Mayor Announces Transition Committees Setting City on New Trajectory for Accountable Budgeting to Improve San José
Mayor Announces Transition Committees Setting City on New Trajectory for Accountable Budgeting to Improve San José
Committees will center around top resident concerns with direct community, council and staff input and measurable outcomes
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2023
Media Contact:
Tasha Dean, Chief Communications Officer, Office of Mayor Matt Mahan, tasha.dean@sanjoseca.gov
SAN JOSÉ, CA - Following a robust campaign spent hearing the concerns of San Jose’s roughly one million residents, San José Mayor Matt Mahan announced the launch of five Transition Committees aimed at moving our city forward and identifying new approaches to solving our most significant challenges. The Transition Committees will convene working sessions comprised of community members, Councilmembers, and city staff and will focus on five key opportunities for improvement: homelessness, community safety, clean neighborhoods, downtown vibrancy, and planning and permitting. Mayor Mahan aims to utilize direct community and colleague input from the Transition Committees to create a more focused, better informed, and more accountable March Budget message.
“Our transition committees are breaking from the status quo and trying something new by bringing folks from across the city together early in the budget planning process to recommend success metrics and aligned investments,” said San José Mayor Matt Mahan. “This is the foundation of a more accountable budgeting process and the best way to bring the city together to solve problems after a long election season.”
As the City, like the rest of the world, continues to recover from the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, the Mayor is committed to collaborating with his colleagues and City staff to focus more time and resources on programs and policies that will move the needle on the City’s biggest challenges and opportunities, from homelessness to economic development. During the annual budget process, San José’s Mayor and Council face the complex task of deciding how to allot finite public resources. These Transition Committees will help cut through the noise and deliberately focus on what our residents want and need to continue to take pride in San José. Moreover, each committee will be tasked with identifying up to five success metrics to help the city track its performance in each priority area.
“I look forward to this collaborative effort with our Mayor, City Council, and community,” said Jennifer Maguire, City Manager. “With basic services generally addressed, residents are now asking government to turn our attention to much more difficult problems…really wicked challenges. Traditional approaches, frameworks and measurements aren’t usually sufficient for the big challenges, especially ones that affect lives and livelihoods. I believe, as does our Mayor and City Council, that government needs to focus more on these challenges and that they should be on the forefront of our agenda as they present the biggest opportunities for the city to address.”
The five Transition Committees and leads:
Homelessness:
Reduce unsheltered homelessness
Mitigate impacts of encampments on local communities
Chair: Councilmember Foley Vice Chair: Councilmember Cohen Community Chair: David Pandori, retired Deputy District Attorney and former City Councilmember Administration Lead: Omar Passons, Deputy City Manager
Community Safety:
Increase pedestrian and traffic safety
Reduce street-level crime and improve the felt experience of safety for residents and small businesses
Co-Chair: Councilmember Rosemary Kamei Co-Chair: Councilmember Bien Doan Community Chair: Gabrielle Antolovich, President of the Billy DeFrank Center Administration Lead: Leland Wilcox, Assistant City Manager
Clean Neighborhoods
Support City beautification by mitigating and diminishing: vehicle blight, graffiti, trash in public spaces, illegal dumping, code violations, weeds, and overgrowth
Chair: Councilmember Peter Ortiz Community Chair: Helen Brock, Founder, Beautify Almaden Administration Lead: Andrea Flores Shelton, Deputy Director, Community Services Division of Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services
Downtown Vibrancy
Catalyze momentum for downtown to become a destination for residents and investment
Chair: Councilmember Omar Torres Community Chair: Gary Dillabough, Co-founder and CEO, Urban Community Administration Lead: Nanci Klein, Director, Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs
Planning and Permitting
Improve the ease, speed and efficacy with which businesses can engage with San José
Co-chair: Councilmember Dev Davis Co-chair: Councilmember Sergio Jimenez Community Chair: Ted McMahon, Chief Investment Officer, Bayview Development Group Inc. Administration Lead: Rosalynn Hughey, Deputy City Manager
Following the Transition Committees' sessions, there will be public discussions of the findings by each Transition Committee. During the week of February 13, the Council Chairs and Administration Leads will share their recommendations of concrete, actionable steps that can be taken to work on areas of concern. During the week of February 20, City staff will bring forward a limited set of priority focus areas, outcomes, initiatives, and success metrics for Council consideration, feedback, and prioritization informed by the Committee recommendations.
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About the City of San José
With more than one million residents, San José comprises the 10th largest city in the United States, and one of its most diverse cities. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center in the heart of Silicon Valley has resulted in the world's greatest concentration of technology talent and development.