June 2, 2023
Matt Mahan, Mayor, San Jose
Rosemary Kamei, Council Member, District 1
Sergio Jimenez, Council Member, District 2
Omar Torres, Council Member, District 3
David Cohen, Council Member, District 4
Peter Ortiz, Council Member, District 5
Dev Davis, Council Member, District 6
Bien Doan, Council Member, District 7
Domingo Candelas, Council Member, District 8
Pam Foley, Council Member, District 9
Arjun Batra, Council Member, District 10
Jennifer Maguire, City Manager
Re: Comments to 2023-2024 Budget
Dear Mayor and City Council of San Jose,
We, Silicon Valley De-Bug, are writing this letter regarding the San Jose City Council Budget Hearing and Mayor Mahan’s proposed budget, specifically relating to housing and police. For over a decade now, De-Bug has been active around both issues of police and housing because our communities have been directly impacted by both. For reasons explained below, we are opposing any reallocation of Measure E funds and any increase to the Police Department budget. We would like to call attention to the Mayor’s budget priorities of defunding permanent affordable housing and increased policing while using catch phrases like “common sense” or “back to basics.” The mayor’s budget proposal is, in fact, a continuation of City leaders before him who have also defunded permanent housing and increased police budget. This is a continued pattern of the City of San Jose not prioritizing affordable housing and funding a scandalous and unaccountable SJPD to further arrest and incarcerate its communities. We are calling on the Mayor and the City Council to stop this budget pattern. We want homes, not more police. We want cribs, not cops.
WE OPPOSE ANY REALLOCATION OF MEASURE E FUNDS.
San Jose is never short of market rate housing for those who can afford it, but year after year we do not meet our affordable housing goals. The Mayor’s proposal to reallocate Measure E funds from permanent solutions into temporary housing takes us even further away from
reaching those goals. Taking one of the only City sources of funding for affordable housing shows us affordable housing continues to be deprioritized in practice and demonstrates an abuse of power by the Mayor to undermine the will of San Jose’s voters when we made Measure E a reality to help our communities have access to permanent housing.
Our question for Mayor Mahan’s “common sense” budget proposal is: Why do the poorest and most vulnerable of our community have to choose between permanent and temporary housing? The proposed reallocation of Measure E funds is out of touch with the local community who has worked on housing issues for decades, to the point where organizations who are commonly on opposite sides of proposed housing solutions are now unified to preserve permanent housing funding. We are observing a near unanimous opposition to the reallocation by both current and former unhoused persons and the organizations that have supported these communities. Those who have supported the reallocation have almost predominantly been from the land owning class of San Jose, including the associations that represent them. Those affected and the organizations that support them are closest to the solutions, not the ones who have never experienced these realities.
Our ask is not to make us decide between temporary and permanent housing when the proposed allocation is millions of dollars from an over 5 billion dollar budget. Instead, we ask you to fund the absolute need for immediate housing solutions by reallocating from our City’s yearly half a BILLION dollar police budget.
● 2023-2024 Proposed Police Budget: 497.5 Million Dollars ● 2023-2024 Expected income from Measure E: 50 Million Dollars We urge the Mayor and the council to look elsewhere in our City’s budget to meet the needs of immediate temporary housing solutions rather than taking money away from the only long term answer: permanent affordable housing. An obvious source of this needed funding is the bloated Police Budget. Such reallocation could be achieved through an amended version of the memo proposed by Councilpersons Ortiz, Torres, and Davis.
WE OPPOSE ANY INCREASE IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT’S BUDGET PROPOSAL.
De-Bug families whose loved ones have been killed by San Jose police oppose any increase in the San Jose Police Department’s budget. For years now, these families have been healing, supporting, and organizing with each other through Silicon Valley De-Bug, and have been pushing for accountability for the harm and death of their loved ones. It is in their names that this demand is made.
The proposed increase by Mayor Matt Mahan is not based on statistics but rather bending to the political rhetoric of the San Jose police. One of the Mayor’s proposals is to add 17 more police officers, 2 police sergeants, and 1 police lieutenant to the field patrol unit, citing that the Department’s priority is:
“public safety and calls-for-service, response time goals, and lowering overall crime, which in turn drive how these resources are allocated. In consideration of the Department's staffing needs, the most immediate need is to focus on calls for service and response time.”
However, upon a review of the statistics, the proposed budget does not support this:
● In reviewing the calls for service to San Jose police, we compared the calls in 2022 and 2023 at the same point in the time (up to June/ July of the respective years). There were approximately 24% less calls for service in June 2023 compared to June 2022.
● The types of calls received were approximately the same.
Priority Level June 2022 June 2023
1 and 2 34% 37%
3 - 6 66% 63%
● According to the San Jose Police, the crime rate from January to March 2023, compared to the same time in 2022, was 8.3% less.
Beyond the math that does not support the addition of more police officers, the escalating, well-documented incidents of police abuse calls for a reduction of their budget rather than an increase. For three years in a row after the racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd. one out of every three officers out of the 1,100 police officers received a complaint. As De-Bug families have always said - it’s not about a few ‘bad apples’. The culture of San Jose policing allows officers to skirt accountability. In fact, just last week four officers were arrested for violating the law. The Council approving funding to an unaccountable department means the City co-signing this culture violence, abuse of power, and impunity.
The recent scandal involving the Executive Director of the San Jose Police Officers Association has further devolved any trust between the community and the police. While spewing the dangers of fentanyl, the SJPOA’s own Executive Director was involved in the distribution of it – while using resources of the POA’s office. Furthermore, no local agencies have held these actions accountable. If this were a Black or Brown member of our community, they would not be afforded this kind of grace or call to the withholding of judgment. .
Lastly, Santa Clara County rolled out different crisis interventions, including 988, peer support resources, and TRUST - a non-law enforcement response to crisis. These programs need time to be fully implemented before any additions to the current police department.
For the reasons explained above, we fully oppose the destructive budget proposed by Mayor Mahan, which only avoids the dire need for long term permanent housing and safety from police violence. We urge you as our elected officials to support a San Jose Budget that responds to realities and future of all in our city.
Sincerely,
Silicon Valley De-Bug Families
FW: Fiscal 2023– 2024 Animal Care & Services (“Animal Services”) Budget City Clerk <[email protected]>
Tue 6/13/2023 1:02 PM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>
-----Original Message-----
From: Tracey Esparza
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 12:37 PM
To: The Office of Mayor Matt Mahan <[email protected]> Cc: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Fiscal 2023– 2024 Animal Care & Services (“Animal Services”) Budget [External Email]
Dear Mayor Mahan:
I am a San Jose resident and am writing to state my strong support for the increases for Animal Services in the Mayor and City Manager’s proposed Fiscal Year 2023-2024 budget. I appreciate how these increases recognize the challenges faced by Animal Services and respond to concerns voiced by the community over the past year.
Converting the temporary overstrength position of Supervisor Shelter Operations to permanent status, and adding more full-time positions, a night shift and a dedicated senior resource for facilities repair and maintenance will improve the shelter’s ability to provide greatly needed support to our community and increase live outcomes for the animals.
The night shift is a critical addition, as it will enable the shelter to provide care for underage kittens, the highest volume and most vulnerable animals at the shelter. The allocation of monies for support of adoption and rescue outcomes is also essential. It will allow more animals in need to move to organizations that can provide the specialized care necessary for such animals to be placed for adoption.
While the proposed budget for Animal Services represents substantial progress, I believe the following matters are still in need of additional funding and attention.
The data produced and used by the shelter to direct its operations, measure its performance and predict future community needs is incomplete and/or inaccurate. The shelter needs a dedicated IT Business Analyst to review and develop systems and processes for the collection, use, and transparency of data, including the collection of critical missing data integral to development of a long-term strategy, such as the number of animals turned away at intake and the reasons admission was denied.
Expanding and staffing the Trap, Neuter & Return (TNR) program for community cats is mandatory. During May the shelter accepted 743 kittens and as of June 6th was holding 340 kittens, representing the majority of the animals in the shelter. The shelter, rescue organizations, and fosters are at or over capacity and animals are being turned away. Friendly community kittens are being found throughout San Jose; there is no place for them to go and it is still the beginning of “kitten season”.
This problem results directly from the reduction in TNR services in 2019 by Animal Services and its termination of all TNR services in May 2022. It has recently reinstated TNR, but on a very limited basis, relying heavily on rescues and volunteers to transport cats outside of the county for spay and neuter services. Since the reduction of TNR service began, the cities served by Animal Services have been experiencing an increasing cat population that will continue to grow exponentially unless a robust TNR program is established and maintained.
Reinstating low cost spay/neuter and vaccination services is also essential. Pet overpopulation results in unwanted animals that are abandoned or otherwise become strays. Unvaccinated animals spread disease. The economy and the shortage of vets has made it difficult for many people to neuter and vaccinate their pets. The reinstatement of low cost spay and neuter services will greatly reduce animal suffering. It will also reduce the number of animals brought to the shelter, which will increase the live release rate. Fewer animals in the shelter increases an animal’s probability of adoption and the shelter’s ability to house the animal. This effect was recognized by John Cicirelli when he was Assistant Director of Public Works. The following is his quote from a May 31, 2016, article in sanjoseinside entitled “San Jose Councilman Proposes No-Kill Shelter”:
“One of the most significant contributors to our high save rate has been preventing animals from being born through low cost and free spay-neuter services. We have learned that this is one of the best ways to invest in our community and achieve our goal of reducing the number of stray animals.”
The shelter needs a full time animal behaviorist. A dedicated position would enable the shelter to structure enrichment, socialization, behavior modification and offset the stressful conditions of the shelter environment on the animals. An animal behaviorist would also provide post-adoption support and owner-retention programs, increasing positive outcomes.
The challenges facing the shelter will not be resolved overnight. The proposed budget increases represent positive forward movement, but much more needs to be done. Animal Services requires oversight at the City Council level, and your participation in making sure Animal Services meets the current and future needs of the community is vital.
I urge you to approve the proposed increases for Animal Services.
Sincerely,
Tracey Esparza
Sent from my iPhone
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[External Email]
Affordable Housing
Tamara Sanchez >
Tue 6/13/2023 2:28 PM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>;The Office of Mayor Matt Mahan <[email protected]>;Mahan, Matt <[email protected]>;District1 <[email protected]>;Kamei, Rosemary <[email protected]>;District2 <[email protected]>;Jimenez, Sergio <[email protected]>;District3 <[email protected]>;Torres, Omar <[email protected]>;District4 <[email protected]>;Cohen, David <[email protected]>;District5 <[email protected]>;Ortiz, Peter <[email protected]>;District 6 <[email protected]>;Davis, Dev <[email protected]>;District7 <[email protected]>;Doan, Bien <[email protected]>;District8 <[email protected]>;Candelas, Domingo <[email protected]>;District9 <[email protected]> Some people who received this message don't often get email from . Learn why this is important
Good afternoon,
My name is Tamara Sanchez and I attended the meeting yesterday. I left around 10:00 p.m. as that is the time in which I had the opportunity to speak. As I waited I heard people speaking, I noticed people putting the yellow cards as throughout the meeting people could speak. The disparity between fair and unfair was clearly noticeable as the individuals from the realtors association were able to line up and continue to speak in one line. This is basically and essentially what happens in housing, they spoke about being terrorized and cutting many others in the pretense of stating their message, they were able to utilize loopholes in order to state their message while cutting poor and working families off.
This is the problem in affordable housing, imagine if there was a cut off of being able to speak, or being told that you could but that queue not being hours but days or months, or not being able to even submit a yellow card in order to speak because you were told that although you arrived the maximum amount of speaking slots were taken up.
That is the current situation in affordable housing. I lived in the tenderloin in 1997 as a studio at $550 was the only thing I could afford, at that time with a one year old, I had to work two jobs as a legal secretary in the day and doing sales at Sears nights and weekends, and my hell of domestic violence had already begun, I relied on my inlaws to ensure the safety of my child because I could not trust my husband to care for him, life was a nightmare but like many victims, leaving is the scariest thing you could possibly do. I ended up moving to Pittsburg because once again, even with my two jobs to support my family it was something I could not do, I was able to move from there into affordable housing in Pittsburg, once my daughter was born, I had started attending classes and working part time as an organizer. Although the violence against us continued, I had childcare for my son at college and daycare for my newborn daughter through the four C's.
Things came to a halt when I decided to incarcerate my husband for the repeated domestic abuse and filed an emergency order of protection and was able to move out to another affordable housing property in Redwood City, nobody knew where I was because my life was genuinely in danger, due to his heavy drug use and gang affiliation I knew there was an actual hit out for me and he did not care for the children so more than likely we would have been another statistic.
I moved to San Jose in 2005 and have been here ever since, I worked for Legal Aid Society of San Mateo and dealt with landlord tenant situations, assisted various attorneys with conservatorships, guardianships, health, social security issues, domestic violence and much more. I've even gone to the dark side working with insurance defense but it has shaped the way I see the world around me and my ability to help others.
I eventually moved to Los Gatos and although my son faced many psychological challenges due to what we had experienced he excelled and was able to graduate from Westmont High School, my daughter began attending Forest Hill and the place we peacefully lived in was being sold, I could not afford it and my daughter was unable to graduate from
High School, the realtor made things a living hell trying to come in unannounced to try and show the unit, I had to go to the Legal Asian Law Alliance because my letters (I know how to write pleadings and legal documents) were not enough to protect us, we were then able to move into Miraido Village in Japan town after applying for affordable housing all over the place, all while attending school and then working for Capitol Manor.
Our lives were very happy ones when rents were affordable, the children and I would take hikes all over Campbell and Los Gatos but we were never able to get that back. People at higher income scales move out of choice, most of us do not have a choice. That is why I took my job in affordable housing very seriously and prior to the original floods, the city of San Jose had an extensive list of affordable housing in the area which was shut down due to the displacement of so many and it was never brought back alive. My waiting list was long, when I began working here as a temp late 2008, we had people in the list from 1998, 2003 and 2008. I myself was in that list from 2003 and for the first time in my children's lives they had their own room.
Since I knew the Housing Authority is overworked and based on my residents, now just neighbors, I knew some had applied for housing before 2003 and moving into Capitol Manor was slow but much faster as many of those applicants were not called until 2019. Based on my extensive housing training, a reasonable waiting list should be no more than about 2 years long, this is not the case and we need to invest in more affordable housing. For close to 15 years, my mom worked there for 26 and can attest to this, we probably had at least one person come by every day and the phone calls asking for affordable housing or to be placed in the waiting list were much higher. While the city had the page up, I had several sets of places with open waiting lists open so I could at least help someone. My heart couldn't bare to see the Seniors I knew I could not help because maybe my list was too long and they would not be around to move into my property.
It is a taxing job I really enjoyed, I loved providing resources and helped my kids (what I called the kids in the neighborhood) with homework or even playing video games, playing hide and seek after work. I helped single moms become better versions of themselves and if I had taken a class they were taking, I would just give them my books because we can't afford the expensive books college campuses roll out sometimes every year or two years. Outside of work if anyone needed to learn or even legal assistance, I was here and I loved it because affordable housing makes a difference. I believe in all aspects of housing and have done extensive research and have provided assistance to the unhoused even those dealing with mental health (I have my own set as I lived the Salvadoran Civil war and almost not being alive due to my children's father), people that have dealt with drug addictions (my eldest half brother is dying of AIDS due to Opioid use and I have only met him twice), I understand.
The issues we currently have and what I have previously voiced is lack of affordable housing, too many tax credit properties that at times carrying charges that although low are still high in comparison with income limits and only aim to deepen the pockets of bankers which are provided bonds hence the credits.
You may find all information regarding income limits, HUD issues them typically every March or April, our limits have been actually higher than San Francisco at some points as the cost of living and median household incomes have changed over the years in the City of San Jose.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il.html
I believe I was able to update it for Santa Clara County https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il2023/2023summary.odn? states=6.0&data=2023&inputname=METRO41940M41940*0608599999%2BSanta+Clara+County&stname=California&st atefp=06&year=2023&selection type=county
I will provide you with an example of what it takes to currently qualify for affordable housing in the county of Santa Clara for a family of four
Extremely Low Income would have to make no more than $53,500 Very Low Income would have to make no more than $89,200 Low Income would have to make no more than $137,000
In my prior employment I could take all three but only ELI and VLI would qualify for Section 8 assistance which was built into the property as one of the original established HUD contracts since the inception of the Section 8 program in 1971.
Assuming 2 parents two children (they receive a deduction of $480 per minor or if adult children continue to receive it as long as they are attending school full time, elderly and disabled individuals receive $400 and this is an annual deduction, and if the head of household or cohead are the senior or disabled they can then deduct those expenses of any amount in excess of 3% of their income) We also add interest from bank accounts and anything exceeding in assets exceeding $5,000 at a passbook rate of 0.06% which is very minimal and the reality the only people that really had that were my elderly senior savers. Nobody ever had property, life insurance, most people live paycheck to paycheck because lets face it college campuses and UC's are expensive even with financial aid. Below is a copy of the sheet I used to calculate individuals income and it will give you a rough idea of what it's like.
Unit - Name - Cert Type - date
Bank Information
Statement Dates Balances
InterestFrom To Beginning Ending
12/9/2023 1/6/2023 $0.00 $0.00 0
1/7/2023 2/4/2023 $0.00 $0.00 0
2/5/2023 3/9/2023 $0.00 $0.00 0
3/10/2023 4/7/2023 $0.00 $0.00 0
4/8/2023 5/6/2023 $0.00 $0.00 0
5/7/2023 6/7/2023 $0.00 $0.00
Estimated Monthly Balance $0.00
Income
Income Monthly Annual Annual Annual Annual
SSA $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
SSI $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Total $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Double Income Household Single Income Household
Gross Income $53,500.00 $89,900.00 $26,750.00 $44,950.00 Gross Monthly Income $4,458.33 $7,491.67 $2,229.17 $3,745.83 Gross Income $42,800.00 $71,920.00 $21,400.00 $35,960.00 Gross Monthly Income $3,566.67 $5,993.33 $1,783.33 $2,996.67 Elderly/Disability Allowance 0 0 0 0
Elderly/Disability Allowance $0 $0 $0 $0
Adjusted Annual Income $53,500.00 $89,900.00 $26,750.00 $44,950.00 Adjusted Monthly Income $4,458.33 $7,491.67 $2,229.17 $3,745.83 Utility Allowance $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Monthly Carrying Charges
30% of Adjusted Annual
Income $1,338 $2,248 $669 $1,124
We do not have this reality for anyone, there are many agencies I worked with that assisted unhoused individuals and when people had challenges moving in because they did not have our equity cost (we are a housing cooperative so it is not a security deposit) I would seek out those agencies to initiate the referral.
I loved my job, for the first time I was able to see myself in everyone and even not myself. I believed in giving people chances and I have had residents that have moved away because they wanted to as they bought homes. It's a beautiful thing I dearly miss doing because affordable housing and housing is everything to me, it allowed me to go to school, it took me forever to get out of De Anza and well, I hope to someday finish my studies at San Jose State as many demands in life and work did not allow me to finish. I lost my job protecting my residents rights and I told them I would rather be unhoused with my dog and on the streets before I would allow them to hurt because I believe in affordable housing.
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I was confused about what Matt was doing and can appreciate it because again I have done plenty of studies on unhoused, I used to help with needle exchange and pass out contraceptives to sex workers and drug users while I was pregnant with my son, I have donated food and countless of items and have passed them out myself. Every year while we could, my children and I would find the trees with people and children's names because we made it a point to help others with the little we had. I have always said that anyone is just a tragedy or a few paychecks away from being unhoused. I am right there and it's tragic, all I can always say is I have my integrity and my prayers that things will be okay because I have been here almost ten years, there are bad landlords and bad realtors, not to say there aren't good ones, so we must help people. Many of the unhoused individuals are not drug users or the people you see doing bad things and they too need resources.
I have even been trying to figure out how to bring back the housing list through technology, even blockchain technology or some place where we can connect the information from the landlords to the people that require services, we need to have more places with information, in a city or an area that has provided so many opportunities and success to many, we need to embrace the success of people and with the current actual cost of living and wages in areas that are not $17 per hour and lack of affordable housing, we cannot expect people to live in garages. ADUs are making people lots of money and they are still rather expensive for people looking for housing. I have lived in a garage and it's hot and you have cockroaches crawling in the summertime. It's disgusting, unsanitary and unsafe, at times hazardous for individuals in some places. The funding for affordable housing must stay intact, if anything it needs to be increased.
I am sure there are places in the budget where we can take money to continue to fund what Matt is trying to do but we all want our forever home and will never see the opportunity of a home purchase because it is way out of range.
I hope you do read my email because I find it to be rather educational and I typically have done classes with this and other issues.
Thank you for your time and I hope we do not continue to sway the funding the way we want to just because we have money and we can, or because we have friends with deep pockets, defunding or taking money away from affordable housing would show a clear message to the voters about your stance.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Tamara Sanchez
[External Email]
This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.
FW: Public Comment for City Council Meeting Agenda Item 3.4 City Clerk <[email protected]>
Tue 6/13/2023 1:03 PM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>
From: Chris ne Le
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 12:34 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Public Comment for City Council Mee ng Agenda Item 3.4
Hello City Council of San Jose,
My name is Christine Le and I am supporting Survivors of the Street at Sacred Heart. I am writing in favor of the Davis, Torres, and Ortiz plan for Measure E funds. Their plan keeps the promise made to voters for Measure E funds to maximize the building of affordable housing we can support and build in our city. We all know that the reason why so many people are leaving San Jose and living on the streets is because there is not enough affordable housing.
By working together, we can take bold action that makes San Jose a place where everyone has a roof over their head and all of our families can thrive, so that all our neighborhoods can be safe, diverse, and strong.
I urge the city council to vote for the plan created by Council members Dev Davis, Omar Torres, and Peter Ortiz.
Thank you for all you do,
Christine Le
FW: Fiscal 2023– 2024 Animal Care & Services (“Animal Services”) Budget City Clerk <[email protected]>
Wed 6/14/2023 7:43 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>
-----Original Message-----
From: Catherine Valentine >
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 6:14 PM
To: CouncilMeeting <[email protected]>
Cc: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Fiscal 2023– 2024 Animal Care & Services (“Animal Services”) Budget [External Email]
Dear Mayor Mahan and City Councilmembers,
I am a San Jose resident and am writing to state my strong support for the increases for Animal Services in the Mayor and City Manager’s proposed Fiscal Year 2023-2024 budget. I appreciate how these increases recognize the challenges faced by Animal Services and respond to concerns voiced by the community over the past year.
Converting the temporary overstrength position of Supervisor Shelter Operations to permanent status, and adding more full-time positions, a night shift and a dedicated senior resource for facilities repair and maintenance will improve the shelter’s ability to provide greatly needed support to our community and increase live outcomes for the animals.
The night shift is a critical addition, as it will enable the shelter to provide care for underage kittens, the highest volume and most vulnerable animals at the shelter. The allocation of monies for support of adoption and rescue outcomes is also essential. It will allow more animals in need to move to organizations that can provide the specialized care necessary for such animals to be placed for adoption.
While the proposed budget for Animal Services represents substantial progress, I believe the following matters are still in need of additional funding and attention.
The data produced and used by the shelter to direct its operations, measure its performance and predict future community needs is incomplete and/or inaccurate. The shelter needs a dedicated IT Business Analyst to review and develop systems and processes for the collection, use, and transparency of data, including the collection of critical missing data integral to development of a long-term strategy, such as the number of animals turned away at intake and the reasons admission was denied.
Expanding and staffing the Trap, Neuter & Return (TNR) program for community cats is mandatory. During May the shelter accepted 743 kittens and as of June 6th was holding 340 kittens, representing the majority of the animals in the shelter. The shelter, rescue organizations, and fosters are at or over capacity and animals are being turned away. Friendly community kittens are being found throughout San Jose; there is no place for them to go and it is still the beginning of “kitten season”.
This problem results directly from the reduction in TNR services in 2019 by Animal Services and its termination of all TNR
services in May 2022. It has recently reinstated TNR, but on a very limited basis, relying heavily on rescues and volunteers to transport cats outside of the county for spay and neuter services. Since the reduction of TNR service began, the cities served by Animal Services have been experiencing an increasing cat population that will continue to grow exponentially unless a robust TNR program is established and maintained.
Reinstating low cost spay/neuter and vaccination services is also essential. Pet overpopulation results in unwanted animals that are abandoned or otherwise become strays. Unvaccinated animals spread disease. The economy and the shortage of vets has made it difficult for many people to neuter and vaccinate their pets. The reinstatement of low cost spay and neuter services will greatly reduce animal suffering. It will also reduce the number of animals brought to the shelter, which will increase the live release rate. Fewer animals in the shelter increases an animal’s probability of adoption and the shelter’s ability to house the animal. This effect was recognized by John Cicirelli when he was Assistant Director of Public Works. The following is his quote from a May 31, 2016, article in sanjoseinside entitled “San Jose Councilman Proposes No-Kill Shelter”:
“One of the most significant contributors to our high save rate has been preventing animals from being born through low cost and free spay-neuter services. We have learned that this is one of the best ways to invest in our community and achieve our goal of reducing the number of stray animals.”
The shelter needs a full time animal behaviorist. A dedicated position would enable the shelter to structure enrichment, socialization, behavior modification and offset the stressful conditions of the shelter environment on the animals. An animal behaviorist would also provide post-adoption support and owner-retention programs, increasing positive outcomes.
The challenges facing the shelter will not be resolved overnight. The proposed budget increases represent positive forward movement, but much more needs to be done. Animal Services requires oversight at the City Council level, and your participation in making sure Animal Services meets the current and future needs of the community is vital.
I urge you to approve the proposed increases for Animal Services.
Sincerely,
Sent from my iPhone
This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources. [External Email]
This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.
FW: Urge for more animal welfare services
City Clerk <[email protected]>
Wed 6/14/2023 7:43 AM
To:Agendadesk <[email protected]>
From: Katy S <
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 9:07 PM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Urge for more animal welfare services
Hello, wanted to email in support for more comprehensive animal welfare services in San Jose. We desperately need an ac ve and sustainable TNR program for the hundreds of feral cats that are on the streets. The numbers post pandemic have increased drama cally. If the city cannot find veterinarians, then they need to start thinking outside of the box. Outsourcing, spay and neuter vans, contract vets, vouchers The animals are suffering San Jose's live release rate for cats is down to 81% That is heartbreaking I am a foster for rescue ki ens and help feed a colony of feral cats every week. I donate countless hours of my me and personal resources to support community. Others do the same but it is not enough. Please provide support otherwise the problem will con nue to get worse. Feral cats are a man made problem! I urge you to learn from local rescues and shelters and see how you can help. Every li le bit counts.
Thank you for reading.
Katy Sun