For at least the past four years, I took part in the City Manager / Mayor’s Saturday morning budget priority setting session under the dome with members of other Neighborhood Associations and the Youth Commission. This faux-community involvement session is headlined as one of the ways that the Mayor & his allies will listen to the neighborhoods about our needs and priorities with respect to the budget.
The session starts off with platitudes from the Mayor, the City Manager and high-tech facilitator telling us how wonderful we are to participate in this innovative and important process.
After those introductions, the “real work” begins. This year we were given refurbished tablets that were going to connect to the Internet so that our input would be online. As approximately 250 souls sought access to the World Wide Web at the same time, the Wi-Fi in the room crashed. Did someone say Wickedly fast Wi-Fi?
All was not lost as they brought out the paper money along with paper sheets to mark our answers the old-fashioned way with pen and pencil. The object was to barter with your table-mates whether police are more important than street repairs or libraries or raising worker’s pay or about 25 pre-determined options. Suggesting new solutions or bringing up some idea outside the box was a violation of the rules. Creativity has no place here. Sharing of ideas was impossible with the bad acoustics.
In past years the game was played with a focus of the current budget. However, this year we were testing what would peak our fancy on supporting an increase in the sales tax. A true exercise in futility because if the measure is too specific, it will need a nearly impossible 66.67% to pass.
Community involvement from neighborhood leaders throughout this City should not be played with in a game that has no ability to meaningfully solve the multitude of problems. As opposed to pre-determined solutions that are spoon-fed to the neighborhoods as if to determine the flavor of the month, the people should be treated with respect and dignity.
Here’s a message to the next Mayor & City Manager: abandon this foolishness.
Let’s reach out to construct an on-going open-ended dialogue with neighborhoods throughout the city on issues of importance to all of us. With adequate & verifiable information provided to people, realistic Ideas & solutions can be considered that will not only achieve neighborhood buy-in, but also create an indomitable civic pride to re-build San Jose from the devastation of the past seven years.
The City’s budget is the document that demonstrates our City’s values towards its people and the community. Instead of “Let the Games Begin”, the slogan should be “Let’s Come Together to Find Solutions”. After all San Jose was just designated as the Smartest City in America. We can do this.
Editor’s note: The 2014-15 City Budget session was held yesterday, Monday Jan. 10, and as expected, it was more of the same.
Steve Kline is an attorney and community activist.
Do you have a news tip you would like to share? Would you like to contribute to The Left Hook? Email us at LeftHookBlog@gmail.com
No Comments