About
Councilmember Sam Liccardo represents San José’s downtown district, District Three, on the San José City Council. Sam leads several key legislative bodies as the Chairperson of the Council’s Transportation and Environment Committee, as the Vice Chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee and as Co-chair of the Envision San José 2040 General Plan Update Task Force. Sam also holds leadership positions on several regional agencies, serving as the Chair of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), as Chairperson of the VTA’s Congestion Management Committee, as Board Member of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the Capitol Corridor Rail Commission, and on the Executive Committee of the Santa Clara County Cities Association.
In his role on the San José City Council, Sam advocates for the downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods, where Sam’s family has lived for three generations. His priorities have focused on neighborhood empowerment, environmental stewardship, accelerating downtown’s economic development, improving the valley’s transit system, expanding affordable housing opportunities, and creating health care services in the downtown.
Prior to winning election to City Council in November of 2006, Sam served as a prosecutor of sexual assault and child exploitation crimes in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor and at private law firms. Sam’s previous work in the community included tutoring homeless children, serving on the boards of several affordable housing organizations, and advocating for a successful countywide transit ballot measure in 2000.
Sam graduated from Bellarmine College Prep in San José, and attended Georgetown University, where he studied government and economics. Sam graduated magna cum laude in 1991. Two years later, he enrolled at Harvard Law School and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. After graduating cum laude with a law degree and a master’s degree in public policy at Harvard, Sam returned to the Bay Area in 1996.
Sam lives in downtown’s Northside, which boasts San José’s oldest neighborhood association, a diverse group of residents, and many historic homes. His partner, Jessica Garcia-Kohl, also works downtown, serving as assistant director of the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County.
