RULES COMMITTEE: 5/1/2024
Item: B.1
File ID: ROGC 24-580
TO: Honorable Mayor & FROM: Toni J. Taber, CMC
City Council City Clerk
SUBJECT: The Public Record DATE: May 1, 2024
April 18 – April 25, 2024
ITEMS FILED FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD
Letters from Boards, Commissions, and Committees
1. Letter from the Library and Education Commission, dated April 17, 2024, regarding: LEC Budget Position Message.
Letters from the Public
2. Letter from Tatjana Serdar, dated April 23, 2024, regarding: AT&T 5g antenna installation in residential area.
3. Letter from Sunil Muralidhar, dated April 23, 2024, regarding: Request to revoke permit to AT&T to install 5G equipment only a few feet away from children’s bedrooms.
____________________________
Toni J. Taber, CMC
City Clerk
TJT/tt
150 E. SAN FERNANDO STREET SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA 95112-3580 TEL. 408.808.2355 FAX 408.808.2133 www.sjlibrary.org April 17, 2024
Dear Honorable Mayor and City Council:
On behalf of the City of San José Library and Education Commission, I would like to thank you for your continued support of the San José Public Library (“Library”) and the many essential services it provides to our community.
The Library continues to thrive as a community resource hub, providing safe spaces, educational support, technology access, and many other services, all at no cost to the customer. In addition to providing culturally rich community events and programs to celebrate our diversity, the Library also continues to play a critical role in supporting diverse language needs. As communities continue to transition from pandemic recovery, the Library offers accessible resources, training, support for literacy and education, and workforce skill building opportunities. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024, the Library continued driving towards the restoration of weekly public operating hours to pre-pandemic levels and received Council’s unanimous support to annualize the FY 2022-2023 pilot expansion of hours to seven days a week. The addition of Sunday operating hours at 16 branches has expanded library access to working professionals, multigenerational families, and students who would not have access to the Library’s critical services during the work week.
As we look towards FY 2024-2025, the Commission respectfully asks the City Council for the resources to support the Library’s necessary services and the following priorities:
• Fines-Free for All - Reduce barriers to Library use by eliminating late fines for adults ages 18 and over.
• Maintain the Essential Services Provided by the Library – Avoid resource reductions for one of the most valued and highly-rated City services.
• Invest in Core Public Collections of Books and E-Resources in English and World Languages to meet the increased demand, absorb cost increases, and to prevent the San Jose Public Library from falling further behind other Bay Area libraries in materials collection per capita.
• Continue Support for Critical Library-Led Citywide Initiatives – o Digital Inclusion Fund Sustainability and SJ Access Digital Equity Service Delivery including staff positions, ongoing program funding, publicly available hotspots and devices, and cybersecurity staffing to protect the Library’s public network from cyber threats.
o Education and Digital Literacy Programs that align with the Education Policy and Children and Youth Services Master Plan, in the focus areas of early education, expanded out-of-school-time learning, and college and career pathways. • Maintain Libraries as Safe, Welcoming Spaces for All – Ensure that the Library has the capacity in Facilities and Public Safety to manage building and security needs at all locations, seven-days per week, and that our beautiful Library buildings are maintained and enhanced to meet the needs of staff and all members of our community.
LIBRARY AND EDUCATION COMMISSION
Public Record: 1
The Commission is grateful for the Mayor and City Council’s action that made the Juvenile Fine-Free Pilot permanent in FY 2020-2021, thus removing barriers for the Library’s youngest users and restoring access to the many educational opportunities the Library provides. In the current fiscal year, we appreciate the Council’s approval to continue a one-time elimination of up to $5,000 of library fines for Seniors and a commitment to evaluate the ongoing impacts for a future budget cycle. Library late fines and the fear of accruing them continues to keep many adults from using the Library. Libraries in the Bay Area have joined more than 500 library systems nationwide that have gone Fines Free, including Santa Clara County, Alameda County, San Francisco, Oakland, Redwood City, Mountain View, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Hayward, Berkeley, and San Mateo County. Finally, Fines-Free for All aligns with the City's "Budgeting for Equity" process by promoting equity, accessibility, and operational efficiency, thus supporting the City's commitment to reducing barriers for all community members.
Our Libraries are essential. While City Council must consider the best uses for limited resources, the investment in our libraries has demonstrated exponential benefit for all. In addition to recommending no reductions to the Library, the Commission supports an increase to the Library’s budget for collections materials, which provide critical access to knowledge and learning resources for all residents, representing 91 different languages. As the cost of print materials, language materials, and Electronic Resources (eResources) continues to increase, along with inflation and sales tax, the Library’s budget must be adjusted accordingly, or San José will continue to fall further behind other libraries of similar size. For example, the San Jose Public Library serves a larger population, but spends 67% less per capita on collections materials than San Francisco Public Library1. It should be noted that the Library’s materials collection per capita continues to be well below the California state median and other libraries in the Bay Area.
The Commission is also thankful for City Council’s continued support of the Library’s unique role as the citywide lead of Education and Digital Equity priorities. For FY 2024-2025, we support the continuation of funding for staff positions, community partnerships, public hotspots, public computers, and networks, all of which are in demand. It is critical that the Library be able to continue to remove barriers, promote digital skill building for residents, and address cybersecurity requirements, while aligning efforts within the Children and Youth Master Plan.
The Library continues to prioritize safe and welcoming facilities and spaces by implementing best practices, allocating appropriate staffing, maintaining equipment performance, and improving facilities to meet broad and evolving community needs. Serving residents that represent the full diversity of our city, the Library must provide spaces that safely adapt to many needs, and, as facilities continue to age, the Library is faced with increased demands for facility maintenance. For FY 2024-2025, the Commission recommends continued investments in both facilities and security staffing, as well as in building improvements and infrastructure maintenance.
The Commission respectfully asks the Council to continue to support the Library’s mission of providing every resident from childhood to adulthood the opportunity to attend learning programs, obtain career coaching, earn a high school diploma, build their digital skills, or do their homework with their family, regardless of where they live, their financial status, or the barriers they may face on a daily basis. We appreciate your consideration of the important, 1 Figures are based on the data from the 2023 Urban Public Library Materials Budgets, the most recently published data.
relevant services provided by our public libraries and the benefits they offer when prioritizing the City’s budget for the coming fiscal year.
Thank you for your vision and leadership.
Best Regards,
/s/
Jose Magaña
Commission Chair
On behalf of the San José Public Library and Education Commission
[External Email]
Fw: Request to revoke permit to AT&T to install 5G equipment only a few feet away from children’s bedrooms
Agendadesk <[email protected]>
Tue 4/23/2024 10:47 AM
To:Rules and Open Government Committee Agendas <[email protected]> From: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2024 10:05 AM
To: Agendadesk <[email protected]>
Subject: FW: Request to revoke permit to AT&T to install 5G equipment only a few feet away from children’s bedrooms
From: Sunil Muralidhar
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2024 9:50 AM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Cc: Audrey Smith David Smith Didier Mazzola
Shravya Raghunand Tatjana S
Subject: Request to revoke permit to AT&T to install 5G equipment only a few feet away from children’s bedrooms You don't often get email from Learn why this is important Hello Council members,
I am writing along with my neighbors to request you to consider rejecting the proposal and the permit by AT&T to install their radiation imaging 5G equipment right in front of our homes. The address for this installation is Madoc Way, San Jose.
These are the reasons for requesting you to, reconsider your permit given to AT&T and their contractors.
1. This technology they want to install is newer generation and FCC’s conclusions are outdated. They lost in court against children’s health defense organization. Some diseases take 10 years to develop, so they simply didn’t have time to draw proper conclusions.
2. There is the evidence in some neighborhoods that the property value drops 20% in the vicinity of the antennas after they are installed. This can be due to the noise, it is actually noisy, it produces buzzing, it can be due to the health hazard or esthetic or all effects combined.
3. Some cities prohibited antenna installation in the vicinity of the schools or everywhere in residential areas. SJ should protect their children as the other cities did. Why SJ accepts to consider their residents as experimental animals.
My neighbors and I plan to attend the city Council meeting today to discuss this matter further with you.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
4/25/24, 10 18 AM Mail Rules and Open Government Committee Agendas Outlook https //outlook office365 com/mail/rulescommitteeagenda@sanjoseca gov/inbox/id/AAQkADhhYzk3NTk1LTBmZDAtNDc4Yi1hN2Q0LTZjNmZjNTk5MT 1/2 Public Record: 3
This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.
Regards,
Sunil Muralidhar
4/25/24, 10 18 AM Mail Rules and Open Government Committee Agendas Outlook https //outlook office365 com/mail/rulescommitteeagenda@sanjoseca gov/inbox/id/AAQkADhhYzk3NTk1LTBmZDAtNDc4Yi1hN2Q0LTZjNmZjNTk5MT 2/2