The list many public employees dread every year—annual salaries—posted to the city’s website. No one came close to matching last year’s top earner, retired police chief Rob Davis, but there were some interesting numbers pertaining to high-profile executives and their subordinates.
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Change the Charter for Police Budget?
Elected officials come and go, and with that so do certain priorities. It seems that with every budget cycle, certain departments have to prove their worth and their existence. But why should support seesaw when something is so important as the Social Contract? I recommend that the city should commit to a specific police budget each fiscal year. San Jose should allocate a fixed percentage of the budget to the police department that is higher than the 34.7% today of an $885.8 million general fund budget.
City Raises White Flag on Medical Marijuana
Mayor Chuck Reed put out a memo Friday calling on the city to quit working on a compromise to its medical marijuana ordinance in light of recent developments. According to the memo, Reed recommends rescinding the city’s ordinance for a year as the California Supreme Court reviews four cases that deal with the interpretation of state law relating to medical marijuana collectives. Reed told San Jose Inside that the court’s decision as well as a potential ballot initiative that could go before voters in November made it clear that he and city officials should devote the next 10 months to other issues.
Chu, Nguyen Trade Accusations via Email
It’s officially election season—two San Jose city councilmembers sparred via email this week following a Vietnamese New Year flag raising ceremony held Monday at City Hall. Kansen Chu sent the first email to Madison Nguyen, accusing the vice mayor of sponsoring an event that featured “campaign activity” by his challenger, Tam Truong, in this June’s election. Nguyen disputed this in her own email and concluded that Chu is grandstanding.
Tangled Webby
The San Jose Police Department’s ink-stained nemesis has gone native and joined the apparatus that puts people behind bars rather than hold the system accountable. That’s right, reporter Sean Webby is leaving the Mercury News to become a media coordinator for District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
Behind the Plastic Bag Ban Fight
San Jose’s plastic bag ordinance will save local creek bed ecosystems, bankrupt mom-and-pop shops, drastically alter consumer habits, spark grocery store riots on Thanksgiving, bring down the plastics industry and destabilize the global economy—all at the same time. Or it could just force shoppers to bring their own bags to avoid a 10-cent fee per paper sack. The reality is the bag ban was designed to nudge other cities into action. San Jose wants to set a local trend that already is spreading across the country.
San Jose Inside’s 2011 Year in Review
As the year winds down, you can almost hear the collective sigh coming from City Hall. Or maybe that’s an echoing whoosh from councilmembers, the mayor, city manager and their staffs, who hightailed it for the holidays. Either way, 2011 was a tumultuous year, fierce in the manner civic actors clashed over pension reform, public safety, pot, a potential ballpark, ballot measures, pay cuts, occupations of city property and other issues of varying degrees of importance.
A Quick History of Downtown San Jose
The big news from last week’s annual meeting for the San Jose Downtown Association is that Music in the Park is no more. Back in August, we reported that Music in the Park was expected to be canceled after 23 years of throwing free summer concerts downtown. There were other reports and awards given during the meeting, but one thing worth watching is the above video that details the 25-year history of the Downtown Association. It takes a few seconds to get going, but it’s well produced and gives some insight into how far the city has come, as well as how much work remains to be done.
Judgment Day for Rocketship
There is a game-changing local story about to take place in a few days. A decision before the SCCOE Board of Education is whether or not to approve 20 Rocketship Charter Schools on a countywide benefit charter basis. Each new school approval is listed as a separate action item on the Board’s agenda. The turf wars are just beginning.
Where is the Medici Family?
Last year, Mayor Reed’s budget, which most of the councilmembers supported, gave warning to the city-funded “Art” groups that they would no longer receive funding from the city starting on July 1, 2012. As we know, the budget deficit continues. But one idea discussed at a recent Economic Development committee meeting was to simply away buildings in lieu of continued fiscal subsidies, allowing art groups the potential to increase fundraising.
Milpitas Mayor Making Bold Moves
Back in August, Fly detailed the sordid tale of fear and loathing taking place within the Milpitas Planning Commission. Mark Tiernan, a veteran in organizing local campaigns, felt he was kicked out of his commission chair position in a coup partly orchestrated by fellow commissioner Noella Tabladillo. Tiernan said loudly in a commission meeting that Tabladillo couldn’t be trusted, and she in turn called him an asshole. Tiernan then made a bold claim to Fly that he thought Mayor Jose Esteves was behind the whole thing. Esteves is now having Tiernan removed from the commission, but there could be an even bigger things happening behind the scenes.
Columnists Hit Mark on Fixing Education
We need career technical education and well-trained career counselors in every middle and high school in California. Columnists in local and national print media agree based on what I read Sunday, Dec. 4. Let me explain. Not everyone needs a 4-year college degree, but everyone must have requisite skills for the jobs of the 21st century in order to enjoy a middle-class income.
Chipping Away at the Tax Base
In a quest for even more affordable housing in San Jose, the City Council voted 10-1 to amend the North San Jose Area Development Policy. I voted no. Remember that San Jose has been the leader in providing affordable housing in the state of California, while other cities have done very little. As I wrote about on a prior blog, affordable housing must be a shared goal and not just in San Jose.
City Still Wants Pension Reform Election
With San Jose’s budget shortfall coming in at far less than the $80 million expected, the City Council will defer any action next Tuesday to declare a fiscal emergency. New projections put the shortfall at around $25 million. However, Mayor Chuck Reed still wants an election next year to reform employee pensions. The preferred election date for the ballot measures would be June 5, 2012, according to a memo sent out Thursday by Reed and councilmembers Pete Constant, Rose Herrera, Sam Liccardo and Madison Nguyen.
The Inheritance of Sick Leave
The sick leave payout perk was something that the current City Council inherited from a prior council. Although once considered a nice perk, if the city continues this trend without any change it will continue further on a downward spiral of spending money it does not have.
Police Chief Breaks Silence
The day San Jose Inside readers have been patiently waiting for has arrived. The busiest guy in town finally turned in his answers to reader questions that were submitted back in October. After detailing how a Q&A with the chief went wrong, Moore sprang into action with a 4,501-word email. Below are the questions and answers, preceded by Moore’s apology to readers for the delay. We’re sure all of you will understand.
