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Letters from the Public - 2 of 2

San Jose City Council
February 28, 2023

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Letters from the Public - 2 of 2
Meeting
February 28, 2023
Body
San Jose City Council
Original file
2.3 MB
Text extracted from the city's file for reading and search. Open the original on legistar.granicus.com. That file is the official record.

[External Email]
FW: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Thu 2/16/2023 11:51 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: BRIAN HABERLY >
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2023 11:42 AM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!

San Jose City Clerk Toni Taber,
As a San José resident, I am writing to ask for your support in shaping a City Budget that prioritizes the needs of working families and upholds our values as a community. In order to properly address economic, racial, and social inequality, we need a budget that ensures we are building a City for every resident, family, and neighborhood.

I am joining together with my community to ask you to prioritize the following in the City Budget:

Strengthening essential services
Building safe & strong neighborhoods
Providing homes and good jobs
Creating a healthy environment
Working towards childcare
Fighting for a city for ALL
San Jose remains deeply economically divided — nearly half of all children live in families which make too little money to make ends meet. This inequality is bad for working families, bad for our neighborhoods, and bad for San José’s regional economy.

That’s why I’m coming together with my San José neighbors to ask you to create a budget that will consider the urgent and emerging needs of all residents across the City, regardless of where we live, what we do for a living, and how much money we make.

BRIAN HABERLY

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San Jose, California 95112

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Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!
Wells-Walberg Judith
Tue 2/14/2023 12:08 PM
To:City Clerk <[email protected]>

San Jose City Clerk Toni Taber,
As a San José resident, I am writing to ask for your support in shaping a City Budget that prioritizes the needs of working families and upholds our values as a community. In order to properly address economic, racial, and social inequality, we need a budget that ensures we are building a City for every resident, family, and neighborhood.

I am joining together with my community to ask you to prioritize the following in the City Budget:

Strengthening essential services
Building safe & strong neighborhoods
Providing homes and good jobs
Creating a healthy environment
Working towards childcare
Fighting for a city for ALL
San Jose remains deeply economically divided — nearly half of all children live in families which make too little money to make ends meet. This inequality is bad for working families, bad for our neighborhoods, and bad for San José’s regional economy.

That’s why I’m coming together with my San José neighbors to ask you to create a budget that will consider the urgent and emerging needs of all residents across the City, regardless of where we live, what we do for a living, and how much money we make.

Wells-Walberg Judith
San Jose, California 95112

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FW: Fully fund Vision Zero
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Thu 2/23/2023 10:40 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: Joan Bucher
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2023 10:38 AM
To: Davis, Dev <[email protected]>
Cc: Mahan, Ma <Ma[email protected]>; City Clerk <[email protected]>; [email protected]; shiloh ; Foley, Pam <[email protected]>; Cohen, David <[email protected]> Subject: Fully fund Vision Zero

My husband and I own a home in and our primary method of transportaon is bicycle. If you want to make Silicon Valley a forward thinking community with the health and safety of it's cizens in mind you should support the Vision Zero 100%.

We support the recommendaons from the Mayor’s Transion Commiee on Community Safety to:
-       Fully fund the Vision Zero Acon Plan and to ensure project delivery happens at a faster pace -       Fund new staff in the Department of Transportaon and keep staffing levels so that we have enough capacity to oversee project delivery and write new grants to bring more money to the City
-       Fund the Bike Plan and do so quick
-       And adopt a pedestrian safety improvement program

Thank you for your dedicaon to the City of San Jose. Please priorize the safety of our streets for all users.

Joan Bucher Symonds (Ellison)
Julian Symonds
San Jose, CA 95126

[External Email]
FW: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Fri 2/24/2023 7:59 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: Celia Alvarez
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2023 12:24 AM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!

San Jose City Clerk Toni Taber,
As a San José resident, I am writing to ask for your support in shaping a City Budget that prioritizes the needs of working families and upholds our values as a community. In order to properly address economic, racial, and social inequality, we need a budget that ensures we are building a City for every resident, family, and neighborhood.

I am joining together with my community to ask you to prioritize the following in the City Budget:

1. Preventing wage theft by resourcing the OEA and the County's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to work together to provide outreach education and support to workers and businesses in sectors impacted by wage theft.

2. Developing a responsible construction ordinance to incentive new developers to work with contractors who treat workers with dignity and pay a fair wage.

3. Resourcing programs that enrich the next generation of San José residents.

4. Filling the 800+ job vacancies in the City and ensure City workers are fairly compensated and have opportunities for growth and development.

San Jose remains deeply economically divided — nearly half of all children live in families which make too little money to make ends meet. This inequality is bad for working families, bad for our neighborhoods, and bad for San José’s regional economy.

That’s why I’m coming together with my San José neighbors to ask you to create a budget that will consider the urgent and emerging needs of all residents across the City, regardless of where we live, what we do for a living, and how much money we make.

Celia Alvarez
San Jose, California 95136

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FW: Vision Zero Funding
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Fri 2/24/2023 2:08 PM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: Shiloh Ballard
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2023 2:05 PM
To: Mahan, Ma <Ma[email protected]>; City Clerk <[email protected]>; District 6 <[email protected]>; District2 <[email protected]>; District 10 <[email protected]>; District4 <[email protected]>; District9 <[email protected]>; District8 <[email protected]>; District1 <[email protected]>; Torres, Omar <[email protected]>; Orz, Peter <Peter.Or[email protected]>; District7 <[email protected]> Subject: Vision Zero Funding

Dear Council and Mayor,

On behalf of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalion, please see the aached leer of support of increased funding for street safety in San Jose per the recommendaons from the Mayor's Transion Commiee on Community Safety.

Thanks~

--
Shiloh Ballard
Executive Director
Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
Safe streets don't happen magically. Support SVBC and fund the only organization working to make the streets safe for you and your family. Donate
here.

February 21st, 2023 RE: Budget request to fund safe streets Dear Mayor and Council, On behalf of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, we are writing to support the recommendations from the Mayor’s Transition Committee on Traffic Enforcement and Crime to increase the budget to fund safer streets in San Jose. There were four recommendations on traffic safety from the Committee: 1. Fully fund the Vision Zero Action Plan 2. Fund the Bike Plan 3. Create a pedestrian safety program 4. Increase staff capacity in the Department of Transportation Many people don’t realize that crashes on our streets, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are a leading cause of death for people up to the age of 54. Traffic violence nationwide is up and in San Jose, it is no different. 2022 marked a record number of fatalities on our streets for people driving, walking and biking. A total of 65 people died, almost double the number of homicides in the City. Our streets are one of the most dangerous places to be, for everyone. It is also important to note the real cost of traffic violence. On average, San Jose police respond to 20 crashes a day, 10 of which involve an injury and over one a week resulting in death. This is a waste of taxpayer dollars and law enforcement resources. Imagine if our highly trained officers did not have to respond to 20 crashes a day and instead could focus on fighting crime. This, on top of the emotional toll on families and emergency responders plus health care and auto repair costs. Fortunately we know that if we stripe the roads differently, sharpen corners, narrow lanes, add better lighting, build higher quality bike infrastructure, and build more complete streets, drivers behave better behind the wheel. We also know that one of the best ways to reduce traffic violence is to build communities so that the car is obsolete. The City’s General Plan calls for this approach through an urban village model where affordable housing, jobs, parks, and services are within walking and biking distance.

2/27/23, 9:18 AM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
https://outlook.office365.com/mail/[email protected]/inbox/id/AAQkADUxOWI4ZjE3LTRkNDEtNGUzMS04MjAwLTIzNzdiYTdkMjc5NAAQA… 1/1 [External Email]
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FW: Funding for Safe Streets
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Mon 2/27/2023 8:03 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>
1 attachments (348 KB)
SJ Budget campaign letter 2.23 logos.pdf;

From: Shiloh Ballard < >
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2023 9:16 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>; Mahan, Ma <Ma[email protected]> Subject: Funding for Safe Streets

Dear Mayor and City Council,

Aached is a leer from several organizaons supporng funding for safe streets in the City's budget to be discussed at Tuesday's meeng.

--
Shiloh Ballard
Executive Director
Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
Safe streets don't happen magically. Support SVBC and fund the only organization working to make the streets safe for you and your family. Donate
here.

---
February 24, 2023 Dear Mayor, Council, and City Manager, On behalf of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, California Walks, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Tropicana Lanai Neighborhood Association, Save the Bay, Greenbelt Alliance, Guadalupe Park Conservancy, and San Francisco Bay Area Families for Safe Streets we are writing to support the recommendations from the Mayor’s Transition Committee on Traffic Enforcement and Crime to increase the budget to fund safer streets in San Jose. There were four recommendations on traffic enforcement from the Committee: 1. Fully fund the Vision Zero Action Plan 2. Fund the Bike Plan 3. Create a pedestrian safety program 4. Increase staff capacity in the Department of Transportation All of these are important and we want to emphasize #1 and #4 for the upcoming budget cycle. Vision Zero Action Plan It will take an additional $12 million to fully fund the Vision Zero Action Plan. To do so, now, will shave one year off the Plan’s timeline from a 2026 completion date to 2025. Given the record number of traffic deaths on San Jose streets, fully funding the Vision Zero Action Plan this year is imperative. Department of Transportation Staff Capacity Project delivery timelines are glacial. People are dying now and projects must be built at a faster clip. In order to do so, the Department of Transportation needs additional staff to oversee project implementation. The City should also invest in an additional grant writer to attract more federal, state and regional grants to fund more than “quick build” street safety projects.

---
Traffic violence nationwide is up and in San Jose, it is no different. 2022 marked a record number of fatalities on our streets for people driving, walking and biking. A total of 65 people died, almost double the number of homicides in the City. It is also important to note the real cost of traffic violence. On average, San Jose police respond to 20 crashes a day, 10 of which involve an injury and over one a week resulting in death. This is a waste of taxpayer dollars and law enforcement resources. Imagine if our highly trained officers did not have to respond to 20 crashes a day and instead could focus on fighting crime. Additionally, consider also the emotional toll on families and emergency responders on top of the health care and auto repair costs. Reducing the number of crashes on our streets will save money for everyone, including the City. It also avoids the lasting emotional trauma borne by families, perpetrators, and our emergency responders. Fortunately we know that if we stripe the roads differently, sharpen corners, narrow lanes, build higher quality bike infrastructure, and build more green complete streets, drivers behave better behind the wheel. This is a fact. And while police are an effective and visible reminder to obey the law, a police force able to cover the 2,600 miles of streets in San Jose is impractical and expensive. In this budget cycle, given the record number of deaths in San Jose, we implore you to increase the Department of Transportation’s budget in order to meet the need and to do so in a way that results in the more rapid buildout of the City’s plans for safer streets. Urgently, Shiloh Ballard Executive Director Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition Jodie Medeiros Executive Director Walk SF/SF Bay Area Families for Safe Streets Miha Babalai Co-Executive Director Walk San Jose Program Director Zoe Siegel Director of Climate Resilience Greenbelt Alliance David Lewis Executive Director Save the Bay Jason Su Executive Director Guadalupe River Park Conservancy Jason Baker Senior Vice President of Infrastructure & Regional Partnerships Silicon Valley Leadership Group Victoria Partida President Tropicana Lanai Neighborhood Association 2/27/23, 10:41 AM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
https://outlook.office365.com/mail/[email protected]/inbox/id/AAQkADUxOWI4ZjE3LTRkNDEtNGUzMS04MjAwLTIzNzdiYTdkMjc5NAAQAI… 1/2 FW: Fund and Prioritize Vision Zero Now
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Mon 2/27/2023 10:33 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>
-----Original Message-----
From: David Steinhauer RN < >
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 10:29 AM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>; Mahan, Matt <[email protected]>; Jimenez, Sergio <[email protected]>; Foley, Pam <[email protected]>; Cohen, David <[email protected]>; Torres, Omar <[email protected]>; Davis, Dev <[email protected]>; Ortiz, Peter <[email protected]>; Batra, Arjun <[email protected]>; Kamei, Rosemary <[email protected]>; Candelas, Domingo <[email protected]>; Doan, Bien <[email protected]>; [email protected]
Subject: Fund and Prioritize Vision Zero Now
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Message Points
Dear Counsel Members,
I live near Camden Ave and ride my bike everywhere because it’s good for my physical and emotional health, the planet and my pocketbook. Sadly, all too often, I have a near death experience as people who drive have become less and less attentive.

This past year, San Jose had a record number of traffic fatalities. Additionally, the amount of time and resources spent on the average of 20 crashes a day, 10 of which involve a major injury, is a complete waste of time for our first responders and police officers, not to mention the costs borne by crash victims in the form of auto-repair, medical insurance, the trauma and time taken.

2/27/23, 10:41 AM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
https://outlook.office365.com/mail/[email protected]/inbox/id/AAQkADUxOWI4ZjE3LTRkNDEtNGUzMS04MjAwLTIzNzdiYTdkMjc5NAAQAI… 2/2 All of this is a waste of time and money and we have the solutions in the form of street design.

We support the recommendations from the Mayor’s Transition Committee on Community Safety to:
- Fully fund the Vision Zero Action Plan and to ensure project delivery happens at a faster pace - Fund new staff in the Department of Transportation and keep staffing levels so that we have enough capacity to oversee project delivery and write new grants to bring more money to the City - Fund the Bike Plan and do so quick
- And adopt a pedestrian safety improvement program
Thank you for your dedication to the City of San Jose. Please prioritize the safety of our streets for all users.

Sincerely,
David Steinhauer
Sent from my iPhone
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2/27/23, 2:44 PM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
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Item 1 Comment
Emma Hartung < >
Mon 2/27/2023 1:45 PM
To:City Clerk <[email protected]>
You don't often get email from . Learn why this is important

Hi my name is Emma Hartung from SJ City Council District  3 and I am a member of SURJ at Sacred Heart. I strongly support the recommendations from the yearlong community Re-Imagining Public Safety process created from San Jose community members' lived experiences with policing, community members poured their time and energy into this process and its results need to be implemented.

Specifically:
1) We support the proposal in the Torres memo, in alignment with the Re-Imagining Public Safety process, that the City begin an assessment, evaluation, and planning process towards establishing a pilot community-based gender violence response alternative and that the city invests $400,000 to implement this process.
2) In addition we support other Re-Imagining Public Safety (RiPS) recommendations designed to reduce interactions with the police, such as traffic safety redesign and Vision Zero funding. 3) Finally, the recommendations of the Re-Imagining Public Safety process, a process which was community led, publicly transparent, and centered our most vulnerable neighbors, should be core to the council’s priority setting process.  Given the recent F grade the City Council received for its failure to implement meaningful public safety reform, the RiPS report gives you a clear path to an A.

Thank you,
Emma Hartung

2/27/23, 3:45 PM Mail - Agendadesk - Outlook
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Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!
Elizabeth Barcelos < >
Mon 2/27/2023 2:58 PM
To:City Clerk <[email protected]>

San Jose City Clerk Toni Taber,
As a San José resident, I am writing to ask for your support in shaping a City Budget that prioritizes the needs of working families and upholds our values as a community. In order to properly address economic, racial, and social inequality, we need a budget that ensures we are building a City for every resident, family, and neighborhood.

I am joining together with my community to ask you to prioritize the following in the City Budget:

1. Preventing wage theft by resourcing the OEA and the County's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to work together to provide outreach education and support to workers and businesses in sectors impacted by wage theft.

2. Developing a responsible construction ordinance to incentive new developers to work with contractors who treat workers with dignity and pay a fair wage.

3. Resourcing programs that enrich the next generation of San José residents.

4. Filling the 800+ job vacancies in the City and ensure City workers are fairly compensated and have opportunities for growth and development.

San Jose remains deeply economically divided — nearly half of all children live in families which make too little money to make ends meet. This inequality is bad for working families, bad for our neighborhoods, and bad for San José’s regional economy.

That’s why I’m coming together with my San José neighbors to ask you to create a budget that will consider the urgent and emerging needs of all residents across the City, regardless of where we live, what we do for a living, and how much money we make.

Elizabeth Barcelos

[External Email]
FW: Traffic Safety - City Council Priorities Feb 28th Meeting Public Comment City Clerk <[email protected]>
Tue 2/28/2023 7:47 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: Robert Gonzalez >
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 6:45 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Traffic Safety - City Council Priories Feb 28th Meeng Public Comment

Hello,

I'm sorry I meant for this to be added to the city priorizaon meeng #2 item, not the Tully Road project item where it currently resides on the agenda website

Thank you,
Bobby
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Robert Gonzalez <
Date: Sun, Feb 26, 2023 at 6:49 PM
Subject: Traffic Safety - City Council Priories Feb 28th Meeng Public Comment To: City Clerk <[email protected]>, Webmaster Manager <[email protected]>, Foley, Pam <[email protected]>, Dev Davis <[email protected]>, Cohen, David <[email protected]>, <Peter.or[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, Mahan, Ma <ma[email protected]>, Jimenez, Sergio <[email protected]>, Torres, Omar <[email protected]>

Hello,

My name is Bobby and I have lived in San José for 3 decades. I enjoy riding my bike, walking, using VTA, and driving to get around San José. Regardless of the method I choose, I strongly believe San José needs safer streets.

Public safety has tradionally revolved around law enforcement, but it should include traffic safety. In 2022 in San José, there were almost twice as many traffic-related deaths as homicides. The City of San José declared Vision Zero in 2015, and has gone backwards on that goal, seng a grim modern day record of 65 traffic-related deaths in 2022.

More funding for police officers, at a minimum of $200,000 an officer, has dominated the headlines for years. Unfortunately, the City relies too much on grants when it comes to traffic safety, and it's imperave that some traffic safety iniaves shi to the General Fund to reduce the me to implement crical infrastructure improvements. I support the recommendaons from the Mayor's Transion Commiee on Community Safety, as they relate to traffic safety, to fund the City's Vision Zero Acon Plan, the Bike Plan, a pedestrian program, and an increase in staff in the Department of Transportaon to expedite the many projects that appear in City plans.

Thank you

[External Email]
FW: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Tue 2/28/2023 7:47 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: David Borough
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 7:00 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!

San Jose City Clerk Toni Taber,
As a San José resident, I am writing to ask for your support in shaping a City Budget that prioritizes the needs of working families and upholds our values as a community. In order to properly address economic, racial, and social inequality, we need a budget that ensures we are building a City for every resident, family, and neighborhood.

I am joining together with my community to ask you to prioritize the following in the City Budget:

1. Preventing wage theft by resourcing the OEA and the County's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to work together to provide outreach education and support to workers and businesses in sectors impacted by wage theft.

2. Developing a responsible construction ordinance to incentive new developers to work with contractors who treat workers with dignity and pay a fair wage.

3. Resourcing programs that enrich the next generation of San José residents.

4. Filling the 800+ job vacancies in the City and ensure City workers are fairly compensated and have opportunities for growth and development.

San Jose remains deeply economically divided — nearly half of all children live in families which make too little money to make ends meet. This inequality is bad for working families, bad for our neighborhoods, and bad for San José’s regional economy.

That’s why I’m coming together with my San José neighbors to ask you to create a budget that will consider the urgent and emerging needs of all residents across the City, regardless of where we live, what we do for a living, and how much money we make.

David Borough
San Jose, California 95129

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FW: Fund and Prioritize Vision Zero Now
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Tue 2/28/2023 7:47 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: David Jacobo
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 10:14 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>; +Ma[email protected]; Foley, Pam <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Davis, Dev <[email protected]>; +Peter.or[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Fund and Priorize Vision Zero Now

Dear council,
My name's David Jacobo and I have been a resident of North San Jose for about 7 years. I love biking everywhere, for commung, running errands, sport and everything in between.

Every person I see on a bike, although making a conscious decision to help the planet, our communies and their own pockets, is also at great risk due to how dangerous our streets have become thanks to terrible and stressed car drivers and outdated street design, a classic example is how we like to pretend paint to delimit bike lanes is infrastructure.

I wanted to endorse in full the set of requests that SBVC very mindfully listed below:
- Fully fund the Vision Zero Acon Plan and to ensure project delivery happens at a faster pace - Fund new staff in the Department of Transportaon and keep staffing levels so that we have enough capacity to oversee project delivery and write new grants to bring more money to the City - Fund the Bike Plan and do so quick
- And adopt a pedestrian safety improvement program As a personal note, I wanted to share that there is not a ride where I don't see cars parked in bike lanes, it's also a prey common occurrence to see bike lanes used to keep damaged car parts and other road debris rendering them useless. The lack of proper lane segregaon and maintenance is pung lives at risk, we need to make vision zero a priority, as not doing it literally costs human lives.

This is a maer of equity, this is a maer of love for your town and residents.

Sincerely,
David Jacobo

[External Email]
FW: Agenda Item #1, 2/28/2023
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Tue 2/28/2023 7:47 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: Kathryn Hedges
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 10:57 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>; Webmaster Manager <[email protected]>; The Office of Mayor Ma Mahan <[email protected]>; District1 <[email protected]>; District2 <[email protected]>; District3 <[email protected]>; District4 <[email protected]>; District5 <[email protected]>; District 6 <[email protected]>; District7 <[email protected]>; District8 <[email protected]>; District9 <[email protected]>; District 10 <[email protected]> Cc: shhaccoreteam ; Jen Myhre ; Andrea Por
Derrick Sanderlin >
Subject: Agenda Item #1, 2/28/2023

Dear Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and Councilmembers:

I am a registered voter in District 3, a tenant in affordable housing, and a member of both SHHAC and SURJ.

I support the recommendaons of the community-led RIPS process and appreciate the inclusion of some of those recommendaons in the current commiee reports, such as reducing contact with the police via Vision Zero funding for traffic calming, etc. and decriminalizaon of survival acvies in homelessness. I also support recommendaons for COPA and Tenant Right to Counsel, which are important to prevent homelessness and displacement.

As a downtown resident, I see a lot of unsafe driving, such as drivers drag racing down 4th Street under my window. I see police hassling a lot of drivers and worry that each encounter has the potenal to go dangerously awry. I also see police hassling unhoused people for sleeping in public, even though they have nowhere else to go.

I also see many invesgave journalism reports on how investors are buying our naturally affordable housing and using soware to collude with each other to maximize rents and profitability. These rents are out of proporon to people's income in jobs that would have supported them 25 years ago. The people who provide essenal services to San Jose residents deserve to live in San Jose rather than commung hours a day and trying to work while exhausted.

I know people whose landlords aempted to evict them for illegal reasons, or without evidence to support their claims of lease violaons, or in retaliaon for exercising legal rights such as requesng disability accommodaons. The only tenants who kept their housing were the ones who got legal representaon and/or rental supports. The City has already allocated funding to study the effect of Tenant Right to Counsel, so the Council must move forward and issue a Request for Proposal for the study. COPA will also give our local nonprofit housers a chance to preserve affordable housing at risk of being sold to investors.

The City needs to return to its usual open and transparent budget priority seng process instead of this haggling behind closed doors and presenng final reports to the public. The City already spent a year in an open and transparent, community-led Re-Imagining Public Safety process that centered those most affected by public safety policies that could take SJPD from its current grade of F to an A.

However, my organizaons and I support several of the recommendaons that came out of this secret process. Please approve funding for Vision Zero, decriminalizaon of homelessness, COPA, and last but not least, the Tenant Right to Counsel study.

Sincerely,

[External Email]
FW: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Tue 2/28/2023 7:48 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>

From: EJ Cire
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2023 6:23 AM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Support a budget that creates a San José for ALL!

San Jose City Clerk Toni Taber,
As a San José resident, I am writing to ask for your support in shaping a City Budget that prioritizes the needs of working families and upholds our values as a community. In order to properly address economic, racial, and social inequality, we need a budget that ensures we are building a City for every resident, family, and neighborhood.

I am joining together with my community to ask you to prioritize the following in the City Budget:

1. Preventing wage theft by resourcing the OEA and the County's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to work together to provide outreach education and support to workers and businesses in sectors impacted by wage theft.

2. Developing a responsible construction ordinance to incentive new developers to work with contractors who treat workers with dignity and pay a fair wage.

3. Resourcing programs that enrich the next generation of San José residents.

4. Filling the 800+ job vacancies in the City and ensure City workers are fairly compensated and have opportunities for growth and development.

San Jose remains deeply economically divided — nearly half of all children live in families which make too little money to make ends meet. This inequality is bad for working families, bad for our neighborhoods, and bad for San José’s regional economy.

That’s why I’m coming together with my San José neighbors to ask you to create a budget that will consider the urgent and emerging needs of all residents across the City, regardless of where we live, what we do for a living, and how much money we make.

EJ Cire
, California 94551

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Best regards,
Carmen Brammer
Former Candidate for San Jose City Council
Polical Strategist & Community Advocate

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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