San Jose Renames Downtown Park “Plaza de San Jose” in Unanimous Vote

The San Jose City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, to rename downtown’s oldest public park—established in 1797 and known for the past 33 years as Plaza de Cesar Chavez—to Plaza de San Jose, according to KTVU FOX 2. Across Santa Clara County and San Francisco this week, election officials relocated an East San Jose polling site to Latino College Prep Academy (NBC Bay Area), Mountain View announced free November sandbag distributions for El Niño storms (San José Spotlight), and San Francisco Supervisor Danny Sauter called a Nov. 12 hearing into a repeat Craigslist rental scammer (The San Francisco Standard).

San Jose Council Selects “Plaza de San Jose” After 10,000+ Public Submissions

Following a two-year public engagement process that drew more than 10,000 name submissions and a ranked-choice community survey, Mayor Matt Mahan, District 3 Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, and their colleagues voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt the name Plaza de San Jose for the 2.2-acre downtown park between Market Street and Almaden Boulevard, according to KTVU reporter Mark Sayre.

Councilmembers confirmed that the park’s existing Cesar Chavez memorial fountain will remain in place and that a citywide task force will develop educational installations contextualizing both the city’s founding history and the farmworker movement.

Latino College Prep Academy Replaces Two East San Jose Voting Sites; Mountain View Preps Sandbags

In East San Jose ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters announced that Latino College Prep Academy will serve as a consolidated Vote Center replacing Joseph George Middle School (which was relocated as a security precaution following recent campus vandalism) and nearby White Road Baptist Church (which had a scheduling conflict), according to NBC Bay Area.

Registrar spokesperson Michael Borja said the county has sent mailers, emails, and automated phone calls to affected East San Jose households. Roughly 100 ballot drop boxes are already open across Santa Clara County, and 100 early voting centers open this weekend, with county officials projecting 55% to 60% turnout among the county’s more than 1 million registered voters—up from 51% in the 2022 midterm election.

Farther north in Santa Clara County, the City of Mountain View announced it is preparing for forecast El Niño winter storms by offering free sandbags to residents starting in November at the Municipal Operations Center at 231 N. Whisman Road, while Valley Water clears sediment and vegetation along Permanente Creek, Stevens Creek, and Adobe Creek, according to San José Spotlight.

SF Supervisor Danny Sauter Calls Nov. 12 Hearing After Craigslist Scammer Steals $18,600

In San Francisco, District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter has scheduled a Nov. 12 Board of Supervisors hearing on rental listing fraud after an investigation by Jennifer Wadsworth in The San Francisco Standard revealed that a single scammer has repeatedly used the same phone number (562-888-2056) and email address (californiaadaptationhomes@gmail.com) on Craigslist to impersonate San Francisco homeowners.

The scammer defrauded prospective renter Alvin Tran out of $18,600 in deposits and prepaid rent and nearly duped UCSF nurse Lauren Rice using stolen photos of a Crestmont Drive home owned by Babak Suzani—even arranging unattended lockbox tours before demanding wire transfers. Alah Rodriguez, spokesperson for StopScams SF—a public-private anti-fraud coalition launched in July with a $3 million JPMorganChase grant—urged apartment hunters never to wire money before verifying property ownership records and meeting the verified landlord in person.