The Resident
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San Jose City Council members listen to Mayor Chuck Reed's state of the city address at the 2008 Community Breakfast
By Stephen Baxter
Mayor Chuck Reed did not launch any bold proposals or sweeping plans for San Jose in his state of the city address, but his focus on hiring more police and helping the environment satisfied some neighbors working on those issues.
At the 2008 Community Breakfast at San Jose McEnery Convention Center on Jan. 16, Reed highlighted the city council's progress on ethics rules, open government and hundreds of new "clean tech" jobs. He also tried to temper residents' expectations on spending as city leaders try to ride out a projected budget shortfall of $500 million.
"Employees, residents and taxpayers all need to help us solve our budget problems. We all have to work together," Reed said.
General fund revenues jumped more than 70 percent in the last 10 years, but expenses rose faster, Reed said.
"We have a spending problem. We have a structural budget deficit because our expenses went up faster than our revenues."
When the council starts to tackle the budget in March, Reed said, he hopes to trim city employees' scheduled pay raises and add more police to make the city safer.
Nubia Ramirez, a property owner and neighborhood activist in the Hoffman Via Monte neighborhood, lauded the idea of increased police patrols. The neighborhood has struggled in the last year with gangs, graffiti and violence.
"It's good that they're hiring more police. It takes time to bring them up to speed with the training, but it's good they're thinking of hiring," she said.
Police told her at a Jan. 16 neighborhood action coalition meeting that reported crimes had dropped in recent weeks.
"It's been quiet lately, and we are thankful to the police--there's a lot of police presence," Ramirez said.
Councilwoman Nora Campos appeared to take the most umbrage in the mayor's remarks, saying after the speech that he should have mentioned specific strategies to improve safety and economic development.
"It would have been good for the mayor to take a stronger stance on public safety," Campos told a group of television reporters. She added that Reed could have mentioned concrete plans to raise tax money, as she helped raise tax revenue 105 percent in her District 5.
Other residents appealed to Reed's pledge to improve the environment.
Willow Glen resident and Our City Forest Executive Director Rhonda Berry said she was delighted with the mayor's Green Vision goal to plant 100,000 new trees in the city. Berry received an award at the breakfast for her organization's work in planting and pruning trees.
"I'm hoping that with the Green Vision, some resources will be allocated for our work. We have money [to plant] 2,000 trees this year, but we have the capacity to do more with more funding," she said.
With a state grant, the group plans to start a new program in 2008 to prune 8,000 young trees on streets, schools and parks. Pruning helps keep trees healthy and prevent branches from falling during storms and knocking down power lines.
After the mayor's speech, Our City Forest volunteers gave out 150 1-gallon native oak trees to be planted in back yards.
"I can't tell you how excited we are about the Green Vision," Berry said.
Turning to the budget, Reed said that one way to limit city spending would be to decrease city employees' pay raises.
Councilman Pete Constant said he was open to limiting city employee raises to keep funding alive for basic services like parks and road maintenance.
"We have to manage our rising costs if we want to have those services; we have to be fiscally responsible," Constant said. "It's hard when our personnel costs are two-thirds of our budget."
Constant, who joined the mayor onstage and coughed several times, admitted that he had trouble hearing the speech because of a bout with bronchitis.
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio said after the speech that the mayor's approach to managing the city was pragmatic, and he was also open to tweaking city employee compensation.
"Residents in my district want the essential, basic services," he said. "This is a great city, and to make it greater we have to go the way we've been going."
