Willow Glen Resident

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Elected District 3 councilman, Liccardo, wants pool reopened

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

Santa Clara County prosecutor Sam Liccardo won the San Jose City Council District 3 seat from Manny Diaz during the Nov. 7 runoff election.

"I'm thrilled," Liccardo said. "I expected it would be a close race and was pleasantly surprised with the results."

Liccardo won 61.04 percent or 6,481 votes, while former state assemblyman and San Jose city councilman Manny Diaz received 38.96 percent or 4,137 votes.

The total number of registered voters in District 3 is 26,871, but turnout was very low, with only 39 percent going to the polls during this midterm election.

District 3 encompasses Greater Gardner and downtown. Cindy Chavez, the district's former councilwoman, was termed out. Chavez ran for San Jose mayor and lost to Chuck Reed.

Liccardo and Diaz rose above six other candidates in the June 6 primary, but were forced into a runoff since neither earned the 50-plus percent needed to win outright.

Liccardo was the front runner in the June election, earning 43 percent of the vote to Diaz's 36 percent.

During his campaign, Liccardo attended numerous Greater Gardner community meetings in order to acquaint himself with its constituency.

"I'm very grateful for the support and leadership from the Gardner community," Liccardo said. "I will work with everyone to ensure we satisfy the community's needs. There's a lot of work ahead, but I look forward to it."

Before diving in to his new job, Liccardo said he's taking a week off to catch up with his personal life. Then it's back to business.

"I want to get back to work and talk to the Gardner community leaders about what we want to accomplish in the next couple of months," he said.

Liccardo reiterated his top priority is to locate funding to rebuild and reopen the Biebrach pool in Greater Gardner.

The new councilman has a few ideas how this might be accomplished, such as using funds from the city park trust or from the redevelopment agency. But he said these funds could only go toward rebuilding the pool, not maintaining it.

Liccardo also said he will strongly support programs that keep teens in school, and he will fight rumored budget cuts to local community centers and gang-prevention programs.

During his campaign, he was particularly vocal about curbing the influence of lobbyists in city hall, pointing out his campaign returned more than $2,000 in contributions previously thought to be unconnected to lobbyists. During the campaign he criticized Diaz for being a lobbyist and accepting contributions from lobbyists.

Liccardo raised more than $96,434 in political contributions and sent out weekly position papers to supporters titled, "Take a Stand with Sam."