It’s difficult to come into a situation without expectations of some kind. I started my tenure as your Councilmember thinking I had a pretty clear idea of what I’d be contending with. I was aware of many of the issues in our district; things like blight, road repaving, homelessness, street racing and such, were all issues I had been looking at long before I took office. After assembling my team and getting a feel for the landscape of processes within the San Jose City Council, we began to take on some of the challenges within our community.
In the process of doing so, I discovered other challenges, some specific to our district and others experienced by all those who live in our city. I became keenly aware of the access issues faced by some of our underprivileged communities. We saw an increase in acts of violence and harassment against our Asian population. I began to hear more loudly the voices of those who had been struggling in our City and as I visited site after site, neighborhood after neighborhood, I saw the difficulties in real time.
What I also saw were incredible acts of kindness and generosity, organizations and individuals who had taken it upon themselves to make a difference in their communities. Those organizations and individuals presented opportunities for for friendship and collaboration. We were able to work with groups like Gardner Health and Micron Technologies to provide vaccines to our underserved communities in Alviso. We worked with local neighborhood associations to clearly understand the needs of our district and we are working to build close relationships with City departments in order to create timely, concrete solutions to those challenges.
I’ve learned quite a bit in my first 100 days and I’m confident the lessons will make me and my team better equipped to handle the next 100. I promise that my team and I will continue to listen and learn so that we can act in a way that best serves the residents of our wonderful district. In this edition of the newsletter, I'll be highlighting some of the progress we've made and featuring some of the projects we're working on. I also ask that you take some time to fill out our 100 day survey. I'd love to hear from you about how you think my staff and I are doing and what you think we can do to improve.
Thank you all. It is an honor to serve as your City Councilmember.
Sincerely,
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Hiring a professional, constituent oriented staff (touring neighborhoods, community meetings, neighborhood associations, Asian community listening sessions, etc.)
One of the first things I directed my staff to do was to think about our office as a customer service organization, and to always be responsive to our constituents. We’re prompt in responding when you contact us, and we try to address your concerns effectively. We’re continuing to build relationships with city staff and with our constituents to acquire in-depth knowledge of what our community’s concerns are and what city services we can tap to address those concerns.
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We’ve visited neighborhoods to get a firsthand look at the issues our neighbors report to our office. We regularly attend neighborhood meetings, have one-on-one conversations with our neighbors, host listening sessions and keep track of what types of complaints we receive so we can figure out big-picture solutions. Whether it’s a local problem or something plaguing society as a whole, we try to find answers, even though solutions may not always be immediate. Email my team with any questions or concerns.
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DUMPSTER DAYS ARE BACK IN D4! |
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In March, less than two months after taking office, we hosted our first District 4 Dumpster Day in the Commodore neighborhood. The event was a great success; we were able to assist residents in dumping over 160 cubic yards of junk and trash safely and conveniently, while also cleaning up the neighborhood and picking up litter. We’re already preparing for our next dumpster day, and we’re planning to hold one each month around the district, so keep an eye out for a flyer on your doorstep! |
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If you would like us to hold a dumpster day in your neighborhood, or if you’re interested in keeping our streets clean by volunteering at a dumpster day, please reach out to our office. And remember, you don’t have to wait for the next dumpster day to get rid of large junk items like mattresses or televisions: visit https://sanjose.custhelp.com to schedule a free junk pickup.
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STRONG RELATIONSHIPS WITH CITY STAFF AND DEPARTMENTS |
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From the beginning of my time in office I wanted to ensure that I had formed a cooperative relationship with our two police districts, Central and Foothill. Both Cpt. McFadden and Cpt. Trayer were promoted into their positions as Captains right as my staff and I began in District 4, which gave us all the unique opportunity to introduce ourselves to neighborhoods together. We’ve been exceptionally fortunate to have them and their teams assist us in getting a better understanding of issues specifically impacting our areas, such as sideshows, catalytic converter theft, and issues at some of the shopping centers in our neighborhoods.
These working relationships have gone both ways and our regular meetings with community organizations have provided input into formulating action plans based on concerns we hear from our residents. Just last week it was announced that Cpt. McFadden has been promoted and we are excited for him and eager to meet the next Captain that will be taking his spot.
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On a tour with my team lead by the executive staff of Mineta Airport
We've also been extremely fortunate to have great relationships with City Staff who work in our City departments. They have been more than willing to get us up to speed on pain points in the district as well as planning within their departments. A great example of this is the San Jose Department of Transportation, where we have our own dedicated team that rapidly responds to issues we hear from our community. The Department hosts a meeting once a month during which we can bring forth issues and concerns, some being resolved almost immediately. The role that our City Staff has taken changed dramatically as a result of COVID-19 since many staff members have been deployed to augment Emergency Operations. Despite this, City departments have remained responsive to many issues and are working with us to prepare to resume normal operations such as abating abandoned vehicles, investigating code violations, and more.
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BEAUTIFICATION - A CLEAN, SAFE, WALKABLE COMMUNITY
Our residents have expressed how important it is to have attractive neighborhoods with well-maintained city streets. The city offers various programs to help keep our streets clean including the BeautifySJ program and free large-item collection to single-family homes. In addition, my office hosted our first Dumpster Day and we plan on offering the service regularly in various places throughout District 4. If you see any illegal dumping on our city streets, please report it to San Jose 311 so it can get cleaned up.
Garbage has been one of the problems related to homelessness, so BeautifySJ regularly collects garbage from known homeless encampments. If you know of a homeless encampment that might not have regular garbage pickups, please let us know and we’ll refer it to BeatifySJ. While the City doesn't regularly abate homeless encampments, the Council gave the City Manager direction to provide more services to our unhoused population to help keep our city clean.
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Many residents don’t know that sometimes, the City of San Jose doesn’t have jurisdiction over some of the areas where illegal dumping and garbage are a problem. For example, freeway on/off ramps are the responsibility of CalTrans, creeks are Valley Water jurisdiction, and some public transit areas belong to VTA. However, my office has made contacts with the various local public agencies and can contact them to help address constituent concerns. Keeping our city clean is everyone’s responsibility, so I ask you to do your part by going to San Jose 311 to schedule the pick up of a large item instead of dumping it on a city street, and report all illegal dumping you see.
When it comes to city streets, we are working to resolve concerns regarding traffic cutting through neighborhood streets, speeding and sideshows. We have a list of traffic-mitigation projects in the works set to be completed this year, and will identify additional projects to make our streets safer. The paving of our streets is also underway. You can see a detailed map about which streets have been paved, and which are scheduled to be paved within the next three years here.
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A MORE EFFICIENT, MORE ACCESSIBLE COUNCIL
Our City Council is at its best when the public has a voice in the process, and when we’re able to have productive discussions that build towards real solutions. With that in mind, I authored a memo along with Councilmember Dev Davis to make changes to the way we run our Council meetings. These changes make it easier for members of the public to engage with the Council on issues they care about, while also ensuring all councilmembers have the opportunity to take part in Council discussions and be a voice for their constituents.
The memo passed almost unanimously, and we’ve already seen a positive change since then. Council discussions are more respectful, more democratic, and involve more participation, both from the public and from councilmembers themselves, ensuring all voices are represented when it comes to the issues that matter most to our communities. These changes will have a lasting, positive impact on our Council, making us a better, more effective, and more accessible government.
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SIGN UP FOR FREE HOME FIRE PREVENTION AND SAFETY TRAINING |
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Did you know that you have just two minutes to escape a home fire?
Most people don’t know this fact, so the District 4 Council Office is partnering with the American Red Cross to provide a free training session to families to act quickly. The training is made to help you educate yourself and your household on home fire safety prevention, creating an escape plan and go-bag, and other steps to take to prepare for an emergency. Trainers will walk you through testing your smoke alarms, creating your plan, and starting the critical conversations with your household. Training sessions are available in English, Vietnamese and Spanish and will be held on Saturday, May 8. The session will be approximately one hour long.
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Since launching the Home Fire Campaign in 2014, the Red Cross has helped save at least 820 lives across the country by helping families create escape plans and installing free smoke alarms. Along with its partners the Red Cross has helped make nearly 900,000 households safer in at-risk communities.
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JOIN US FOR OUR 100 DAY TOWN HALL MEETING
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I'd like to share with all of you the things my staff and I have been working on and we'd like to get your input on how we're doing. Your engagement is critical and I welcome all of you to join me for an in-depth discussion about our district. Register here to participate.
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100 DAYS IN OFFICE SURVEY
I realize that it's already stated above but I wanted to make sure that all of you had a chance to give me your input. It's vital to me that we hear from the community. Your concerns, your questions, your suggestions, they're all very important to me so please take a moment and fill out our survey.
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