On Aug. 30, The Weekly submitted the following questions to District 1 candidates — Albert Gonzalez, Harbir Bhatia and Satish Chandra. Candidates had until Sept. 13 to reply. Below are the answers The Weekly received from Bhatia and Gonzalez. Chandra did not respond. Answers are presented verbatim. What are the biggest resident concerns in your … Read more
We’ve all heard the saying, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!” This is where we find the situation in Santa Clara. It took voters four years to elect a city council majority that worked for them. Santa Clara has voted for a council majority with common sense, which is gold when it comes to … Read more
Update: A change has been made to the initial story said that Bob O’Keefe and Steve Kelly donated money to their campaigns. In fact, they loaned money to their campaigns, which means the money does not count toward the donation limit. The money race is on for the 2024 election in Santa Clara and it … Read more
The Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce’s (SVCCC) annual Mayors’ Breakfast was packed full of lighthearted fun and good-natured ribbing between mayors. Five South Bay mayors attended the breakfast, and each had a chance to extol the virtues of their cities. Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor jokingly referred to it as a meeting of her … Read more
“A friend once said that I run towards fires not away from them, which was an eye opener for me. I think back and it’s always been like that,” said Harbir Bhatia, who returned in July from her most recent humanitarian aid trip to Ukraine, invaded by Russia on Feb. 24, 2022. Bhatia was presented … Read more
The Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce (SVC Chamber) Board of Directors recently announced Harbir Kaur Bhatia as the chamber’s new CEO and president. Bhatia brings a rare combination of extensive technology, business, media production, social entrepreneurship, public sector and community leadership and chamber of commerce experience to her new position. Bhatia’s education includes a … Read more
“It did not seem scary to me.” That’s what Santa Clara activist Harbir Bhatia said when she flew to Poland last March to help with Ukrainian refugee relief. Now Bhatia is heading back to Europe to continue the work, this time inside Ukraine. And she’s still not afraid, even though she acknowledges that she’ll be … Read more
Nextdoor is supposed to be a forum for discussing neighborhood issues, a place where users can gripe about the potholes not being fixed or the split-bin food scrap program. But some people believe it is devolving into a soapbox for toxic political rhetoric, an echo chamber that stymies political dissidents. With its Spartan interface and … Read more
A lack of understanding has led the Santa Clara City Council to adopt its hostile position toward the Santa Clara Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), one Citizens Advisory Committee Member said. “Nobody, especially on City Council, knows the purpose of the [CVB],” said Kevin Park. “[This] misunderstanding of purpose makes it easier to make big … Read more
Almost two thousand people have already signed up to run, walk and do yoga en masse at Sevathon 2018, an annual fundraiser supporting about 75 local and global humanitarian causes. Sevathon 2018 — “seva” is a Sanskrit word meaning “service” — takes place at Arena Green East, 349 W. St. John St., San Jose, on … Read more