Policy Watch: Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community

City of San Jose

Fire department response time and action plan

Staff will report back to the San Jose Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee about actions that have been taken to improve response times for 9-1-1 emergency calls in San Jose, including future actions to improve response times and sustainable data collection for accurate reporting.

The City is doing it’s best to make up for cutting public safety to unsafe levels. However, it’s still very much a work in process.

Where:           San Jose Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
When:             June 19
Agenda:          link

Housing Commission to discuss existing Mobile Home Rent Ordinance

City Staff will give the Housing Commission a presentation on the current mobile home rent ordinance and apartment rent ordinance. For reference, the mobile home ordinance covers 59 mobile home parks and over 10,779 mobile home lots.

Part of the presentation will cover the allowable rent increase for mobile home parks, which is set at 75% of the San Francisco-Oakland All Urban Consumers CPI, with a minimum of 3% and a maximum of 7%. To increase the rents over this amount, park owners must request a formal administrative hearing before implementing rent increases. In FY 11-12 there were 103 petitions and in FY 12-13 there were 204 petitions. So far in this fiscal year, there are 261 petitions.

It sounds like as the economic recovery chugs along (slowly), mobile home parks are looking to squeeze more lot fees out of their residents. The only problem? The majority of mobile home residents are older and on fixed incomes. If seniors and other fixed-income mobile home residents are pushed out due to rent hikes it will only ratchet up the pressure on already over-burdened affordable-housing (or lack there of). 

Where:           San Jose Housing Commission
When:             June 19
Agenda:          link

Proposed system to link residents’ private security cameras for potential use by Police Department

The City of San Jose is researching the viability of a citywide voluntary program where individuals would be able to register their private security cameras with the City for potential future use of surveillance footage by the Police Department. Although there were offers of outside help (like from Cisco) the City believes that its existing software will allow them to put together the registration program at minimal to no cost to the City.

While this idea is interesting, with only a slight hint of George Orwell’s “1984”, it falls short in one crucial area. Are there actually police officers that are available to review the security footage or run down the leads generated from the program?

Where:           San Jose Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
When:             June 19
Agenda:          link

County of Santa Clara

Report on steps for health coverage of remaining uninsured

The Board of Supervisors is looking to fill in the coverage gaps still left by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare. According to a recent report form the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education there are approximately 130,000 and 150,000 people in Santa Clara County that will remain uninsured in 2014 after Obamacare’s implementation. Groups of uninsured include:

  • Undocumented residents who don’t qualify for Covered California;
  • People who qualify but are not enrolled due to awareness or stigma;
  •  People who qualify for insurance through Covered California but cannot afford the premiums or missed the enrollment period;
  • Families with incomes over four times the federal poverty level who do not qualify for subsidies and who cannot afford premiums.

Research is underway to identify why people in Santa Clara County remain without health coverage and to analyze the prospects for moving to a more comprehensive care system that is better managed for these individuals.

Although Obamacare is a huge step in the right direction there are still people who are left without coverage because of the way the system is designed. Moving to address these gaps in coverage will provide for better health outcomes for our County as a whole and for the individuals whose coverage options weren’t improved by Obamacare.

 Where:           Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
When:             June 16
Agenda:          link

Adding mandatory policy of Wage Theft to all County contracts

The County is looking to strengthen its own contracts to tackle wage theft. Specifically it would add a new Mandatory Policy Provision specifying that the County will not permit wage theft by County contractors and that it expects those with whom it does business to comply with all wage and hour laws.

Hat tip to the County for sticking up for its workers.

Where:           Children, Seniors & Families Committee
When:             June 19
Agenda:          link

Quick Hits from around the County

Santa Clara County; Living wage moves to the next committee – link

Palo Alto; dropping the number of Council seats & increase term limits – link

SCCOE; Approving or denying charter for Rocketship in Alum Rock – link

San Jose; Staff recommendation for the Diridon EIR & supplemental memos – link

Mountain View; Increased renter’s rights for Tenant Relocation Assistance – link

 

 

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