The Stealthy Pivot For nearly two decades, Californians have debated High-Speed Rail as a transportation project. The public discussion has focused on construction costs, ridership forecasts, travel times, funding gaps, environmental impacts, and whether the system will ever connect San Francisco and Los Angeles as originally promised. The newly released 2026 Business Plan suggests that […]
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The Housing Debate Has Taken a Strange Turn:
Now We’re Afraid of Maps California’s housing crisis has produced some strange policy debates over the years. We’ve argued about CEQA, parking requirements, density bonuses, impact fees, design review, and almost every other obstacle to building homes. Now, we’ve apparently reached a new low. Some of the state’s most powerful housing industry groups are arguing […]
Read Full Article →How AI Data Centers Could Be Driving Up California Electric Rates Before They’re Even Built
https://vimeo.com/share/6b64233d-9b4f-4b14-a94a-ca7e72b1d50e How AI Data Centers Could Be Driving Up California Electric Rates Before They’re Even Built Buried in next week’s San José City Council agenda are two items that, at first glance, appear unrelated. The first would authorize San José Clean Energy (SJCE) to enter into a 15-year agreement worth up to $124.5 million for […]
Read Full Article →Palo Alto looks to rezoning to limit impacts of state bill
Palo Alto looks to rezoning to limit impacts of state bill – San José Spotlight The Big PicturePalo Alto is moving quickly to get ahead of Senate Bill 79, a state law that significantly increases allowable housing density near transit. The city is exploring a mix of rezoning and historic preservation strategies to blunt the […]
Read Full Article →San Jose’s Last Railroad Trestle Sparks Preservation Fight Amid Trail Expansion Plans
San Jose residents rally to save railroad trestle – San José Spotlight The Big Picture A growing coalition in San Jose is pushing to preserve the century-old Coyote Creek Trestle, a 1922 railroad bridge now caught in the middle of a planned trail expansion. City officials had leaned toward demolishing the structure to make way […]
Read Full Article →PG&E Reverses Course, Protects Coyote Valley in Power Project Shift
PG&E reverses decision environmentalists say threatened wildlife in San Jose’s Coyote Valley The Big Picture Pacific Gas and Electric Company agreed to relocate a major South Bay transmission project to land adjacent to the existing Metcalf Substation, abandoning earlier plans to build on agricultural land in Coyote Valley. The shift follows more than a year […]
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Downtown San José Can’t Afford to Tolerate Blight
The Big Picture A vacant lot at 605 S. Second Street in San José’s SoFA District has become the latest example of a growing problem facing downtown: blight. The site was once approved for a 29-story affordable housing tower, but today it sits overgrown with weeds, surrounded by a damaged fence, and subject to city […]
Read Full Article →New affordable housing project breaks ground in San Francisco
San Francisco Affordable Project Lands $78M in Financing – Multi-Housing News The Big PictureA major affordable housing development known as “Marvel in the Mission” (also called La Maravilla) has officially broken ground in San Francisco’s Mission District after years of delays, financing challenges, and community debate. The multi-phase project will ultimately deliver about 382 fully […]
Read Full Article →Project would replace downtown San Jose parking lot with affordable homes
Affordable homes may sprout on a downtown San Jose surface parking lot The Big Picture A surface parking lot in the core of San Jose could become 173 units of housing, with 171 designated as affordable. The proposal, led by The Sobrato Organization and Pacific West Communities, targets a 1.3-acre site near the Hammer Theatre […]
Read Full Article →Restaurants, shops, data center proposed for downtown San Jose building
The Big Picture Hines is proposing to breathe new life into the long-struggling Paseo de San Antonio by reopening 11 vacant storefronts, adding restaurants and retailers, improving the pedestrian environment, and modernizing the building at 150 South First Street. But the economic engine behind the project is the reactivation and major expansion of a dormant […]
Read Full Article →Cooley Signs Lease for New State‑of‑the‑Art Redwood City Office
Cooley Signs Lease for New State‑of‑the‑Art Redwood City Office // Cooley // Global Law Firm The Big PictureCooley LLP has signed a long-term lease to relocate its Palo Alto office to a newly built, high-end office tower at 1900 Broadway in downtown Redwood City, with a planned move-in around 2030. The firm will occupy roughly […]
Read Full Article →Despite high-profile deals, high office vacancy rates haunt Bay Area’s three major downtowns
Sky-high office vacancy levels haunt Bay Area’s three major downtowns The Big PictureDowntown office markets across the Bay Area — including San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland — remain stuck with vacancy rates above 30%, despite a wave of high-profile leasing activity driven largely by AI firms. A new report from Cushman & Wakefield shows […]
Read Full Article →PG&E Doubles Santa Teresa Substation Capacity, Plans More Expansion to Power AI Growth
The Big Picture PG&E has doubled the capacity of its Santa Teresa Substation in South San José from 40 megawatts to 80 megawatts, adding new infrastructure to support growing electricity demand driven by data centers and artificial intelligence. The expansion was undertaken to meet an additional 40-megawatt power request from data center operator Equinix, and […]
Read Full Article →Palo Alto group buys Coyote Valley farmland in San Jose for $5.3 million
Palo Alto group buys Coyote Valley farmland in San Jose for $5.3 million The Big PictureA new land deal continues to solidify the long-term direction of Coyote Valley as protected open space rather than future development land. The Peninsula Open Space Trust acquired a 71-acre farm for $5.3 million that had been in the same […]
Read Full Article →New South Bay power substation to be built at existing site
New South Bay power substation to be built at existing site – San José Spotlight The Big Picture The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved relocating a major energy project to the existing Metcalf Substation instead of building a new facility in Coyote Valley. The decision allows LS Power to move forward with its high-voltage […]
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Restaurants, shops, data center proposed for downtown San Jose building
California’s Largest Landowner-in-the-Making
The Housing Debate Has Taken a Strange Turn:
Downtown San José Can’t Afford to Tolerate Blight
How AI Data Centers Could Be Driving Up California Electric Rates Before They’re Even Built
San José’s Affordable Housing Audit Reveals the Real Test for GovAI