Parking & Lived-In Vehicle Enforcement Update 

A top concern our office consistently hears from residents is the impact of illegally parked vehicles, abandoned cars, and large concentrations of lived-in RVs on neighborhood safety, accessibility, and overall quality of life.

This section outlines a shift in strategy and focus by the Department of Transportation, the group responsible for this work, with the goal to make enforcement more proactive and equitable across the city. Residents can expect continued enforcement of expired registrations and lived-in vehicles, and a strategy that adapts as neighborhood conditions change. We know this is a priority for D6 residents and our office will continue working with City departments and residents to ensure enforcement is balanced with outreach and focused on keeping our neighborhoods safe, accessible, and clean for everyone. 

The City’s recently released update on its parking enforcement efforts, highlights both the progress made to date and how enforcement strategies will continue to evolve moving forward. 

Over the past year, the Department of Transportation has significantly expanded parking enforcement citywide. Enforcement includes illegal parking, abandoned vehicles, street sweeping violations, expired DMV registration, and oversized or lived-in vehicles. Through May, parking citations increased by more than 5% and vehicle tows increased by nearly 70% compared to the previous year. Presently, parking enforcement officers proactively patrol throughout San José, with officers regularly identifying and addressing violations as they patrol rather than responding solely to individual service requests. 



The report also highlights the success of the City's Oversized and Lived-In Vehicle Enforcement (OLIVE) program. Since launching in 2025, OLIVE has combined outreach, coordinated cleanups, street sweeping, and targeted enforcement to address locations with large concentrations of lived-in vehicles. According to the report, the estimated number of occupied RVs and trailers has declined by approximately 60%—from about 960 vehicles in Fall 2024 to 385 in Spring 2026. Officials report that, rather than large encampments, lived-in vehicles are now more dispersed throughout San José. 

In response to these changing conditions, the City is adjusting its approach. Rather than relying primarily on large-scale operations, the Department of Transportation will make the OLIVE Supplemental Enforcement Program (OSEP) its primary day-to-day enforcement tool. OSEP uses 72-hour parking investigations to respond more quickly to individual vehicles and smaller clusters across neighborhoods, while the original OLIVE program will remain available for locations experiencing significant public health or safety concerns.  

The OSEP program utilizes 311 data and community reports to identify locations for investigation, so if you identify clusters of lived-in vehicles or vehicles that may be in violation of municipal codes, please report them to 311 and email parking.compliace@sanjoseca.gov.  

General Plan Recommendations 

On June 24, the San José Planning Commission voted to recommend several amendments for the General Plan to the City Council. These recommendations are part of the City's four-year General Plan Review, a multi-year process that evaluates the General Plan, identifies opportunities for improvement, and proposes policy changes based on the goals established for each review cycle. 

Here’s a quick recap of how we got here: In March 2025, the Mayor directed City staff to begin work on the four-year General Plan Review in preparation for updating the City's Housing Element. The Housing Element is a state-required document, updated every eight years, that identifies where the City plans to accommodate future housing growth. If a city fails to maintain a compliant Housing Element, California law allows – until a city has complied – housing developers to override local zoning regulations through a process commonly known as the "Builder's Remedy." 

With that context in mind, one of the primary goals of this review has been to identify opportunities to increase housing capacity throughout San José, with particular attention to encouraging the "Missing Middle": housing types that fall between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, such as duplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, and small multi-family buildings. 

Over the past year, the Planning Commission has served as the review body for this process, working with City Planning staff to evaluate and refine potential policy changes. On June 24, the Commission voted to recommend a package of amendments to the City Council, including:  

• Increasing the allowable residential density for properties designated Mixed Use Neighborhood (MUN) from up to 30 dwelling units per acre to 20–50 dwelling units per acre, and for Urban Residential (UR) properties from 30–95 dwelling units per acre to 50–95 dwelling units per acre. 
• Modifying land use designations on select sites along The Alameda to allow for additional housing opportunities. 
• Developing criteria that would allow certain Public/Quasi-Public properties, such as schools, churches, and other publicly owned or community-serving sites, to be considered for residential development while taking into account the surrounding community's needs and resources. 
• Increasing allowable density in Residential Neighborhood areas from up to 8 dwelling units per acre to up to 32 dwelling units per acre. On many single-family lots, this would generally allow up to four homes per property and buildings of up to three stories. Single-family homes would still be permitted, as there would be no minimum density requirement. 
• Expanding protections for properties located within City Landmark Districts, flood hazard areas, wildfire hazard areas, conservation areas, mobilehome parks, and sites containing rent-stabilized or otherwise protected housing. 

One of the most heavily debated topics was whether to recommend site-specific land use changes along the Winchester Corridor. While the Planning Commissioners generally agreed that the corridor presents opportunities for additional housing, they were unable to reach consensus on how individual properties should be designated and ultimately did not forward a recommendation on those site-specific changes. The City Council will ultimately make the final decision on both the Winchester Corridor and the broader package of General Plan amendments.  

Another land use impact to be aware of is California State Senate Bill 79 which allows higher-density housing near major transit stops, bringing significant changes to land use planning across San José. With many proposed General Plan changes and SB 79 impacts concentrated in District 6, our district is likely to be disproportionately affected. 

It is important to note however, that these are changes on a map, fully dependent on market conditions, and not overnight changes to what individual neighborhoods will look like. These changes do not require property owners to alter what they are already doing on their sites, and homeowners will still be able to remodel their homes and make improvements without being required to meet a specific density when making those changes. 

While many of these changes are driven by state law, and while I agree that San José needs more housing at all income levels and of many different housing types, I also want to ensure that District 6 has a strong voice in this process. 

The City Council is currently scheduled to consider these recommendations on August 18. If you have thoughts on the General Plan Review or any of the proposed changes, I encourage you to reply to this email before then. I would really appreciate hearing your perspective as we prepare for the Council's discussion. 

Ranked Choice Voting — What Happened?

During the last City Council meeting of the fiscal year in June, the City Council considered a proposal initiated by Councilmembers Kamei, Tordillos, Cohen, and me to place a measure on the ballot asking voters whether they want to allow Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) as an option for filling future City Council or mayoral vacancies. If approved by voters, RCV would become an additional option alongside the existing methods—a traditional top two special election or a Council appointment—and not automatically used for every vacancy. 

I came into this process as a skeptic of RCV, and I still have many reservations about implementing RCV for all of our elections. However, I believe vacancies are different. When a Councilmember is elected to another office or resigns, as happened in District 3 in 2024, the City may need to hold a special election. Under the current system, that can require two elections if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round. I believe the Council should have the option of using a single Ranked Choice election instead. 

RCV in a case like 2024 could have reduced costs to the City, allowing that vacancy to be filled through a single election, rather than requiring a second election months later and leaving a district without direct, voter-backed representation for an extended period. If we can restore voter-backed representation more quickly while reducing the cost of a special election, I believe it's worth giving the Council that option. 

I also supported the proposal because it would simply allow the voters to decide whether to give the Council this additional option. Since the City's election rules are established in the City Charter and must be approved by voters, any change must also be approved by voters.  

Ultimately, after receiving new information about the cost of placing the measure on the November 2026 ballot, the City Council voted to postpone sending the question to voters until the 2028 primary in order to reduce costs. I look forward to this item returning to the Council before the 2028 primary and continuing to receive input from the community. 

Reporting Issues

San José 311 is the city's one-stop service hub for reporting issues like graffiti, potholes, and illegal dumping. You can also request services such as streetlight repairs and abandoned vehicle removal.

To report an issue, we encourage you to download the 311 app or report online. The 311 App is available at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.