Protesters and audience
SJ talks arresting unhoused people
By
San José City Council and the community debated if it is reasonable to arrest unhoused residents for refusing shelter at Tuesday’s City Hall meeting.
San José City Mayor Matt Mahan’s March budget message for 2025-2026 focuses on investing in interim housing, permanent housing, prevention and increasing law enforcement to arrest unhoused residents who violate certain policies.
The mayor’s proposal seeks to arrest unhoused individuals for refusing housing three times, according to a memorandum from Tuesday’s meeting.
Elaina Churchill, a San José resident who became unhoused in June 2024, said she is not happy with the councilmembers’ policies around houselessness.
“What they’re doing to their own people is pathetic,” Churchill said. “Why would you criminalize people being homeless? I’m not on drugs, I’m not an alcoholic. I’m an asset to your community and you’re going to throw me away like a piece of garbage.”
The goal is to have homelessness achieve “functional zero,” which includes ensuring residents are unhoused for less than 30 days on average, according to the same memorandum.
Inside the councilmember chambers
on Tuesday, community members and advocates packed the audience seats.
A handful of the audience members held signs that read “Arrest millionaires, not poor people” and “Mahan mass incarceration mayor” written in large letters.
Shaunn Cartwright, the founder of the Unhoused Response Group, sat in the fourth row passing out signs to audience members.
to his March 7 opinion column in The Mercury News.
In February, the Monterey/Branham Emergency Interim Housing opened and one in three unhoused residents camping nearby did not accept a spot in the program, according to the same memorandum.
Misrayn Mendoza, an organizing manager for Amigos De Guadalupe, said the city has a shortage
report from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.
The Santa Clara County’s Dept. of Family and the county’s Housing Authority had a total of 1,964 beds combined, according to the same report.
Julian Lake, a policy director in climate and energy for the Bay Area Council, said he is supportive of the mayor’s efforts.
“We need to drastically
supports the mayor’s budget message because she believes that unhoused residents need to accept housing services.
“In my opinion, it’s inhumane to leave them on the streets. This is not inhumane,” Zari said.
“I think it’s harsh not to compel those who are mentally challenged, mental health challenged, to accept the services. I think that is harsh.”
Around 270 unhoused
What they’re doing to their own people is pathetic. Why would you criminalize people being homeless? I’m not on drugs, I’m not an alcoholic. I’m an asset to your community and you’re going to throw me away like a piece of garbage.
Cartwright said there are many reasons why unhoused residents refuse shelter, including remembering bad incidents with certain housing providers or not functioning well in a congregated setting.
“It just makes me feel their priorities are to punish and abuse unhoused people, rather than to work with them and to reward them with – you know – what they need,” Cartwright said.
Mayor Mahan is proposing to arrest unhoused individuals for refusing shelter because encampments produce multiple safety concerns for the community, according
of permanent housing and there is too much “red tape” to build more.
A little over 9,900 community members in Santa Clara County were reported to be unhoused, according to the county’s 2023 Point-in-Time report.
“They should be doing more instead of just talking about it and pointing fingers,” Mendoza said. “They should have people out there giving them real resources. Giving them the real opportunity to become a house again.”
There are a total of 5,000 beds at St. Joseph’s Family Center and a total of 1,675 beds in the Rapid Re-Housing program, according to a 2024
reduce deaths, mental health costs, healthcare costs on homeless individuals by providing them with interim housing solutions that help them get off of the streets (and) help them stay alive,” Lake said.
Between 2023 and 2024, the city opened 298 new affordable housing units, according to the memorandum.
The council members also want to allocate $50 million to construct new affordable homes, according to the same memorandum.
Political Director Gina Zari at the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors said she also
residents reported they were not using interim housing because shelters in their area were full, according to the same 2023 Point-in-Time report from the county.
According to the same data, 237 unhoused residents also reported they couldn’t stay in interim housing because they were too crowded.
Eva Tarazas, chief public policy officer for Pacific Clinics, said many are houseless because of the inequity between their salary and the cost of living.
The annual income needed to afford a medianpriced single-family home is $426,277, according to another memorandum
from Tuesday’s meeting. In 2023, 303 residents also became unhoused because they lost their job, according to a 2023 Pointin-Time report from Santa Clara County.
Tarazas said police officers are not trained to handle mental health crises in the unhoused community and unhoused residents do not trust law enforcement.
“We can’t use jails as warehouses for people,” she said. “That's not the intent of our criminal justice system.”
The mayor’s budget message passed with a 7-4 majority.
Mayor Mahan said he and many in the community are in deep agreement that incarceration is not the goal and not a real solution. Mahan said he is concerned that residents will lose trust in the city if interim housing is not used more by unhoused residents.
“We’re going to lose the trust of our residents. We are not going to get additional revenue to continue to fund these solutions, and we will see a much stronger push toward actual criminalization of homelessness,” Mahan said. “People still have freedom of movement, but they can go to another city if they truly do not want to come indoors.”
in objection to Mayor Matt Mahan’s proposal to arrest unhoused residents who refuse shelter at Tuesday’s City Hall meeting.
Follow Alina on Instagram @mniatailmp
Alina Ta SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Elaina Churchill Unhoused resident in San José
Pilot program proposed by councilmembers
By Israel Archie STAFF WRITER
San José District 7
Councilmember Bien Doan and former District 10 Councilmember Arjun Batra proposed the housing initiative SJ Lifting up liVes (SJ LUV) to help the unhoused community.
The initiative is a pilot program that intends to use pre-engineered structures to create shelters and up to 1,000 beds for unhoused people, according to a webpage from the City of San José.
Pre-engineered structures are building components manufactured in a factory and then assembled on the site according to a webpage from Schemmer, a full-service architecture consultancy.
“(If) you come to San José, we’re not denying you any services,” Doan said. “We’re here to help you, support you (and) save your lives but you can’t be out (on) the street.”
Will Komar, a campaign associate for District 3 special election candidate Matthew Quevedo, commends Doan for the proposal.
“I would give Bien Doan a lot of praise for what he’s done with this initiative,” Komar said. “I would say that other districts within the city (and) other cities within California should take note of this, especially if it begins to yield positive results.”
Permanent supportive housing costs can range
from somewhere between $1.2 million to $1.4 million per bed according to a Feb. 29, 2024 City of San José memorandum.
This initiative is being proposed in the midst of a budget deficit that has been at $60 million since December according to a March. 13 article from San José Spotlight.
The program also plans to use California Wraparound services which is a planning process that strives to improve the well-being of children and families, according to a webpage from the County of Santa Clara.
Gabriela Gabrian, an executive committee director of the Lived Experience Advisory Board of Silicon Valley expressed some concern for the initiative.
Regarding the District 7 Councilmember Doan’s program, plans have been made to work with the city attorney to change the city’s municipal code, according to the same memorandum.
“They’re not coming out of concern for the unhoused community; they’re coming out of concern for the housed community,” Gabrian said. “It’s just like any other service. It's not so much what is given, it's how it’s given.”
Komar also addressed the detail in the memorandum that outlines how Councilmember Doan plans to execute
the initiative.
“I was really happy to see that they were talking about in the actual report (working) with the city attorney and the city government to physically change laws,” Komar said.
A couple of law changes that they are pushing for are amplified towing authority and cracking down on homeless encampments according to the same source.
The city has currently picked 30 locations where
It sounds wonderful; they’re going to do what they’re going to do, but it just feels like by impounding people’s cars (and) enforcing municipal codes (is) really disregarding what people need.
Gabriela Gabrian Executive committee director of the Lived Experience Advisory Board of Silicon Valley
it will inform people living in RVs to move or accept the homeless services or else their vehicle will be towed away according to Jan. 7 KRON4 article.
“It sounds wonderful; they’re going to do what they’re going to do, but it just feels like by impounding people’s cars (and) enforcing municipal codes (is) really disregarding what people need,” Gabrian said.
One thing that Doan also plans to do is develop a performance tracker to assess the effectiveness of the initiative which can also be found in the memorandum.
This means that once the program is implemented, he is going to periodically check and see how it is being received by the community and how effective it is as a solution to houselessness in the city.
“I think that (it’s) really
I was really happy to see that they were talking about in the actual report (working) with the city attorney and the city government to physically change laws.
Will Komar Campaign associate for District 3 special election candidate Matthew Quevedo
important to take on that massive problem that is really causing problems all across California (and) not just in San José, but to lead it with understanding,” Komar said. “Most of these people are not destined for homelessness.”
The districts that will be directly affected by this pilot program are District 2, District 7 and District 10 as seen in the memorandum.
District 7, where the pilot program is projected to start is located south of
San José State, according to the district map on the city council webpage. “It sounds good the way they put it on paper, but we’ll see how it is going to run,” Gabrian said. “I’m really grateful for the fact that they want to house people but the manner that they’re doing it is very abrupt and feels like Auschwitz.”
Follow Israel on X (formerly Twitter) @archie45760
ISRAEL ARCHIE | SPARTAN
New burgers bring flavor downtown
By Bryan Reos STAFF WRITER
A new premium burger joint has opened a block away from San José State’s campus called Sixth Street Burger.
The restaurant opened on March 7 and is located at 235 E Santa Clara St. Suite 112, according to the restaurant’s Instagram.
Sixth Street Burger’s pricing follows the trend of other high-end food spots as it charges $9 for a single smash cheeseburger without fries or a drink, which is the cheapest option for its burgers.
For a combo, you’re going to spend at least $19, according to a menu on the ordering website Toast.
It's quite an increase, but you can taste the quality of the ingredients in the food as the restaurant patties are 100% Wagyu beef and the burgers are made with locally sourced produce and artisan buns, according to the restaurant’s website.
The “Single Smash
Burger comes with a 4-ounce Wagyu patty, American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and their “SIX” sauce served on a potato bun, according to the same Toast menu.
The Wagyu patty was cooked to perfection and well seasoned with the grilled onions complementing the burger, but their signature “SIX” sauce can be a little overpowering despite fitting the burger well.
The eatery’s tallow fries had great texture but had a bit too much black-pepper seasoning.
The restaurant also offers other food items that aren’t typically seen at burger spots like fried Brussels sprouts, Greek and Italian salads, which can attract more business.
Other food items include a Jalepeño Double Smash Cheeseburger, served with grilled jalapeños, and an “Impossible” double smashed cheeseburger, for plant-based customers.
Sixth Street Burger, also provides sweet treats
milkshakes alongside its meals, with milkshake flavors such aslike blueberry cheesecake and fresh banana, along with chocolate chip and salted caramel cookies.
These different food items and options offered helps make Sixth Street Burger stand out compared to its competition like Hella Good Burger.
in with a large group, however, you might have a hard time finding somewhere to sit.
There are only about two large tables with seats facing each other at the end of the restaurant which are usually taken.
The rest of the seating available is side by side
making it hard to dine in.
Overall the restaurant pricing and layout was negative, but the flavor of the burger and the atmosphere made the trip well worth it.
Sixth Street Burger offers quality food in a welcoming environment and though some
food review
consumers might feel it's a bit overpriced with a tight layout, it is still a nice place I’d visit when I want to go out for lunch or dinner.
Sixth Street Burger offers quality food in a welcoming environment and though some consumers might feel it's a bit overpriced with a tight layout, it is still a nice place I’d visit when I want to go out for lunch or dinner. Follow the Spartan Daily on X (formerly Twitter) @SpartanDaily
The customer service provided was solid, the servers were friendly and attentive when taking orders and food was also brought to seats making the process smoother.
If you plan on dining
“Sixth Street Burger”
Foods offered: Wagyu smashburgers, milkshakes, tallow fries
Location: 235 E Santa Clara St. Suite 112, San José
SJ finds nostalgia underground
By Anahi Herrera Villanueva CONTRIBUTOR
Gameshop Downstairs offers customers a different look than a typical game shop and creates an environment of nostalgia that keeps drawing back its customers.
Gameshop Downstairs is a local business located in downtown San José that hosts a large variety of comic books, video games, figurines and a variety of VHS tapes, according to a Aug. 28, 2023 SiliconValley.com article.
When entering the game store from the outside, customers go through an electronics store, FixLaptop.com, to reach it.
Anthony Guarino, owner of Gameshop Downstairs, said the game shop started nearly a decade ago with a small selection of video games inside of the electronics store.
Owned by Anthony Guarino and his wife Hannah Yo, the store’s manager, this local business is located in the basement of FixLaptop. com on East Santa Clara Street, less than a mile off campus, making it easy for SJSU students to visit.
Giuliana Samonte, a fourth-year public relations student at San José State, visited the shop before and was surprised by the layout that the shop had.
lights
often see the younger kids look interested at the figurines and VHS they have.”
Another reason why the shop holds so many vintage items is because of the historical ties it holds to San José itself, Guarino said.
“We like to showcase a lot of this old technology because it is historically and locally significant,” Guarino said. “Many of these pieces we developed in the Bay Area and in some cases, were brought to us by the very people who worked on them back in the day.”
Guarino’s hope for the shop is to continue fostering an environment of nostalgia and retro that can include a broader community.
However, this large array of inventory was not always how the shop operated. Guarino said the shop started with him selling from a small inventory.
“I was selling very small amounts of video game systems I had repaired and modified while taking in video games to trade towards them,” Guarino said. “Since then I have amassed an incredible library of games from every era and genre.”
Downtown San José is home to approximately
“It’s definitely a hidden gem, they’ve got a huge selection and their prices are very competitive,” Samonte said. “Their shelves are lined with everything from games to VHS to gaming accessories.”
3,000 businesses, 1,350 being small businesses that employ around two to 35 employees, according to a San José economy webpage.
With this in mind, Guarino, along with his
“This is definitely the spot to go to when I’m feeling nostalgic of my childhood,”
Joseph Delgado Gameshop Downstairs customer
wife, tries to keep the store appealing to those who visit.
“Our customers like to stop by frequently because we are always moving things around and stocking something new,” Guarino said. “We buy and sell items every day so we're always trying to figure out where to display it all. Now that we've developed a reputation throughout the years we buy and sell a lot of stuff so the landscape of Gameshop is always changing.”
Some gamers find retro and vintage games to provide a break from the stress of the internet, with 74% of gamers agreeing that nostalgic games are
more relaxing, according to a Fast Company webpage.
Beyond having a wide inventory that customers are able to select from, some visitors turn into frequent customers because of the nostalgia that the video games and VHS tapes can bring.
Joseph Delgado, a frequent customer of Gameshop Downstairs and a San José resident, said that entering this shop is like entering a different time period.
“This is definitely the spot to go to when I'm feeling nostalgic of my childhood,” Delgado said.
“I think it is super cool that there is a store that offers all of this and I
“The big idea that I want people to have when they visit Gameshop is to see all of this retro technology as more than items of nostalgia to use to relive our past and look at them more as something novel to draw inspiration from and to encourage people to make new art, music and technology from there,” Guarino said. “To me, it is that ethos (that) embodies the culture of San José as a whole.”
ANAHI HERRERA VILLANUEVA | SPARTAN DAILY
into the Gameshop Downstairs entrance.
BRYAN REOS | SPARTAN DAILY
Customers arriving to Sixth Street Burger at noon Tuesday located at 235 E Santa Clara St. #112, San José ,
JACKSON EATS
Ozempic is a new medical frontier
Jackson Lindstrom CONTRIBUTOR
In a time when America is experiencing a diabetes health crisis, a class of drugs has recently come along that could be a first step to solving our problems: GLP-1 receptor agonists.
GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are sometimes colloquially referred to as Ozempic (although Ozempic is a brand of the drug), are a class of drugs that help regulate blood sugar, particularly in Type 2 diabetics, and weight management, according to Cleveland Clinic.
GLP-1 receptor agonists may not solve the problem of eating behaviors, but it is an extremely significant breakthrough in pharmaceutical intervention that has not been seen until very recently.
Treating overweight and obesity has been a lingering issue, where average calorie intake has steadily increased since 1977, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Additionally, approximately 38% of Americans had prediabetes in 2017-2020 and 11.6%
had Type 2 diabetes in 2021, according to a May 2024 CDC report.
Prediabetes is exactly what it sounds like: the condition before diabetes. It is characterized by higher than normal blood sugar levels but the good news is that, unlike most cases of Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes is reversible, according to a webpage from the Mayo Clinic.
The problem with Ozempic, however, is that it does not treat some of the root causes of Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes including eating behaviors. There is currently no drug that can modify a person’s drive to eat healthier food or exercise more, and weight loss is not actually what Ozempic is used for.
A misconception about
Ozempic is that it is supposed to be used as a weight loss drug.
Ozempic is a type of semaglutide that is supposed to be used to regulate insulin for people with Type 2 diabetes but is not approved for weight loss, even though some doctors prescribe it to treat patients for weight gain, according to a July 19, 2023 UC Davis Health article.
In reality, the same company that created semaglutide, which was marketed as Ozempic, created Wegovy, a drug that is used for weight loss that also uses semaglutide, according to the same website.
The way that Wegovy works is that it decreases your appetite, making you less likely to overeat
and thus, lose weight, according to the British Heart Foundation.
A cohort study from the American Journal of Public Health looking at approximately 280,000 people found that around 1 in 12 men and 1 in 10 women who were obese and 1 in 8 men and 1 in 7 women who were morbidly obese would succeed in losing 5% of their body weight.
Of the small percentage that did lose 5% of their body weight, by the time 5 years had passed, 78% of them had gained the weight back, according to the same study.
Wegovy was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in June 2021, according to a June 4, 2021 FDA news release. These participants did
not take any weight loss medications, but with the recent introduction of this new drug, it may now be possible to get a higher percentage of people who lose their weight to maintain it long-term.
Yes, all it does is make you feel full, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are getting nutritious food. However people with Type 2 diabetes or who are overweight or obese may need this intervention to meet their weight loss goals.
There are thousands of people out there who need this drug and they should have access to it.
Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes include blurry vision, thirst, frequent urination, weakness or tiredness and frequent infections, according to
Mayo Clinic.
Later on down the line, Type 2 diabetes can cause much worse health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, kidney damage, Alzheimer’s disease and depression, according to the same website.
Without the intervention of Ozempic or weight loss drugs like Wegovy, someone’s diabetes could get much worse.
This drug is saving lives by helping diabetics treat symptoms that were not previously treatable until recently.
There is also evidence that some people may have genetic factors that play a role in their appetite, choice of lifestyle and even the way their body converts food into energy, according to the National Health Society.
While genetics are not going to make weight loss impossible, they can certainly make it harder and this is another reason why using pharmaceutical intervention might be necessary in some instances.
A longer version of this article is available on SJSUNews.com
Follow Jackson on Instagram @jacksontlindstrom
GRAPHIC BY JACKSON LINDSTROM | SPARTAN DAILY
By Anfisa Pitchkhadze ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
The San José State men’s basketball team held a media day on Tuesday afternoon to interview Head Coach Tim Miles, Senior Guard Josh Uduje and Center Robert Vaihola.
The Spartans season isn’t over yet as the team secured a spot to compete in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) for the first time in 44 years, according to a March 16 article from SJSU Athletics.
SJSU (15-19, 7-13 MW) secured the No. 4 seed and is set to host the No. 5 seed Loyola Chicago (22-11, 12-6 A-10) on Thursday 8 p.m. at the Provident Credit Union Center, according to the same SJSU Athletics page.
The Spartans are coming off a 63-52 loss to New Mexico on March 13 in the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas and the announcement of
To make it was already a typical surprise but we’re playing at home too, I mean it’s going to be exciting.
participating in the NIT came as a surprise to the team.
Vaihola said that the team was caught off hearing that the team’s postseason run will continue.
“To make it was already a typical surprise but we’re playing at home too,” Vaihola said. “I mean it’s going to be exciting.”
Uduje was also thrilled to hear the news while admitting it has been a roller coaster of emotions for him when he thought about the New Mexico loss being his potential final game with the Spartans as a senior.
He is the Spartans’
leading scorer, averaging 16.3 points per game which ranks sixth in the Mountain West while shooting 49.2% from field goal range and 35.2% from beyond the arc, according to a Mountain West 2024-25 Men’s Basketball Overall Statistics page.
The guard sees the matchup as a way to get the Spartan fans excited and the attendees to bring energy in the stands.
“We’ve got a great opportunity to make some noise and play a postseason tournament game,” Uduje said.
The game marks the first NIT bid since 1981, according to the same
We’ve got a great opportunity to make some noise and play a postseason tournament game.
SJSU Athletics page.
The Spartans most recently played in the College Basketball Invitational in 2023,
defeating Southern Indiana 77-52 and falling to Radford in the second round 67-57.
Miles is hopeful that there would be a high-crowd turnout within students and other people showing support in a tough game. With a quick turnaround preparing for the game in a short amount of time, Miles praised the Ramblers all around talent with outstanding perimeter players being able to make threes and an overall aggressive team.
Loyola ranks third in field goal percentage shooting 45.8% and 3-point percentage while
shooting 35.4% in the Atlantic 10 Conference, according to an Atlantic 10 stats page. Miles believes that with the team having the opportunity to compete at a national college tournament such as the NIT and the exposure that goes within an ESPN game is significant for the basketball program.
“I think it’s great for recruiting. I think it tells people we are establishing ourselves as a team and a program that can compete all the time,” Miles said.
Robert Vaihola
SJSU men’s basketball Center
Josh Uduje
SJSU men’s basketball Guard