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Hi Neighbors,
Yesterday, the City Council approved the budget for fiscal year 2023-2024.
Since taking office, I made a commitment to hearing directly from you on your priorities. I hosted community coffees, clean-ups, and various budget meetings where I heard from thousands of residents on issues ranging from homelessness and increasing community safety to having clean parks and less trash in our community. I am happy to say that our approved budget does this. Although there are several issues that still need to be addressed, we are making progress on issues that matter to our community.
Below are a few key highlights from the approved budget:
Measure E & Affordable Housing
The Council worked collaboratively to provide more funding for Emergency Interim housing (EIH). Interim housing and quick builds address the urgency in our unhoused emergency crisis. We are putting over $29 million into homeless support programs, quick build shelter construction, and operations of EIH! Our budget compromise also bolsters community engagement for identification of the next 1000 EIH units.
We will also continue the funding of affordable housing. Building affordable housing ensures that individuals and families have access to stable and permanent homes. We are putting nearly $44 million for new affordable housing for extremely low-income residents and over $45 million for new affordable housing for low-income families.
I believe in a holistic approach to our housing crisis. Stable housing is crucial for the well-being of our community. This includes leveraging County, State and Federal funding to tackle this issue. I want to ensure we are concurrently acting with urgency on the humanitarian crisis facing our unhoused, while we continue building affordable housing.
Public Safety
Public safety is a priority for me and the city council. As apart of the approved budget, we are going to increase personnel in our police department and add more community service officers.
While we work to rebuild staffing levels through improved recruitment and retention, we are also investing and deploying technology to give our department more tools that keep our community safe like Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR's).
I also fought against the elimination of the San José Fire Department's Med 30 unit, that ensures our understaffed firefighters have the resources they need to protect our community.
Here are additional public safety investments specifically in District 8:
-$50,000 for Camera Pilot Program at Tully Road/Eastridge Business Corridor
- $15,000 for CERT Supplies for District 8 Community Emergency Preparedness
Park Investments and Community Empowerment
As part of my approved budget documents, we are investing in our park infrastructure including improvements at Lake Cunningham, youth outdoor recreation opportunities, and summer programming.
Additional community investments are described below:
Indo-American Cultural Center
Indo-Americans are a large and growing community within San Jose. Given the strong interest expressed by community leaders and organizations that are willing to pursue external funding to complement the city’s funds, the Council included $100,000 in one-time funding to act as a catalyst to a future feasibility study towards an Indo-American cultural center.
Yerba Buena Pedestrian Bridge
We heard from many residents on the importance of the currently closed Yerba Buena Pedestrian Bridge, which connects Evergreen Estates to Evergreen Valley College. To fund this future replacement, we included $100,000 to a reserve dedicated to the project that will hopefully help leverage other public/private funds.
Here are additional park investments specifically in District 8:
- $35,000 for Fernish Park Improvements
- $55,648 for District 8 Movie Nights in the Park
- $51,648 for District 8 Park Activations
- $660,000 for improved security that includes Lake Cunningham
- $345,000 for Lake Cunningham Future Water Quality Improvements
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