The two biggest issues facing San Jose so far this year—pension reform and the future of redevelopment—will be discussed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, and the public forum concluding the session is likely to get lively.
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How Many Homes Does it Take to Fund a City Service?
It is pretty common to hear from residents, when discussing our City budget: “But i pay my property taxes.” As I have covered before on a prior blog post, your property tax bill does not flow 100 percent to the City. Much of it is taken by the school districts, County, community colleges and special districts. (This does not include various parcel taxes, school bonds, hospital bonds, that are collected via your property tax bill.) Even with all these other government entities taking nearly 90 percent of your property tax, this remaining portion is the number-one source of revenue, by a large measure, for the City of San Jose.
Is Anthony Batts Coming to San Jose to Escape Trouble in Oakland?
Anthony Batts has only been the Oakland police chief for a year, which has prompted speculation as to why he is interested in coming to fill San Jose’s open position in the midst of a three-year contract he just signed. A report by Ali Winston, a producer for KALW Radio in Oakland, suggests Batts might want to come here because Oakland faces a real threat of having its police department placed under federal receivership.
SJPD Fights City Hall and Each Other
After receiving an invitation from acting Police Chief Chris Moore to address the troops at a series of shift briefings, Mayor Chuck Reed might have taken it as an opportunity to mend some fences. But according to several cops in attendance, the mayor did little to try and dispel the acrimony from the election season battles over Measures V and W. Instead, in the first meeting, Reed reiterated his judgment that San Jose’s finest were riding a “gravy train.
Dr. King and Jared Loughner
Everything comes down to the quality of our public education system and the manner to which a society treats its children. We reap what we sow. Too often in public schools for some children we are sowing the seeds of despair not hope. The racial achievement gap is a case in point.
As we ponder the life’s work of Dr. Martin Luther King and his commitment to the raising up of all God’s children we must come together with a strong bipartisan consensus on developing a plan so as not to leave any child behind anymore. Every dollar spent in the implementation of this plan, and we do know what works and what to do, will reap $4 in savings to the econom
Redevelopment On The Line
The budget deficits at every level of government have created an atmosphere where everything is up for review. There are no longer any sacred cows when it comes to government spending. Taking a second look at the value of redevelopment agencies has become a current hot topic for discussion.
Will Changes in DA’s Office Mean an End to Medical Pot Club Raids?
An investigator from the district attorney’s office who has been spearheading recent raids on local medical marijuana dispensaries says every pot club in Santa Clara County is operating outside the law. Dean Ackemann, who has been responsible for obtaining search warrants for the task force that has been conducting armed raids in recent months, said that in his opinion every dispensary in the county should be shut down. “The search warrants and the investigations are not going to stop,” Ackemann vowed.
But he may be wrong
Are Demotions on the Horizon for SJPD?
The City Auditor is at it again, finding ways to save San Jose money while cutting back services only minimally. This week’s target is the SJPD, which has already suffered from severe budget cuts.
Should San Jose Hire Chris Moore?
San Jose City Manager Debra Figone has not yet made a decision as to who will be the city’s next police chief. As the evaluation process goes on, more and more positive stories are coming out about acting chief Chris Moore.
A Bartender’s Vantage Point
The Public Safety, Finance And Strategic Support Committee took up the topic of unnecessary force in conjunction with drunk-in-public arrests. The police department, along with the city auditor, city manager and Independent Police Auditor, spent approximately 500 hours going through paper to pull out data. Inherently, a paper system is cumbersome and takes time to extrapolate data. Although we have a records management system, it is antiquated and unable to make queries that a modern system would, and it was not set up to manage certain historic data. This issue is indicative of our city’s lack of investment in information technology.
Budget Planning for 2011-2012
Last Thursday, the council had a study session for San Jose’s 2010-2011 budget. The public meeting received little media attention. Perhaps, since the holidays are near, we only want to hear the good news…and next years budget is far from good. There is no dispute on the data—just the direction we shall choose to balance the budget.
Merc Gets it Right
Every now and again the Mercury News editorial board hits a home run. Shortly after the election, the Merc issued a strong and thorough editorial about the city’s problems as they relate to city employees and their unions. “It’s time for San Jose city employees and union leaders to drop the ‘scapegoat’ label. It’s wearing thin, and nobody outside of union circles is buying it.”
State Democratic Party Losing Touch with Voters
By Greg Larson
It appears that Democrats won all nine statewide races and retain significant majorities in the California legislative and congressional delegations. But as evidenced below, the statewide ballot measures paint a completely different picture, one that suggests the Democratic Party itself is increasingly out of touch with the policy preferences of the California electorate.
End Anti-Gay Bullying in Schools
The odds that San Francisco Giants would become World Champions were about as good as those of Jerry Brown being once again elected Governor, Gavin Newsom as Lieutenant Governor, and Larry Aceves as Superintendent of Public Instruction. I proudly advocated through money and mouth in all four of these potentially historic events.
Now I want to turn my attention to building support for an anti-gay bullying policy, while strengthening all anti-bullying efforts in Santa Clara County.
Reed: City Union Bosses ‘Lying, Cheating and Lawbreaking’
Mayor Chuck Reed came out swinging this afternoon, calling for an end to the “lying, cheating and lawbreaking” by public employee unions who oppose Measures V and W.
At a press conference held this afternoon at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters in downtown San Jose, Reed denounced the police and firefighters unions’ controversial campaign to dissuade citizens from voting yes on the measures.
Arbitrator: Retired Judge or Out-of-Town Labor Lawyer?
At first glance, modifying binding arbitration back in July was not my first choice over new pensions for new employees. I support the Mayor on fiscal issues, so voting in favor of Measure V and giving residents the opportunity to support this measure is consistent with my line of thinking.
In a nutshell, Measure V would put limits on outside arbitrators. During the course of the campaign I have become more and more supportive of this measure. There are two primary reasons why it is important, neither of which are getting much publicity. One, the passage of Measure V will mandate that binding arbitration for public safety unions would be held as public meetings.
