San Jose All District Leadership Group
Council Districts
D1 - D2 - D3 - D4 - D5 - D6 - D7 - D8 - D9 - D10
San Jose, California
Honorable Matt Mahan, Mayor, City of San José
and Members of the City Council
200 E. Santa Clara St,
San José, CA, 95113
via email, sent Sept. 10, 2023.
re: Sept. 12th Council Agenda Item 3.4; Protect Our Parks - Protect Viva CalleJS & Viva Parks
Dear Mayor Mahan and Councilmembers,
The San Jose All District Leadership Group (SJADLG) is a consortium of the leadership of the active San Jose leadership groups. The purpose of the SJADLG is to strengthen two-way communication between neighborhoods and government agencies and representatives and build a stronger sense of community within all Districts in the City of San Jose.
We appreciate the challenges involved in balancing budgets, but we are upset to note that most of the significant reductions hit the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services (PRNS), and the Viva CalleSJ and Viva Parks programs in particular.
Parks and Recreation are critical to a healthy and vibrant community! The Viva CalleSJ and Viva Parks programs promote a healthy and vibrant community by tying various neighborhoods together, help raise awareness of other neighborhoods and communities, and make San José a more exciting and desirable place to live and work.
As noted in the budget memo,
“Each Viva CalleSJ event attracts over 100,000 people and is estimated to generate an economic impact of $1 million per event.
Viva Parks events total more than 10,000 people annually and activate usage of public spaces that intentionally focus on serving vulnerable neighborhoods, based on staff's use of the Healthy Places Index health equity lens.”
Viva CalleSJ and Viva Parks are much-appreciated and much-loved programs. We encourage the city to secure replacement funding, such as grants, from all sources before any cuts are considered. Please keep these programs running as originally planned!
Thank you,
Greg Peck
San Jose All District Leadership Group
District 1 – Gary Cunningham
District 2 – Lalabu (Babu) Prasad
District 3 – Joan Rivas-Cosby
District 4 – Linda Locke
District 5 – Juan Estrada
District 6 – Larry Ames
District 7 – Alie Victorine
District 8 – Pat Waite
District 9 – Bobbi Pena-Atak
District 10 – David Heindel
cc: City Clerk; City Manager; PRNS Director; Parks & Rec Commission