The city expects to clear up 40 to 60 homeless encampments a year—indefinitely.
Annual cost for the cleanups will range around $550,000, and possibly more, if the city approves a contract with Tucker Construction, Inc., at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the last of the 2012-13 fiscal year. It’s the latest push to focus on homeless outreach after Mayor Reed’s plan to fund those efforts in the 2013-14 budget were approved last week.
Recent counts say San Jose has 40 homeless camps along its waterways, with about 600 to 1,000 people living in them. In 2012, the city cleaned up 150 tons of trash and 100 bags of personal items from these settlements.
For years, the city sent its own staff to clean up tent cities. But there’s a legal tangle associated with the cleanups and, very often, there are hazardous materials and bio-waste—things best dealt with by trained specialists.
More from the San Jose City Council agenda for June 18, 2013:
• Clear Channel is up to renew a three-year, $4.2 million annual contract to advertise at Mineta San Jose International Airport.
• In 2010, 63-year-old Lakhbir Chahal was struck by a San Jose cop car. The incident left him hospitalized, fighting for his life. It also cost the victim $524,000 in medical bills, $867,000 in future medical care and $154,000 in lost wages, according to a lawsuit he filed against the city. Instead of continuing in court, the city is ready to settle for $662,500.
• A $12,000 renewal agreement with firm Patton Boggs, LLP will maintain the city’s legislative representation.
• A Shell gas station at 1699 Story Rd. seeks to renew its lease for another decade. The company will pay the city $894,182 over the next 10 years for the property. Proceeds will pay to maintain Emma Prusch Farm Park.
• A video surveillance contract for the airport will cost $807,000 over the next five years, if a contract with ID Consulting Solutions gets approved.
• Looking to expand IT capability and storage capacity, the city is considering updating to a cloud-based computing system, which will cost $303,906 initially and $58,476 annually after that.
• When the council approved the 2013-14 budget last week, it agreed to convert a $600,000 loan owed by Downtown College Preparatory into a forgivable performance-based debt.
• The city will hammer out the details of a subsidized $4.9 million loan to developers MidPen to build a low-income apartment complex on St. John Street.
• The Successor to the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) owes $18.8 million to the city for debt it’s paying down.
WHAT: City Council meets
WHEN: 1:30pm Tuesday
WHERE: City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose
INFO: City Clerk, 408.535.1260
Why does the city council and mayor get the entire month of July off every year?? Also, why is the city giving a loan for $4.9 million dollars to build affordable housing? Didn’t the mayor and city council say we were on the verge of bankruptcy?
The corner of 5th and Saint John is already crazy with the multiple “halfway houses” at that location.. adding high density low income housing is just what the neighborhood needs.
We already have geographically conditioned laws.
You can’t own a gun within 1,000 feet of a school.
We could solve “homelessness” over night if we simply required all shelters or “halfway houses” to be built WITHIN 1,000 feet of Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer or Nancy Pelosi’s home.
Forget those fools, lets just put the new low income housing within 1000 feet of Sam Liccardo’s downtown home.
When you spend as much time as they do deconstructing the quality of life residents formerly were accustomed to you need a little time to relax and think of new ways to “f” things up.
Wow , a full month, that is what…? 28 working days if you are on a 5/8 plan (224 hours) , only 20 days on a 4/10 plan (200 hours) … Must be nice to be part of the governing/elected elite.
For all the union bashers out there – there is NO CIty “union” Employee other than those in the “Mayor/City Council Union” that earns more than 180 hours/year. That is only 18 days per year! What has your Mayor and Council done for you?
Where in the private sector does an employer grant entry level employees a full month of vacation? If you this is the “industry standard” somewhere please be intellectually honest enough to fake outrage that your police, fire fighters, librarians, tree trimmers, WPCP engineers…. don’t get anywhere near the same benefits.