TO: RULES AND OPEN FROM: Councilmember Jimenez
GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Councilmember Torres
Councilmember Ortiz
Councilmember Candelas
SUBJECT: SJPD Event Street Closures DATE: May 18, 2023, 2023 Approved Date 05.18.2023
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Direct the City Manager to:
a. Ensure that the Police Department engages with relevant community partners prior to finalizing operational plans for Cinco de Mayo and similar celebratory occasions which draw large crowds and gatherings of visitors. Engagement should include topics and or recommendations that prevent and manage street closures or other measures that may impact traffic, pedestrian flow, resident movement, and businesses. The following community partners should be included as part of this engagement:
i. District Council Office affected by the Department’s operational plans. ii. Downtown and East San José resident associations and other resident and business associations in locations affected by the Department’s operational plans.
iii. Businesses in downtown along East Santa Clara Street, on Alum Rock Avenue, 24th Street/McLaughlin, and other locations that may be affected by the Department’s operational plans.
iv. Community partners and stakeholders such as the United Lowrider Council of San José and others with a vested interest in making such events accessible and safe for the broader community.
b. Ensure the Police Department develops a comprehensive communications plan that effectively communicates the operational approach to Councilmembers, community partners, media outlets, and the general public before future events. i. Ensure outreach materials are in the predominant languages of the area, such as Spanish and Vietnamese.
c. Have the Police Department provide an update on these efforts to the City Council in August 2023.
RULES COMMITTEE: 05.25.2023
ITEM: C.2
RULES AND OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
May 18, 2023
Subject: SJPD Event Street Closures
d. Direct Staff to explore the creation of a sanctioned City Cinco de Mayo event and come back with their findings by the end of this calendar year.
ANALYSIS
On May 5th and May 6th, residents of the City of San José and those visiting our city’s Downtown and cultural hubs sought to celebrate the widely recognized Cinco de Mayo. With the cruising ban lifted, we had hoped that our Lowrider Community and our larger community would have been able to celebrate safely without such strong police presence prior to any semblance of issues on the streets. However, residents and visitors were met with an outsized police presence along sidewalks. Our highway off-ramps were closed, followed by stringent enforcement of vehicle code violations that are rarely enforced in such a firm manner during other celebrations and areas of the city.
Over the past decade, our city has made significant strides through the creation of departments such as the Office of Racial Equity, by incorporating inclusive rhetoric within policy and reports that are conscious of racial and economic disparities and through a plethora of initiatives, memorandums, and actions that demonstrate our discontent with the present and motivation for a better future. Considering this history and the recent actions on May 5th and 6th by the San José Police Department, there is much work to do.
Communication, collaboration, and inclusiveness continue to be actions we strive for, and we hope that with this direction, we can prevent future situations where our community feels left out of the conversation.
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.