June 14, 2007

Long day’s journey toward a budget

City council votes to look into major league soccer stadium

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 12 was an especially long day for San Jose city council members, who worked long into the night to pass the budget for fiscal year 2007-08.

But the budget was not the only thing on the agenda, council members also approved actions to begin looking into a professional soccer stadium to be located near the Mineta San Jose International Airport as well as accepting a report on public-private partnerships and approving actions relating to the downtown parking management plan, implementation plan and enhanced parking garage security plan.

While debate on the mayor’s budget message went on for more than two hours, it finally passed unanimously. The mayor’s budget message defines and delineates the city manager’s budget, adding and subtracting money from that document in order to balance the budget.

Sheltering the homeless
Much of the long debate included proposed amendments including one from Councilmembers Sam Liccardo, Madison Nguyen and Pierluigi Oliverio asking that the city appropriate $257,000 to EHC Lifebuilders to house an additional 125 people up to a total of 250 over the summer.

Liccardo, Nguyen and Oliverio designed the amendment to ensure that EHC can continue to provide housing for 250 homeless people throughout the summer months. Until a few years ago, the consortium housed 250 people in the winter and 125 in the warmer months. However, additional homeless people require shelter and for the last few years, EHC’s Liccardo Homeless Center has been taking in 250.

The costs behind this have grown and they were asking that an additional $257,000 go to the nonprofit to aid the program or $5 per person per night. In return the consortium already has started working on a program to prepare a five-year plan and develop methods to eliminate homelessness.

City staff, Liccardo said, already has begun working with EHC to help eliminate the deficit and the amendment would only pass if the group continued to work with the city to remove its structural deficit including development of a five year plan. The money, he said, would come from a technology reserve fund in strategic support.
“I feel very strongly about it. This money [per person] costs less than a hospital or jail stay. Its money well spent to ensure the capacity to care for the homeless on the streets,” he said.

However, others disagreed. District 1 Councilman Pete Constant, who made the initial motion to pass the budget message, was not pleased to add more money to the budget with San Jose’s current structural budget deficit. He suggested another amendment that would take 20 percent of the rollover money from the Council General Fund, about $255,000, and put it toward EHC.

Council members were not thrilled at the prospect since many use that money to pay staff members, for constituent services and to buy supplies. It failed in an 8-2 vote with only Constant and Mayor Chuck Reed voting for it.

While Councilmembers Nancy Pyle and Judy Chirco voted for the Liccardo amendment, both were adamant that the final budget debate is not the time nor place to debate an added expense.

“I’m troubled with using the budget process to help out nonprofits,” said Chirco. “We need to develop a program for nonprofits and we need to know about their problems [long] before we are to take a vote on the budget. I have to support the amendment, but I have a problem with the way it was brought up. I want to see policy procedures in place. I want to see a screening process that doesn’t come up during final budget decisions.”

“I’m not clear why these amendments aren’t brought up before the budget gets put to bed,” added Pyle. “Other nonprofits go through the process. This sends the wrong message.”

Fire Station #2
Councilmember Dave Cortese posed the next amendment, dealing with reinstating money to rebuild Fire Station #2. He and Councilmember Nora Campos wrote the memo asking that the fire station be reassessed to determine whether or not it should be remodeled or rebuilt.

Campos appeared to be nearly in tears. She told council members she was very upset because the council voted in 2005-06 to set aside $6.7 million to rebuild the fire station. The money was there and got cut, she said, to $4.425 million in this year’s budget.

“Two years ago I trusted people. I won’t support the budget because it’s not right that the city makes a commitment and then doesn’t follow through. There’s a problem with our system,” she said.

In the end, the council voted to send city staff back to the drawing board resolving the issue within the next 60 days and determining the facts for the public to see.

“This will require redesigning and rescoping of the program,” said City Manager Les White. “We looked for the money. We are trying to deal with the projects confronting the council including libraries, community centers and fire stations. We are coming up several billion dollars short, and we’re hopeful that some dollars are left at the end,” he said.

A final appeal from White to fund $150,000 for economic development public relations programs to develop name recognition for the city was turned down by the mayor because he says its objections aren’t clear and the city doesn’t have the money.

Both Forrest Williams and Pyle agreed with White that more press for the city would be a good thing. Williams noted it would position San Jose in the global economy, provide identification and branding so that people would know the city offers very high technology including bioscience and nanotechnology. Pyle noted that it would have been nice to refer to complimentary public recognition in her recent trip to Europe to provide worldwide outreach.

New soccer stadium
Council chambers were filled with colorful soccer uniforms during the afternoon portion of the meeting. People wearing the uniforms included children, teens and adults all there to cheer on Lew Wolff and his project of building a major league stadium for a new team, which apparently will be called the Earthquakes.

After lengthy debate, and nearly 30 public speakers—with all but a couple profoundly favoring the proposition—the council unanimously passed the adoption of a resolution authorizing the city manager to develop a non-binding memo of understanding concerning a major league soccer stadium to be located on Coleman Road opposite the airport.

The stadium would be built on 75 acres of city land, formerly owned by FMC Corp. Wolff would pay for the construction and it would include a stadium and transit-oriented office and hotel and retail development of more than 2 million square feet. According to city staff, the area would generate 10,000 new jobs and expand city revenues.

In addition, the memorandum of understanding may include converting the former iStar property in the Edenvale area from industrial to residential, something city council members have not wanted to do in the past. The conversion would be to finance the stadium. In fact, Cortese brought up the Evergreen situation discussed several weeks ago when the council would not convert industrial land to residential losing $167 million in developer funding.

However, at this juncture the plan is for exploration and Wolff and the city have until Oct. 15 for preliminary development agreements. If the scenario goes through, the soccer team will begin playing next spring with the stadium set to open in 2010. It will play in interim locations in the Bay Area until the stadium is ready.

“It will enhance revenue on the public and private side,” Wolff told council members.

Although several council members expressed concerns that everything would not be as rosy as it sounded—the city would still need to provide money for traffic control and street improvements—White suggested they view the idea from an economic and land use standpoint.

Reed closed that portion of the meeting declaring the situation “extraordinary. We are getting all the facts and investigating months before we’re being asked to make a decision and it’s all being done openly.”

Charging for downtown parking
City council members also unanimously passed a recommendation to charge for evening and night parking in city garages on weekends. Parking garages on Market, Third and St. John, City Hall, Third and San Carlos and at the convention center as well as surface lots on St. James, San Fernando and between Second and Third will now charge for evening parking. Parking during the day will remain free on weekends and holidays.

The city will charge users $5 to park on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights after 10 p.m. beginning July 1. Users will pay $2 after 6 p.m. with two hours of free validated parking starting on Jan. 1.

The $2 fee is to generate revenue to pay for cleaning and to maintain and expand parking inventory, said Liccardo. The $5 fee also was set to cover cleaning, maintenance and acquisition as well as provide additional security and lighting. “It will help pay for adequate police and adequate security,” Liccardo told the Times.

He initially had asked that the city staff conduct a two-week study to identify data for council review. His concerns stemmed from late-night business owners who expressed concern that patrons would desert downtown clubs for suburban clubs that offer free parking.

However, White said city staff would be unable to complete a study in two weeks pushing completion to August, but that further refining of the ordinance could continue even after it goes into effect. Council concerns regarding the need to offer “clean, safe facilities” forced the vote.