San Jose council passes budget after bitter debate about equity

After nearly seven hours of at times personal and deeply divided debate around how to make sure resources in San Jose are distributed equitably, the City Council approved a $4.3 billion budget Tuesday.

In response to calls from the five Latino council members — Raul Peralez, Sergio Jimenez, Magdalena Carrasco, Maya Esparza and Sylvia Arenas — the full council will schedule a study session with the city manager and other city leaders aimed at creating a framework for discussing equity and, more importantly, identifying where and how the city can address inequities in its programs and spending.

“We really have to start thinking of doing something different and start thinking of how we’re going to change the long-lasting impacts of violence and poverty and underinvestment in communities,” said Carrasco, who represents parts of East San Jose.

In the past, the councilwoman said, San Jose has been fortunate because residents have lived relatively harmoniously, without riots or uprisings. But, she cautioned, “I don’t think that we are going to be so lucky in the next 10 years. I think there are things that are bubbling up.”

San Jose recently sold city-owned land near Diridon Station to Google, where the tech giant plans to build a major campus, a move that has sparked criticism from organizations worried gentrification will push out longtime residents.

While Mayor Sam Liccardo and all 10 council members appeared united on the desire for a study session, they were bitterly split on the best way to incorporate equity into the city’s budget. The five council members argued for setting aside $500,000 as seed money for an equity fund, with the possibility of one day creating an entire department like the new Office of Racial Equity in San Francisco.

But Liccardo and several other council members expressed concerns about setting aside such funding without outlining how to spend it first.

“I think it relegates equity to the sideline,” Liccardo said.

Instead, the mayor said an “equity screen” — where the city uses data rather than complaints, for instance, to direct resources to neighborhoods with the greatest need — should be applied across a variety of city spending, identifying about $4 million in budget items on things like summer programs for children, police foot patrols and blight removal where that approach might work. Vice Mayor Chappie Jones suggested what he considered a compromise — moving forward with some of that spending before the study session and holding some of the money back to decide how to spend afterward. But the group of five council members rejected that idea, saying they weren’t looking to hold up programs already in existence and raising concerns about an equity screen being nebulously defined.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Jimenez said. “When we care about something, we find the money.”

“The reality is that we don’t have that yet,” Peralez said. “We have a slightly bigger ask for how we are going to move forward with an equity framework for our city and I think it is rather timely.”

Instead, they argued for setting aside equity funding from reserves, an idea rejected by the mayor, who said he wanted the city to brace for a looming economic downturn.

Several council members raised examples of inequitable spending, including Esparza, who said money for traffic calming and pedestrian safety infrastructure wasn’t fairly distributed. Liccardo pushed back, saying council members should submit budget requests for issues they care about.

“I think it’s really critical that we all take responsibility for our own role in the budget process,” Liccardo said.

But Esparza countered that comment, saying “that is inequity,” the idea that a budget would be based on individual budget requests from council members and not need.

“There’s a challenge with the system and we need to address that,” Liccardo acknowledged at one point. But, he cautioned, he didn’t want to rely solely on some sort of equity algorithm either.

The mayor pointed out that the city has been working with the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, a national network aimed at increasing opportunities for all. But so far just a few dozen senior staff have gone through trainings.

As part of the overall $4.3 billion budget, approved Tuesday and slated to be formally adopted next week, a range of city programs got a boost — a fact that was somewhat overshadowed by the equity conversation. A push by Arenas to make the city more family friendly, for instance, won approval, and 200 changing tables are set to be added across the city, along with lactation pods at libraries and community centers.

“All this is tremendously important to making this city a family friendly place,” said Pete Weldy, director of public policy for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Even as the city is set to see more than a $3 million surplus in the coming year, San Jose is also facing combined deficits of around $16 million in the next half decade and mounting pension costs.

At times, the back-and-forth discussion turned personal, with Councilman Johnny Khamis pointing out his district doesn’t have a public pool, community garden or skate park like Carrasco’s district.

“I’m walking away with a lot less than I hoped,” said Khamis, who nevertheless said he did support spending money in a way that makes opportunity more equitable.

Carrasco hit back at the comments, saying families in her district don’t enjoy the large private yards and amenities of Khamis’ wealthier district.

“We all want our resources to be distributed equitably and we are in desperate need of this study session,” said Councilwoman Dev Davis. “We need to now create the infrastructure and it needs to be based on data.”

“They’re difficult discussions,” Arenas said, “but the difficult discussions are the ones that allow us to grow and create progress.”