It is time to look at the City as a whole and think of how it can be reconfigured and improved. Of course, there can be a look again at some hallowed tenets of sound growth and planning for our future. To what extent do they continue to serve us well? Additionally, we can try to imagine new and innovative ideas as well, that can lead us into the brave new world of the twenty-first century.
Two of the solid planks of past General Plans have been a steady reliance on the thousands of acres in the redevelopment zones of our city and the strong desire to balance the housing of our community to its jobs – much has been invested in these dual efforts to improve the financial status of San Jose. It seems that where once we barely edged Gilroy in sales tax revenues, now they may have passed us by. This is alarming.
Things are worthy of reassessment.
To know the worth of the efforts to create a decent tax base, it is necessary to chart the investment in the effort so far. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spend in the campaign and what do we have to show for it——miles of new highways, thousands of units of low- and moderate-income housing, an Arena, several museums for kids and techies and quill lovers, and then toss in a brand new library and a fantastic river park, and many pocket parks in various locations. The list is much longer.
We also have seen hundreds of acres of parks built throughout the city and branch libraries and community centers in great profusion.
The true dilemma of the long time strategy is the ability to hire cops, youth workers, librarians, and the other key individuals that give life to a city. There is a need to look at labor negotiations, pensions, staffing, capital projects, and myriad other factors in a healthy budget. Key to much of it is the issue of planning and growth, growth and planning.
Those who do not recognize the high stakes in the debate over Evergreen and Coyote, do not remember San Jose’s history. And you know what they say about those who do not remember history.
If san jose continues to try and change commerical to residential we will all be in big touble. We need to landback this Ev ergreen and Coyote valley for future development that pays for itself namely commerical and industrial.
“It seems that where once we barely edged Gilroy in sales tax revenues, now they may have passed us by.”
It seems this claim is false.
According to the Board of Equalization, Gilroy’s sales tax revenue is less than 10% of San Jose.
http://www.boe.ca.gov/news/pdf/city_2q04.pdf
I’m not sure I understand your point. Are you saying if we don’t grow into Coyote valley, we wont have the tax base to hire cops, youth workers, librarians, etc. I don’t agree.
Planning is very important as well budgeting. Growth is not the only way to increase the tax base. Redevelopment can work without growth.
I believe we have the money to pay for services we need. We just need to be selective. Are the current capital improvements warranted?
-joe
This is so simple. This town has already sprawled out way too far and has the strip mall eyesores that go with it. We don’t need any more of that. Janet Hayes was the first to suggest infill development within the urban service boundaries and there is no reason why that practice should be abandoned. There is plenty of opportunity for development within just a few miles of City Hall and there is no reason to be changing things out in Evergreen or Coyote Valley.
Tom is right. Live and learn.
Dutch had the sales tax revenues in mind when he decided that there should be a mall at almost every off-ramp of the freeways that circle San Jose.
As far as affording all of the services, as long as the pensions continure to grow, we can’t afford any services.
Jerry
“It seems that where once we barely edged Gilroy in sales tax revenues, now they may have passed us by. This is alarming.”
A major reason for this is our city’s preference to make money off property tax, “tax increments” used to fund RDA projects, fees for small businesses, and service fees to customers.
It seems our planning department, council, and RDA staff put more emphasis on projects that bring property tax revenue, increased tax increments and business / service fees; leaving businesses that bring in sales tax and or increased jobs out of the mix.
In terms of small businesses, which can bring huge amounts of sales tax revenue, our city over charges for permits to build, fees to operate and parking / enforcement fees to customers.
It’s no wonder many people are choosing other places to spend their money like Gilroy and Santa Clara. Think about it; when was the last time you got a parking ticket to park at the outlets in Gilroy or Valley Fair. How much did it cost to park; nothing!
In addition to planning, which is necessary.
The City needs to reduce the bureaucracy that currently exists. Not the police officers, fire fighters, libraraians or folks who provide the service, but middle and upper management folks—who do little but create paperwork for others.
Let’s have someone run for office who proposes no new laws, but takes current regulations off the books. Or at least for every new law passed, two laws should be taken off the books.
We need to streamline and automate City Services and make them more user friendly.
As for growth, we need affordable housing. The CEOs have named it the number one problem for business. But because of the cumbersome process, NIMBYISM, the lack of resources and a housing market that currently caters to speculators and wealthy individuals—it will take leadership to make such development a priority.
Finally, where is our greenbelt? England and Ireland, two very small islands by comparison have vast open spaces set aside for their citizens. The densities are greater is some areas, but their quality of life doesn’t seem to have suffered.
Of course, they do have monster homes, usually inhabited by royalty—but most were built long ago—not recently.
Symantics,
When CEOs talk about “affordable housing” they are talking about single-family houses in neighborhoods with high achieving schools that are affordable to professionals. This is what they need to attract a professional workforce. Other areas of the country where they compete for workers support this. They are not talking about high-density apartments for low-wage workers.
Now while both of these are desirable and necessary for a city with a high quality of life, it is at least possible to plan for and create the high-density subsidized apartments. I don’t see how we create the affordable single-family homes. As for improving the lower-performing school districts up to the level that they could attract professionals, I don’t know how you get there from here. Perhaps more magnet schools or vouchers.
Sometimes I think that the best thing that could happen to San Jose is for the housing market to collapse.
Mr. Robinson is correct—we are being suffocated by bureaucracies at all levels of government and many levels of private industry. Thousands of people do nothing but push paper up-line and down-line.
Want more money for education/teachers’ salaries? Fire 60% of the district office bureaucrats in the school district offices statewide. They provide ZERO value to the system. Yet, they make the biggest salaries, have the most perks, and garner the highest pensions.
Then go down to the school level, and get rid of all but one vice-principal in every school.
Use the money saved by these two measures to hire quality teachers and provide supplies to the kids.
Cut CalTrans by 50%, and require the remainder to work a solid thirty hours per week for their forty hours pay.
Stop paying “consultants” to “study” stuff forever at millions of dollars per study, and get people who know what they’re doing to provide a plan in a reasonable time at a reasonable cost.
Don’t build “rapid” transit systems where every train stops at every station, and they crawl through downtowns at 5mph. Don’t have double trolley cars and large buses with large capacities that are rarely more than 20% full. Substitute vans that hold no more than fifteen people and use alternative fuels to gasoline.
Don’t build monuments like The Taj Gonzal when Sobrato’s building, which is closer to freeways and much better looking, stand vancant.
Do build high density affordable housing near transit corridors—including highways—something I espoused in 1988 when I ran for SJ City Council.
Do make police, fire, road repair and schools a priority. In tough economic times, all else goes away. When we are cutting police and fire positions BY THE DOZENS, do we really need a public art director to talk about the Fallon Statue and Quezlcoatl (which she should learn to pronounce correctly if she is going to be a public art officer in this community) on KLIV?
Get rid of all the feel good programs that hire endless bureaucrats and minions to shuffle paper. They are the functional equivalent of “charities” that spend 80% of the money they obtain raising the money.
Learn that some people are beyond saving, and though Jesus/Allah/or whomever may love them, we just have to cut them loose because we just cannot afford them. If they don’t make it, perhaps they’ll have a better life in the hereafter.
Since we license virtually everything else, how about parents? Did you ever notice that the people who can least afford them tend to have the most children? Why does that become a public charge? We have programs for people who take drugs to try to get them off drugs. We have no programs for people who can barely suopport themselves to show them how not to populate the earth with kids who have virtually no chance of success.
Everybody seems to feel they have a constitutional right to a college education, even though they can barely read or fill out a job application. We don’t need more kids in college who can’t read. We need more mechanics, draftsmen, tech workers, repair people. What ever happened to trade schools?
There are a bizillion reasons why people in the bay area and throughout the country are completely disillusioned with government. We get little for our dollars sent to DC but reps. & senators who want to be on C-Span. They bicker like brats in the sandbox. They devise touchy-feely programs—modern day bread and circuses—but have no real way to fund them. Instead of cutting back when times are tough, they want more taxes. We are approaching the tax rates of Sweden, with very few of the benefits the Swedish people enjoy.
Locally we have the SJ Downtown Assoc. which pays its executive director a six figure salary to be a cheerleader. Every business, large or small, pays money for his salary. Other than him and his staff, and a few lucky beneficiaries, who benefits?
Unless we move back to basics in government, the well will run dry. The pols still don’t get what the people meant when they passed Proposition 13—we want a lean-mean government that gives us what we cannot provide for ourselves individually, and not a whole lot more. We want government workers who work hard, not those who devise work rules that make it well nigh impossible to fire the incompetent or just plain lazy. We want performance-based raises, not raises based merely on the pasage of time. That’s a concept Larry Stone has been trying to effectuate in his office, over the opposition of organized labor and its lapdogs( my word, not his) on the board of supervisors.
Taxpayers have a right to expect public employees will give an honest days work for an honest days pay. We don’t get that either in government or in highly unionized private sector job markets.
What a rant, huh? I know there are millions who feel as I do, but are too busy making money to pay their taxes to sit down and pound it out on their laptops.
John Michael O’Connor
John, I am one of those millions and agree with what you’re saying. However, if you were Mayor or on the Council, you could never say any of this because too much of it is so “politically incorrect” that it becomes political suicide. And that is a sad commentary because somebody definitely needs to start pointing the finger at the bureaucratic overload, the illiterate and irresponsibly prolific parents, etc and get people focused on fixing those problems. But you’d be run out of office if not completely out of town if you put that agenda forward. Those of us who are responsible, who hold down jobs and pay our taxes get nothing but more taxes laid on us to support the bureaucracy and our fellow citizens—and let’s not forget the non-citizens—who don’t even know the definition of responsibility. Something is seriously wrong with that picture.
It’s unfortunate that the few valid points John raises are lost in his grossly generalized tirade. No question city government needs a lot of work and streamlining, but to make the unsubstantiated statements you make will not solve the problems. Clearly the problem rests at the top—nothing in this city will change until the Mayor and his yes-sir Manager are gone. Morale will continue to dwell at the bottom and the Council will continue to ignore the City Charter.
You left out Police/Fire pensions as a problem. Public safety is very important, but at the expense of everything else?
You are correct about City Hall. Wait until the real costs are revealed. Wait until it is known just how many employees won’t be housed there. Just wait…
Over simplification never really solves anything, and much of your comments above are just not realistic portrayal—granted they are your opinion and you are certainly entitled to that.
Having said all you have, what is your realistic solution and how do we improve San Jose? My suggestion, for starters, is for the electorate to clean house and get a Mayor and Council who really understand what makes a city a good place to live.
JMO –
You speak the truth in a time of such political correctness that no one can be open and passionate anymore, lest they be scrutinized and hung out to dry.
Do us all a favor and run for office again – the D.I.M.W.I.T.S are all with you!
WOW,You Go Johnny Boy!!!!
You sure got my attention at 10 am Sunday morning!
I’m so inspired by your “Up to my Ass in Pork let’s belling up to the table and deal the cards” attitude! “Refreshing as Hell”!(Foundry Term).
You have now become a canidate contender for the life size bronze sculpture that will ultimately be set inside the “New Temple of Ethics” dome, you so lovingly call the TajGonzal.
With Fallon and his side kick, raising the Flag out front City Hall and you raising Hell with finger pointed towards the Heavens inside “The Temple of Ethics”, what a great combo, only in San Jose could this be possible!!! Do I hear an Amen! Brothers and Sisters??
Look for my newest transcript on
“The Ethics of Political Art in Public Places” It will be published by “Dimwit Press International”. Sub Title” All I ever wanted to know about Public Art I learned in the Steam Room at the San Jose Athletic Club!
BTF. I attended 3 Festivals yesterday The first was as a painting by Norman Rockwell, Family, friends, Lot’s of children dancing in groups, laughter, children’s games. Object,
raise money for Renaissance School’s band equipment. Beautiful to be hold! A++
The second was the Tamale Festival, no parking, obnoxious announcers, long long lines waiting for a tamale, and no Corona! What, denial? A hot Tamale and an ice cold beer please! NO SENIOR!!!
The third was the Greek Festival. Great shuttle service to and from parking near by. Lots of cooking fires taking place. Great food, good wine. Men, women and children dancing to the sounds of a wonderful group under the big top. All very exciting! A+
I did have a wonderful serving of Menudo, at a place I’ll not name for fear of a law suit. It made me wonder what all the fuss was about with the “Finger” at Wendy’s!! “Hell there was a Cow’s Foot in my Menudo”. Yuk!
John Michael do you do these kinds of litigations. I figure that kind of trama’s got to be worth an ice cold Corona & a hot Tamale!!
Thanks for the insiration, I love this web!!! site!“Just another day in Paradise”! Enjoy!!
The Village Black Smith
Gil Hernandez
Adam:
As someone once said (I think it was Mort Sahl): “there’s a lot of apathy out there, but who cares.” So, solving the problems endemic to American bureaucracy is unlikely.
Terry Gregory gets bounced for ethical violations neither he nor Forrest Wiliams yet understand and they hold a special election to replace him. Barely 7,000 people bothered to vote! The two Nguyens will battle it out in the run-off. Either way we’ll end up with a one-issue councilmember with no political experience.
At the very least the DA should have held out for a plea bargain that required Terry Gregory as part of his restitution requirement to pay for that special election.
The bureaucrats remain long after the politicians leave. They are fully insulated from the responsibility to work hard by civil service—a good idea to combat abuses of a hundred years ago, but now so out of control that no-one can get fired. It needs to go. Performance based promotions and pay increases must be established. People should have to prove/justify their performance at least annually. Do you ever see more than 20% of the crew on a CalTrans job site actually working at any given time?
Cut management at all levels at least in half. We have managers “managing” five people. School district office staffs are bloated; but what value do they add to the education of our children?
Change needs constant grass roots pressure; but the turnout in District 7 shows we don’t have it. It goes up to the national level. Although a huge percentage of people decry “Congress” they invariably re-elect THEIR representative.
For now, Adam, I fear we are doomed.
John Michael O’Connor
The San Jose Downtown Association newsletter informs us of the following consequences of our $58 million shortfall of revenue versus spending:
Reduced services and personnel at the main library.
Save $104,000. by closing the Arena Carousel. I can’t believe we’ve been firing cops and having the city run a carousel.
Reduce park maintenance at Plaza de Cesar Chavez and St. James Park by two days a week. I rarely see anyone out there “maintaining” them now. St. James is a “shooting gallery” and homeless encampment full of dying trees that drip sap on your car when you go to TheJ Athletic Club.
Cut cleaning of the transit mall in half. Indeed! The granite sidewalks have been filthy for years. Who allegedly cleans it now? The Champs Elysees (sp?) in Paris has a thousand times the traffic our “transit mall” has, is lined with outdoor restaurants, and is spotless. It’s cleaned daily by French Government Workers (who are the laziest and most inefficient workers in the world) and its STILL cleaner than our transit mall. And they intend to reduce service.
Perhaps adjacent property owners/lessees could adopt the section in front of their respective estab.lishments (like the adopt a highway program) and actually clean up in front of their establishments themselves. What a concept!
Here’s the really funny/tragic one: “change from preventative maintenance to mandatory manitenance (in other words fix it when it’s broke) for sidewalk repair, pavement, landscaping and traffic lights.” Has the genius who proposed that cut ever actually driven around San Jose? The streets are already broke all over town. Has anyone ever seen a SJ street repair crew at work in their neighborhood?
Here’s another one: “cut road maintenance by one-third”. I’m no math whiz, but I seem to remember that one-third of zero is zero. What road maintenance are they talking about?
I saw nary a word about cutting the job of SJ’s public art director. What can she possibly do 40 hours/week, 52 weeks a year? We don’t have enough public art to justify a ten hour/week position. Is her salary more important than keeping a cop on the job?
There must be all kinds of nice cushy city jobs that involve a lot of paper pushing and reporting to the city manage that should all go away before we reduce road maintence, park maintenance, police and fore positions.
Oh, by the way, those are just the cuts planned for downtown. What about the rest of San Hozay?Hold onto your wallets, folks, tax increases are coming soon.
John Michael O’Connor