Some 200 attendees—many of them former San Jose police officers—met at the California Theatre on Thursday to honor the life of Joseph McNamara, the city's former police chief and “father of community policing.”
Read More 2Rob Davis
Former San Jose Police Chiefs Paid $5.3 Million from Pensions
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San Jose Mayor’s Race Heats up as Candidates Debate
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Show Me the Money: City Employee Salaries for 2012
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San Jose released its annual list of city salaries late last week, reminding us once again where the bulk of the municipal budget goes. Like most municipalities, payroll accounts for the city’s single highest expense. San Jose shelled out $596 million, or 62 percent of this fiscal year’s budget, on payroll for its 5,500 employees. This year, retired Sgt. John M. Seaman topped the list, receiving total compensation in the amount of $308,345.
Read More 7Police Chief Breaks Silence
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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.
Read More 24So Rich It’s Sick
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The most lucratively compensated of City Hall official is Debra Figone, San Jose’s city manager, who earned $239,000 last year. Figone has worked for the city on and off for nearly a quarter of a century, and since returning from a stint as Los Gatos’ city manager, she has racked up the limit of 1,200 hours of unused sick leave. All of this has set off speculation that Figone will retire sooner than later.
Read More 55District 10 Cattle Call
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Redevelopment Agency director Harry Mavrogenes might be quitting the broke-ass agency—hey, four decades is enough to ask of anybody in this town—but he’s not planning to fade into the sunset and paint water colors. That’s what his one-time boss Frank Taylor did. Or live on a boat in the Caribbean on the San Jose tax money she escaped with, as predecessor Susan Schick did. Maybe he’s a glutton for punishment, but the Mavster will be staying involved in local public affairs.
Read More 19Headhunters Target SJPD
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City Releases Employee Salary List for 2010
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The top salaries for city employees in 2010 were released Friday, and recently retired police chief Rob Davis topped the list at $534,576 in total cash compensation. Of the top 15 on the list of 624 full- and part-time City of San Jose workers, nine are members of the police department and five work for the fire department.
Read More 85First SJPD Chief-Search Meeting Tonight
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The quest for SJPD Chief Rob Davis’s replacement kicks off tonight with the city’s first community outreach meeting.
Taking place at the Roosevelt Community Center, the event aims to have citizens weigh in on the type of person they think should be hired to lead San Jose’s Police Department. After tonight’s 6pm meeting, there will be four other opportunities for community engagement through Sept. 2.
“This is one of the most important positions in the city,” City Manager Deb Figone said when announcing the event at today’s city council meeting. “The information we gather at these meetings will help define the characteristics that we are looking for in our next police chief.”
Read More 16Reed Responds to SJPD Chief Rob Davis’ Announced Retirement
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Downtown: Movies and Moves
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Last Thursday, Fly was intrigued by the “No Parking” signs up and down a three-block stretch of South First Street—right in front of Metro’s office—as they purported to be clearing the area for a movie called Church Girl. That vaguely pornographic contraction turns out to be short for I’m in Love With a Church Girl, a Christian film starring Jeffrey Atkins, better known as Ja Rule. Fly immediately buzzed off hoping to “holla, holla,” (as Ja Rule implored us to do in his big hit).
Read More 1Dear Chief Davis
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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.
Read More 20POA VP Blasts Chief Rob Davis
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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.”
Read More 3City’s Deficit Rises Yet Again
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There’s bad news for the City Council again. The deficit is up 16 percent and now stands at $116.2 million. The problem, says City Manager Debra Figones, is employee pension costs, and especially the pension costs for retired policemen and firemen. While they were expected to grow by $38 million during the next fiscal year, the estimate has been adjusted and now stands at $53 million. Exacerbating the problem is reduced revenue from business tax receipts, which continues to drop.
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