San Jose Inside

Back in July 1776, the Continental Congress voted to declare independence from England and adopt the Declaration of Independence. However, there were several votes before the final vote that were not unanimous as some colonies voted no or chose to abstain. Voting is an opportunity not everyone across the globe is afforded. We know that in close elections every vote counts. We also know that in our respective legislative bodies (at different levels of government) that each vote casted by an elected official has a magnified impact.

City manager Debra Figone didn’t let the police get the last word of the fiscal year regarding contentious labor negotiations and first layoffs of officers for the first time in the city’s history. On Thursday, she sent a memo to the mayor and city council countering an op-ed written by Police Officers Association president George Beattie, which blamed city officials for the layoffs of 70 officers.

Councilmember Ash Kalra won’t serve any jail time after pleading guilty today to misdemeanor DUI, but he will take part in a jail work-detail program for five days, pay $2,000 in fines, receive alcohol counseling for 90 days and be put on probation for three years.

Running a deficit for the 10th straight year, San Jose was forced to cut $115 million through a mix of program cuts, layoffs and salary and benefit reductions. It’s no surprise then that public employee morale, according to a just-released survey, has dropped dramatically compared to pre-recession survey in 2006.

It’s the final day of the fiscal year, which means many people who work for the county and city will be out of a job starting tomorrow. It also means lawsuits are on the way.

District 8 Councilmember Rose Herrera, whose seat comes up for renewal in 2012, has suddenly gotten popular with the union leaders representing the city’s public employees. Her sudden popularity might be due to the fact that Herrera could be fighting for her political life in next year’s election.

More than a few eyebrows lifted last week when Councilmember Sam Liccardo proposed raising the city’s sales tax to help fund police and firefighter jobs. With 73 officers expected to lose their jobs on July 1, according to police union VP Jim Unland, Liccardo showed the kind of political savvy that was conspicuously absent this spring, when he voted against approving union concessions because he said they didn’t go far enough

A bill authored by Nora Campos, a former San Jose city councilmember who is now in her first term in the State Assembly, would give unions far more power in their dealings with top city and county officials. It would even allow them to determine elected officials pay in some cities.

Are locally elected school boards and their politics at the root of the inertia that has led to little reform of a system of public education? Is the new request for Rocketship Education’s 20 Charter Schools a means to get around the non-productive politics of school boards?

Former San Jose city councilmember John Diquisto died of a congestive heart failure Monday morning. He was 83. Diquisto was a Cambrian Park native who worked as a San Jose firefighter for 31 years before serving two terms as the city council’s District 9 representative. He was termed out of office in 2002.

As I have shared in prior blogs, issues that are discussed in closed session meetings are suppose to remain confidential until the City Attorney reports out at a public council meeting. Well, that is the way it is supposed to work anyway.

The number of homicides in San Jose over the last six months has already surpassed the total for all of 2010, which is why the police department is accepting federal assistance to combat gang violence. Two federal immigration officers, who specialize in the removal of violent gang members that are in this country illegally, will be joining the police department.

Councilmember Sam Liccardo has drafted a memo to explore a ballot measure that would increase local sales taxes to specifically fund public safety.

Despite calling the city’s unfunded liability a cancer, brought on by escalating and unfunded employee retirement costs, Mayor Chuck Reed has decided to delay treatment options. The City Council will defer any decision on declaring a fiscal and public safety emergency to Aug. 2.

The 18th edition of the political comedy show Monday Night Live promised to be “kinder and gentler,” which became abundantly clear when no one dared to joke about councilmember Ash Kalra’s DUI or Pierluigi Oliverio’s sign-stealing.