The San Jose City Council picked priority items for the 2020-21 fiscal year during Tuesday’s meeting.
“The goal for us today as we move forward is to rank council policy priorities,” said Lee Wilcox, chief of staff for the city manager’s office.
Roughly 200 residents attended the meeting, which is about 150 more than the usual turnout.
The council discussed 24 items to vote on and potentially add to the priority list, which city officials will be working on this upcoming fiscal year.
“[The] council and the administration collectively implemented a lot of changes over the past year,” Wilcox said.
City staff explained that an intensive and strategic planning session took place with departments in the city manager’s office.
During the 2019-20 fiscal year, six new items were added to the agenda and 16 items are on track to be completed by August.
The council voted on tasks that were completed off the priority list.
“All of these items have been to the full council and committees and have been done and are now in either programmatic implementation, or being resourced in the budget,” Wilcox said.
Many residents lined up to address the council and discussed several items to potentially add to the city’s priority list for the next fiscal year.
Locals advocated proposals to ban electronic cigarettes and improve citywide transit.
Transit-first policy framework
Councilmember Pam Foley proposed Item X, a policy which aims to increase the efficiency of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
Monica Mallon, public relations senior, transit advocate and co-leader of the San Jose Youth Climate Action Team of Silicon Valley, requested that the council vote for Item X.
“I think to accommodate the projected job and population growth in San Jose, we really need to get people out of their cars and improving transit speeds and prioritizing transit is a great way to do that,” she said.
Students, such as political science junior Daniel Huynh, urged the council to vote for improving public transit as the city is known for being technologically advanced.
“We are Silicon Valley, the global leader in developing the latest technology, but yet the speed at which our transit moves throughout the county and [the Cal State Student Association] has slowed down,” Huynh said. “Our white wheels are delayed by red lights, our buses are stuck in traffic.”
He said the city is not living up to its potential.
“This is the time we start acting like the global leader in technology, that we are Silicon Valley, and develop a transit-first policy,” Huynh said.
Ban on e-cigarettes
Several parents of young teens supported Item E, a proposal to ban certain electronic cigarette sales within the city of San Jose.
State law prohibits businesses from selling e-cigarettes to minors, however, many parents advocated for a complete ban on all sales.
Several parents attending the meeting mentioned an increased use of e-cigarettes in schools during public comment.
Councilmember Foley commented on the negative outcomes e-cigarettes have in schools.
“We have young adults that vape in school,” said Foley. “E-cigarettes are as small as a flash drive.”
Item E would amend zoning to stop sales of e-cigarette products within a half mile of middle and high schools. Additionally, it would ban sales of tobacco products within a mile of elementary schools, middle and high schools.
Local health officials said that they would partner with the city and assist with funding to deter underage smoking.
“The Public Health Department is currently working with the city on the smoke-free housing priority,” said Nicole Coxe, Tobacco-Free Communities program manager at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
Coxe said the program has already provided funding for community outreach and research on the issue.
“We’ve provided grant funding to help assist the burden on staff related to this workload,” Coxe said.
However, several business owners came to speak against the possible ban.
“The convenience store industry checks more IDs than TSA,” said Riley Muster, representative for Rotten Robbie gas stations. “It’s been said we check IDs all the time [and] our industry compliance rate is about 95%.”
During the voting process, the council submitted enough votes to green list the item, meaning it will be added to the priority list, although no bans on e-cigarettes have been put in place.
Although the council voted on the priority list for the next fiscal year, the final items will not be presented by city staff members until the next city council meeting.
However, a few items were green listed, as described by city staff, meaning they will be added to the new calendar.
The items that make the priority list are not the only issues the city will be working on in the coming year.
“This is a prioritization process so if even it doesn’t make priority setting, we can still do the work,” councilmember Lan Diep said.
