The City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara annually allocate hundreds of millions of dollars for public safety. We all benefit significantly from well-thought-out police, sheriff and firefighter planning.  When a new plan is envisioned, experts and ordinary people are invited to contribute. When planning efforts are shortsighted, hurried, or do not include all stakeholder groups, a less- than-desirable outcome is reached. Safety is compromised.

Education is not necessarily thought of as a public safety investment. But it emphatically is.

Our County Assessor was quoted on Friday as saying the downturn in real estate values is “worse than expected,” and that more than 90,000 residential parcels will be valued at less then their purchase price. We are living through historic times, with unprecedented negative growth in real estate. That has happened in Santa Clara County only a handful of times: in 1932,1933 and1936, and again in 1978 (after Prop 13) was passed. So what does that mean, other than many depressed homeowners? Well, it means that the City of San Jose’s deficit just catapulted to $77 million.

The City Manager announced Friday that we will have an additional shortfall of $14.3M due to lower property tax revenues on top of the sales tax decline which added another $3M to the deficit. I believe we will also see a sharp fall in our TOT (hotel tax) this quarter. This means less city services starting July 1, 2009 for you. But there is more…

It’s SJI’s weekly open forum, and all lines are open.

Last week, the San Jose City Council unanimously approved an official Cesar E. Chavez walkway, a five-mile route beginning downtown at the park named after the civil rights hero who founded the United Farm Workers of America. The route will continue east all the way down Santa Clara Street, almost to 680, and then south before looping back up and around to the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

he citizens of San Jose should be the ones to decide whether or not the city’s redevelopment agency should be permitted to lift its tax increment ceiling. The members of the San Jose City Council, who double as RDA Board Members, are looking at lifting the current $7.6 billion tax increment cap to $15 billion. (Will it be double your pleasure, or double your pain?) This important decision should not be made by a handful of politicians, it should be made by the people.

By Jessica Lussenhop

Families all over Santa Clara County are reportedly laying off their children in an effort to trim household expenses. An estimated 220 local kids have been laid off from their families just within the last three months, according to county reports, and more layoffs are likely on the way.

Last week Michael Phelps taught me about championship perseverance, Rudy Giuliani schooled me down on never letting terrorists win, Colin Powell explained how American might can defeat all, and Steve Forbes showed me that despite what all the losers say, “there is nothing wrong with the fundamentals of our economy.”

Billed as the “Super Bowl of Success,” the day-long seminar held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose was named simply “Get Motivated,” and drew more than 10,000 people. Sitting in the penthouse suite my friends and I snuck into, I couldn’t help but feel that in spite of the pyrotechnics, the famous people, and the massive energy, which (I assume) can only be matched by a mega-church revival, this was a funeral for an old American way of thinking. It was a celebration of the rock-solid institutions of an American identity that once was—unbridled capitalism, Jesus, and winning—in the face of a new, changing, and confusing America. Phelps, Giuliani, Powell, Forbes and the rest of us came together for once last hoorah.

On Friday, March 20, I participated in a fun event called San Jose Bike Party. The “bike party” is organized by people who promote bicycling in San Jose. They pass out flyers at bike shops and use the internet to get the message out. There have been 18 “Bike Parties” so far and the 19th is coming up on April 17 at 8:45pm at the old Zorba the Greek Restaurant parking lot located at South Bascom Avenue and Stokes Avenue in District 6. The bike parties are themed events, around themes like mustaches, mardi gras, robots etc… The event has some of the flair of the Burning Man scene, plus some rockabilly style, but it also includes just regular bicycle enthusiasts.

It’s San Jose Inside’s open forum. All opinions on any topic of local interest are welcome.

The legendary Herb Caen invented what was once called three-dot, or dot-dot-dot, journalism; that is, using the ellipsis to separate sections of his commentary. In my case, I’ll call it splat-splat-splat journalism, which suits this week’s musings—in honor of some local heroes.

Should San Jose City service levels be cut, and fees for services raised, so that city employees can enjoy more pay?

The Mercury News recently reported that automatic “step increases” will cost the city $10 million in FY 09-10 (almost $8 million to be paid from the city’s general fund). “It’s going to come from layoffs or reducing services…” Councilman Oliverio said…“Or, we can recognize the severity of the situation, bargaining units come together…and come up with a way to save jobs and save the city money.” (Mercury News 3/22).

President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama have had an enormous amount of face time on television since the Inaugural on Jan. 20.  Just in the last few days we have seen the president ESPN, Jay Leno, and 60 Minutes and Michelle in the White House garden.

Let me softly suggest that the First Couple use their popularity to squelch the insidious and growing problem with schoolyard bullying

Last Friday night I went to something that seems almost counterintuitive these days given the decline of their industry—a celebration for journalists. The Northern California Ethnic Media Awards, held in San Francisco, honored the various faces and forms of ethnic media outlets—the Sing Toa Daily’s investigation on SRO’s, Allianza’s photo essay on Oaxacan migrants, the Nichi Bei Times full issue on the concept of “mixed race.”

Last week I responded to many of your questions with a term, “Meet-and-Confer.” This terminology is used in reference to discussions that city management has with unions about almost anything.

Once a labor contract is agreed upon, any thought of a change requires a meet-and-confer meeting. It could be a compensation freeze, sick time, vacation time, grievance, health care, retirement, education reimbursement, uniform allowance, time off with pay to conduct union activities, examining the possibility of using a non- union person to provide a city service, or even discussions about future employees who have not been hired yet, etc… So with the current budget deficit, if we want to have a discussion about city staff taking one day off without pay ($2.88M) to avoid layoffs, then there needs to be a closed-door meeting.

San Jose news, San Jose politics, City Hall, “the 18th Floor,” Santa Clara County, SIlicon Valley, newsmakers, issues, thoughts, opinions; here at San Jose Inside, the keywords are: rants and raves.

The San Jose Earthquakes kick off the 2009 campaign this Saturday against the four–time MLS Cup finalists, the New England Revolution. In building this year’s squad, coach Frank Yallop added several new pieces to the puzzle, the most notable of which is U.S. National Team midfielder Bobby Convey.