South Bay Labor has employed racist tactics to prevent minorities—including 1998 San Jose council hopeful Tony West—from securing office.

What the storied history—and now closure—of the Watergarden bathhouse means for Silicon Valley’s LGBTQ community.

Former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer, a key figure in the revitalization of San Jose’s downtown, died Saturday at the age of 81.

The retired judge, who served for more than a decade as police auditor and spent a dozen years on the bench, died in her home Sunday.

San Jose City Manager Norberto Dueñas announced his retirement at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. His last day is set for Oct. 13.

A recent column in the Mercury News listed the best and worst local decisions in the last 50 years. Here’s a few more to add to the pile.

Former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer taught me that my voice was important and that I could—and should—participate in our democratic process.

City officials are poised to approve a three-year lease that would breathe new life into Hammer Theatre Center, a.k.a. The San Jose Rep, which went dark a year ago due to bankruptcy.

A curious cultural taboo has been openly flouted over the last two decades in San Jose, and it seems one local institution could soon double down.

San Jose Mayor-elect Sam Liccardo announced that an eight-person transition team will help him “identify key initiatives to focus on” during his first term. It appears Carl Guardino, his close friend and CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, will have the loudest voice in the room.

Here comes the clutter of political advertisements. The public's least favorite time of year, when mailboxes are full of negative mailers and television ads assault the senses. First rule to remember: there is nothing that can't be said in politics, no matter how outrageous the claim.

The November election will either shift the body politic in San Jose toward change or provide a continuation of the status quo. With the problems facing the city, change should be in the air.

Santa Clara County was once the nation's capital for electing women into office. But a look at our current political landscape shows successful female candidates have become scarcer.

Chuck Reed spent much of his eighth and final State of the City speech thanking his predecessors while noting that a mayor’s work goes on long after he or she leaves office. Noting that he and past elected officials in San Jose have stood “on the shoulders of giants,” Reed said the work he and the council have carried out in recent years must be viewed outside the prism of four-year term limits. “We have to think in much longer timeframes,” he said.

There is no question that Willie Brown deserves the honor of having a span of the Bay Bridge named after him, given his lifetime of service to the city and county of San Francisco. Considering the political heavyweights who share that last name, there isn’t an infrastructure project since 1958 that does not have a Brown imprimatur.

We dream of the perfect candidate in our business. The right person, at the right time, with resources to win and the perfect fit for the populace and the times. Barack Obama in President 2008, Jerry Brown Governor in 2010, Willie Brown for San Francisco Mayor 1995, and Sheriff Laurie Smith for San Jose Mayor 2014. Only the last scenario won’t happen.