On Halloween night, a twelve year old was shot in the head and a thirteen year old was stabbed.  The response on the part of the San Jose Police force was swift.  Several suspects were taken into custody within 36 hours.

Days later, 150 people gathered together to protest these acts of violence.  Big deal…there should have been 15,000 people marching, from all four corners of San Jose, demanding an end to “turf-related violence.”

Historically, civil rights issues have been a struggle. Yet solvable they are. My epiphany after last week’s unexpected tsunami of racist comments on SJI in response to my post was, sadly, that we have not come as far as I thought we had as an enlightened community. However, the bright rays of hope that we can still succeed in the goal of eliminating the achievement gap were built into the altruistic beliefs spoken by the students who are engaged in their quest to become teachers for the children in San Jose.

Last week, the council had a special meeting to discuss the upcoming $96 million budget shortfall. $96 million is the equivalent of eliminating all library, park and community center positions citywide. My fellow councilmembers and I gave the city manager direction on how best we think the budget gap could be closed.

Year after year, the citizens of San Jose are told that their city government faces a “structural” deficit and that additional cuts in city services will have to be made to balance the budget. Whose budget is it really?

By now I am sure you have heard, seen or read about the recent allegations of excessive use of force against four San José police officers. I know that many community members are outraged and demanding answers from the Police Department and the City Council. As a former San José police officer, I find myself in a unique position.

For the number one civil rights issue of our time, there was a distinct lack of passion at the rollout of SJ2020 last Thursday at City Hall. However, the singular goal of the initiative is very bold. Just the fact the event was held at the Council Chambers in the 10th largest city in the United States was significant. Congratulations to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Superintendent Chuck Weis for pulling together the community to embrace the mission of becoming the first large urban region in the United States to eliminate the achievement gap in 10 years.

I support an ordinance in San Jose that allows for the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana dispensaries/collectives.

Proposition 215, which was passed with voter approval in 1996,  called for the legalization of Medicinal Marijuana with 56 percent of the voters in favor. Santa Clara County supported this proposition by 64 percent. Since then, the legislature has passed SB420 which dealt with the actual implementation of Medical Marijuana.

This is SJI’s open forum, where opinions on any matter—local, national or global—are welcome. What’s on your mind?

“More than 10 cents of every dollar in property tax collected in California last year—more than $4 billion—was intercepted and spent before reaching the school districts, fire departments, municipal general funds and other agencies.” So begins real estate developer and former school board trustee Doug Kaplan’s article, “Redevelopment Boondoggle,” recently published by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Much of the news in recent days has been dominated by the issues surrounding the San Jose Police Department.   Last week, several colleagues and I sought greater transparency and disclosure of police reports, but by a 5-6 margin,we narrowly failed to persuade our colleagues to adopt the ordinance proposed by the “Sunshine” Task Force. On Sunday, the Mercury News released a video documenting the use of force by SJPD officers in the arrest of San Jose State University student Phoung Ho. Ash Kalra, Madison Nguyen, and I immediately called for a full investigation and—if any criminal charges of the officers are sought—a grand jury process open to public view.   
 

The monolithic structure of public education is resistant to change. As evidence the system continues to use an antiquated calendar from our agrarian past, and it organizes school districts in historic slices that make no logical sense.

I agree with SJI readers who believe the system of public education is poorly organized. This nonsensical structure causes redundant expenditures and weaker student outcomes than necessary. Reorganizing these districts with more wisdom and thought, I truly believe, would be beneficial to the goal of increasing student achievement

A variety of issues were discussed at last week’s council meeting that dealt with city finances. Jennifer Maguire, the Director of our Budget Office, shared that the ending fund balance this year is 1.3 percent. The city has always had an ending fund balance for as long as anyone can remember.

Following a brief hiatus, San Jose Inside’s free-for-all open forum is back in business. Comments on any topic are welcome.

Bottom-up-reform for improving education in Silicon Valley is more effective than top-down-reform efforts, however there is a paucity of examples of the former. In our climate of entrepreneurial know-how one would think there would be a bounty of examples of schools rearranging the apples on the proverbial cart to innovate and improve achievement for all. Yet, school the way we knew it back before the Apple II was introduced is still the norm.

The Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee, which I sit on, had a special meeting last Wednesday night. Usually, this committee meets during the day. This special meeting was being sponsored by the Independent Police Auditor (IPA) and the City Council stemming from the alleged racial profiling arrests Downtown for pubic intoxication. This is one of two meetings to be held at night to elicit public opinion about our police force. The next one will be spring 2010

The Mercury News Editorial Board used the “R” word again. You know, “Republican.”

In their Oct. 11 editorial, the Mercury News expressed its concern that the Nobel Peace Prize committee may have provided fodder for Obama’s political opponents by awarding him this year’s prize. “The award unfortunately emphasizes one of the biggest criticisms of Obama: that he gives lovely speeches but has no record of accomplishment. The condemnation he faced Friday was swift and largely ungracious, much like a week earlier, when Republicans reacted with glee after the U.S. lost its bid to host the 2016 Olympics.”