San Jose Inside

City Hall Diary

Berkeley and Santa Cruz have a reputation of voting on proclamations or supporting causes that are outside their domains, such as the independence of Tibet, the genocide in Darfur, and federal issues like immigration or going to war. Topics like these are worthy of discussion on a blog, in person, or for our elected officials in Washington DC. However, is it the best use of time dealing with these at a level where you have limited influence instead of spending time on what you can really make an impact on? Like the “City” Council meetings?

The council meeting last Tuesday evening lasted until almost midnight. The council discussed and voted on the Mayor’s Budget Message, San Jose Medical Center and Mexican Heritage Plaza. I was happy to see the budget discussed at night so more people were able to attend.

There must be a better way of dealing with California’s budget crisis and $8 billion deficit than by laying off teachers as part of an across-the-board 10 percent spending cut. Our schools are in a pretty sorry state as it is due to inadequate funding. Many teachers that I know have to supply their students with classroom necessities and pay for them out of their own pockets. Now many of these dedicated educators are going to be getting their pink slips.

City Hall Diary

At the General Plan Task Force meeting last week, we discussed transportation and how future VTA projects will guide San Jose’s land use. The VTA budget for new projects is funded out of the voter-approved half-cent sales tax. The tax provides partial funding for BART, light rail extension, bus rapid transit improvements, some road paving, trails and bike lanes.

Purchasing the Future

The year of 2008 is already shaping up as a fascinating one, but tough decisions are ahead. BART, professional sports and our incredibly increasing deficits—state, local and national—are going to loom very large.

As I am making my own resolutions to lose weight, hit the gym more often and eat less carbs, I think that the San Jose City Council should make a few resolutions of their own in 2008. Here are some ways they could really improve our city this year.

Would you pay 25 cents a mile to drive in the carpool lane? A coin is being thrown around as an option for drivers to pay when driving on Hwy 85 or 101 in a few years. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is proposing HOT lanes—not “hot” as in temperature but rather HOT as in High Occupancy Toll lanes.

Along with the growth of San Jose, a new change is coming that we haven’t seen before: high-rise luxury housing in our city’s core. As I drive through downtown and see the cranes in the sky around these towering developments, I can’t help but wonder how it will work. This is such a drastic change from the way people live here—sprawling suburbs with ample parking, mini-malls within a 5-minute drive, and cul-de-sacs with kids riding skateboards and shooting hoops. However, I do believe there is a market for this kind of housing. It just remains to be seen how big that market actually is.

On Saturday morning, a public workshop will be held at City Hall to help determine what revisions need to be made to the city’s general plan for growth. An Envision San Jose 2040 Task Force has been assembled to review the plan and they are seeking public input to assist them in setting the agenda. Since many of us will find it difficult to attend the meeting on Saturday, I thought we might give our bloggers an opportunity to express their views on the matter here on San Jose Inside where they can be seen by the denizens of City Hall.

City Hall Diary

A few months ago I wrote about the chronic problem of speeding in San Jose. My concern about this problem peaked when two parents were killed recently by a speeding driver while walking on Graystone Lane in Almaden Valley. At that time, I proposed that the City of San Jose review its traffic calming policy in an effort to update it so that it reflects the needs of residents today.  For example, the current policy refers to using NASCOP (a photo radar device) that would take pictures of drivers in their cars as they sped by. Recently, NASCOP was ruled illegal by state courts, leaving a hole in our current policy.

The report in the Mercury News yesterday that mandatory water rationing in Silicon Valley may soon be a reality is not unexpected. The decision of the judge to limit the flow of water through the Sacramento River Delta—which supplies 50 percent of our needs—to protect an endangered smelt is largely due to inadequate rainfall this past year and the crumbling delta infrastructure that desperately needs attention. There is only so much water available even at the best of times, but we are in a drought year and there could be many more to follow. It isn’t unheard of and the situation could get a lot worse.

The Business Journal so much reminds me of that old saying about editors: that they “come in after the battle and shoot the wounded.”  Never was it truer than in their recent editorial about Cirque du Soleil. They have been absent in past years concerning the takeover of City Hall by lobbyists; absent on the unconscionable stealing of our future by the transfer of 1400 acres of industrial tax base to residential housing; absent on any meaningful discussion of the proper support for small businesses in the downtown; and absurdly critical of candidate Chuck Reed on some relatively minor issues in the recent election. Not much of a record.

Bay Bridge, Hwy. 101, Leaves of Absence Keep Tiny Office Out of Top Ten

Employees of the tiny San Jose City Auditor’s office were told on Tuesday by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) that their daily trip to the sexually-charged workplace known as the “Auditor’s Den” was not among the top ten dreaded commutes.

There have been a number of recent articles in national publications about the brave new city of the west, San Jose. The Wall Street Journal stated its view of our city as the center of innovation and entrepreneurship. There is a strong effort to reap the benefits of locating the new and exciting clean-tech areas of the new economy here to join eBay, Cisco Systems and Adobe. We are trying very hard and the ability to try hard is a virtue in a person and an asset in the development of the city.

Budget Figures Tell the Tale

Ah, it’s springtime in San Jose.  The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and the roses at the Rose Garden are…well, never mind.

It’s also budget season, and the preliminary budget numbers coming from the San Jose city government are not exactly encouraging.  The sources for the information that follows are:  The City Manager’s Budget Message, The 2007-2008 Proposed Operating Budget, and the city’s transportation department. Read ‘em and weep: