September 21, 2006

Chavez, Reed square off in Cambrian Park

First general election debate forecasts campaign to come

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Some sparks flew last week as Cindy Chavez and Chuck Reed met for their first debate in the race to become San Jose mayor. The Cambrian Community Council held the event Wednesday, Sept. 13 at the Cambrian School District office.

Despite their disagreements, mayoral candidates Cindy Chavez and Chuck Reed smiled and shook hands after their first general election debate for the Cambrian community council on Wednesday, Sept. 13. Photo by Carol Rosen

It’s the first time the two have met since the June primary winnowed the race down to the vice mayor/District 3 councilwoman and the District 4 city councilman. No fires broke out, but sparks did fly when the two discussed the Norcal Garbage scandal and the Strong Neighborhood Initiative. Conversely, while they may have used different words, both appeared to have similar ideas for the budget, gangs and arts issues.

Ethics versus problems
Reed continues to speak out about the City Council’s lack of ethics, which he called “the most serious issue. A $45 million budget increase has been hidden from the public, [Mayor Ron] Gonzales’ secret garbage deal and Cindy Chavez’ lead to shut down the [garbage] investigation [are examples of this]. This deception needs to be eliminated from City Hall,” he said.

But Chavez insists this is not a one-issue election. “This election is about more than ethics,” she said. “We have big problems: We have four out of 10 children not graduating from high school. We need to retrofit the city, make it clean, green and safe. We need to focus on ideas that move the city forward,” she said.

The two also disagreed about lobbyists. If elected, Reed wants to change the rules for lobbyist meetings and gifts and close loopholes in the municipal code. As mayor, he will not meet with any lobbyists “only with [company] principals. That will be a rule for my office and the people in my office,” he said.

“One of the most powerful lobbyist organizations in the city is its neighborhood associations,” said Chavez. She wants all information to be available to San Jose residents on the Web so that “citizens have full knowledge of what the City Council is doing.”

Manage money better
When questioned about the budget, the two agreed that the City Council must do better managing its money. Reed cited shortfalls in the past few years as well as expected deficits for the upcoming years. He said the City Council should not waste money on frivolous and unnecessary expenditures such as the lawsuit against Santa Clara County and it’s $22 million settlement. “Our expenses are growing faster than our revenues. We shouldn’t waste what we don’t have,” he said, because that leaves little or nothing for important areas like neighborhood services.

Chavez countered that the city needs “to do a better job of handling its money. We need to focus on big-picture issues such as jobs and new technologies.” She suggested the city needs to change its permitting process to streamline the procedure for enticing large and small businesses into San Jose.

Both also seemed more in agreement than disagreement with Coyote Valley. Both agreed that jobs should drive development. Reed’s vision includes jobs, housing and transportation, such as the light rail, close to each other. He cited North First Street’s redevelopment as the key toward planning Coyote Valley.

Chavez suggested the area be developed with great care. Her vision is to provide a “smart plan” that doesn’t involve the sprawl the city experienced in previous decades. “It should be developed with great care,” she said, ”no housing before jobs.”

Both agreed that childcare can be a collaboration with schools. Chavez suggested raising money through the state, and Reed advocated taking funds from redevelopment monies. Both candidates also agreed that the city needs more police and fire officers with Reed hoping to expand the department by 30 officers per year for the next eight years.

Gangs
The two also agreed that gangs continue to be a serious problem. Both said suppression through the police department is working well, but more prevention and intervention is necessary.

As mayor Reed promises to collaborate with nonprofits for intervention and work through the Mayor’s Gang Task Force. He also plans to ask David Pandori, former District 3 Councilmember and current prosecutor for the district attorney’s office to chair the gang task force “because we need his experience,” said Reed. Pandori was a mayoral primary candidate who came in third in the June race.

Chavez also plans to “look for opportunities for [young] children to do other things,” that will keep them from joining gangs. She also suggested that the focus needs to be on the entire city “not just the East Side.”

Both candidates agreed that it was important to focus on seniors to ensure their health and safety. Reed cited the possible closure of some San Jose community centers, which he said offer both nutrition and various activities for seniors. “We need to be careful how we fund programs to be able to continue to support senior citizens,” he added quipping that it’s not that far away for him.

While the two also agreed on the importance of arts to the city, Reed proposed the city continue to fund programs through the hotel tax and the arts commission. He wants to continue to push for more conventions to boost the hotel tax.

Conversely, Chavez blamed most of the problems with the theater companies themselves. “Their role is to understand their audience and the role they must take to continue their growth,” she said suggesting that the city do a better job combining arts and education. In addition, she hopes to see the arts organizations become accountable for their public and private donations.

Both also agreed that both parks and parkland are necessary. Reed wants to change the direction from acreage to walking district standards. For example, he wants to identify particular areas that are within walking distance of parks, trails and schools.

Chavez noted that her downtown consistituents wanted more parks and in the past eight years, she has provided them with parks. Even though there was no city money, she said she found 12 different funding sources, without city money, to be able to provide a number of new parks for District 3.