© 2025 Copyright All Rights Reserved By milpitasbeat.com I serve on the Milpitas Community Housing Commission which is an advisory body that weighs in on matters affecting Milpitas residents At a recent Commission meeting there were funding requests totalling over $3,000,000 Some of the organizations included are Catholic Charities I asked a number of these organizations how much money was going to be used for Milpitas residents and whether the money is going to be used for residents who are here legally in the United States I believe that our tax dollars should be used for residents who are here legally first then we can serve residents who are not here legally A number of the organizations would not answer how much money would be used for Milpitas residents Commissioners Oscar Leon and  Commissioner Suraj Viswanathan interrupted the meeting and forced a vote to censor that term in future meetings The Commission never returned to my question as to where Milpitas tax dollars are being spent I received a text from Mayor Carmen Montano threatening me with legal actions from the City Attorney Assistant City Manager Matt Cano called and told me I needed to resign from the Commission because my verbal use of the term “illegal immigrants” was “insensitive” and “derogatory.” I was shocked because I didn’t know why City Staff was getting involved in a political appointment and I was also confused about what authority he had I suspected he was ordered to do this by either Mayor Montano or Councilmember Evelyn Chua who is the Council liaison to the Commission I was further confused since in an interview just last week Attorney in Los Angeles used the term “illegal immigrants/aliens” multiple times So how can this phrase be the basis of legal action or a request for resignation multiple mayors in California are asking the same questions as I did and where and for whom are we spending tax dollars on I later asked Cano what term would be appropriate The Commission never suggested what might be an acceptable term I believe that my right to free speech was violated I am not sure what might happen with my Commission appointment but I am ready to fight to put the legal residents of Milpitas and other cities first and to protect my first amendment rights Milpitas resident serving on the Community Housing Commission   I am a Milpitas resident and I feel your questions are very valid Thank you for having the strength to express your views Its scary when “insenitive” or “racism” is used as an excuse to avoid fiscal accountability I really hate the far right but the far left are guilty of many of the same misdirections used to cover up activities Our only voice is our vote but who to vote for when both options are opposite sides of the same coin I’m happy to tell Milpitas that any grant money we receive water for the unhoused and very low income residents of Milpitas Most grant money goes to our Sunday Showers project We welcome ANYONE IN NEED and we do what we can to help I was raised Catholic and my Mom was an Immigrant from Mexico There is NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever when PEOPLE ARE IN NEED and anyone who thinks you have to be LEGAL to get my help should BE ASHAMED If anyone is interested in our nonprofit group the sense of entitlement on how public money is used and spent on your part is astounding No wonder this state’s finances are in shambles Thank you for your honesty about how you help “non-citizens”…oh wait are you going to want to ban that term now too Display all the ways H4U has spent money over the last 2 year online….spoiler alert: you won’t and most likely would have trouble accounting for every dollar With former Milpitas City Manager Ned Thomas now out of the position the Milpitas City Council has appointed Deanna J “Santana will focus on stabilizing the organization and setting the groundwork for a multi-year fiscal strategy With a growing structural budget deficit projected in the coming years her expertise in budget planning and fiscal reform will be instrumental in helping the City Council make proactive decisions.” A 30-year veteran of the public service sector Santana holds the distinction of having occupied high-ranking leadership roles in San Jose spanning the heart of Silicon Valley’s tech hub Santana last worked as Acting CEO for MissionSquare Retirement a financial services corporation that had her overseeing $84 billion in assets she led up MissionSquare Research Institute as well as the youth-oriented MissionSquare Foundation In her new role as Interim City Manager of Milpitas Santana’s compensation will be $379,000 annually he received an annual base salary of $279,000 All members of the council voted to appoint Santana except for Councilmember Hon Lien “At the time that the city suffers a deficit we’re trying to cut corners here and there to come up with 3.1 million dollars so we can have a balanced budget,” said Councilmember Lien at yesterday’s council meeting “Instead of appointing an Interim City Manager from within our city organization to save costs we went ahead and stuck with the recruitment And this will put us in a much larger deficit.”  Councilmember Lien also brought up the fact that Santana had contributed $150 to Mayor Carmen Montano’s mayoral campaign questioning whether or not that made for a conflict of interest But Milpitas’ Campaign Contribution Ordinance states that candidates cannot receive contributions over $250 and should disclose contributions over $100 which the City Attorney acknowledged Mayor Montano had taken care of “I’m honored to join the City of Milpitas as Interim City Manager during this important time I look forward to working closely with the City Council and stakeholders to support the City Council’s goals and objectives and ensure Milpitas is well-positioned financially for the future with transparency and care.” Deanna Santana’s first day on the job will be April 17 the City of Milpitas shall carry out the search for its next City Manager So we are in a budget crisis and their solution is to pay for the recruitment of an Interim City Manager and then start the process all over again to hire a permanent one How can anyone take the Councils claim that we are in a structural deficit seriously unless they recognize the futility of believing what they are telling us We are in a deficit so the Council’s solution is to double our costs The City of Milpitas will regret this decision as this Interim City Manager has clashed with previous employers resulting in legal battles It’s hard to believe that the City Council hired her despite her past when they are still in litigation with Steve McHarris they are paying her $100,000 more than the last City Manager Typical government: they just can’t practice fiscal responsibility when they know that the taxpayers are always going to foot the bill At a special closed session meeting on February 11 the Milpitas City Council unanimously accepted City Manager Ned Thomas’ letter of resignation The City Council also convened a sub-committee to support a search for the next City Manager as well as anyone who might serve as Interim in the meantime Recently Thomas accepted an offer to work as City Manager in Boulder City to which he’s traveled back and forth over the years “I sincerely appreciate the opportunity given me to serve as Milpitas City Manager since June 2023 The work has been both rewarding and challenging and I am grateful for the encouragement and support I have received from the Council and staff,” wrote Thomas in his letter dated January 24 of this year Milpitas has gone through a total of four City Managers in the last six years. Thomas had been serving as Acting City Manager since June 2023, after the City’s contentious split with former City Manager Steve McHarris, with whom they are currently in the middle of a lawsuit Thomas assumed the official City Manager title His contract with Milpitas was up in June 2025 asking if they would consider extending it Council declined the opportunity to discuss an extension “It is unfortunate that we’re losing another City Manager and each change sets us back when we need to be moving forward this matter will generate serious questions from the public Do we recruit our managers based on meritorious standards or is it just political or personal preference?”  Thomas told The Beat that his last day of work with the City of Milpitas will be on April 14; then he will officially start his new position as Boulder City’s City Manager on April 15 “I am committed to working with Council and the City’s Executive Leadership Team to ensure a smooth transition within the City Manager’s Office,” Thomas shared with the Beat I don’t blame Ned Thomas for deciding he needed to seek employment elsewhere when his request for extending his contract My question to our mayor and city council is this if you knew you were not renewing Ned Thomas’ City Manager position why the hell were you not actively looking for a replacement Thomas advising you that he has accepted the City Manager position in Boulder City Talk about shooting yourself in the foot and poor managerial skills Community members came together on Saturday to protest against President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk in front of Milpitas City Hall as part of a widespread string of gatherings… and around the globe in protest of the Trump administration’s polices holding up signs and waving to drivers and passengers who honked their horns in approval of their message Here’s a Milpitas Beat photo gallery of some of the signs… I was so happy to see the great turnout on Saturday a company known for manufacturing sustainable adventure vehicles will soon be opening a new facility in Milpitas The City of Milpitas put out a press release announcing the news as Rivian and the City work together in partnership “We are thrilled to welcome Rivian to Milpitas This investment highlights Milpitas’ strategic location making it an ideal destination for leading-edge companies shaping the future of mobility.” the Milpitas City Council moved to solidify the Rivian-Milpitas alliance in the years ahead building on the Council’s stated commitments to job growth Rivian stands to offer jobs that are green while establishing a new hub for production Rivian designs and manufactures an array of zero-emission adventure vehicles (i.e. vehicles which are designed for unpaved roads like trails and forests) The company employs 4,000 California residents and 14,000 workers overall “Rivian’s arrival marks a significant milestone for the City’s economic development reinforcing Milpitas’ position within the Bay Area’s thriving technology ecosystem The company’s commitment to sustainability and innovation aligns with the City’s vision for a greener Look for Rivian in Milpitas by the end of 2025 They cannot pay their bills as a company now They are on the edge of bankruptcy and losing ground Not much to get excited about giving a company tax breaks and handouts on promises just so they can close the doors in a few years to hurt the local economy as a whole Or just moving the office building from Palo Alto to reduce costs The legal battle between former Milpitas City Manager Steve McHarris and the City of Milpitas continues…  court documents showed that McHarris filed a new motion against the City of Milpitas claiming that former Mayor Rich Tran did not appear to complete his deposition on December 23 Stated the motion: “Tran’s arrogant and unjustified refusal to permit his deposition to be completed is no less flagrant and egregious than that of a plaintiff who refuses to be deposed about his or her own case.”  It went on to state: “Not only did Tran refuse to appear to be deposed He claims not to have been available on December 23 while – at the same time – he was making social media posts from Milpitas and San Jose.”  McHarris filed a lawsuit against the City of Milpitas who served as mayor of Milpitas from 2016 to 2022 as having played a role in creating a hostile work environment while McHarris was in the City Manager role Tran had appeared for the first part of his deposition; at the close of his interview after withdrawing as a mayoral candidate in the 2024 election stating that he had business to conduct out there But Tran came back into town for the holidays – and posted about it on social media Tran made a live video at the pickleball courts at Hall Memorial Park he put up posts showing that he was out attending a party with others An email exchange from mid-December between the two lawyers on both sides of the lawsuit shows that Tran was not responsive to emails asking if he was going to show for the deposition The Beat reached out to Tran to ask why he never made it to his deposition He said in reply: “I did not have any deposition scheduled I know they wanted to schedule one but we were never able to schedule a time.”  He added that he had seen emails requesting his presence in January but that he wouldn’t be able to make it due to travel which is representing the City of Milpitas wrote to McHarris’ attorney Stephen Jaffe:  Tran would not confirm his cooperation for a future deposition date Tran that you may be seeking a court order per your statement to me He informed me that he was travelling internationally for the foreseeable future and would not agree to sit for another date in the future.”   Due to Tran’s unwillingness to complete his deposition McHarris seeks court orders to strike the City’s defense ($18,500 is the amount of the attorney fees associated with the complaint.) The motion underscores the critical role of Tran’s testimony and argues that his noncompliance severely prejudices McHarris’s ability to prepare for trial “Although he was present in Santa Clara County in December of 2024 and was specifically present and available from December 23 outside the jurisdiction of this court,” wrote McHarris’ attorney in a declaration the City of Milpitas is keeping quiet about the issue As Assistant City Manager Matt Cano told The Beat “While we understand the public interest surrounding the issue it’s important for us to uphold our commitment to maintaining confidentiality and respecting the privacy of all involved parties It is our policy to not comment on ongoing litigation This is the problem with having an immature and volatile person in such an important position As a tax payer I don’t want to foot the bill for fines due to his bad behavior What is his responsibility and town’s recourse I wonder how much this grudge match has cost so far Milpitas teachers and classified staff members came out full-force to the Milpitas Unified School District’s (MUSD) March 11 board meeting to demand a fair salary increase There were over a couple hundred people in attendance Some background: During recent contract negotiations the district had offered a 1% off-schedule increase which teachers and other staff found unacceptable An off-schedule increase is basically a one-time bonus that is outside of the salary structure; it’s something that is often used as a way of negotiating in lieu of a regular salary increase Many expressed their frustration with the current offer during public comment A California Schools Employee Association (CSEA) labor representative for Chapter 281 noted that they are looking for a 1.5% on-schedule increase for classified staff Another member of the CSEA classified negotiating team came up to speak noting that they had been meeting regularly with the district: however the district’s counter proposals have been sadly underwhelming We are told the district has a large deficit due to budget constraints and there are very limited funds to work with,” said the CSEA member But the CSEA member mentioned that they believed there to be budget data and projection inconsistencies especially after the negotiations team had sent MUSD’s financials to CSEA for a budget review a CSEA analyst had produced a summary of findings stating that “the financial condition appears to be healthy and above average at this time There should be no claim of lack of funds at this time.”  Milpitas Teachers Association (MTA) President and a teacher in the district for over 27 years “I’m concerned about the budget priorities of this district We are in a time of extreme inflation and we live in an area that is one of the most expensive to live in this country We love what we do and we love the community we serve Ashley Grilli has taught at Rose Elementary School for the past 14 years We deserve to have affordable healthcare for our families We can’t attract the best teachers to give the best to our students without fair and competitive compensation.”  Brett Webber is MTA’s vice president and lead negotiator; he is also an English teacher at Milpitas High School He came to the podium and spoke strongly of MUSD’s Culture of WE and how he – along with fellow educators and other staff – are the ones showing up and working with students on a daily basis You offered us a 1% cash bonus,” said Webber “And I noted with intrigue that when we saw the budget earlier the supplies and services got a budget increase of 2.86% You value supplies and materials more than you value “WE.”’  The Beat spoke with MUSD Board President Chris Norwoord to get his thoughts on the evening He made it very clear that the Board is not involved in contract negotiations so “we have to trust that the association and the district will take care of all this in a timely manner.”  “There were so many positives about how the teachers came out to express themselves They were given space within the context of our meeting,” said Norwood “And there were things I heard them say that the district has to investigate.”  In an attempt to investigate and explore further where they spoke about the public comments and frustration from teachers and staff alike The Board spoke about topics that were mentioned at the March 11 meeting; issues such as the high cost of living and health insurance along with special education teachers having to write their own curricula Norwood is hopeful that both sides will determine a solution that is acceptable for MUSD’s teachers and staff “Historically we’ve always gotten through tough times We’ve always figured out how to move things forward We’ve always worked through negotiations with our teachers My hope is that it happens sooner than later,” said Norwood Multiple sources have confirmed with The Beat that after the March 11 meeting which could be approved as soon as the next board meeting in April and we’ll be providing more updates as things progress No raise for our teachers and yet MILPITAS Sanitation just raised our water bill a whopping 9.29% How can teachers even stay even with no raise And how can retired teachers on a fixed income pay such outrageous increases on our water bills Note: This article has been updated with new information Milpitas Councilmember Hon Lien filed a formal complaint earlier this month against former Vice Mayor Karina Dominguez citing actions that Dominguez took throughout the 2024 political campaign season The complaint mentioned that Dominguez made “multiple statements of facts that are false and harmful” to Lien The actions laid out against Dominguez in the complaint include Defamation per se “Defamation per se” occurs when an individual says something about another that is untrue and “Defamation per Quod” puts those statements into a proper context “Intrusion Into Private Affairs” means that there was an intrusion into the privacy of another person for information that is not cause for public concern and “Public Disclosure of Private Facts” is when the private facts being shared are offensive to a reasonable person “False Light” means that someone presented another to the public in a misleading way The complaint claims that there are specific examples of Dominguez’s actions that fall into the above five categories Councilmember Lien ran for Mayor during last year’s election Dominguez served as a Councilmember and Vice Mayor on the Milpitas City Council from 2018-2022 Although she did run for Mayor in 2022 (and was defeated by current Mayor Carmen Montano) Dominguez did not run in the 2024 election she put up posts about how she was supporting then-Councilmember Anthony Phan in last year’s race Dominguez sent a text to another Milpitas resident telling them that Lien did business in another country and that Lien would get arrested if she went back to that country Dominguez also told this resident that Lien didn’t follow proper export laws in the United States during The Milpitas Beat’s Milpitas Mayoral Forum Dominguez made a statement to Ellis about Councilmember Lien being involved in evicting a mother and child from their home in Vietnam “I didn’t do such a thing,” Lien told The Beat in an interview Dominguez put up a post on her Facebook account claiming Lien was harming her family in Vietnam a false statement according to the complaint The Beat received a screenshot of a comment Dominguez made about Lien on Facebook though whether it is on the post referred to in the complaint is unknown “I am not afraid anymore of this old political machine in Milpitas who clearly thinks intimidation works,” said Dominguez in the Facebook comment She is hurting her own family in Vietnam and god knows what else she has done.” Dominguez had been critical of Lien on social media throughout the election season A particular incident that became a cause for concern for Lien was a comment that Dominguez made on Lien’s clothing under a post on Lien’s social media Lien’s campaign manager for her Mayoral campaign The post was of Lien visiting an unhoused encampment in Milpitas for an event held by Hope for the Unhoused I like you but seriously this post and the way you are dressed tells me you have no clue what privilege you have to ‘walk the talk’,” said Dominguez in the comment “Please don’t use pictures to ‘walk the talk’ and politicize this issue for votes and instead do policy that will help our unhoused.” The comment above appears to have been deleted by Dominguez in the post The final straw that led to Lien filing the complaint happened during the Mayoral Forum, when Dominguez pursued and recorded Lien after the Forum asking questions about whether Lien would vote for then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump and whether Lien had any undisclosed legal cases underway in Vietnam After Councilmember Lien’s campaign manager stepped in to help Lien get away from Dominguez This led to Dominguez filing a police report but then later telling the police that she did not want to press charges The initial police report stated that Dominguez told the police she had deleted all the video footage that she had personally shot during the event Dominguez later posted a video of part of her and Lien’s interaction on Facebook under The Beat’s article on the topic who saw the post while scrolling through social media “I was basically just keeping an eye on the temperature of the candidates and what was going on and that struck me as being something worthy of capturing,” Ellis said Another Milpitas resident took the video to the Milpitas Police Department which included a description of the video in a supplemental report on the incident But Dominguez has since deleted the post on Facebook “I don’t want us to link this to campaigning because it isn’t,” said Lien in an interview about the lawsuit with The Beat and she needs to be held accountable for her actions.”  Dominguez did not respond to The Beat’s request for an interview; however she did text this statement: “It is always disappointing to see unsuccessful candidates choose to point fingers or blame others for the outcome rather than self reflection and personal accountability.”  Lien came in second place; and Mayor Carmen Montano was re-elected to her seat for a second term In Councilmember Lien’s interview with The Beat she made sure to stress that she was filing the lawsuit out of fear for her safety “Knowing that [Dominguez] had always promoted women in power and I was raised by my mom who lost her husband at a very young age This is unjust and I want people to know before they take any actions,” said Lien Damn I knew that the Dominguez lady was a big fake The Milpitas City Council’s primary responsibility is to set policy and to implement the will of the people they were elected to represent Their responsibility includes the fiscal management and sustainability of our City Our past two elected Councils have pushed and continue to push our City into a larger structural deficit; bottom line our Finance Director proposed a budget that would have reduced our spending yet Mayor Montano and then Vice-Mayor Evelyn Chua objected Along with the vote of Councilmember Garry Barbadillo they instead passed a budget that increased spending our Finance Director was no longer with our city and employed by the City of Palo Alto The same Council refused to negotiate a contract renewal with our City Manager requiring an expensive recruitment for an Interim City Manager which will be followed by an even more expensive recruitment for a permanent City Manager Why pay thousands of dollars to recruit an Interim City Manager Past Councils have been fiscally responsible and always used internal employees to staff an interim position employees have reported that this Council decided to hire someone from the outside and pay a salary over $100,000 more than what the existing City Manager was making they completed negotiations with some of the unions and were claiming that our structural deficit was huge Council has even insinuated our public safety unions were responsible for the budget shortfall I guess they forgot it was the public safety unions that took a reduction in pay and/or benefits to help the City recover from the fiscal devastation of Covid The most recent negotiation was to restore those reductions and keep Milpitas competitive in hiring new police officers and firefighters The lack of compliance with Employment Policies and the ill-fated decision to allow the lawsuit filed by our ex-City Manager to drag on has not only put our budget at risk but exposes the City to even more financial loss Who is going to pay for the lost lawsuit(s) since there is no insurance to cover the cost We the taxpayers will have to pay while suffering a reduction in services to our community to cover the cost The Council could have easily settled the lawsuit for $175,000 spread over 6 months but instead they have spent an estimated $300,000-$400,000 defending the city Repeated failures to follow city policy continues to put us at risk they put us at risk of another lawsuit when they failed to follow the city policy for emergency hires The policy clearly allows an emergency hire with the provision that the position is publicly posted and interviews for the permanent position are completed within 6 months which was filled as an “emergency hire” still has not been posted for interviews The Finance Director has been in her role for over a year It was never posted which violates fair hiring practices My understanding is that there are at least two applicants that were interested in the position who are now considering a lawsuit against our City because they were denied the opportunity to apply for the position The renaming of the County Library is another example of a policy that was not followed There are straightforward requirements laid out in our City Governance that were not met Staff reported that the initial bids for the renaming was $200,000 but was rejected I understand the cost is around $40,000 – $50,000 It’s still money we do not have and should not be spending Had the Council followed the required procedures renaming would have gone to the Library Commission who likely would not have approved any renaming Especially in the midst of trying to solve our structural deficit Recently, Mayor Montano and Councilmember Chua violated policy during their trip to Washington D.C expenses will be paid for the conference only But both chose to attend President Trump’s inauguration Those expenses are personal expenses and by policy not covered by the City internal city documents show that Montano and Chua used their CITY travel budget to pay for the extra hotel stay they needed to attend the inauguration Even though they cancelled at the last minute the city incurred the cost and they are personally responsible for those costs there has been no reimbursement from either councilmember to the City to recover the personal expenses During the last few Council meetings there has been talk about a structural deficit I think we all understand that reducing expenses and/or increasing revenues is the proper way to resolve a structural deficit we expect our elected officials to use reason and logic when deciding what to cut Council discussed terminating an after-school program that our Recreation Director reported breaks even or actually generates revenue Where is the logic in cutting a program that does not actually cost the city money but makes the city money It does not help the structural deficit; it hurts our working families that rely on these programs so their children are safe and cared for while they return home from work and do their homework in a safe place after school. I served as the Chair of the Milpitas Citizen Budget Task Force that was created to solve a $12,000,000 structural deficit Through logical and strategic decision making our city faces a $3,100,000 structural deficit Our current deficit can be fixed with short term cuts and long-term planning but I fear that with our current Council we are headed in the wrong direction There are more lawsuits coming due to Finance Director Luz’s actions HR Director Kelli needs to answer for the wrongful hiring of Finance Director Luz There is no one to blame but the city’s residents who keep voting these same characters Let’s keep raising the city’s taxes while reducing services Here’s another corruption issue with these people and their patrons I caught the Milpitas Police Department faking arrests at the Great Mall using California funding for the anti retail theft campaign They make their money illegally and then use it to manipulate the public narrative that they are “heroes” and not scumbags This is a blue state and Milpitas is following Newsom’s (and Democrat’s) examples CA has a deficit and he wants to spend big $$$ (that we don’t have) suing Trump instead of balancing the budget for Californians Part of of what was stalling the last federal budget agreement was Repubs wanted a spending limit and Dems did not But Milpitas politics go the way of the rest of the state following the Democratic mantra: tax and spend It seeps into and influences other facets of our city and society Thank you for the clarity and information Joseph I admire your courage and thank you for being an example to us Milpitas residents 44.66% of the votes in the 2024 elections have been counted Here’s where things stand currently with Milpitas… Carmen Montano is in the lead in her run for mayor who is halfway through her current councilmember term is less than 500 votes behind Montano with 4,876 who videotaped herself asking Lien if she was voting for Donald Trump following The Milpitas Beat’s mayoral candidate forum Anthony Phan is in third place with 3,034 votes The lone progressive in the race in a year in which Trump regained the presidency it appears that Phan will not be returning to the council after having served two consecutive terms there it’s certain that Vice Mayor Evelyn Chua will be retaining her seat; she is presently dominating with 7,044 votes The affable and creative Chua consistently connects with the public through her straightforward and innovative ideas for city improvement We can safely confirm that Rob Jung and Minh Ngo will both be re-elected to their trustee seats on Milpitas Unified School District’s (MUSD) Board of Education although Jung has held school board seats twice before this will be the first time that he’s won an election as he was an appointee the other two times A pragmatist who fills a variety of community roles (namely as president of nonprofit Hope for the Unhoused) Jung presented himself to voters as practical His fellow incumbent Minh Ngo is in second place with 7,611 votes securing the other open seat to carry out his second term Ngo was first elected in 2020 in a contentious special election following controversy over MUSD’s appointment process Ngo operates with a commitment to decency and common sense Political newcomer Douglas Sueoka is trailing the other two men with 3,551 votes in support of public services and education funding The next voting updates will come in by 5pm tomorrow With most of the ballots in Santa Clara County counted as of 5pm this evening we have the latest Milpitas election results:   Mayor Carmen Montano is on track to be re-elected to a second mayoral term who received an overwhelming 10,957 votes thus far will be re-elected to her councilmember seat who is currently in second place with 7,089 votes is on course to step into the role of councilmember for his first time serving in elected office Both Rob Jung and Minh Ngo will also be re-elected to their positions as Trustees on the Milpitas Unified School District’s (MUSD) Board of Education Measure J has received an overwhelming amount of support from voters The existing 1/4-cent sales tax will be reauthorized for another 8 years and allow for the City of Milpitas to maintain essential community services Measure Q has also received incredible support from residents so far The measure is a $119 parcel tax that will go toward retaining high-quality teachers and funding STEAM programs at MUSD schools With an estimated 10,000 ballots across Santa Clara County still left to be counted it is unlikely that anything will shift; all candidates and measures mentioned will be moving closer to sealing the deal in the days to come Note: This article has been updated to correct amount of outstanding ballots left to count Milpitas hosts a growing number of visually striking murals attention has turned to longstanding California state regulations that compel muralists to attain contractor’s licenses to do their work subjecting them to a costly and onerous process that competes with their ability to make a living from what they do muralists that work without a contractor’s license are committing misdemeanors And cities that unknowingly hire unlicensed muralists run the risk of getting hit with state fines According to a representative from California for the Arts Milpitas had a mural project costing $30,000 that is now on hold due to the contractor’s license requirement having come to light Stockton hit pause on a $50,000 mural project and Palo Alto halted four different mural projects costing a combined $60,000 Enter SB 456, a California bill that would enable muralists to get hired without becoming licensed contractors. The bill is currently in committee but it’s never been enforced.” In the meantime nobody saw it as being meant for muralists so muralists were routinely doing work without licenses a memo went out from the Contractors State Licensing Board and they started sending notices to cities…What happened then was that cities like Milpitas and others ‘Halt projects until we can figure out what’s going on here.’” Baker traces the recent awareness of the law to a statewide beautification initiative under Governor Gavin Newsom called Clean California which has brought murals into strong fashion and thus drawn greater attention to them no one’s ever been prosecuted; there’s never been a case.” “We should be making fewer barriers for this and certainly not putting the tag of ‘What You’re Doing is Illegal’ on top of it,” Baker said but it’s looking so far very positive…” This Wednesday, April 23, SB 456 will be highlighted as part of Arts Advocacy Day a gathering wherein advocates will join together in Sacramento to work on cultivating job growth for California artists Asked about Milpitas’s particular mural challenges which exempts muralists from the Contractor State License Law This bill eliminates an unnecessary barrier that has long limited who can contribute to our public art By exempting muralists from contractor licensing requirements we are opening the door for more local artists and diverse creators to leave their mark on our City Murals are more than decoration — they tell our story After having served as City Manager of Milpitas for the last 15 months it looks like Ned Thomas is headed elsewhere the Council of the City of Boulder City in Nevada appointed Thomas as their new City Manager Thomas learned that the position was open and applied for the job But this kind of opportunity doesn’t come up very often,” Thomas told The Beat in an interview “I’m familiar with Boulder and thought it might be a great place to work.”  Although Thomas has worked in Milpitas for nearly 8 years Thomas has been working in Milpitas during the week and flying back to Nevada on the weekends to be with his wife and kids he has City events he needs to attend on weekends so he stays close by at his rental apartment in Fremont “It’s been a lot of back and forth,” Thomas said Thomas received the offer to work for the City of Boulder City just before Thanksgiving His current employment agreement with the City of Milpitas expires on June 30 He had been officially appointed City Manager in October of 2023; previous to that he was selected to serve as Acting City Manager in June 2023 Thomas has been Milpitas’ fourth City Manager in the last 6 years. The previous City Manager, Steve McHarris, is currently engaged in a legal battle with the City of Milpitas Thomas sent a memo to all the members of the Milpitas City Council asking if they were open to discussing the possible extension of his contract “The anniversary of our current agreement was October 12 and I am not aware of any direction given or action taken by the Council related to extending the contract beyond June 2025,” Thomas wrote in the memo “This memo is my formal request to the Council to initiate that discussion now so that I will have ample time to seek new employment if the Council decides not to extend the current contract.”  the Milpitas City Council met in closed session on the night of Tuesday where they decided to decline the opportunity to negotiate a contract for Thomas to continue as City Manager and I had hoped to have a discussion about those items,” Thomas shared with The Beat “The response was that a majority does not want to pursue a new contract right now.”  This response from the Milpitas City Council made things crystal-clear for Thomas: he would move toward the new position in Nevada The Beat reached out to Mayor Carmen Montano about why they declined to negotiate a new contract And the City of Milpitas’ Human Resources Director Kelli Parmley told The Beat “I can’t comment on any personnel matters.” According to Thomas’ current contract with Milpitas In the role of Boulder City’s City Manager Thomas’ contract will have an annual base salary of $220,000 It’s uncertain when Thomas will start in his new position but The Beat will be publishing any updates as they come in Close to $5 million in federal funding has been granted to the City of Milpitas for the sake of improving its traffic and pedestrian safety The Local Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), which was first announced last month, pitched in $2,064,330 toward the total. And last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program awarded Milpitas $2.9 million meaning the City has accumulated plentiful resources to put toward its street safety the City announced that part of the funds shall go toward:  the City’s Safe Streets and Roads for All grant initiative is focused on what’s called the “Safe Routes to School” program This program has been devised to help 13 Milpitas public schools by upgrading their pedestrian and bike safety Said City Manager Ned Thomas in the release “Investing in our infrastructure is essential to keeping our community safe These grants will help us make critical improvements to our streets and school routes The Milpitas City Council has made public safety and quality of life leading priorities More funding announcements toward these ends are expected as the year unfolds How about getting the crossing guards back into the city and getting them trained instead of the company they have now that hires anyone and does not train them How about putting a second right hand turn lane on westbound Calaveras/237 exit to northbound McCarthy Ranch heading toward the mall Do we really need two straight through lanes back onto 237 Milpitas police would make a fortune ticketing people skipping the turn lane and using the straight through lane to make an illegal right turn Got into an accident bec someone did that to me After it was initially documented. After it was initially reported on The hatred sprang again unseen from the shadows: cowardly some sick soul has spray-painted the words “No Asians!” in bright red paint on Milpitas City Council candidate Bill Chuan’s campaign signs Mayoral candidate Hon Lien has been targeted the vandal(s) sprayed “No No” over one of her signs but also crossed out her name and added a third “No.” And they took the time to hit one of her smaller signs The police came then; they took the ruined banners down only to see those then defaced (they found their new signs vandalized this afternoon) You may vote for Chuan and Lien; you may not This is all immaterial to the matter at hand let alone an Asian-majority one such as Milpitas should remain passive in the face of such malicious intolerance After Donald Trump was shot this past summer many voices rose up in protest of political violence But I took some slight issue with their language Politics is by its very nature and design the antithesis of violence when one brings violence near the political sphere one is violating the central principle of the sphere But: Politics exists so we don’t resort to violence Politics is a flawed yet tireless pursuit of human reason Politics entrusts in the human animal’s propensity for civil communication and negotiation places all its chips on our species’ ability to solve important problems without resorting to behavior that is more befitting of animals (Which is why political extremists can feel so alienating and difficult to the rest of us.) That shrill red spray paint is not violence It reduces two people of sincerity and character to a race a category — all while fervently disapproving of and disgracing that category our elected leaders have not spoken out publicly to decry these crimes may all of us in Milpitas let this pattern of hatred be a call to remember our city’s higher potential — to recall our collective capacity for intellect and reason And to reach out to our neighbors of other races and other faiths and let them know that in them May this be our pact and indeed our strength And may any who violate the pact be met with exclusion 10 people have died and 9,000 structures have been reported as destroyed or damaged California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that 7,500 firefighters and emergency personnel have been sent to help with the devastation The Milpitas Fire Department deployed nine firefighters and two fire engines to offer support to Southern California “These personnel will join additional teams from various agencies across Santa Clara County to form specialized Strike Teams,” the City of Milpitas stated in a release “The Strike Teams are prepared to face the dynamic and hazardous conditions created by these catastrophic fires and will remain deployed for up to fourteen days.”  Milpitas City Manager Ned Thomas also added: “Our thoughts are with the communities across California affected by these devastating wildfires We are sending a dedicated team of firefighters to assist in combating these fires and supporting recovery efforts Their bravery and commitment exemplify the spirit of service that defines our City Milpitas stands in solidarity with those impacted and we will continue to offer our support during this challenging time.”  The Milpitas Fire Department is part of the California Master Mutual Aid Agreement which allows for rapid deployment of resources from participating agencies This kind of agreement basically ensures that no single jurisdiction has to face a large-scale emergency alone and without proper support Although firefighters have been deployed to Los Angeles the City of Milpitas wants to assure the community that the Milpitas Fire Department remains fully staffed and ready to respond to local emergencies throughout the City “The Milpitas Fire Department is honored to support the State Mutual Aid Mobilization System during this critical time,” said Jason Schoonover “Our firefighters are well-trained and equipped to face these dangerous conditions and we are confident in their ability to make a meaningful impact while safeguarding lives and property we’ve ensured that our City remains protected with robust local coverage.” Go Milpitas Fire Department we will be praying for you all Carmen Montano began her second term as Mayor of Milpitas  The Milpitas Beat connected with Mayor Montano to learn of her plans and thoughts for her next two years in office…   The Milpitas Beat: How do you feel about winning your election the second term but I did my best by running on my track record and didn’t have the time to raise enough funds to place a ballot statement The general public is not aware that in order to place a ballot statement in the Voter information Guide (the pamphlet that one gets in the mail before the election) This election the ROV required all candidates city council and Mayor to pay $3,700 — nearly $4000 — and every election it rises MB: What are the things you are proudest of during your first term MB: What are your plans for your second term MB: What are some things you might do differently from your first term MB: What are some lessons you learned during your first term MB: What are you looking forward to most during this term KRON4 KRON4's Lindsey Ford reports: https://www.kron4.com/?p=2158697&preview=true Made in the Bay Area and being shown on the big screen local filmmakers discuss being featured at SFFilm Festival this year Video shows aftermath of tree crushing San Francisco parklet One man is in jail and another was hospitalized after a seemingly random attack in the Castro on Easter Three people are dead and three more are hospitalized with serious injuries after a Volkswagen Tiguan hit a tree on San Geronimo Valley Road just west of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard shortly before 7:30 p.m San Francisco Fire Department firefighters rescued an injured dog and an uninjured person from a cliffside along Mile Rock Trail in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Thursday afternoon Bay Area photographer Lani Tinio shared a timelapse of the Moon rising over the Bay Bridge on Sunday with KRON4 and there is no shortage of activities going on around the Bay Area KRON4 Chief Meteorologist Lawrence Karnow has 4 Fun Things going on this weekend an intimate enclave of new townhome-style condos in Milpitas The community offers an ideal low-maintenance lifestyle and luxury homes with an array of modern features and generous open living spaces The model homes are currently under construction and home shoppers are encouraged to take advantage of pre-model pricing at the Toll Brothers Sales Center now open at 675 Trade Zone Blvd Parkside West is conveniently located within walking distance to the Milpitas Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Light Rail World-class shopping and dining at Santana Row and Valley Fair Mall and multiple distinguished schools are all within reach “Parkside West offers contemporary architecture featuring several impeccably designed floor plans with personalized designer finishes and private two-car garages,” said Alli Sweeney Division President of Toll Brothers in Northern California “Parkside West’s elegance is matched only by its convenience This community is perfect for those seeking a luxurious lifestyle in the heart of Milpitas.” Residents of Parkside West will benefit from the community’s prime location which offers easy access to major employers in Silicon Valley The community is also within the Berryessa Union School District and East Side Union High School District and close to highly rated private schools such as Stratford School and Challenger School the community is a short drive to San Jose Mineta International Airport and is within walking distance to the VTA Light Rail and Milpitas BART Station with service directly to Oakland International Airport and San Francisco International Airport Toll Brothers customers will experience one-stop shopping at the Toll Brothers Design Studio The state-of-the-art Design Studio allows customers to choose from a wide array of selections to personalize their dream home with the assistance of Toll Brothers professional Design Consultants Homes within Parkside West are priced from $1.25 million. For more information on Parkside West, home shoppers are invited to call 844-790-5263 or visit TollBrothers.com/NorCal Toll Brothers, Inc. is the nation’s leading builder of luxury homes The Company was founded 58 years ago in 1967 and became a public company in 1986 Its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TOL.” The Company serves first-time Toll Brothers builds in over 60 markets in 24 states: Arizona The Company operates its own architectural The Company also develops master-planned and golf course communities as well as operates its own lumber distribution Contact: Andrea Meck | Toll Brothers, Senior Director, Public Relations & Social Media | 215-938-8169 | ameck@tollbrothers.com Sent by Toll Brothers via Regional Globe Newswire (TOLL-REG) Get San José Spotlight headlines delivered to your inbox An ousted Milpitas city manager wants the former mayor to be penalized for failing to show up for a deposition prior to a court hearing Former City Manager Steve McHarris filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Milpitas in December 2023 accusing city officials of intimidation and unethical behavior — including from former Mayor Rich Tran and current Mayor Carmen Montano witness depositions take place outside the court where they answer questions under oath These depositions help attorneys prepare for what the witnesses will say in court Tran did not respond to several attempts by McHarris’ lawyer to question him filed a motion earlier this month requesting the court penalize Tran for obstructing the pretrial process “Tran is the most critical witness affiliated with the defendant and is the principal actor behind the allegations of wrongdoing made in plaintiff’s complaint,” Jaffe wrote in the filing to illustrate how probative and relevant Tran’s testimony is to this case the factual allegations in plaintiff’s complaint recite Tran’s name 62 times.” Jaffe is asking the Santa Clara County Superior Court to remove Tran’s response to the lawsuit and have the court officially declare Tran has lost the case due to a failure to respond in a timely manner the filing claims Tran lied about his whereabouts as an excuse to not show up for a deposition Tran claimed he was traveling internationally and unavailable on Dec But he was playing pickleball in Milpitas on Christmas “Such obvious dishonesty from the former elected Mayor of the defendant city surely justifies the most extreme consequence,” Jaffe wrote In November, the court granted Milpitas a protective order that bars Harris and Jaffe from releasing information gained during pretrial to the public McHarris served as city manager from May 2020 to June 2023, when the Milpitas City Council voted him out. McHarris is the third city manager to be let go since 2017 McHarris publicly accused Milpitas administrators of a hostile work environment in a claim filed May 2023 detailing instances of intimidation against himself and other city employees McHarris also claims Tran and Montano pressured him to fire an employee without a reason previously said City Hall fell apart after his departure from the entry level to the very top executive team level,” Phan previously told San José Spotlight “I think it’s a testament to the kind of eroded trust that people have in city leadership.” Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" You must be logged in to post a comment San José Spotlight is an award-winning nonprofit newsroom dedicated to fearless journalism that disrupts the status quo holds power to account and paves the way for change We’re changing the face of local journalism by building a community-supported newsroom that ignites civic engagement educates residents and strengthens our democracy 408.206.5327[email protected] Submit a News TipSubscribe to our newsletters San José Spotlight is a project of the San José News Bureau a 501(c)(3) charitable organization | Tax ID: 82-5355128 ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " the place has a special revolving door installed just for its City Managers… Milpitas City Managers have lasted for an average of less than two years there should be a countdown clock installed just above the City Manager’s desk All four of the characters listed above had different stories and different forms of departure The most meaningful common denominator is that the City Council decides who gets in Milpitas has a Council-manager system of government whereby the Council sets the policies yet the Manager runs City Hall itself The underlying concept is that the Council consisting of citizens who were elected to office can benefit from leaning on the bureaucratic expertise of the Manager this system can bring with it built-in antagonism insofar as the Council and the Manager can feel like they are playing on different teams I’ve seen something similar occur when directing films has an exceedingly important job: to shoot the actual film Yet it’s the director’s job to “call the shots,” deciding how the camera moves and where it goes being busy with directing the entire cast and crew Yet it’s natural for directors to clash with cinematographers because although they are unified in their ultimate objective – making the movie – they might fall prey to a natural power struggle over whose “eye” is really carrying the overall vision I became my own cinematographer while directing and ever since then I have directed in a state of joy.) So we have the elected leaders and their appointed manager One can see how these two forms of person might end up holding one another in contempt had to go out and shake hands with thousands of people communicating complex and specific goals and visions And yet they might come in lacking nuts-and-bolts expertise when it comes to implementing their policy ideas there is no natural union of sensibilities; the elected leaders are ideas people possessors of ideology; the City Manager is an administrator It’s as though the two parties are speaking separate languages it would be deceitful to say that the Council-manager model usually fails One can currently find it not only across the United States Milpitas has a poor regional reputation due to its string of abbreviated City Manager runs City Managers in Milpitas don’t go out with retirement parties and warm loving speeches; they leave in what seems like inevitable disgrace I don’t mean ethnic culture; I mean government culture our City Hall radiates a kind of careerist all of which is outwardly pleasant but clearly masks (or tries to) an underlying discord And culture is uniquely and intensely difficult to alter For culture is an infinitely complex interweaving of uncountable unconscious factors it’s just the way that people behave in certain places how much they express and how much they withhold Simple conversations cannot get you into any trouble… Do we in fact have a City Hall of radically open communicators it is bravely and openly nipped in the bud and denied…until which time as it comes roaring to the surface human reality – especially in the space of politics – can never only be pleasant And until our city has a government culture where there is more room for frankness then you can expect our City Managers to continue coming and going I can’t even stand working with a cinematographer Tom Williams was one that definitely needed to go My former supervisor was once called to his office Tom Williams waved a pink slip at him saying if you don’t get your union to go along with me I will terminate you Milpitas was well run during Del Smith’s era I believe that the business acumen of the city council members has declined rapidly since then and hit a new low presently was pushed out because he followed the law and would not bend to Montano’s will but that was not something the mayor could do and when she went to the person who had the authority to hire and fire Steve told her he wouldn’t after he investigated and found no cause to fire the employee So now the city will end up spending money on a lawsuit filed by Mc Harris and the eventually awarded settlement Montano comes across as egotistical and vengeful when she doesn’t get her way Did she not learn how to work well with others in kindergarten Milpitas won’t be able to retain qualified City Managers as long as we have mayors who let their “mayoral position” go to their heads and forget that they are there to see to running the city for the benefit of the residents At least Montano cannot run again in the next election Our City Managers deserve to be treated with respect and gratitude for ensuring that the city is abiding by the rules and laws of an incorporated city That was what Steve Mc Harris was doing when he was let go That’s what you get Milpitas for being lazy and ignorant Milpitas residents like most of anyone that votes can’t be bothered to learn who or what they’re voting for Not that we’ve ever had better alternatives for mayoral candidates before but we did the last election had the option to not vote for corruption with Montano 2024 – a section of the California Government Code that details allowable salaries for non-charter cities like Milpitas was amended Part of the amendment stated that for cities with a population of between 75,000 and 150,000 people Councilmembers may receive $1,900 per month Another part stated that their salaries can increase by either 5% or an amount equal to inflation annually According to the most recent data in Census.gov the Milpitas Mayor makes $1,130.85 per month The other Milpitas Councilmembers each make $904.37 per month the City Council voluntarily voted to reduce the salary of City Councilmembers and the Mayor by approximately 6% due to the economic downturn and scarcity of municipal revenues the City Council voluntarily voted to further reduce the salary and car allowance of City Councilmembers and the Mayor such that a total 10% reduction took effect beginning December 2012 the Milpitas City Council approved a restoration/increase of City Council salaries to the current amount as further described in this report.”  there has been no change in the salaries of Milpitas Mayors/City Councilmembers the Milpitas City Council discussed the possibility of raising their salaries City Staff put together a chart of salaries from surrounding cities to compare… If the Milpitas City Council votes to raise the salaries the new salaries would not go into effect until late 2026 after the next election takes place and a new council is seated “It [salary] could be a factor on some people running for office To encourage more people to at least get involved in governance,” said Councilmember Chua during the meeting Government Code section 36516.1 also states that the City Council can provide the Mayor with additional compensation beyond their regular base salary for their work on the Council and that this compensation can be provided immediately without having to wait until the end of 2026 agreed that it didn’t seem fair to give the Mayor an extra increase If the discussed salary increases are enacted to the maximum of $22,800 for our Milpitas Councilmembers it will impact the General Fund to the tune of a $74,240 increase (which includes the salaries themselves and ancillary benefits) the Council agreed for City Staff to go ahead and draft an ordinance for the proposed salary increases The Beat will publish updates as things progress The Milpitas Beat held a Mayoral Candidate Forum in the Milpitas Library auditorium an incident occured that left Councilmember Hon Lien shaken and fearing for her safety… stepped off the stage with the other candidates She spoke to a few people and posed for photos she was approached by former Vice Mayor Karina Dominguez who had been listening to the forum as part of the audience Lien told The Beat in an interview that Dominguez got real close to her and demanded to know if she was a supporter of Presidential candidate Donald Trump Lien says Dominguez then held her phone close to her face and started to record a video “I told her: ‘I don’t want to engage,’” said Councilmember Lien “I kept walking and didn’t respond,” Lien told The Beat in an interview about the incident She moved toward the auditorium’s exit door He caught wind that something was going on when he heard someone in the crowd call something out about someone “going after Hon.”  Weinstein spotted Lien walking toward the exit door with someone walking very close behind her Weinstein quickly moved in their direction He wedged himself between Dominguez and Lien “After I heard Joseph [Weinstein] tell me to go I walked out to the library parking lot.”   He and Dominguez exchanged some angry words “Then she told me she was going to call the police,” Weinstein told The Beat ‘Go ahead!’ I didn’t even understand what exactly she’d be calling the police for.”  she filed a police report stating that Weinstein had pushed her to cause physical harm She also said she desired criminal prosecution against him video footage of the incident captured by another former Milpitas Vice Mayor shows that Weinstein merely bumped into Dominguez as he got between both women and ushered Lien to safety Here is the video Grilli recorded of that moment:   the Milpitas Police Department took statements from Grilli they found that there was no evidence of any intent to physically harm I did not see any intention of Weinstein to physically harm Dominguez during the incident,” the police officer wrote in the report the police officer also wrote that after he viewed Grilli’s video footage he reached out to Dominguez to ask her to share her own video footage from that night But Dominguez told him that she had deleted all of it and then said that she no longer wanted any criminal prosecution against Weinstein She also stated that she merely had wanted to file the report for documentation purposes The last time Dominguez filed a police report (that The Beat is aware of) was in 2022 when she told Milpitas Police that she had been receiving death threats The police investigated the matter but deactivated the case after they could find no evidence of any threats when he discovered that Dominguez had filed the report He spoke of how he’d seen “a person” holding up their hand at Hon’s back looking as if they were about to swing something at her “So I came in and grabbed Hon and moved her to safety I didn’t even know it was Karina who was coming after her.”  Weinstein only realized it was Dominguez when he heard her voice sarcastically say the words: “Look at this cute couple,” referring to Weinstein and Lien (Weinstein and Lien are both married to other people.)  “I was very fearful because I see this hand raised And then I realized it was Karina,” said Weinstein Another public confrontation Dominguez has had with Weinstein in the past was in 2019 Dominguez had mentioned to The Beat that the City of Milpitas had spent millions of dollars in litigation on sexual harassment cases – something Weinstein knew to be inaccurate So he brought it up in public comment at a council meeting and called her out for spreading misinformation The Beat reached out to Marsha Grilli to ask what compelled her to record the end of the interaction that night…  “When I saw Karina running at Hon and being extremely loud and aggressive like she didn’t know what to do,” said Grilli ‘I’m not going to engage with you.’ And Karina was screaming Though Grilli said she is not usually one to come in and start recording things she felt she had to on this occasion; she only wished she had started recording sooner to have captured more of it “What I saw was Hon just trying to escape from Karina,” Grilli said “Whether we are a Democrat or a Republican Dominguez made her way into the library parking lot and started to aggressively approach her again Worried that something might happen to her Lien quickly got into her car and drove away “I was mad and I was scared,” Lien told The Beat The Beat also reached out to Dominguez to get her side of the story shared her take on the evening: “It is regrettable that Councilmember Hon Lien a public official and a registered Republican continues to deflect responsibility by refusing to address two straightforward questions I raised after the public forum I exercised my right to ask a hard question which is if she intends to vote for President Donald Trump and whether she has any undisclosed legal cases or felonies in other countries Now those are fair questions that are critical to ask since elected officials don’t go through any type of background checks and the public may not have this information available.”  Weinstein told The Beat that whom Councilmember Lien is voting for for President is no one’s business He also added that if you look at Lien’s voting record during her time as a Councilmember you can’t tell whether she’s a Democrat or Republican When asked about any undisclosed legal cases that Dominguez was referring to “She is spreading lies out there that I evicted an old woman out of a house at this property in Vietnam,” stated Lien though she is not running for office herself this year Dominguez has endorsed one of Lien’s opponents for mayor – Councilmember Anthony Phan “I will be endorsing Councilmember Anthony Phan for Mayor and maybe she [Hon Lien] is just upset that I will not be endorsing her It’s time to end the old political tactics in Milpitas and focus on the quality of life issues of Milpitas residents,” shared Dominguez “My suggestion to anyone running for office is getting asked hard questions is part of the job If you don’t want to get asked hard questions and said that she makes sure to check her surroundings every time she leaves her house “It is so obvious that this was a personal attack,” said Lien “It has nothing to do with the people of Milpitas Doing what she did – she took resources away from the police officers who have real public safety issues to deal with.”  She also added: “I hate the fact that I was attacked If Katrina wants ro ask hard questions she shows her candidate Anthony Phan about all the things he has done I am happy and available to share with the Milpitas community why I am endorsing CM Anthony Phan Milpitas stay tuned it’s time to take back our community Your tax payer money is being wasted in litigation and Anthony has been our champion since day one He speaks truth to power and that is what I want in a mayor Also it’s Karina not Katrina 😉 from a place of kindness and love ❤️ I would like to be called my name I read in the police report you told the police officer investigating your complaint that you had deleted your videos from the library issue that you created I am sorry you are still hurt from when we ran against each other and I won in 2018 I didn’t run for your appointed seat to give you an opportunity to serve feeding the media and nonsense that doesn’t help our community I am proud of all life decisions and bravery If it’s anything Mtown knows is I love everyone in this community even those who are attempting to hurt me Take care and sending you nothing but blessings Glad they have a video to show your lie and another attempt to waste public resources Katerina Dominguez tried to intimidate members of the community refrain from posting about certain political topics on Nextdoor Clearly she’s never heard of the right of to free speech The fact that someone like that was on city council and was vice mayor is SCARY Honestly she seems like a nightmare to deal with and I understand why Lien is scared The fact that she endorsed Pham makes me not want to vote for him I’m not at all surprised by what I read in this article She sounds crazy…out of the communist play book to intimidate the opposition We will be voting for Hon Lien and President Donald Trump in our Milpitas household Intimidation has no place here but that said I also would like to know if any candidates are voting for Trump because that tells me about the person’s moral values No one should be invading anyone’s personal space and I really can’t believe that anyone would call the Police for getting a slight bump like that There’s been yet another installment in the ongoing legal battle between former Milpitas City Manager Steve McHarris and the City of Milpitas – and this one has involved former Mayor Rich Tran…   the Superior Court of Santa Clara County ruled that Tran will have to pay $6,900 in sanctions to the plaintiff due to Tran not having appeared for a deposition as part of the McHarris lawsuit back in December 2024 The court order also requires that Tran appear for a deposition no later than April 10 Some background: In 2023, McHarris filed a lawsuit against the City of Milpitas citing wrongful termination when his contract wasn’t renewed was mentioned as having played an integral role in creating a hostile work environment during the time when McHarris was City Manager Tran’s deposition – the oral statement of a witness before a trial takes place – was begun but never completed but was due to appear and complete his deposition last December In an interview with The Beat earlier this year Tran claimed that the deposition had never been scheduled In January, McHarris filed a motion against the City stating that its discovery process had been impeded by its inability to continue deposing Tran who has spent much of his recent time traveling it was stated that Tran’s activity on social media showed that he was in town during the deposition period But the City of Milpitas’ attorney stated that Tran was not responsive to scheduling efforts The motion originally sought sanctions against the City the City’s lawyer argued that Tran was not their client…  I cannot represent him,” said Milpitas’ attorney Nadia Bermudez during the hearing “I’m at a loss because the City cannot control Mr it should not be sanctioned for his refusal to show for deposition.”  and the $6,900 penalty was therefore directed toward Rich Tran This order and Defendants’ conduct may be considered and addressed by the trial judge who The Beat confirmed is currently in Thailand has been traveling around the world since last summer for work He has not been affiliated with the City of Milpitas since he finished serving as Mayor back in late 2022 The Beat reached out to Tran for comment and he stated that he had reached out to the court requesting that they terminate the sanctions “I hope the court will accept my request to terminate sanctions I have made the plaintiff and defendant legal teams aware.” William Lam was sworn in as a new councilmember and both Mayor Carmen Montano and Councilmember Evelyn Chua were also sworn in to their new terms where people can thrive…The people have trusted us to do that,” said Mayor Montano who was thrilled to be re-elected to her second mayoral term Councilmember Chua was also sworn in by her granddaughter “As my commitment to you during the campaign and initiate a community engagement group to bring together the city toward the people,” said Chua “That’s my goal for the next four years.”   I had no volunteers to help me with campaigning,” said Lam whose councilmember term came to an end last night was also recognized for having served on the Milpitas City Council City Manager Ned Thomas mentioned that Phan had been a “voice of progress on the council and a strong advocate for our residents flag that had been flown over the Civic Center in recognition of his service on the council He also received recognition from Assemblymember Alex Lee and the offices of Congressman Ro Khanna and Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee Phan thanked the voters for having passed Measure J a quarter-cent sales tax toward public services Measure J was passed with 80.1% of the vote I reflect back on a lot of the amazing things that we’ve accomplished together,” said Phan And I think it speaks volumes to the strength of our city as a community.”  Mayor Montano appointed Garry Barbadillo as the new Vice Mayor of Milpitas The Milpitas Post Office has put up signage near its postal boxes warning users not to drop off mail after the final 5pm pickup time The Beat spoke with the location’s supervisor Baker explained that such signage had not been posted in a long time… “We have had theft in the area of Milpitas as well as other areas and there was an advisory from the Postal Inspection Services,” Baker shared have security personnel patrolling their sites they put the word out to all neighboring post offices Milpitas’s own post office was being targeted Baker estimates that their blue postal boxes have been robbed around three times recently The criminals attach sticky tape to pole-like objects then go fishing in the boxes saying that identity theft is “the hottest thing.” “We found a couple pieces of envelopes that were slightly torn or they had some sticky residue on them,” Baker added Said Baker about the recently posted advisement it will get collected and it won’t be sitting for hours.” Tucked away in the hills of Milpitas is a peaceful place where all time seems to stop… This place is known as Sri Krishna Balaram Goshala and it’s a cow sanctuary that is home to 16 very happy cows This sanctuary – and the land that it is embedded in – is owned by the India Heritage Foundation Visitors who come to the sanctuary are not only amazed by its beautiful views but also by the tranquil and unique experience of spending time with the cows Rekha Prodduturi has been associated with the India Heritage Foundation for the past 10 years She is deeply involved in doing all she can to ensure that the organization thrives; she devotes her time to offering support with teen and youth mentorship She is also Executive Director of one of the foundation’s philanthropic projects the protection of cows is one of our driving goals,” Prodduturi told The Beat in an interview They contribute to raising food and grain.”  When they first opened the cow sanctuary in 2016 an Indian breed that originally came from Mexico All of the cows are well taken care of and able to live naturally without the threat of slaughter hanging over them There are several caretakers who give their time to caring for the cows each day we have a lot more volunteers,” said Ramanama Dasa “The volunteers [comb and] massage the cows They also clean and take out the cow dung.”  there are hours in the mornings and late afternoons slated for visitors to come by and spend time with the cows After the morning session ends and the sanctuary closes to visitors the cows all instinctively follow each other in a single line going up over the hill to graze for the day they always come walking back in time for the resumption of visitors’ hours The cow sanctuary is just a small part of roughly 80 acres of property owned by the foundation The grand vision is to build and develop a brand new temple in the hills Currently the foundation has a temple, the Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir where they maintain a full schedule of events and activities so that we can be closer to the construction Our new temple will be right on top of the hill,” said Vikram Krishna Dasa The hope is to complete the construction of the new temple in the next several years They also have plans to build out the cow sanctuary to include 50-75 cows They’re very spoiled,” said Prodduturi with a smile All visitors are welcome at the Goshala every day from 10am-11:30am and 4pm-6pm An appointment is needed for those coming in the morning to visit and help feed the cows Visit their website to learn more America needs to change its attitude toward cows Perhaps foundations like this can inspire people here to make that change But I’m not too keen on this new temple project 2025-05-05T07:41:43-07:00May 5 2025-05-02T09:39:58-07:00May 2 2025-05-02T08:40:53-07:00May 2 2025-05-04T09:32:06-07:00April 30 2025-04-30T17:06:48-07:00April 30 the Sattvic Meals Foundation officially held its grand launch drawing in dignitaries and community members from across the Bay Area The Sattvic Meals Foundation is an organization that is working to address student hunger in community colleges across the United States “According to a recent survey, more than 50% of students are facing food insecurity,” said Rekha Prodduturi Sattvic Meals Foundation’s Executive Director Prodduturi decided to leave her corporate job She felt a deep calling to fully serve her community and lay the groundwork for what would ultimately become an organization Sattvic Meals Foundation’s goal is to provide hot they have a bold vision of making 50,000 meals for college kids studying at local community colleges they hope to have served one million meals a whole-body system of healing and medicine founded in India a few thousand years ago known as one of the oldest natural healing systems in the world A sattvic diet promotes balance and health in the body It is looked at as a way of promoting well-being it helps with your mind and soul as well,” said Prodduturi is also deeply committed to the organization’s mission “These are young students in the early part of their life and they’re trying to study a vocation and get ahead in life,” said Datt We want to be there for the children in their moment of need and empower them to carry it forward and help others.”   Although they didn’t have their official launch until recently the organization served their very first meals to 115 college students at De Anza College back in January the Sattvic Meals Foundation has served over 700 meals to over 500 students at both De Anza and West Valley colleges as part of their pilot program Sattvic Meals Foundation has also been launching centers on the east coast they’ve also started operations in New Jersey and Boston – and they don’t plan on stopping there The goal is to continue to expand to New York and Washington community leaders and members from all over the area attended along with Milpitas Planning Commissioners Dipak Awasthi and Parveen Gupta who highlighted the urgent need to support students facing food insecurity “Food insecurity is a big challenge these days Especially in this high cost of living area It’s unfortunate that students have to go hungry,” said Prodduturi “I think we should do our part in helping our students because the future is in their hands we are taking care of our future and our communities at large.”   You can watch a YouTube video of the event here. And learn more about the Sattvic Meals Foundation on their website Sponsored Post paid for by Hon for Milpitas Mayor 2024 FPPC# 1464067 My father suffered a stroke and passed away shortly after he delivered my family safely in the U.S Thanks to the support and guidance of a kind family we have successfully coped with the difficulties faced by new immigrants Such loving encouragement and guidance have made my life a constant mission to repay America for its kindness I have offered my services in different capacities and over a decade long I focused my services to the people of our Milpitas community My background as Vice-President in Commercial Banking of United Commercial Bank (East West Bank) Serving as a Trustee for Lincoln Law School helped me understand the importance of ethics and application of laws I’ve had so many opportunities to learn and serve Immigration Department is merciless when it comes to screening new immigrants Those that don’t speak English or have English as a second language are already at a disadvantage so I volunteer as a translator for Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants who are applying for visas I have learned to stay focused and to not allow irrelevant distractions to interfere with my services Since my announcement of running for Milpitas Mayor the following adversarial distractions have been launched against me: In my short time on the City Council I have visited Washington D.C. where I learned and brought back to City Staff the information to secure a 2.9 million dollar grant focused on pedestrian safety around schools I was also the lone vote against approving an unlimited budget for the attorney’s defending the City in the former City-Manager’s lawsuit; and I was the lone vote against renaming the library until we had valid input from the community and followed the established naming policy I am running for Mayor because I believe in the potential of our community I am determined to raise our level of professionalism on the Council and improve our reputation within the County and State I have seen both the challenges and the opportunities that we face and I am determined to bring about the positive changes we all deserve My vision is to create a City where everyone has access to quality public services and where residents believe their voices are being heard I remind myself of the story of the rose that grew from concrete in attendance for the inspection were: retired leaders from Santa Clara County Red Cross and American Legion; representatives from the U.S Navy representatives; Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors incoming President and retired Navy Officer Otto Lee; Milpitas Police Sergeant Peter Tachis; and City of Milpitas Veterans Commissioners In response to the letter and potential budget restructuring of the school district student cadets and community members attended a school board meeting and asked the MUSD governing board of trustees to extend the life of the program one additional year in order to increase its enrollment The MUSD governing board of trustees unanimously approved the request citing the history of the program and its community service efforts with the City of Milpitas Veterans Commission and outside of the school day in his second year of leadership at Milpitas HS offered the following assessment: “The Milpitas HS NJROTC continues to show great promise and potential The growth that students speak of and experience in terms of leadership and personal growth in a short period of time is second to no other program.” With school districts across the state closing schools the Milpitas Unified School District governing board of trustees awaits the final report from the Annual Military Inspection and end of school year NJROTC enrollment numbers to determine its next steps and possible future of the program The Milpitas Chamber of Commerce has undergone various changes over the past year In recent years, the Chamber has experienced its fair share of staff and board resignations, largely because of claims related to organizational mismanagement of their budget and low morale within the Chamber team. This all came to a head in February 2023 when the Board President himself, Inderjit Mundra, resigned from his position Hopeful for positive changes under the new leadership local business owner Tim Alcorn joined the Chamber Board of Directors Alcorn has since resigned from his role as Vice President of Policy (on October 10) citing harassment and bullying as two of his reasons While things were good at first according to Alcorn he alleged that during his time as part of the Board he witnessed Board Members bullying each other and harassing Chamber staff Examples posed by Alcorn included some Board Members demanding time cards from office staff as well as Board Members sending emails to each other telling one another to resign The Beat was able to confirm some of the bullying claims by speaking with current members of the Chamber Board “The Chamber does have a bad apple that should be asked to resign,” said Juliette Gomez and harassing anybody in a volunteer or work environment is uncalled for and should not be tolerated.”  There are some who contradict these claims “Adults in organizations like the Chamber will have differences of opinions,” said Francisco Hernandez “Just because one person disagrees versus another I don’t think there’s any bullying in that sense.” these issues don’t paint the full picture when it comes to the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce: “There are some people who care a lot about titles and there’s a lot of people who care about getting the work done,” said Jennifer Cullenbine current Board Member and previous President the Chamber has come a long way in the past year One component in which the Chamber has improved is its financial situation According to Alcorn as well as multiple current Board Members the Chamber has been up to date with all of their bills and has also been successfully working to pay off their debts over the past year While they have plans to be completely debt-free soon the Chamber is especially committed to the responsibility of managing their finances enough to help support themselves and their 170+ business members according to current Chamber President Norma Morales along with fostering the relationship between its business members and the City of Milpitas They have worked on this by improving the transparency between themselves and the City through regular monthly meetings The Chamber has also been planning events for members Board Members such as Cullenbine remain optimistic for the future of the Chamber despite the challenges they’ve faced “There’s a lot of really good people on the Chamber Board,” said Alcorn there would be no Chamber.” Despite resigning from the Board Alcorn’s business continues to be a registered member of the Chamber and Alcorn is “extremely hopeful” about the Chamber turning around regarding having to build the Chamber back up after being left with debts from the 2023 board Morales also said that the Chamber “Can always go up,” and that they intend to continue building off their successes and supporting Milpitas businesses So the Current Chamber Board is looking toward the future, and community members can provide them with any feedback that they have to help the Chamber improve Business owners can also stop by the Chamber office to inquire about joining as a member The Beat recently had an opportunity to sit down with Milpitas City Manager Ned Thomas and Assistant City Manager Matt Cano to discuss Measure J Thomas and Cano have been going out into the community and educating residents about Measure J How exactly would Measure J impact Milpitas if passed by voters “Measure J is the extension of a voter-approved local sales tax measure that was first approved in 2020,” Cano explained to The Beat “The revenue we generate from the existing sales tax measure generates about $7 million a year for essential local services.” The existing measure to which Cano is referring is a 1/4-cent sales tax measure known as Measure F It was approved by Milpitas voters in November of 2020 and went into effect on April 1 The current measure provides funding for local services to support areas like police But Measure F expires in March of 2029 – which is why Measure J is on the ballot this year the reauthorized tax would go from April 1 The amount of tax would stay the same at a quarter-cent  (.25%) Currently the sales tax in Milpitas is at 9.375% This is a combination of all local and state sales taxes it would extend the expiration date of the current measure by an additional 8 years,” Cano shared the funding has been put toward infrastructure repairs like fixing streets It has also been put toward maintaining neighborhood patrols “We hope that the level of city services we’ve provided have demonstrated our commitment to using the funding we receive wisely,” said Thomas to The Beat Milpitas City Staff calculated that the City would soon be facing a $9 million deficit Staff gave a presentation to the Milpitas City Council about the potential of placing Measure F on the ballot the City likely would have been faced with cuts that time,” said Cano asking residents to vote on what they believe to be priority services The top services that residents voted for were: Maintaining 911 emergency response services; repairing streets and fixing potholes; maintaining police protection and tracking/investigating crime; and addressing homeless encampments These are the goals that the City hopes to prioritize if Measure J passes Cano and Thomas have been attending commission meetings and speaking at different organizations to inform and educate the community about Measure J Thomas recalls all of the strong support that the original measure received from voters back in 2020: “I can’t underestimate the importance of the revenue we received from the local sales tax,” Thomas told The Beat “We enjoy a very high quality of life here in Milpitas.” Cano made clear that if Measure J isn’t passed by voters next week the City may need to think about reducing or eliminating specific services the loss of which would likely lower the quality of life in Milpitas ”It’s important for our community to weigh in on this,” stated Cano “These are services that are very critical.” Milpitas must vote YES on measure J for multiple reasons Vote YES and we keep the 1/4 sales tax revenue in Milpitas Vote no and there is no tax law that stops another taxing entity from at attempt to take the money away from Milpitas Both Fremont and San Jose have increased the salaries/benefits/bonus’s to their police officers You can expect that may soon cover all Public Safety first responders This is NOT a tax increase and a no vote does not mean that our taxes will go down KQED Live EventsPRX Podcast Garage EventsEvents Around the Bay AreaMember Benefits with KQED LiveVideos from KQED LiveWatch recordings of recent KQED Live events FeaturedThat's My WordAn ongoing exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history See Senior Director of TV Programming Meredith 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The AP calls winners by analyzing vote tallies and other election data Check marks are used to denote a winner only when the AP calls a race but largely has similar responsibilities as other council members: voting on city ordinances the mayor has broader powers to sign or veto bills oversee city departments and make appointments City and town council members can propose new city ordinances and vote on a range of issues They also help draft the city or town budget To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy. See results for all elections on the Santa Clara County ballot Have a correction? Contact voterguide@kqed.org The Beat learned that Councilmember Hon Lien had to cancel her D.C as there were no more hotel rooms to book in the area three members of the Milpitas City Council are visiting Washington Two of them – Mayor Carmen Montano and Councilmember Evelyn Chua – are currently attending the United States Conference of Mayors’ 93rd Winter Meeting where President Joe Biden was in attendance earlier today is an opportunity for elected officials to meet with federal officials and congressional leaders Committees within the conference also formulate policy positions that represent the ideas of mayors across the nation; these positions are then sent to the U.S The third councilmember – Hon Lien – is traveling to D.C this weekend to take meetings with various government representatives But there is a notable backstory behind these D.C at the January 7 Milpitas City Council meeting the Council approved for Mayor Carmen Montano and Councilmember Evelyn Chua to attend the mayors’ conference the majority of the Council voted not to allow Councilmember Hon Lien to also attend Milpitas has a Travel and Expense Policy that requires the City Council to approve all travel for elected officials and the City Manager each member of the Milpitas City Council has an allocation of $10,000 to attend conferences and meetings Councilmember Lien presently has a balance of $9,875 remaining in her allocation The total cost for attending the conference in D.C Mayor Montano did not hesitate to express her disapproval of Councilmember Lien attending: “I do not agree with this request with due respect because there will be three councilmembers going all the way across the United States,” said Mayor Montano She also brought up the possibility of violating the Brown Act due to the fact that a majority of Council would be at the conference Vice Mayor Garry Barbadillo asked the City Attorney if there would be a possible Brown Act violation issue by way of Lien attending so long as the trio didn’t discuss matters that pertain to the City Council outside of the regular agenda I believe that any opportunity that would better each and every one of us and bring it back to the city would be a good opportunity So I’m fine with Councilmember Lien going,” said Vice Mayor Barbadillo and Councilmember William Lam – all voting against Councilmember Lien’s participation it’s related to the City and within my budget So I don’t see why I cannot go,” expressed Lien at the meeting In explaining her main reason for not allowing Councilmember Lien’s request “The superseding argument is that it’s all the way across the country Three councilmembers…you just have to be prudent The Beat reached out to Montano for a comment and she wrote back by text: “The D.C trip is intended for mayors across the United States Former Mayor Rich Tran allowed his vice mayors to attend with him In a Facebook post following last Tuesday’s council meeting “Every elected official in City Hall should have the right to attend conferences – no matter what I was never prohibited from attending conferences for any reason We must do all we can do to support each member on the council to be the best they can be for Milpitas regardless of our differences.”  Although Councilmember Chua is no longer the vice mayor this year she had been unable to attend the conference last year due to a family health situation “[Evelyn Chua] had the decency and respect to ask if she could attend with me Hon Lien had staff make arrangements to go without my knowledge,” added Mayor Montano “Staff put it on the agenda and the Council majority voted ‘no’ because it is too much of a risk to have three members go especially if it’s clear across the country.”   When The Beat reached out to Lien to ask how she felt about her colleagues’ decision Where Things Stand Now – and the Presidential Inauguration  Even though the majority of the council did not rule in her favor Councilmember Lien was not about to let that stop her she booked her own flight and paid her own way to D.C Although she will not be attending the mayors conference itself she will be present on the ground to take some meetings The three Milpitas councilmembers who are in D.C this weekend also have tickets to attend Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday Congressman Ro Khanna’s office had given tickets to Chua and Montano while Lien received her inauguration ticket from a lobbyist last March during her last D.C Mayor Montano told The Beat that she decided she would not be attending the inauguration But Lien told The Beat: “I’m going to the inauguration but because I’m an immigrant who came to this country And it has always been my dream to attend the peaceful transfer of power in the United States.” While I agree with Council member Lien about the value of our elected representatives attending the United States Conference of Mayors’ 93rd Winter Meeting I strongly object to their presence at the inauguration of the felon president who’s an adjudicated rapist and (according to Jack Smith) clearly an insurrectionist that tried to overthrow our government but suppressing the information about Trump being a rapist so he could get elected in 2016 Anyone treating the felon president as normal is disconnected from reality You could use the same argument to pardon Trump as Biden used to pardon his son:“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of (Trump’s) cases can reach any other conclusion than (Trump) was singled out only because he is (hated} — and that is wrong There has been an effort to break (Trump) even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution they’ve tried to break (The American People) — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here the school has offered private music lessons and performance opportunities to thousands of students living in Milpitas and surrounding communities The school was opened by business partners Joe Santoro and Deborah Goldstein Santoro has been dedicated to keeping the business going “Both of us used to work at a music store called Milpitas Music on the other side of town next to the Togos on Park Victoria,” said Santoro to The Beat in an interview and all those students and teachers had nowhere to go So Deborah and I decided to start this place.”  It was at the age of 6 when Santoro’s lifelong passion for music began The technique and understanding of music that he gained from the accordion gave him a foundation to learn other instruments he talked to his parents about letting him play the drums “There’s always this stigma of volume with drums and whatever maybe he’d be good at it,’” said Santoro Santoro’s parents surprised him with a new drum “The guy I bought the drum set from became my first drum teacher “He was one of the assistant conductors of the Milpitas Community Band.”  Santoro has taught drums to students since he was 17 years old Not only does he continue to do private lessons at his music school but he also teaches three days a week at two middle schools in the Cupertino Union School District He also used to teach at Milpitas High School on and off for about 30 years there are teachers who will teach kids as young as 4½ years old the school trains children all the way up to adults in the areas of voice They also teach music composition and music theory there are also opportunities for students to perform in recitals they held a recital to celebrate the South Bay School of Music Arts’ 40th anniversary There were siblings performing duets together Having students come out to make music and perform for the celebration brought a spark of life back to the music school the school had 400 students enrolled at one point “It wasn’t until a few months ago that I was able to rebuild the staff,” said Santoro “So it took me almost five years to finally rebuild.”  Santoro is hopeful that after four decades of business students will continue to find a path toward learning and loving music at the South Bay School of Music Arts “Music is something that was important to me when I grew up,” said Santoro And I want people in Milpitas to know that we’re still here.”  Learn more about the South Bay School of Music Arts on their website I took lessons here in the late 80s and was part of a woodwind trio that would play at local festivals Joe Santoro would work with the MHS percussion at that time as well– great guy Current Mayor Carmen Montano has served two terms as a Milpitas City Councilmember: one from 2012-2016 and the other from 2018-2022 After her second Council term, she shattered the glass ceiling by becoming the first-ever woman mayor in Milpitas history as she nears the end of her first mayoral term Montano is focused on winning re-election this November 5 Mayor Montano reflected on all the contributions she’s made to the City since she started serving on the Council she was instrumental in the creation of an arts ordinance “The ordinance says that new developments must always add an art piece into the development or add some money into an art fund,” Mayor Montano told The Beat I pushed for some to be used toward the Workforce Summer Youth Program.”  She is also proud of her work in advocating for funding from the VTA board — funding that has been put toward the Milpitas SMART transit program Education remains a big passion of Montano’s; she spent many years as a teacher and served on the Milpitas Unified School District’s Board of Education for eight years “I really believe that education is the key that gives people hope,” said Montano Montano has been looking at all the ways in which the city can revitalize Milpitas’ Main Street “I want Main Street to be a destination place an entertainment district with restaurants and music,” Mayor Montano shared She also feels it’s important for Milpitas to have a museum on Main Street “There’s a building for sale and I would like the City to buy it and make it into a small museum,” Montano stated “It would be great for students and young kids.”   The building she mentioned is located at 176 S Montano brought up the idea of purchasing the property and now Milpitas’ City staff is researching the prospect Beautifying Milpitas remains one of Montano’s top priorities – and is something she will continue working on if re-elected she has volunteered with Cathedral of Faith to help clean up graffiti on Main Street “I want to make sure the city’s clean,” Mayor Montano explained Along with beautifying Milpitas and sprucing up Main Street Mayor Montano’s other priorities include ensuring public safety As Mayor Montano looks to November 5, she is hopeful that her dedication, experience, and genuine love for Milpitas will see her through to victory. She is running against Councilmember Anthony Phan, Councilmember Hon Lien I was raised here as a kid and went to the public schools “I know this city like the back of my hand and serving here is really meaningful for me.”   To learn more about Montano, visit her website With Election Day coming up on November 5, the Milpitas mayoral race is in full swing. The Beat will be hosting a live mayoral Candidate Forum on October 9 let’s take a look at the players on the board… Montano has distinguished herself from her predecessor Rich Tran by leading relatively quietly at least insofar as social media is concerned She also boasts strong historical roots in Milpitas having been a leading name in town for many years — someone who represents faith and creativity She also consistently comes out to community events to mix with the people and lend her support with Anthony Phan and Karina Dominguez coming in second and third and splitting the city’s progressive vote in the process Councilmember Anthony Phan…He’s going after the mayoral seat this time with no fellow progressives bumping into his elbows somewhat wonkish yet also charismatic player Phan tends to connect and cultivate good vibes when he’s out mixing with the public If he plays the Milpitas long game and knocks on endless doors he might be able to carve out a space for himself on top and current city councilmember has been drawing attention lately for breaking with conformity on the dais It’s not unusual for Lien’s votes to be distinct from those of her colleagues and many residents seem to be impressed and refreshed by it she faces a young progressive who’s been a familiar face on the council for years she faces a seasoned local name who’s been serving Milpitas for decades Yet by way of her composure and cool intelligence The question is whether it will be enough to outshine her rivals Milpitas’ self-declared “6th councilmember,” is also taking a shot at the mayoral seat but Montemayor’s run is more a show of city allegiance than a competitive campaign smiling mainstay at every city council meeting Montemayor is never doubted for his pride and passion but it would be a stunning upset if he won but she never took the seat for granted back when she ran in ‘22 it’ll be because moderate and working class voters aligned in force the public will be picking up what Phan is putting down A fact that Milpitas may want to know in this race is CM Hon Lien is a strong conservative and registered Republican She has received the republican endorsement Hon Lien is endorsed by the Republican Party But both Lien and Montano were “co-endorsed” by MPD and its union MPOA Its like “co-endorsing” Trump and Kamala https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1025105467047?aff=oddtdtcreator Milpitas Mayor Carmen Montano is leading the 2024 race by just three points over her closest opponent Councilmember Hon Lien as well as community advocate Voltaire Soriben Montemayor who is running for the fifth time as a mayoral candidate Lien in second place with 33.2% of the vote Phan with 21.2% and Soriben Montemayor with 9.5% as of Friday afternoon A Milpitas native, Montano oversaw the 70th anniversary of the city’s incorporation earlier this year highlighting its history of agriculture and industry as well as recent investments in affordable housing Montano did not respond to a request for comment She previously told San José Spotlight that Milpitas is like every other city: “It’s growing Lien announced her run for Milpitas mayor during her first term on the city council she served two terms as a trustee on the Milpitas Unified School District board and became involved in community service after retiring from her seafood wholesale business She said she remains optimistic that the final election results will show her as the winning candidate and she will wait until all votes are counted Lien said her goals would be to improve the city’s public safety increase affordable housing and support the city’s unhoused residents knocked on doors and phone banked up until the day of the election,” Lien told San José Spotlight “Hopefully those who voted late voted for me.” Montano’s priorities for 2025 include increasing the affordable housing stock, bolstering funding for police and fire and fiscal responsibility with taxpayer dollars Montano wants to launch an audit to ensure public dollars are being spent appropriately Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X You must be logged in to post a comment 408.206.5327[email protected] Jaiya Chavez is a nine-year-old force of nature She recently won her first amateur boxing match in a unanimous decision – and she also received a belt for “Fighter of the Night.”  After securing the win for her first fight she remembers being at the gym and watching her dad Jaiya started to get serious about fighting She started training every day at Milpitas Boxing the gym that her dad co-owns with a couple others if I don’t make it out to the gym,” Jaiya told The Beat in an interview She starts out by warming up with some jump-roping and shadowboxing Then she hits the bag and does push-ups and sit-ups after She also does running and sparring to stay on top of her game “She’ll spar here at the gym and we even go around to other gyms,” said Aaron but sometimes we’re able to find a girl here and there that she can get in the ring with.”  but she also gets support from other coaches at Milpitas Boxing… there are 3 other coaches here that are going to be there “She listens very well and trains very hard That’s the most important thing – work ethic.”  The fight Jaiya won happened on January 25 in San Francisco at the Hit Fit Boxing Gym Most fighters competing that night were adults “I was really excited to do my first fight,” said Jaiya Jaiya and her competitor were the only girls fighting on the card Jaiya’s match went 3 rounds; each round was 1 minute and 30 seconds long “She fought against a 10-year-old and had to go up 10 pounds in weight,” said Aaron Even though it isn’t ideal to fight someone in a higher weight class “It’s kind of hard to find competitions with girls locally sometimes,” said Aaron Jaiya is more determined than ever to keep training and working hard ‘I want to do this every day,’” Aaron smiled “She has really big goals and ambitions.”  Aaron told The Beat that they are aiming to take Jaiya to USA Boxing’s Junior Olympics and Summer Festival in Las Vegas to compete with some of the best young fighters in the country Jaiya’s dad is looking to line up some other fights for her When asked what she loves most about boxing “The thing I like the most about boxing is it pushes me It’s a hard sport so you have to work hard.”  Jaiya is a third-grader at Marshall Pomeroy Elementary School She used to play basketball and is considering getting back into that “I want to become a pro and be the best,” Jaiya said candidate Juliette Gomez has her eye on a seat on the Milpitas City Council Driven by a passion for community service and a vision for bringing positive change to Milpitas Gomez offers a fresh perspective from her purview outside of the City’s establishment Gomez’s decision to run for City Council stems from her desire to impact the community directly… “I want to shape the future of Milpitas by communicating the needs of our residents and businesses,” she shared with The Beat Her plan includes creating jobs through partnerships with unions and entrepreneurs while working with the City to streamline permitting and licensing processes she is dedicated to ensuring safety and enhancing the quality of life for all Milpitians “It is crucial to ensure that our police and fire services are adequately funded and have enough officers to keep our community safe,” Gomez said Gomez believes that maintaining clean and attractive public spaces is also essential and the inclusion of public art to beautify the city Gomez is also passionate about economic development She envisions strong alliances with local businesses to advocate for tax incentives and credits for those that invest in the community and create jobs she aims to collaborate with the school board to ensure safe streets and invest in emergency preparedness programs for students Affordable housing is another critical issue for Gomez She intends to listen to community concerns and collaborate closely with city and county officials to develop zoning strategies with developers she plans to invest in mental health awareness for the unhoused population providing resources to help them access the assistance that they need Gomez feels that what sets her apart from the other candidates is her extensive experience in collaborating with Silicon Valley executives over the past 30 years She understands the nuances of business needs and the importance of fostering partnerships among the City “Partnerships are key,” she mentioned highlighting her commitment to bridging gaps between businesses and the community through collaborative efforts Gomez believes that her authenticity and transparency make her the ideal candidate for City Council “I will advocate for what’s best for the community based on their input,” she said to The Beat Gomez has a rich history of community involvement She has served on various city commissions and is currently Vice President of the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce She has also dedicated herself to mentoring students and coaching youth sports as well as raising scholarship funds for Milpitas High School students having written a book based on her experiences advocating for kindness “Can I Push You?” is inspired by a true story and reflects her commitment to promoting positive values within her community and love to generate ideas for the betterment of projects and way of life,” she said woman and two preteens were found dead in a Silicon Valley apartment Tuesday night and investigators are trying to figure out what happened to them Family members of the victims called police on Tuesday and said they hadn’t heard from them in a few days Tyler Jamison of the Milpitas Police Department Family members asked authorities to conduct a welfare check and police found the four victims around 9 p.m Police weren’t able to confirm the victims’ ages because they are waiting for the Santa Clara County Coroner to complete examinations we will be able to kind of piece all that stuff together,” Jamison said The man, woman and two preteens were found at a new luxury apartment complex that’s pretty quiet, television station KGO-TV reported Community members told the outlet they were saddened over the victims’ deaths Police told the outlet there have been no other calls at the apartment and they did not say if there was a weapon in the home Stockton shooting: Suspect arrested in 2023 slaying all the evidence suggests it was an isolated incident and there's no ongoing threat to public safety," Jamison Community member Jerry Saldana told the television station that his family lives there in a unit above the apartment the victims were found in "Gotta appreciate everyone and make sure you stay safe in your own home It's sad to think something like that happened so close Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com Catalyze SV is hosting an event called Electrify Our Future: Clean Energy and Sustainable Transportation The Beat connected with Catalyze SV’s Executive Director Alex Shoor to learn more… “is to inform the community about the different types of electric energy emerging in our community right now and the resources available to the community to transition to these electric energy sources.”  The overall goal is for more people to use sustainable energy sources Featured at the event will be Brent Tietjen of Caltrain Linda Hutchins-Knowles of Climate Action California Juliette Pascual of Silicon Valley Clean Energy each working in different ways to ensure a future using more electric energy and other sustainable energy sources,” Shoor explained The term “sustainable transportation” in the event’s title refers to transportation that is not reliant on vehicles with internal combustion engines powered by gas This could mean an electric car or a ride-sharing or car-sharing service “Sustainable transportation also means getting around by using public transit that is powered by renewable energy sources.” Shoor also highlighted VTA’s light rail and Caltrain’s new electric trains as prime examples of more sustainable transportation Said Catalyze SV’s Community Engagement Manager Jhaid Parreno in a separate interview “America’s outlook for a clean energy future is optimistic with increasing investments in renewable energy sources and advancements in technology The shift toward electrification of transportation and a commitment to reducing carbon emissions reflects a growing awareness and collective effort to combat climate change.” Learn more about Catalyze SV here © 2025 Copyright All Rights Reserved By milpitasbeat.com.