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.”
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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.
Will San Jose Ever Be the Same?
The City of San Jose is facing a whopping $100 million deficit for fiscal year 2010-11. Something’s got to give. Actually, a lot more than “something” has got to give, be cut, and/or taxed.
The Wall Street Journal recently ran a front page story that questioned the way in which American cities will be run and defined in the future. In his piece, reporter Conor Dougherty raised a number of issues that need to be addressed here in San Jose. Dougherty highlighted the troubles and travails of Mesa, Arizona. He cited Mesa Mayor Scott Smith’s belief that city service levels for his city will not return to prerecession levels for a long time, “if ever.” In an effort to cut costs, the City of Mesa has gone as far as to hire civilian investigators to do some after-crime reports and investigations, tasks previously done exclusively by police officers. “‘We are redefining what cities are going to be,’ says Mayor Smith.”
Prioritizing City Services
The City of San José is facing yet another year of budget deficits. The projected deficit for FY 2010-2011 is over $100 million. We have cut the fat out of our budget and have laid off City and Redevelopment Agency employees. Our situation has been further exacerbated by the terrible job the state legislature did of closing their deficit by taking funding from local municipalities. Unfortunately for the City, we cannot do the same. We must make difficult decisions and have the courage to change our approach to budgeting.
Unions, Graffiti and Utility Boxes
Last Tuesday at the council meeting, we spent approximately 90 minutes discussing the Teamsters Union at the Convention Center. Long story-short, this is a labor dispute between two different union locals that will be settled by the National Labor Relations Board. However, in the meantime, the Convention Center (which is the largest source of the City’s hotel tax receipts and drives airport traffic) is getting negative PR which is affecting prospective convention business in San Jose.
Attorney: Treat Citizens Like Children
The problem isn’t the police; it’s the people. That’s the underlying theme of a controversial editorial that appeared in Protect San Jose earlier this week. The piece was written by attorney Terry Bowman, who represents one of the officers involved in the videotaped beating of Vietnamese student Phuong Ho this September.
Books Not Bombs
Tonight it is purported that we will hear the president in front of cadets from West Point tell the nation and the world that we will commit an additional 30,000 US troops to the war in Afghanistan at a cost of $1 million per soldier per year. I don’t profess to know what is best for the world and our ultimate safety as a nation, however I do know our national security is threatened significantly by our failing public schools.
Davis Comes under Fire
Groups representing San Jose’s diverse ethnic communities have called for the resignation of Police Chief Rob Davis, claiming that the police use excessive force in dealing with minorities. “There needs to be a change in the culture of the current police force, and we don’t think that Police Chief Davis can make that change,” wrote Richard Konda, executive director of the Asian Law Alliance.
UPDATE: SJPOA President Bobby Lopez says activists calling for Davis to resign are “well-intentioned but misinformed.”
SJPOA Attacks Merc Use-of-Force Series
A number of posts over the past week on ProtectSanJose.com, a blog run by the Police Officers Association (SJPOA), have effectively called into question a series of San Jose Mercury News articles about use of force by SJPD.
The Merc series started with the Oct. 24 posting of a cell-phone video that seems to show SJPD officers beating and Tasing a Vietnamese SJSU exchange student while he is pinned to the floor. The series culminated with a Sunday package a few days later, headlined “Mercury News investigation: San Jose police often use force in resisting-arrest cases.”
Violence Demands a Strong Response
On Halloween night, a twelve year old was shot in the head and a thirteen year old was stabbed. The response on the part of the San Jose Police force was swift. Several suspects were taken into custody within 36 hours.
Days later, 150 people gathered together to protest these acts of violence. Big deal…there should have been 15,000 people marching, from all four corners of San Jose, demanding an end to “turf-related violence.”
Do Things Differently
Last week, the council had a special meeting to discuss the upcoming $96 million budget shortfall. $96 million is the equivalent of eliminating all library, park and community center positions citywide. My fellow councilmembers and I gave the city manager direction on how best we think the budget gap could be closed.
Divvying up the Deficit
There’s one thing that everyone in city government agrees on—the deficit is growing. It now stands at $96.4 million, the worst it’s been since the dotcom bust, and there seems to be no end in sight as it inches ahead to the $100 million milestone.
Last night, the City Council voted 10-1 to share the burden more or less equally between three distinct sectors. Inevitably, the taxpayer is up there on the frontlines, with several new taxes proposed
Unions Control San Jose’s Budget
Year after year, the citizens of San Jose are told that their city government faces a “structural” deficit and that additional cuts in city services will have to be made to balance the budget. Whose budget is it really?
Give the System a Chance to Work
By now I am sure you have heard, seen or read about the recent allegations of excessive use of force against four San José police officers. I know that many community members are outraged and demanding answers from the Police Department and the City Council. As a former San José police officer, I find myself in a unique position.
SJPD’s Internal Review Under Fire
Critics of the SJPD claim that the recent arrest of Vietnamese student Phuong Ho, which happened to be captured on camera by his roommate, is indicative of a larger problem concerning the amount of force being used by the police. Even Mayor Chuck Reed has expressed “significant concerns about how and when force is used” by the police.
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.
