Mayor Chuck Reed joined eight other mayors of California’s largest cities in Sacramento on Wednesday to ask Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to stay away from local tax revenues. Faced with a $24 billion budget deficit, the Governor has proposed taking revenues from the cities’ gas and property taxes and from local transportation funds.

When it comes to schools and classrooms, the prevailing wisdom is smaller is better. When you ask parents, teachers, administrators or counselors whether 20 students in a classroom is better than 30 for the overall quality of education you usually get an emphatic “yes.”  Unfortunately, the latest California budget crisis has led San Jose Unified’s Board of Education to vote for the elimination of class size reduction in K-3 for most of its elementary schools, on Superintendent Iglesias’ reluctant recommendation.

The 2009-2010 budget passed with full support of the Council in part by draining the City’s reserves (the economic uncertainty reserve has only enough funds to cover 1.5 days of payroll now) and by the negotiated/voluntary salary freezes by two unions CAMP and MEF (thank you).

In the case of MEF the money saved can be used to avoid layoffs and retain library hours. This tradeoff is good for residents and good for those who would have been laid off, since they would face a job market that has the highest unemployment rate since 1941.

Laurie Smith is widely considered a shoo-in to be re-elected as County Sheriff. She was first elected in 1998 by a fat majority of voters—becoming the first female sheriff in the state—and since then, her popularity has grown steadily. It was no surprise when Jose Salcido, the former head of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA), announced that he would run against her—he is becoming something of a perennial candidate. But this week, Salcido’s nemesis, former DSA vice president Joe Charvez, threw his hat into the ring as well.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom delivered an optimistic message about California’s prospects to members of the San Jose Rotary Club Wednesday. With a Kennedy-esque call to “renew the spirit of imagination” that has defined the state, the candidate for governor called California “a state not just of dreamers, but of doers and entrepreneurs.”

Jennifer Maguire, San Jose’s budget director, has worked for the city for for 18 years, and says she has never seen anything this bad. And she is not hopeful that things will improve fast. “Most economists are predicting a slow recovery,” she said ruefully.

Maguire addressed the City Council as it prepared to vote on the 2009-2010 budget. Within the hour, the Council would unanimously approve Mayor Chuck Reed’s Budget Message, as well as the Operating and Capital Budgets. But leading up to the unanimous decision, which closed an $84.2 million shortfall, Maguire was one of many local leaders who adopted a solemn tone while making dire predictions.

The California Supreme Court has upheld Proposition 8 by a 6-1 vote, taking away the rights of gay people to marry in California. But interestingly, the court left a few loopholes.

A guest analysis by San Jose’s OutNow magazine.

This is my last post for San Jose Inside. I’m looking to start my own site in a couple of months (please stay tuned). A quick note of thanks to Jack Van Zandt and to Eric Johnson. I hope that you enjoy my final post.

When I was a kid growing up in San Jose, the neighborhood park was constantly tended to. Every Summer, there was a recreational leader who organized activities and coached the park’s baseball team. Fast forward to today, where you’ll find the park restrooms closed on weekdays, and you’re lucky if the City sends someone to mow the weeds once a month. In his letter to shareholders, Google co-founder Sergey Brin wrote, “I am optimistic about the future, because I believe that scarcity breeds clarity.” I hope that the scarcity that we all now face will finally bring clarity to San Jose.

Just because the majority of the Public Intoxication Task Force quit the group last night doesn’t mean they are giving up on their mission to revamp police practices in San Jose.

The controversy-plagued Santa Clara Valley Water District board has finally selected a CEO—naming Beau Goldie, a longtime district employee, to the long-vacant post.

More on the appointment / resignation of police auditor Chris Constantin. According to the Mercury News, “Campos and Councilman Ash were not informed of the potential conflict.”  “‘He never disclosed to me and to other council members before we took the vote,’ Campos said.”

As part of his War on Poverty, and his visionary effort to create a Great Society, Pres. Lyndon Johnson launched the Head Start preschool program in 1965. That program is designed to meet the early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent education needs of many of our poorest children and families. Fortunately, Head Start was on the list for a significant increase in funding in the recent 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, just passed by Congress and signed by President Obama.

The Recall Madison folks, in a remarkable display of nerve, today asked Councilwoman Madison Nguyen to sign onto their petition asking the City Council to appoint someone to her seat if she is recalled on March 3. That’s right, the group of 50 or so mostly Vietnamese-American protesters, along with former County Supervisor Pete McHugh, were back at their familiar post outside City Hall at noon.

Some local Vietnamese folks are already lobbying San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed to bypass a special election, and appoint someone to fill Councilmember Madison Nguyen‘s seat, should she be recalled on March 3. Barry Hung Do, an anti-Nguyen community activist, says he met with Reed back in December hoping to talk him into appointing someone to the embattled councilmember’s seat rather than spending money on a special election. 

Recently, the Mercury News reported that the San Jose International Airport is looking at major layoffs over the next 18 months.  According to the FAA, San Jose has experienced a 14 percent decline in domestic departures over the past two years.

Violent crime among young people is on the increase, according to a new study by James Fox and Marc Swatt from Northwestern University. Fox and Swatt indicate that the much heralded decline in youth crime in the 1990s has ceased.  According to anecdotal data of my neighbors and friends, we are experiencing a rising tide of youth crime and gang-related violence in the suburbs of San Jose.