Dysfunction and federal funding cuts in Washington, D.C. aren’t stopping one Silicon Valley lawmaker from getting money into his district.
Congressional District 16 Rep. Sam Liccardo — San Jose’s former mayor — announced a nearly $14 million infusion of federal cash into San Mateo and Santa Clara counties on Thursday. In Santa Clara County, that means affordable housing, flood protection, fire infrastructure and homeless service projects can move forward in San Jose, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Campbell.
Liccardo called the funds a “modest indication” of a larger shift underway in the governing halls of D.C.
“Republicans finally sat down with Democrats to craft these appropriations bills, rather than bulldozing a partisan bill against Dem opposition, as in the past,” Liccardo told San José Spotlight. “This reflects the GOP’s growing awareness that they’re losing the public the longer they tether themselves to (President Donald) Trump’s wagons. I will continue to push to expand the fracture between the president and his party with initiatives that have broad appeal to all Americans.”
The money comes from the congressional Community Project Funding pipeline — an avenue for shaping how federal discretionary dollars are spent locally. Congressmembers submit certain funding requests for projects in their district to the Appropriations Committee, which evaluates the submissions for legal and ethical compliance. The House passed a bipartisan funding bill incorporating these requests Thursday, amounting to $10 million secured for Liccardo’s district. That’s on top of the $3.2 million he secured earlier this month.
That includes $2 million for a San Jose program that secures low-interest financing to make affordable rental housing climate-resilient, through work that includes seismic retrofits. Another $2 million will go toward Mountain View’s Evelyn Avenue affordable housing project, a five-story development with 143 permanent affordable apartments for low-income households.
Another $1.1 million will go to Mountain View’s efforts to improve flood protection and environmental management of a sensitive coastal waterway, the Charleston Slough tide gates, and flood risk for Mountain View and neighboring Palo Alto.
Palo Alto will receive $850,000 to construct a modern fire station. Campbell will get $250,000 for a project aimed at improving walkability, bicycle and transit access, and street conditions in downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods.
“Project funding for this important improvement will greatly improve pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle safety at a heavily used intersection in downtown Campbell,” Campbell City Manager Brian Loventhal said in a statement on Liccardo’s funding announcement.
Los Gatos will also get $200,000 for a van to deliver mobile navigation services to people experiencing homelessness throughout the West Valley.
“Meeting the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors with dignity, care and creativity is how communities like Los Gatos make real progress on homelessness,” Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore said in a statement. “The crisis of homelessness is one of the defining challenges of our time. The West Valley mobile navigation van provides a solution that brings critical services directly to people where they are.”
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.