☆ D3 candidates call out RDA and Measure B as historic gov't failures
Irene Smith and Omar Torres, candidates for downtown D3, go back in time and critique what they see as profligate downtown redevelopment spending and misguided pension reform. An Opp Now exclusive.
Opp Now: Let's pretend you could hop in the Wayback Machine and change one single decision made by local government, including SJCC/County Supes/Sheriff. What would it be and why? How will you change the impact of that decision if you're elected?
Irene Smith: You wouldn't know it, but our beloved downtown (broadly acknowledged as the most moribund big city downtown in California) was the recipient of more than $1 billion (some say up to $3B) in taxpayer largesse from the 1980s through the 2000's. Guided by The Redevelopment Agency, taxes were redirected to help "jumpstart" the downtown, which means that corrupt subsidies rained down on developers and privileged businesses like a never-ending summer shower.
The common conversation 30 years ago was--downtown just needs more people to sustain these businesses. Well, we have more people and yet fewer small businesses.
RDA was a billion dollar bust.
Where did the billion go? Perhaps as subsidies to create the Fairmont Hotel (bankrupt as of 2018). Or subsidies for the Pavilion retail shopping center (bankrupt, now a server farm). Or Camera 12, which had decades of subsidies and failed. Or providing our pioneering grocery store Zanottos multiple loans--yet it, too, failed. Or when Safeway moved in and the RDA invested in a garage. And then de-invested--so Safeway left because parking is crucial to success. RDA moved out many small businesses in the hopes of anchor stores that never came and gave subsidies to scores of businesses that took their slice of the pie, went belly-up, and departed in the dead of night.
This election, we will bid adieu to the last of the officeholders who helped navigate this horrific fiscal shipwreck. Let's hope a new generation of leaders can learn from their predecessors' mistakes and chart a more modest, cost-effective, and accountable path for downtown that celebrates small businesses.
Omar Torres: As a Councilmember, I would have never voted to put Measure B on the ballot. Measure B decimated our San Jose Police Department, and we face the dire consequences of that decision today. I believe that we need to make SJPD, SJFD, and city employee wages, benefits, and pensions competitive again, or else we will continue losing qualified personnel to neighboring jurisdictions. Our city’s departments are running high vacancy rates, and the current staff cannot handle the workload without hiring additional staff. With this said, I believe we must fully fund our pension and benefit obligations and will fight to do that as Councilmembers. I do not support kicking these financial obligations to future budgets since that will put the city back into the same financial crisis.
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