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Long story short…
Here’s what you need to know this week — in 30 seconds or less:
- I’m honoring Esias, Aileen and Kyle this Dia de los Muertos — and I hope you do too by slowing down.
- California’s second largest city, San Diego, is leading the way on Prop 36 implementation, with over 1,000 people in treatment.
- We’re expanding “trap, neuter, release” services at SJACS to get upstream of our challenges with stray cats.
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I hope you and your family had a fun and safe Halloween. Much to my chagrin, Nina and Luke are still counting their candy!
Today and tomorrow many of our community members celebrate Día de los Muertos. Day of the Dead. And in that spirit I have a few people I want to remember.
My dad, who is one of my role models in life. He was a proud member of the Letter Carriers Union and taught me that public servants have a duty to. Whether it be the mail or solutions to big problems.
| | Dolores Huerta, another person I’ve long looked up to, who passed away this week. Growing up in a small town farming community, Dolores was a larger than life figure for my neighbors and me. When I got to meet her for the first time, I could hardly believe she was real — a legend in life whose legacy will live on in the countless young people she has inspired to fight for economic and social justice. | | |
Esias. An eleven year old boy whose funeral I attended two years ago after he lost his life on our streets. When I sat with his parents in their living room just after they lost their child, I made them a promise. I would champion efforts at City Hall to make our streets safer in Esias’ honor.
And last week, I stood with Gina and Jorge and Liz, all of whom have also lost children to traffic crashes. We kicked off our speed safety camera pilot in our most dangerous corridors, an approach that has dramatically reduced crashes and fatalities in cities around the world. We launched this effort in Esias’ honor, in Kyle’s honor, in little 6-year-old Aileen’s honor.
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When you’re late for an appointment or rushing on your way to work, I hope you’ll remember these children, too. And if you pass too quickly through one of our Speed Safety intersections, you’ll get a mailed reminder starting December 14th. Written warnings will be replaced with tickets after the first 60 days.
Earlier this week we were also joined by Congressmember Panetta, who is bringing home $500,000 for road improvements around August Boger Elementary School in Councilmember Candelas’s District. That’s funding for more speed humps and other safety enhancements in an area that is seeing a lot of speeding as well as street racing at night.
We have to take an all of the above approach when it comes to reducing traffic deaths on our streets. Because today, we have more people dying each year on our roadways than we do homicides. And anyone could be a victim.
Achieving our goal of zero deaths on local roads requires changing behavior (especially speeding and distracted driving) through public education, through infrastructure improvements and through enforcement. Because saving a minute is not worth taking a life.
And next year, I don’t want to have to mourn another child on Dia de los Muertos who should be alive decorating a sugar skull or eating candy from the night before. We all have the power to slow down. And we’re going to do everything we can to encourage it.
| | Thank you for doing your part to keep our streets safe for our kids, | | |
Two years ago, nearly 70% of Californians voted for Prop 36 because we want people struggling to get the treatment they need. But so far, it hasn’t had the promised effect because the state has provided neither funding nor support for implementation. That means Counties are on their own. And they are having wildly different results.
San Diego is referring nearly 4x as many people for treatment evaluations under Prop 36 as our County is. So we took a study mission to learn what’s working for them in the fight to move from mass incarceration to mass treatment and brought along all the people with a role in our system to understand how we can better implement this tool without additional state funding.
Here’s what we learned: San Diego's approach isn’t perfect — but it’s a heck of a lot better than other jurisdictions have been able to achieve. They're implementing a major state mandate without dedicated state funding, and they're still working through challenges like data sharing and measuring long-term outcomes.
We heard encouraging reports about declining overdose deaths, particularly among people experiencing homelessness. We heard from people whose lives have been changed because of the treatment they received thanks to Prop 36.
We've already demonstrated that in San José we can make meaningful progress when we work together. We’ve reduced unsheltered homelessness by 30%, and deaths on our streets have fallen. We want to build on that progress by working with Santa Clara County to get more people into treatment earlier, improve coordination, and break the cycle of homelessness, addiction, emergency rooms, and jail.
I want this delegation to come together again in six months with concrete progress. I want an implementation plan. And I want us to make measurable progress in our shared mission of getting the people that need help into treatment and off our streets.
The people of California voted for this measure. It passed with nearly 67% of the vote two years ago. It’s embarrassing that it’s taken this long to make it work in practice. I know we can do better because San Diego is proving it’s possible. Stay tuned!
| | Back in 1984, the Olympic Torch came through San José. | | |
We hosted the most iconic events in football and fútbol in 2026. Now, we're ready for the biggest sporting event in the world, coming in 2028.
If the torch comes through the streets of San José again, it will become a story we share for generations as we show the world what our city has to offer. Learn more about our effort to bring the Olympic Torch back to San José here.
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Did you know that a single unspayed cat can have up to 18 kittens in a year? And within months, those kittens can have litters themselves? And while our shelter staff are pretty good at convincing you to take one home, we can't adopt our way out of that math!
That's why my budget message directed the City Manager to expand San José's Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) clinic, which is increasing service from two to four days a week and nearly doubling our capacity from 60 to 105 weekly surgeries.
Our local animal rescuers have pushed for this expansion for years, and I'm glad we're delivering. Because as cute as kittens are, fewer entering our shelter means more time and resources for all of the animals in our care.
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AI for All
Friday, November 6th
King Library, 150 E San Fernando St, San Jose, CA 95112
Join Grow with Google for a free, in-person workshop to help small businesses in San José and the surrounding area build new skills to grow their businesses online. If you’re just getting started using AI, this workshop will be perfect for you. If you’re already an AI wiz, you might still learn something useful. Find more information here.
Dan and Phil: Hard Launch Tour
Friday, November 6th
San Jose Civic, 135 W San Carlos St, San Jose, CA 95113
Dan and Phil finally hard launched and are crash landing in a city near you. In this unhinged and unafraid new era, join Dan and Phil live with their explosive new stage show for a much-needed night of outrageous oversharing, scream-laughing, and celebrating that we’re all still here and we made it. Grab your tickets here.
National STEM Day at The Tech: Free Admission!
Sunday November 8th
The Tech Interactive, 201 S Market St, San Jose, CA 95113
Big ideas. Hands-on fun. Free admission! Celebrate National STEM Day at The Tech Interactive with a full day of curiosity, creativity, and discovery! Whether you're a budding engineer, a lifelong learner, or just love discovering something new, there's something for everyone. More details here.
Jerry Seinfield
Friday, November 13th
Center for Performing Arts, 255 S Almaden Blvd, San Jose, CA 95113
Catch Jerry Seinfeld live at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts! Don't miss your chance to experience an evening of world-class stand-up comedy from one of the most enduring names in entertainment. Learn more here.
SIlicon Valley Turkey Trot
Thursday, November 26th
Downtown San José
Join America's largest Thanksgiving Day race and start Thanksgiving Day off on the right foot by celebrating generosity and wellness. All event proceeds are donated to four nonprofit beneficiaries: Healthier Kids Foundation, HomeFirst, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, and Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County. Sign up to run, walk, or volunteer here.
| | We all came down with something, and the only cure was cheering on the Valkyries as they battled through the finals! What a run, what a season. Congrats to our champions! | | Bringing Back Public Spaces | | We're bringing the Coyote Creek Community Garden back to life! During the pandemic, this garden fell into disrepair and became a site for encampments. After we built more than 1,000 shelter beds to house our homeless neighbors, we moved people indoors, cleared the area and turned our attention to restoring it. | | Earlier this week, we welcomed San José's newest neighbors! Happy Hollow Park & Zoo is one of just a few zoos in the United States to house a sibling pair of two male fosas. They may only stand two feet tall and weigh about 20 lbs when full grown, but fosas are Madagascar’s apex predator. Meet our new friends, and learn more about how you can join the conservation effort at Happy Hollow Park & Zoo: https://happyhollow.org | | Santa Clara Valley Medical Center cut the ribbon on their new 77 bed behavioral health facility this week! We have a long way to go when it comes to getting our most vulnerable into treatment and this site represents our County leaders' commitment to that shared goal. More to come! | | Thanks to Measure T, we’ve made critical investments across San José, including building a new fire station, resurfacing 500 miles of roads, and protecting nearly 1,000 acres in Coyote Valley to safeguard vital floodplains. Now, SJPD has a new hangar to house its helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft. Thank you to the voters who made these investments possible, and to the police officers who keep us safe on the ground and in the skies. | | San José is one of the best places in America to celebrate Diwali. The Festival of Lights feels right at home in a city that pushes back on darkness with light, embraces our differences, and celebrates the diversity that makes us stronger. Join us next year! | | | | |
