Residents can help San Jose recover from pandemic
Life looks a lot different than it did just a few months ago. Like a tech worker, I now spend my work days in front of a green screen in a makeshift workspace in my stuffy garage. That’s nothing compared to so many of San Jose’s residents who have faced a lot of hardship in a short time. Some residents have lost their jobs, others have lost their loved ones, and many worry about losing their homes. It’s budget season, and city budgets are hurting too. In San Jose, we are facing a $71.6 million deficit in the coming fiscal year. That’s a steeper drop-off than the Great Recession or the dot-com bust of the early 2000s.
Fortunately, San Jose has been proactive in preparing for an economic downturn. Years ago, my colleagues and I started rainy day funds to prepare for a future recession. While no one predicted a downturn of this magnitude, these rainy day funds will help reduce the impact of this recession — now and in the years to come. The current crisis highlights the importance of fiscally responsible actions, like our $22 million sales tax agreement with eBay, and the sale of $11.1 million of city-owned property. These actions are helping plug holes in our budget, but going forward into economic recovery, we have an opportunity to address the structural issues that plague our balance sheet.
Our most perplexing structural issue is that San Jose is still the only major city in the United States with a smaller daytime population than the nighttime population. Infamously, San Jose’s slogan is “the Capital of Silicon Valley,” but in reality, we are the bedroom community for Silicon Valley. It’s not as catchy of a slogan. This imbalance creates fiscal challenges for the city, because we’re responsible for quality-oflife services — like public safety, parks and libraries — that residents want and deserve, while businesses and their tax dollars go to our neighboring tech centers. We must do more to make San Jose attractive to businesses large and small to recover, grow our tax base and address this structural deficit.
In the coming days, I’m encouraging my colleagues to prioritize funds to assist our small businesses in recovering from this public health crisis and get our local economy moving again. To that end, a few weeks ago Mayor Sam Liccardo and I announced San Jose Al Fresco, an innovative plan that allows businesses and restaurants to operate while following physical distancing guidelines by taking over parking lots, streets and public parks. As more businesses get the all-clear to reopen, I’m imploring residents to shop locally. While online retail might be more convenient, supporting local businesses helps our neighbors and helps keep our sales tax dollars in San Jose.
While San Jose has not faced a public health crisis like this before, we have faced fiscal crises like these before. We know we’re capable of tightening our belts while providing quality services to our residents. In the upcoming days, we need our community’s help to move forward. Shop locally, volunteer at SiliconValleyStrong.com, support your neighbors if you can, and above all else, please be patient as we move forward. When we act as a community, we thrive as a community.