Check out the latest updates from your D3 council office
- Support Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District
- Advocate for affordable housing incentives
- Support divestment from ICE-related companies
- Promote community-driven renaming of César Chavez sites
- District 3 Budget Town Hall
- Gateway Tower and Bank of Italy housing developments
- SJUSD school closures and consolidations
- divestment from ICE companies
- Coffee with a Councilmember at Café do Canto
- District 3 Budget Town Hall on April 11
- Citywide Budget Town Hall on April 20
- Digital Kiosk Community Engagement Webinar on April 20
See you on Saturday for Coffee with a Councilmember in Little Portugal! Dear neighbors, March Madness is coming to District 3! Check out this weekend ’s free events, including the return of San Pedro Superfest, watch parties, and a drone show tonight. I hope to see you at my office hours on Saturday at Café do Canto in Little Portugal. You can click here for more details and to RSVP . As budget season continues, my team and I are also gearing up for our District 3 Budget Town Hall on April 11 . We’ll also be joining the mayor and neighbors from Districts 1, 6, and 7 for another budget town hall on April 20 . As a reminder, City Hall will be closed on Tuesday, March 31st for Farmworkers Day . I know that many of us are still grappling with the revelations about César Chavez’s abuse of young women in the United Farm Worker movement. I’m working with Councilmembers Campos, Ortiz, Candelas, and the mayor on a process to inventory assets across the city named after him or bearing his likeness so that we can have a community driven process to rename not just the plaza downtown, but sites across San José. We’ll keep you updated as things progress. Yours in community, March Budget Message This year’s budget message balances forward-thinking policy with reforms that respond directly to our residents’ needs and affordability challenges. I’m especially excited to see the city taking the first concrete steps towards establishing an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District in the downtown core, which has the potential to generate significant investments in downtown revitalization, without raising taxes on residents. We’re also pursuing multiple policies to build housing more quickly and cost-effectively and taking steps towards a much-needed modernization of our historic review, which will reduce burdens on residents and small businesses. Divestment from ICE I’m proud of my record of voting to support our immigrant communities, including by banning ICE from wearing masks and using City facilities here in San José. This week, Councilmembers Kamei and Ortiz authored a memo to divest from companies that work with ICE. After Finance Department staff raised concerns that the memo could not be implemented as written, I voted to support Councilmember Candelas’s motion to have staff do more research and return with an actionable policy to divest from ICE. Our City’s investment policy should reflect our values, and that means standing with our immigrant communities. Affordable Housing Financing This week, we voted to move both Gateway Tower and the Bank of Italy developments through the downtown residential incentive process. One of the first memos I authored after joining the Council was a proposal to proceed with Gateway Tower while also implementing a preference system for local artists – so the project will not only provide up to 220 units of affordable housing for San José families, it will also support local arts and culture in one of our city’s most vibrant areas. Both projects will add hundreds of units of much-needed housing downtown, a harbinger of what I hope will be many more to come as we implement new policies and programs to encourage development that will make housing more affordable for our residents. East Village Business Improvement District East Village is the bridge between Downtown San José and the eastside, a bustling community hub that’s home to over 350 thriving small businesses. It’s also the home of some treasured District 3 parks and community centers, exciting community events, and beautiful murals and street art – not to mention some of the best restaurants in San José, all within easy walking distance of SJSU and City Hall. The establishment of this district will help empower these small businesses as they continue to serve our residents, create jobs, and make East Village an example of the best San José has to offer. Last night, SJUSD voted on proposed school closures and consolidations. Here’s how this decision impacts schools attended by District 3 families: - Empire Gardens to close, students move to Anne Darling - Gardner to close, students move to Horace Mann - Hammer Montessori moves to Gardner campus - Lowell to close, Special Day Class students move to Grant, all others move to Washington Throughout this process, my team and I have been meeting with parents across the district, keeping in mind how any potential closures would impact students and families here in D3, and preparing for what we can do as a City for our students and families regardless of the final decision of the SJUSD Board of Trustees. I’m particularly touched by the students who reached out with stories about how this process impacted them. While last night’s decision is disappointing, my team and I have been preparing for all possible outcomes. We’ll keep you updated on what we can do at the City moving forward. Digital Kiosk Meeting Join City staff to talk about new digital kiosks planned for downtown. We want to hear from you as we consider where these kiosks might go and what information they should share. Your participation will help ensure this program serves our community effectively. Community Engagement Webinar: - Date: April 20, 2026 - Time: 6:30–7:30pm - Registration: - https://sanjoseca.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9C7V3FcgRha3zFAkvQ1XzA Live interpretation in Spanish, Vietnamese, or Chinese is available upon request by April 15. Please contact Blage Zelalich at Blage.Zelalich@sanjoseca.gov to request language interpretation. Mosquito, Vector, and Disease Control Assessment You may have received a ballot in the mail from the Santa Clara County Mosquito and Vector Control District regarding a Mosquito, Vector, and Disease Control assessment. The is a special assessment to continue providing important mosquito and vector control services to protect public health in Santa Clara County. Property owners must return their ballots by May 19, 2026. If you have further questions, you can call (408) 918-4770 , email mosquitovector@cep.sccgov.org , or visit stopmosquitoes.org . Nominate Your Favorite San José Educator Join us in honoring dedicated and passionate educators who go above and beyond for their students! We invite students, parents, colleagues, and community members to nominate an outstanding educator. ⏲️ DEADLINE: Friday, April 17, 2026 Who can be nominated? 🏆 This award is open to any TK-12 educator currently working or who has worked in San José. Public, private, and charter school teachers are eligible. Retired teachers can also be nominated. How do I nominate? ✍️ To submit your entry, complete the nomination form at sjpl.org/TeacherAward When are the winners announced? 🍎 Winners will be announced during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 3 - 9, 2026. Climate Smart San José Survey As we continue moving toward our climate goals, the Climate Smart San José team is launching the 2026 Climate Smart San José Survey to help us understand what residents know about Climate Smart, what actions you’re already taking, and what challenges might be getting in the way. Complete the Climate Smart Survey by March 31, 2026. The survey is offered in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Participants who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win Climate Smart bundles, which include San José merch and eco-friendly items. Japantown NA & Our City Forest Community Planting Join Our City Forest and the Japantown Neighborhood Association for a hands-on morning of greening the community! Volunteers will help plant new trees that will provide shade, cleaner air, and beauty for years to come. 📅 Saturday, March 28 ⏰ 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM 📍 1020 N. 5th Street Click here to learn more and RSVP! Last week, we celebrated the groundbreaking of two new parks: Elizabeth P. Boyer Park and City Gardens Park. These two new parks build off of the momentum of Pellier Park, which opened in 2023, completing a network of three new parks serving the San Pedro neighborhood. But these parks aren’t just new – they are rooted in our city’s history. Elizabeth P. Boyer was an African American activist and suffragist who moved to San José in 1898 and who dedicated her life to civil rights and political justice. In 1908, she founded the Garden City Women’s Club, the first black women’s club in San José. This park is the first to be named after a Black woman in San José. Louis Pellier, the namesake of Pellier Park, was an innovator who introduced the French prune to California, which was foundational to the orchard industry of the time. City Gardens Park honors Louis Pellier’s nursery which bore the same name and was once a cornerstone of early San José horticulture. Last week I toured the building site of Hawthorn Affordable Housing, which will provide 101 affordable homes for our seniors. We need to continue to build housing at all levels of affordability to meet our housing goals, so it was a pleasure to see this project come together. I look forward to attending the ribbon cutting when these homes are completed! We had the good luck of kicking off our City Council meeting on St. Patrick’s Day with an invocation from David Mulvehill. You may know him from O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub, where we started as a bartender before becoming a partner in the business. He continued to make an impact on our downtown hospitality scene, opening gems like Five Points, The Pressroom, and Playback Coffee just to name a few. San José is a city of immigrants. Sharing stories like David’s makes us all feel lucky to call SJ home. 🍀 We had a very special visitor join us at the Roosevelt Community Center this weekend! 🐰 Easter might be around the corner, but that didn’t stop the Easter Bunny from joining us for an egg hunt with our D3 families. 🪺 🐣 🌷 🎼 We can build a beautiful city… 🎶 This week, we had the pleasure of having the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus kick off our final City Council meeting of the month. It was uplifting and a reminder of the importance of the work we do at City Hall to make this a beautiful city for everyone. 🌈 Do you have an event you'd like to share with our D3 neighbors? Send the details to district3@sanjoseca.gov for consideration in our newsletter! District 3 | 200 E SANTA CLARA ST | SAN JOSE, CA 95113 US | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice