Willow Glen Resident
News
City inaugural budget forum gets bigger public draw than expected
By Eli Segall
It was billed as the first of its kind: an open forum for San Jose residents to participate in city budget discussions, a process historically closed to the average citizen. It didn't work out quite that way.
Nearly two dozen of the 100-plus community members who showed up for the Jan. 20 event were denied entry to the conference room where the meeting was held.
Apparently, they weren't on the guest list. City staff sent them down the hall to council chambers to watch the meeting on public access television instead.
The city wanted a cross-section of community leaders for the forum and invited only one representative from each neighborhood association, said San Jose chief deputy city manager Kay Winer.
"It was an issue of space more than anything else," Winer said. "But this forum was an experiment. We'll learn from this one how to increase community input in the future."
Invitations to the public forum were sent only to neighborhood associations listed in the San Jose Neighborhood Development Center database, said Laura Lam of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. Lam, who helped coordinate the event, added the city would work to strengthen that database.
Those in council chambers were not excluded from giving their input. City staff passed out public speaking cards, which, if filled out, allowed residents to speak at the conclusion of the four-hour meeting.
"I could have stayed home and watched this in my pajamas," said Burbank-Del Monte resident Randi Kinman, who had to watch the forum on the chamber's massive projection screen.
The forum--which was moderated by consultant Marilyn Snider of Oakland-based Snider and Associates--offered residents a rare opportunity to help craft San Jose's $3 billion annual budget. Community members showed up to brainstorm budget needs and ideas. Their proposals were narrowed down to a Top 5 list, which Mayor Chuck Reed, who attended the forum, will present at a San Jose City Council budget study session on Feb. 13. There, the council will also hear the results of another consultant's citywide telephone survey seeking additional budget proposals.
The five goals are: increase the number of jobs in San Jose; improve city code enforcement; provide more money for parks, pools and community centers; improve neighborhood policing; and increase general fund revenues.
Not every participant directed to council chambers last weekend was unhappy with their seat.
"It doesn't bother me," said Ginny Pyle of West San Jose. "The president of my neighborhood association is in there, and she's representing my community."
The budget is tentatively scheduled for adoption on June 19.
