San Jose Inside

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.

I am sure you remember the slogan during your challenger’s campaign, the “fierce urgency of now.” It has been exactly 30 months since the inauguration of President Obama, and we still have a public school system in chaos and shambles. In addition, we have not completed the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and test scores in math and English-Language Arts continue to be the major factor in judging effective schools.

In the past, I have written about how fire services are deployed in San Jose with an emphasis on the data that shows the overwhelming ratio of medical calls to actual fires. In addition, I have shared that San Jose’s minimum staffing contract requires four people per fire engine while every other city in the county requires three firefighters or less.

UPDATE: On Monday, public safety unions for police and firefighters signed a joint agreement to extend talks on pension reform with the city. This action follows three labor unions representing engineers and architects (AEA), maintenance supervisors (AMSP), and management personnel (CAMP) signing a similar deal Friday.

Redevelopment Agency director Harry Mavrogenes might be quitting the broke-ass agency—hey, four decades is enough to ask of anybody in this town—but he’s not planning to fade into the sunset and paint water colors. That’s what his one-time boss Frank Taylor did. Or live on a boat in the Caribbean on the San Jose tax money she escaped with, as predecessor Susan Schick did. Maybe he’s a glutton for punishment, but the Mavster will be staying involved in local public affairs.

After a week of tension as members of the San Jose Police Officers Association voted to accept or decline cuts in pay, benefits and retirement—and in effect save the jobs of 156 officers, San Jose cops agreed to concessions by a 674-429 vote. The City Council unanimously approved the terms of the agreement on Tuesday. However, roughly 100 officers are still expected to be laid off.

The epicenter of public education is right here in Silicon Valley from this week to Aug. 10. The local and national spotlight will shine on this moment with unprecedented lumens, casting a potentially dark shadow or bright glow on the decision the County Board of Education and the Santa Clara County Office of Education will wrestle with for the next eight weeks.