The South Valley Islamic Community has been working to get the project approved for years, after first purchasing the land in 2006.

Planning commissioners rejected the mosque as proposed and directed staff to return with plans for a drastically scaled-down project.

It's election day and with it comes a ballot packed with key decisions for Santa Clara County, though voter turnout is expected to be pretty low.

It’s a shame this isn’t a re-election endorsement, because Magdalena Carrasco deserved to win San Jose's District 5 City Council seat four years ago.

Aaron Resendez may be the first person to ever run for a seat on the San Jose City Council while simultaneously planning to become a registered lobbyist. The question is: should he already be registered?

Today was the deadline to file the first round of campaign finance forms for San Jose City Council and mayoral campaigns. Not all were uploaded online by the 5pm deadline, but here’s a look at the four mayoral candidates whose reports were available.

As young staffers for various South Bay Labor Council-backed candidates and office-holders, Rolando Bonilla and Ryan Ford learned a little bit about winning ugly. Recently, they also learned a bit about losing—and they just received another painful lesson.

Alum Rock Union School District Board of Trustees
Aaron Resendez
During his unsuccessful run for a District 5 council seat in June, Aaron Resendez went to the hospital to visit the ill father of his opponent, Magdalena Carrasco, just to say “Hi” and offer support. That would not surprise anyone who knows Resendez—he is the epitome of old-fashioned honor and integrity.

Anybody who has met Aaron Resendez can attest to his aura of sincerity and old-school charm. A longtime community leader who has dedicated his life to the East Side, this is a guy who, during his unsuccessful run for a District 5 council seat in June, visited the ill father of competitor Magdalena Carrasco in the hospital, just to say ‘hi’ and offer support. What a decent dude. That may be why Resendez is so worked up about that public spat he had with Ryan Ford out in front of San Jose City Hall back in May.

District 5 city council candidate Aaron Resendez has just released an open letter to Nora Campos, demanding a public apology from the councilmember and her Chief of Staff Ryan Ford.

Last Friday, following a press conference at City Hall denouncing the malicious mailers sent out against fellow candidate Magdalena Carrasco, Resendez says Ford approached him for what can only be described as a public badmouthing. Campos’ brother, Xavier Campos, is also running against Resendez for the East Side seat.

“I am writing this open letter to you and the community to bring attention to Mr. Ford’s insulting and disrespectful behavior,” the letter reads.

The San Jose Silicon Valley ChamberPAC has just announced they are endorsing Magdalena Carrasco for the District 5 city council seat. 

“In this time of economic uncertainty, San Jose needs independent, common sense leaders like Magdalena Carrasco at City Hall,” said incoming ChamberPAC chairperson Joshua Howard in a statement. “Her commitment to neighborhood business and job creation will be a welcome addition to the council.”

A relative outsider to the local political scene, Carrasco beat out other East Side candidates Xavier Campos, Aaron Resendez and J. Manuel Herrera for the chamber’s backing.

Elsie Aranda has not decided which San Jose City Council candidate she will endorse. Stopwatch in hand, she sits in the front row of the second District 5 candidates forum at the Mayfair Community Center, acting as moderator.

Aranda makes sure that the four people currently battling to represent San Jose’s East Side don’t go beyond their allotted speech times. It is her job to holler at candidates Xavier Campos, Aaron Resendez, J. Manuel Herrera and Magdalena Carrasco if they take too long to make their points.

In a surprising turn of events, newbie San Jose District 5 candidate Magdalena Carrasco has proven herself a contender by pulling impressive fundraising numbers since February.
Carrasco reported yesterday that she’s raised $20,647 thus far in the race, $3,925 more this quarter than her closest competitor for Nora Campos’ soon-to-be vacant seat on city council.