San Jose Inside (https://www.sanjoseinside.com)
We made it to the Gordon Biersch brewing facility on Taylor Street, where we parked alongside some beer pallets and wended our way through a labyrinth of bottling machinery to Sheriff Laurie Smith’s rooftop shindig.
The atmosphere was festive and the food top flight, so we washed down some penne and salad with a sturdy ale. San Jose Councilman Oliverio arrived seconds behind us and revealed that he was locked in a tight race for one of six seats on the Democratic Central Committee.
It is the City of San Jose’s process that City Manager Debra Figone puts forth a budget proposal in May. Then, after that is released, councilmembers make their budget proposals to Mayor Chuck Reed.
When the Councilmembers make written suggestions of their “budget wants,” they also need to include what funding source within the city will be affected (some written suggestions from councilmembers are done in collaboration with labor unions).
Then, the Mayor takes into consideration the City Manager’s budget proposal and the Councilmember’s suggestions, and comes up with a final budget.
Of course, a mayor could put together their own budget without this input, but it is customary that the mayor takes other perspectives into consideration.
At last April’s State Democratic convention in Los Angeles, the head of the powerful South Bay Labor Council, Cindy Chavez, called a face-to-face meeting with state Assemblymember Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles and labor leader Maria Elena Durazo. Chavez wanted to discuss de Leon’s fundraising activity for a San Jose City Council campaign.
De Leon had contributed $250 and helped bring in campaign funding for Magdalena Carrasco, his ex-wife, who was running against the SBLC-backed candidate for the District 5 council seat, Xavier Campos.
The 2009-2010 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury today released a 33-page report titled Cities Must Rein in Unsustainable Employee Costs that says, “Employee costs are escalating in the cities of Santa Clara County, revenues are not keeping pace with these increases and cities are cutting services.” The Grand Jury looked at rising wages, health insurance, pensions, and vacation, holiday, and sick leave and made recommendations to control costs.
San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed seems to be headed for a showdown with the city’s unions over the way union pay negotiations are settled. In a May 5 San Jose Rotary Club speech, Reed called publicly for a revision of the City Charter in an audacious move to wrest power away from the unions representing the city’s firefighters and police force. Harking back to his days as a labor lawyer, Reed pointed to a clause in the Charter that forces the city into binding arbitration if and when negotiations with the unions break down.
District 2 Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. proved himself to be a gentle giant at this morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting, shedding more than a few tears over the controversial Arizona immigration law, SB 1070.
“I’ve tried to suppress my emotions, so hopefully they won’t come out,” he said in opening, but to no avail. Face reddening, the poor guy basically lost it.
I served as a principal of public schools for nearly 20 years, so it is with tremendous empathy toward the administrators at Morgan Hill’s Live Oak High School that I write this week’s post. I also have empathy for the students on both sides of the political maelstrom.
Calling Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith “an absolute jewel,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on the elected official’s behalf at a May 5 Los Gatos fundraiser that may have raised close to $100,000 by some early estimates. Smith called it her most successful fundraiser ever. [VIDEO]
Minh Duong, a 31-year-old furniture store owner vying to oust City Councilmember Madison Nguyen from her seat representing District 7, got a huge boost last month when the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce gave him its endorsement.
Duong says that winning the ChamberPAC’s support was a huge shock, even to him. Before this election season, the ChamberPAC consistently supported Nguyen, even backing her in her 2009 recall campaign.
In Sunday’s Mercury News, reporters Linda Goldston and Vinne Tong wrote, “Arizona’s SB 1070 allows police to stop and ask about a person’s immigration status when they suspect the person could be in the U.S. illegally.” Is that true?
I hope your weekend was enjoyable. I wanted to let you know that I believe that you have a very difficult job and I wanted to say thank you for your nearly 30 years of service to San Jose.
Managing an organization of approximately 1,400 people, public or private, is a challenge. It is impossible to make everyone happy internally or externally all of the time, or even some of the time. Overseeing a Police Department is one of the most difficult and demanding jobs one could have because of the high level of public scrutiny. As I have heard you say many times at the police academy graduations; wearing the police uniform puts the officer in the spotlight and all eyes are on the police officer. Our police are judged by everything from their words to the tone of their voice to body language.
With the retirement of Assistant Chief Katz there is a void in the police department leadership ranks.
Police Chief Rob Davis didn’t get the job he applied for as Chief of Police in Dallas, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll stay on in San Jose. When the announcement came, Jim Unland, Vice-President of the Police Officers Association, released a statement of his own, saying, “Chief Davis has lost the confidence of the troops and this has made him ineffective.”
A joint Mercury News/KGO TV poll indicated that Santa Clara’s Measure J (The 49ers’ Stadium) is likely to pass. Weeks prior, a poll was commissioned to measure the level of support among voters for a baseball stadium indowntown San Jose.
QUESTION: When will some agency or press outlet sanction a poll to ask local residents about their feelings towards breaking the unions’ vice-grip on the delivery of city services? (“Would you support allowing 50 percent of city services to be done by the private sector?”). I’ll bet the “yes” category would approach 90 percent.
Last week I attended evening budget meetings in Districts 3 and 5. The center of our city (District 3) had a high turnout from residents who find great value in community centers. Particularly, the Gardner and Washington Community Centers. Both facilities provide a place to go and where residents can be positively impacted. Classmates and friends of mine from Willow Glen High grew up in the Gardner area, formerly known as “Barrio Horseshoe.” It was a problematic neighborhood with many gang issues.
A poll in the Merc asks readers to vote on which proposed budget cuts they would least like to see. The options include cutting back on the police and fire departments, closing community centers and pools, or cutting funding for Christmas in the Park. It also includes reducing the days that local libraries operate to just three per week.
The latter would be tragic. How many people realize that the San Jose Public Library system ranks Number 1 among the ten biggest cities in the United States—even higher than such famous systems as the New York Public Library.
Last Wednesday night, the Public Safety committee held a special meeting regarding our police officers. The city manager began by sharing the amount of effort and outreach that has transpired the last few months with city initiatives with regards to our police department.
For the last two years, certain individuals have been lambasting our police force with charges of racial profiling and excessive force. Our police force has more than 400,000 engagements a year with San Jose residents and 99.8 percent of those have no complaints
