Pierluigi Oliverio
Drama and Trauma
Jun 21, 2010, by Pierluigi Oliverio Politics Comments (50)
The two city council meetings held last week regarding the budget and labor negotiations demonstrated the need to make all labor negotiations public. If you are interested, you can click on this link and see for yourself the drama and trauma that took place that still does not have closure. This week’s meeting, June 22, will hopefully close this chapter.
Cannabis, Arizona, Fire, Golf and Google
Jun 14, 2010, by Pierluigi Oliverio Politics Comments (19)
Monday: Medical Cannabis Outreach Meeting
The first outreach meeting regarding medical cannabis collectives was held Monday night at City Hall. Even though the meeting was held late in the process, it was well attended with over 150 people. There were two main groups present: residents and collective patients. Not one person spoke against compassionate use of medical marijuana in San Jose, however, both groups agreed that the locations should be away from schools, parks, daycare centers, etc. Last October, when I initially brought this issue to the Rules Committee, I advocated that we restrict where collectives can locate and include setbacks from locations like schools, etc.
Support Our Mayor
Jun 07, 2010, by Pierluigi Oliverio Politics Comments (28)
It is the City of San Jose’s process that City Manager Debra Figone puts forth a budget proposal in May. Then, after that is released, councilmembers make their budget proposals to Mayor Chuck Reed.
When the Councilmembers make written suggestions of their “budget wants,” they also need to include what funding source within the city will be affected (some written suggestions from councilmembers are done in collaboration with labor unions).
Then, the Mayor takes into consideration the City Manager’s budget proposal and the Councilmember’s suggestions, and comes up with a final budget.
Of course, a mayor could put together their own budget without this input, but it is customary that the mayor takes other perspectives into consideration.
2010 Budget Trade-Offs Survey Results
May 31, 2010, by Pierluigi Oliverio Politics Comments (69)
As you may know, I created a budget web survey which I shared with you on May 10. The survey was open to everyone and closed yesterday afternoon. More than 1,000 people participated with more than 400 written comments. Thank you for participating
Walk in Their Shoes
May 24, 2010, by Pierluigi Oliverio Politics Comments (49)
The Good News: The City has a counter offer from seven out of 11 unions to take a temporary reduction in compensation (by paying more of their pension contribution temporarily on a pre-tax basis). The Not So Good News: The offer is equivalent to $14.6 million of the $118 million deficit, thus layoffs and service cuts are inevitable.
The “Not So Good News” reminds me of what Bob Brownstein said at the meeting I attended about the budget deficit hosted by the labor unions last month: “Layoffs are unavoidable since the deficit is so large.”
About the Author
Pierluigi Oliverio represents District 6 on the San Jose City Council. His “City Hall Diary” appears on Mondays. He can be contacted at:
pierluigi.oliverio@sanjoseca.gov
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