This is a big year for the City of San Jose and its future. The City faces a $100 million budget deficit. Mayor Reed and the rest of the council will have to pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat. Unfortunately, things may get worse before they get any better. Truth is, there’s no rabbit…there may not even be a hat!
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Giants vs. A’s in San Jose
Councilman Sam Liccardo tells Fly that political consultants working for the San Francisco Giants have been “push-polling” to turn the San Jose public against the idea of the Oakland A’s franchise coming to the South Bay. A push-poll (for anyone who missed the 2000 Republican primary, in which the George Bush campaign famously used the tactic against Sen. John McCain) is an attack masquerading as a telephone poll. Liccardo says the Giants have been calling people in his district asking if they agree or disagree that city resources should be spent on police, fire fighters, parks, trails…or “land giveaways.”
San Jose’s Native Gen X’ers
I turned 40 in December. I spent my birthday with family and long-time friends. Many of my friends I have known since age five, from kindergarten in San Jose Unified School District, which equates to knowing most of my friends for more than 30 years. The majority of my friends are not political in their occupations and nearly all of them have never been to a San Jose Council meeting. Instead, they are teachers, nurses, Realtors, attorneys, tech folks, blue-collar skilled tradesmen, stay-at-home parents and—as my Mom likes to point out— most are married with children.
Many of my native San Jose friends have a very positive outlook towards San Jose. Their views are somewhat different than what I hear in my council office, where, typically, I hear alot about what is wrong with our city or questions as to why things aren’t done differently.
San Jose Faces Two Big Decisions
San Jose’s movers and shakers are wrestling with two important questions. First, should the San Jose convention center expansion project move forward? And second, where should the new federal courthouse be built?
As reported on San Jose Inside last week, the city and state budget crisis has forced the city and its redevelopment agency to scale back the project from $300 million to $140 million. And, the state’s plan to pull $75 million from the San Jose RDA creates an additional hurdle. Councilmember Sam Liccardo has indicated that he is, “...not willing to do anything that puts the RDA’s future viability in peril.”
Implementing Proposition 215 in San Jose
I support an ordinance in San Jose that allows for the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana dispensaries/collectives.
Proposition 215, which was passed with voter approval in 1996, called for the legalization of Medicinal Marijuana with 56 percent of the voters in favor. Santa Clara County supported this proposition by 64 percent. Since then, the legislature has passed SB420 which dealt with the actual implementation of Medical Marijuana.
Council Welcomes Ballpark Report
The San Jose City Council continued its overwhelming support of bringing major league baseball to San Jose at Tuesday’s council meeting, voting unanimously to approve the findings of an economic impact report on the potential ballpark.
San Jose Greenprint in the Red
Since Sept. 7 was the Labor Day holiday, the City did not have a regular city council meeting. So, instead the Council had a “study session” on the Greenprint, which is a vision for our parks and community centers.
The city has grown in square footage both in parks and community centers. However San Jose still ranks lower then many cities in its ratio of parks to people, even when you include school property (which is where I used to play as a kid). By 2020 we will be 1,124 acres short of our goal/vision. In fact, we exacerbate this ratio every week by approving affordable housing that is exempt from park fees or land dedication.
Reed Says City Is ‘Ready to Play Ball’
A report commissioned by San Jose’s Office of Economic Development claims that relocating the Oakland A’s to San Jose would add $130 million to the local economy and create as many 2,100 jobs, almost 1,000 of them new jobs. The anticipated economic benefit to the city is expected to approach $3 billion over the next thirty years. Beneficiaries of the move would include local schools, which can expect to see as much as $842,000 per year from it, and Santa Clara County, which would get $948,000 because of a profit sharing agreement with the city in redevelopment areas.
Council Approves Clean Tech Center
The San Jose city council voted to begin the process of establishing a Clean Tech Demonstration Center at yesterday’s city council meeting, and it might not cost the city much money at all. The council decided to start this process by adopting a resolution authorizing the city manager to apply for federal assistance. Sources would include up to $4 million from the U.S Department of Commerce and up to $5 million from the U.S Department of Energy.
Texting During Council Meetings (and in the Library)
Anyone who’s watched an open meeting of City Council will have seen council members fiddle with their iPhones and Blackberries to check their latest emails or text messages. Councilmember Sam Liccardo now argues that those messages should be disclosed to the public as part of the city’s policy on open governance.
“Council meetings are open to the public for a reason,” Liccardo says, “and if we’re voting on a matter and outside groups are using private means to communicate with us about how we should or shouldn’t vote, the public ought to know what’s being said and who’s saying it.”
City Council Extends Ban on Soft Money
The San Jose City Council passed a series of resolutions on the topic of campaign contributions yesterday. The most controversial vote revolved around a cap on so-called “soft money”—contributions by individuals or special interest groups that act independently to persuade voters to support one candidate or another. The cap, set at $250, was ruled unconstitutional in federal court in 2006 as a violation of free speech, but this ruling was later overturned on a technicality. The city voted to extend the cap by a vote of 6 to 5.
Council Reconsiders Swenson Library Bid
The San Jose City Council will revote on its plan to rebid the $7 million construction contract for an Eastside library. On Friday, Councilmember Rose Herrera submitted a memo calling for reconsideration of the June 23 vote, taken on the eve of the July council recess.
City Council Passes Budget
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.
Council Votes to Change SJPD Policy on Public Intoxication Arrests
The City Council last night agreed to soften San Jose’s police tactics when it comes to arresting people for public intoxication, a move they hope will result in fewer arrests. After a few hours of discussion, the council voted 8-1 to sign off on recommendations put forward by the city-appointed Public Intoxication Task Force.
Massive North San Jose Development Plan
San Jose’s Economic Development office has mysteriously authored a Memorandum that would permanently reverse 25 years of land use planning in the city.
Billed as an “Economic Emergency Amendment” to the North San Jose Area Development Policy, the memo calls for a massive development of one million square feet of retail space, 2,000 hotel rooms, and 8,000 residential units. The memo is signed off on by Paul Krutko, the city’s economic development point man, and is accompanied by a resolution, dated June, 2009, to be sent to the City Council.
Good Schools & Parents Make Better City
When I ran for city council I was asked many times, “What are you going to do about the schools?” Unlike Chicago or New York, where the care of the schools falls under city government, San Jose has multiple school districts that have separate elected officials that are responsible for the care of the schools, making the City of San Jose and the school districts completely separate.
