googleplex
On Wednesday, nearly a hundred San Jose workers, residents, and community leaders assembled at the Googleplex in Mountain View to tell Google: if you’re coming to San Jose, you need to be a good neighbor. From our town hall meetings and…
The Google no-show
On Monday more than 150 people packed Gardner Community Center in San Jose to air their concerns about Google’s proposed mega-campus project. We heard loud and clear your worries about sky-rocketing rents and uncertainty over whether Google would create good jobs…
Tuesday night…
On Tuesday night, our coalition of renters, advocates, and community organizations faced off against corporate landlords that have waged the biggest campaign against renters’ rights in recent San Jose history. Hundreds turned out at City Hall, testifying for hours about why…
Soaring rents and falling wages
As the tech boom has driven rents sky-high, renting families and seniors in San Jose have actually seen their incomes go down. That’s one of the key findings from “Soaring Rents, Falling Wages,” our new research brief we released today at…
San Jose takes to the streets
Over 300 people took to the streets of downtown San Jose yesterday afternoon with a clear message: “We are San Jose, we are here to stay!” Hotel and tech cafeteria workers, janitors, affordable housing activists, longtime San Jose residents, and other…
Tell Google what San Jose needs
Over 200 community members came out last night to the Washington United Youth Center gym downtown, asking when Google and City officials will sit at the table with us to define the vision for the company’s proposed mega-campus. The report back…
San Jose Council expands Opportunity to Work
Today, the San Jose City Council voted to develop a plan to cover City employees under the landmark Opportunity to Work measure. The first-of-its-kind initiative, which passed with overwhelming support from San Jose voters in November of 2016, provides part-time workers…
Report back from the first San Jose Google town hall
It was an overflow crowd at last night’s town hall. 300 community members — from residents to low-wage tech workers to programmers — came together in East San Jose, calling for Google and City officials to sit at the table with…
The Bay Area takes action on housing and good jobs
Last night, the Bay Area took a major step towards addressing three of the region’s most urgent challenges: housing, displacement, and growing income inequality. Following a multi-year grassroots campaign that brought together communities from all nine Bay Area counties, the regional…
Building Opportunity
Over the next five years, the city of San Jose plans to spend $1.42 billion on public construction projects. These taxpayer-funded projects will provide critical infrastructure for San Jose’s neighborhoods. But will they create good jobs for our local communities? Our…