Business leaders request: more accountability, sharper focus, and less never-ending campaigning from new SJ Council

Metrics. Core Services. No more feel-good policies. Local business leaders ask for a tightened-up governance posture that actually answers to citizenry on how it's delivering on their priorities. An Open Letter from Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility and Business and Housing Network--SJ elaborates.

January 26,2023

To: The New San Jose City Council

From: Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility & Business and Housing Network of San Jose
Re: What you can do to deliver on the need for greater accountability

Congratulations on earning your leadership roles.

Nationally, we have seen a significant decline in legislative bodies’ governing ability because of the growing prevalence of the “permanent campaign.” We are hopeful that, as a group, you will rise above this trend and, in the next two years, lay a foundation that fosters growth and prosperity benefiting future generations.

Here are some recommendations that, from our members’ perspective, will help jump start a new era in San Jose government accountability, unity, efficiency, and pragmatic good governance.

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I. Focus on metrics instead of vague promises
A key issue in the mayoral race was the drive to create stronger metrics-based accountability for city initiatives. We strongly support this impulse and look to see a Dashboard developed which tracks and communicates key outcome metrics for public safety, public amenities and housing among other services (see VI.)

II. Encourage transparency instead of back-room deals
Too often, it seems as though the council solicits citizen input only because it must check that box on its to-do list. It often seems as if decisions have been made long before the votes are cast. We support efforts that daylight individual councilmember priorities for their district, so they don’t become bargaining chips for larger, citywide votes. We support a citizen input process that is substantially upstream of day-of-voting meetings where crowds of people get as little as 30 seconds each to state their points of view. We also look to the council to apply businesslike customer relations techniques (ongoing surveys, focus groups, and public analysis of same) to the important process of citizen input.

III. Create transparency in the budgeting process
Currently, our city’s budget is arcane and, for most people, might as well be written in code. Residents don’t understand priorities, success metrics, nor how to influence budgeting decisions.

Step one to solving this accountability problem is to create a Budgeting Dashboard that includes
the following:
o Community-established 5-to-7-year priorities
o desired service levels
o other key success metrics
o annual review with analysis of elements that contributed to meeting metrics, or not.
o Updated summary of 5-year operating plans that are designed to meet key, easily understood metrics related to community priorities.
o annual review with department analysis of elements that contributed to meeting metrics, or not.

IV. Focus on core service delivery
Too much Council time and money is spent on posturing around feel-good measures and policies that have little to do with core services such as providing clean, safe neighborhoods and streets. Even though the delivery of many core services is inadequate, our tax dollars are often diverted to big-ticket items that are not part of our City Charter. It would be especially useful to see an Annual Core Services Report Card detailing what percent of the budget is spent on core services, what the annual metrics for those services are, and how well we have met them.

V. Implement tax and regulatory policies that favor small, local businesses
For far too long, political debate has focused on the size of carve-outs for large developers. This is the wrong argument. The core of our economic renewal should be locally owned small and medium businesses. We need an economic redevelopment policy that clearly favors mom and pop and immigrant businesses, as well as entrepreneurs.

VI. Reimagine a homelessness strategy that’s accountable, cost-effective, flexible and understandable
While some good work has been done, the city’s dogmatic insistence on a “Housing First” strategy has not been successful: it prioritizes expensive, long build-cycle subsidized housing over less expensive and faster-cycle solutions, not to mention mental health and addiction services. A fundamental start would be to direct the Housing Department develop a clearly defined new strategy and working plan for the housing crisis, with an emphasis on near-term, efficient solutions providing immediate shelter for our unhoused residents. This new strategy must include a Housing Dashboard providing visibility into where housing monies are going, and, most importantly, success metrics covering cost and timeliness of solution delivery.

Thank you for considering our ideas, and thank you for your service to our city.

Pat Waite, President Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility

Irene Smith, President Business and Housing Network — San Jose

Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity

Image by Shelly on Flickr