Rose Garden Resident
News
City's Top 5 budget priority list mimics local residential input
By Eli Segall
San Jose residents spoke and city officials listened.
Mayor Chuck Reed, city manager Les White and nearly every council member and department head agreed on a budget priorities list Feb. 20 that mimicked the priorities San Jose neighborhood leaders chose during a public forum in January.
Maintaining strong public safety, shoring up the city's deficit, increasing the economic strength of the city and providing more funds for parks, pools, libraries and community centers were among the top priorities at both the public forum and city forum.
City officials diverged from the public list on only one point: The city chose to reduce the infrastructure maintenance backlog, while neighborhood leaders sought improved code enforcement.
"It's almost an exact parallel," said resident Ed Rast, who participated in the January forum and came to observe the recent city session. Both meetings were held at San Jose City Hall.
At the all-day forum, city officials named almost 50 budget priorities, which they voted on to produce a Top 5 list. Items passed over for the Top 5 included reducing gang membership and improving code enforcement, which received one vote each.
Almaden Valley resident Marwan Balaa agreed with the city's list, and noted that public safety is "No. 1 in my mind."
"Keeping San Jose as a safe city, keeping drugs down and murder out is very important," he said. Balaa was disappointed, however, when he learned that making San Jose more "walkable," part of the original 50, was not chosen for the Top 5.
"Making it easier to commute using other modalities [than driving] is high on my list," he said, "both in terms of the environmental affects and easing congestion on the roads."
Alicia Eicher, who lives in the Burbank neighborhood near Santana Row, was also pleased with the city's budget agenda, but was surprised to learn that arts and culture were omitted from the Top 5.
"When people visit a city, they want to know where's the opera, where's the ballet, where's the symphony," she said. "It's a very high priority for me."
Drafting the annual budget is a process historically closed to public participation; Reed, however, organized the two forums to open the process to the average resident. Reed, a former councilman who represented District 4, was elected mayor last November on a platform of open government and ethical behavior.
More than 120 neighborhood association leaders attended the Jan. 20 forum. As part of the push for more citizen input, the city also hired a consultant to conduct a citywide telephone survey of residents' budget priorities. Public safety (31 percent), road repairs (20 percent) and the fire department (14 percent) were cited the most.
The city is scheduled to adopt next year's budget in June.
