WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.300 --> 00:00:19.420 On this week's episode: the council splits over downtown parking rates, adopts a temporary moratorium on detention and custodial facilities, and holds a Friday study session on two tools for paying for infrastructure. 2 00:00:22.659 --> 00:00:29.019 Ten council districts, nearly a million people. Here's your weekly debrief from San Jose City Hall. 3 00:00:29.619 --> 00:00:41.767 Before Tuesday's business, the council took time to celebrate. On Lok, an organization that helps frail seniors keep living at home instead of moving to a nursing facility, was honored for fifty-five years of service. 4 00:00:41.767 --> 00:00:58.975 The council also proclaimed September Transit Month, and gave San José State students credit for bringing the regional Clipper Bay Pass to campus. A speaker for the student government said that during the pilot, students with the pass dropped out or left campus six percent less often than students without it. 5 00:00:58.975 --> 00:01:09.436 And there was a proclamation for International Day of the Girl. The meeting's chair said City Hall will join other downtown landmarks in lighting up pink from October fifth through ninth. 6 00:01:09.436 --> 00:01:16.859 This episode was produced with AI from the public recording of the meeting. Links to the source are in the show notes. 7 00:01:20.098 --> 00:01:32.022 Our top story: the parking item had been put off three times. On Tuesday the council finally acted on downtown parking rates, though not the way city staff proposed. Theo, what was on the table? 8 00:01:32.022 --> 00:01:57.573 Staff proposed changing parking rates over five years. Garage rates would go up first. Downtown meters would then rise from two dollars an hour to three, and later to four. Starting in July 2028, meters downtown, on South First and University, and around the Arena and Diridon would run from nine in the morning to nine at night, not stop at six. Staff said meter rates hadn't changed since 2014. 9 00:01:57.573 --> 00:01:58.255 Why now? 10 00:01:58.255 --> 00:02:16.652 Money. The council closed a fifty million dollar ongoing shortfall in this year's budget, and that budget already counts on one point two million dollars a year coming out of the parking fund and into the general fund. Staff also admitted they hadn't done enough outreach before a June hearing, where opposition was heavy. 11 00:02:16.652 --> 00:02:38.455 Tuesday brought more of it. About sixteen people spoke, and nearly all of them opposed the staff plan or asked for a pause. They said it would hurt downtown's small businesses and street life. They raised service workers who now park free after six, and garages that feel dirty or unsafe at night. And they asked that parking money stay in the parking fund. 12 00:02:38.455 --> 00:03:01.622 Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, whose District 3 includes downtown, offered a shorter, two-year plan. Garage rates would go up, then meters in every district would go to three dollars an hour. Meter hours wouldn't get longer, and there'd be no extra increase just for downtown. He said that would cover the general fund transfer and still leave about eight hundred thousand dollars a year for the parking system. 13 00:03:01.622 --> 00:03:23.766 Councilmember George Casey of District 10 asked whether staff had studied what this would do to downtown businesses. Staff said they hadn't done a detailed analysis, and Casey said he wanted more time. Councilmember David Cohen of District 4 said he'd found that parking in downtown Oakland and Sacramento costs about twice what it does here, and suggested raising rates regularly, in line with inflation. 14 00:03:23.766 --> 00:03:43.866 Then the votes. The Mayor was absent on Tuesday, so the tallies count ten members. Tordillos's full plan failed five to five. Councilmembers Peter Ortiz, Bien Doan, Domingo Candelas, Pamela Campos and Casey voted no. A proposal for a joint meeting with the Downtown Parking Board, which hasn't been able to get a quorum, also failed five to five. 15 00:03:43.866 --> 00:03:44.888 And what passed? 16 00:03:44.888 --> 00:04:12.484 A reduced version, seven to three, with Ortiz, Doan and Casey voting no. It raises garage rates for special events and by the hour. It opens the discounted downtown employee parking permit to workers earning up to fifty percent above minimum wage, up from thirty, and tips no longer count. It keeps ninety minutes of free parking at the Convention Center garage on days without events, and it orders follow-up studies. Meter rates and meter hours stay as they are. 17 00:04:12.484 --> 00:04:15.209 So is the parking fund in the clear? 18 00:04:15.209 --> 00:04:39.738 No. Tordillos acknowledged that the fund will still lose some money each year while the transfer continues, and he said he hoped to make up the shortfall in next year's budget. Staff will also bring options for keeping parking money in the parking system, and report parking data to the parking board every year. The clerk's office said it's pushing to fill the board's three vacancies. It has five applications on file. 19 00:04:42.978 --> 00:04:49.470 Our next story: the council adopted a temporary moratorium on new or expanded detention and custodial facilities. 20 00:04:49.470 --> 00:05:09.712 It's an interim ordinance, sponsored by Mayor Matt Mahan and Councilmembers Campos, Ortiz, Doan and Candelas. While it's in effect, the city won't accept, process or approve applications to open, expand or convert such facilities, on private or public land. That holds as far as state and federal law allow, with some exemptions. 21 00:05:09.712 --> 00:05:30.336 For context: in May, plans came to light for a federal immigration facility near Gilroy, on unincorporated county land, not in San Jose. The state and the county sued, and a federal judge has paused construction. City officials have said San Jose has no zoning rules of its own for privately run detention centers. 22 00:05:30.336 --> 00:05:43.321 State law requires nine votes for an ordinance like this one. The item came back from the council's September fifteenth meeting, and the result was announced as unanimous, without a count of members present. 23 00:05:43.321 --> 00:06:02.418 Five people spoke. Four were in favor, among them a representative of an immigrant protection network and someone from a member of Congress's office, who pointed to a congressional toolkit for local zoning. One caller was against it, and asked how the city would stand up to the federal government. 24 00:06:05.657 --> 00:06:13.508 Our last top story is Friday's council study session on paying for infrastructure. There was no vote, and staff said the session authorizes nothing. 25 00:06:13.508 --> 00:06:37.391 Two tools came up. A community facilities district puts a new special tax on property. It needs two-thirds approval from voters or landowners, but it can be borrowed against fairly quickly. An enhanced infrastructure financing district adds no tax and needs no vote. Instead it sets aside future growth in property tax, and staff said that growth could take five to ten years or more to get big enough to borrow against. 26 00:06:37.391 --> 00:06:38.372 And the catch? 27 00:06:38.372 --> 00:07:11.088 San Jose gets only about thirteen and a half percent of the one percent property tax collected here, and the schools' share can never go into one of these districts. In staff's made-up example of a ten billion dollar development, the city's share would support about a hundred thirty-eight million dollars in bonds. One presenter later gave two hundred thirty-eight, so treat that figure with caution. Staff called the yield somewhat modest. They also said the city's policy for special-tax districts that borrow, last amended in 1993, is out of date. 28 00:07:11.088 --> 00:07:26.137 Opinions differed. One councilmember said going straight to voters, as the city did with Measure T, seems more practical, and that the tools don't seem appropriate right now. The presiding officer, who had asked for the session, said they could still help at some specific sites. 29 00:07:29.376 --> 00:07:31.840 Now a few shorter items from Tuesday. 30 00:07:31.840 --> 00:07:49.796 The council approved short-term borrowing of up to two hundred million dollars at a time for sewer work and the regional wastewater treatment plant. Staff said wastewater revenues repay it and the general fund isn't pledged. It needed two-thirds of the council, and both votes passed nine to nothing. 31 00:07:49.796 --> 00:08:16.906 The council also added about four point one million dollars to its agreement with Santa Clara County for household hazardous waste collection. The total over three fiscal years is now about five point three million. Staff pointed to lower fee revenue, more people using the program, and higher costs. The new total is more than four times the original one point two million. A councilmember called the increase surprising, but said the program matters. It passed unanimously. 32 00:08:16.906 --> 00:08:32.045 A construction contract of up to about nine point four million dollars to replace elevators in the airport terminal, to go to the lowest qualified bidder, passed unanimously. A public speaker asked that the new elevators actually work for people using mobility devices. 33 00:08:32.045 --> 00:08:47.536 The consent calendar passed nine to nothing, and so did a separate vote on a permit for Sakura Market, on South Market Street, to sell alcohol. The council also accepted an audit that found the economic development office's performance measures generally useful and reliable. 34 00:08:50.775 --> 00:08:53.587 Before we go, a look at what's ahead. 35 00:08:53.587 --> 00:09:20.299 The council meets next Tuesday, October sixth. On the agenda: proposed rules and fees for personal delivery devices on city sidewalks, plus a roadway pilot. There's a proposed five point seven million dollar loan to rehabilitate the former Comfort Suites at 1510 North First Street as affordable housing. A plan to start exclusive talks with Episcopal Community Services on the Arena Hotel's future as housing. And interviews for the Civil Service Commission. 36 00:09:20.299 --> 00:09:33.655 On consent, there's a step toward adding land to the Communications Hill community facilities district, the special-tax tool from Friday's session. It would set a public hearing for November tenth. There's also a morning labor negotiations update. 37 00:09:36.894 --> 00:09:43.974 That's the week. If you hear something we got wrong, use the link on this episode's page. We read corrections on air. 38 00:09:43.974 --> 00:09:47.654 That's the news from City Hall. See you after the next meeting.