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Our police department is resentful towards the populace and is continually losing officers.
Our city has suffered a wave of vandalism which likely will not be stopped by the shrinking police force.
Our city has suffered waves of violence which will likely continue with our reduced police force.
Our K-12 student performance is pretty bad outside of the Almaden Valley and other, higher-income parts of San Jose.
Even with those things being the case, SJ will continue to house a large portion of the Silicon Valley's workforce due to it being the SV's most affordable city.
What do you foresee as the future of San Jose?
Will it get better?
Worse?
Paint a picture of what the city will be like in the next 5-10 years.
Chuck Reed has done an outstanding job of trying to get the budget under control so if the city workers don't like it, then they really should move on to another career. They knew the taxpayers are the ones who pay them so they need to respect the working folks as we aren't their ATM. I had a friend who does volunteer work for the city and her experience has been that the employees sleep at their desks while she does their job. And that wants a pension?
The tax payers really need to get something for their buck. The school districts are always crying about wanting more money, but I do have to wonder what they do with what they have... maybe they could hire qualified teachers who don't need more and more training.
Sadly, my neighbors with school age children have to send their kids to private schools for them to excel in their education, and be in a safe environment.
However, this video mentions that the middle class, in this area, is being hollowed out. That results in the homeless problems increasing as well as the east side blight spreading further west.
In the future, SJ will continue to lose qualified workers out the front door while bringing in foreigners, with a different agenda, through the back door resulting in more waves of vandalism and worse crimes.
Our police department is resentful towards the populace and is continually losing officers.
Our city has suffered a wave of vandalism which likely will not be stopped by the shrinking police force.
Our city has suffered waves of violence which will likely continue with our reduced police force.
Our K-12 student performance is pretty bad outside of the Almaden Valley and other, higher-income parts of San Jose.
Even with those things being the case, SJ will continue to house a large portion of the Silicon Valley's workforce due to it being the SV's most affordable city.
What do you foresee as the future of San Jose?
Will it get better?
Worse?
Paint a picture of what the city will be like in the next 5-10 years.
I'm actually more worried about the state of the U.S. / World than I am about San Jose. All I see is more power and control (political and economic) flowing to the top of both government and big business...or more accurately to the real power elite who run both. I am worried about the continuation of large fiscal deficits for the federal government, especially the Medicare/Medicaid. Costs have escalated for decades with no commensurate improvement in outcomes. I'm not convinced Obamacare is going to fix these problems with costs. Much of it is modeled after what was done in Massachusetts. More people have coverage, but costs there have continued to escalate just like everywhere else.
That said, San Jose's budget is slightly better this year. The City of SJ added 126 full time equivalent jobs for the upcoming fiscal year that starts in July, and the emphasis will be on hiring cops.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 06-20-2013 at 01:29 AM..
Chuck Reed has done an outstanding job of trying to get the budget under control so if the city workers don't like it, then they really should move on to another career. They knew the taxpayers are the ones who pay them so they need to respect the working folks as we aren't their ATM. I had a friend who does volunteer work for the city and her experience has been that the employees sleep at their desks while she does their job. And that wants a pension?
This is largely true, with the exception of your last comment. I work for the City of SJ and I don't know anyone who sleeps all day or anything resembling that. I'm not saying this doesn't / can't happen, but it's rare. The City of SJ has around the same number of employees as it did in the 1980s, even though the population of SJ is now much larger. I will concede (as much as I don't like to) the pensions are out of line with reality. That's true for all city workers who get them (the part time folks don't...they work mostly for the library & parks departments). It's doubly true for police & firefighters as their pension plan is even more out of line than what everyone else gets.
As far as the middle class being hollowed out..that is true. It's more acute here in SV than other places, but it's happening everywhere. That said, most of the long term homeless are drug addicted or mentally ill or both. Some are just lazy and unmotivated. It's often difficult to sort out the mental illness issue from the others. But the point is, reasonably normal folks who don't make a lot don't stay homeless for years and years. They move to lower cost of living areas.
I also mostly disagree on the immigration issue and crime. Most of the legal immigrants are an asset to the area. Those who come illegally are a different story.
This is largely true, with the exception of your last comment. I work for the City of SJ and I don't know anyone who sleeps all day or anything resembling that. I'm not saying this doesn't / can't happen, but it's rare. The City of SJ has around the same number of employees as it did in the 1980s, even though the population of SJ is now much larger. I will concede (as much as I don't like to) the pensions are out of line with reality. That's true for all city workers who get them (the part time folks don't...they work mostly for the library & parks departments). It's doubly true for police & firefighters as their pension plan is even more out of line than what everyone else gets.
As far as the middle class being hollowed out..that is true. It's more acute here in SV than other places, but it's happening everywhere. That said, most of the long term homeless are drug addicted or mentally ill or both. Some are just lazy and unmotivated. It's often difficult to sort out the mental illness issue from the others. But the point is, reasonably normal folks who don't make a lot don't stay homeless for years and years. They move to lower cost of living areas.
I also mostly disagree on the immigration issue and crime. Most of the legal immigrants are an asset to the area. Those who come illegally are a different story.
I have a funny anecdote about my father in law , who retired from management in the City of San Jose in the early '90's. My last child was born at Santa Teresa Hospital in 1989 and at the time I was self employed. My wife had a scheduled c section and we were there by 6:00 am, c section done by 8:00 am, and I was back at work by 2:00 pm. As a self employed person I had no sick time, vacation time or personal leave time. I only made money when all the bills associated with running the business were paid, taxes were paid and then I got whatever was left over. I had to get back to work or I couldn't pay the hospital bill, diaper bill, etc. I came back to the Hospital later that night and asked my wife, " When did your Dad leave?" She said, "Just an hour or two ago, he spent all afternoon here with me in the room". All the while he was on the clock ( he left the room several times to answer work related phone calls that afternoon). He only worked a few days a week for the last few years to use up the accumulated sick time he could not cash out. When he retired ( he had a high school education) he made more money in retirement than the two of us made working ( I with a doctorate, my wife with a masters degree). Of course now , many years later , we make much more than he does. I was just flabbergasted when I saw this happening. I thought to myself ( and I still do at times today), " Why didn't I become a fireman?, I would be a captain by now, and ready to retire with a big fat pension, boy I was stupid for getting an education". I guess times have changed but I have encouraged my own children to seek out gov't jobs when at all possible.
I also mostly disagree on the immigration issue and crime. Most of the legal immigrants are an asset to the area. Those who come illegally are a different story.
I agree with this to an extent. I don't have a problem with the legal immigrants, as like you said they can be an asset. However, I don't trust the companies use of them. I worry about these companies hiring folks on visas and giving them a lesser salary to cut costs, while holding the visas over their heads so they can't do anything about it. That is no good for any of us.
Realistically, San Jose will probably muddle through the budget and pension problems. They will lessen over time.
For the next few years (and the past few), San Jose residents will have to take more responsibility for their personal lives and their personal security: locking doors, installing security cameras, not staying out at night, repairing and painting over vandalism on their own and paying for private school or being more active with their public school (e.g. try to move to better schools, helping their kids with their homework). For people who don't or can't take on that responsibility, they'll have to be victims and pay/suffer. As budget and pension problems lessen and the economy improves, though, people will have the opportunity to rely more on San Jose to take care of them and many will.
In the near/now term, I see San Jose as a city full of fortified houses. Your house is your castle.
In 5-10 years, I see San Jose returning to something like 2005.
San Jose's issue is the same issue facing pretty much every government in California - how to provide both services to the tax payer, and also paying out pension benefits. Every year, the pension eats up more of the budget pie.
I suspect the voters in San Jose are on the forefront when it comes to pension reform.
San Jose's issue is the same issue facing pretty much every government in California - how to provide both services to the tax payer, and also paying out pension benefits. Every year, the pension eats up more of the budget pie.
I suspect the voters in San Jose are on the forefront when it comes to pension reform.
No need to suspect, we already are on the forefront when we passed the pension measure last year. It's going to be a few lean years with rise in crimes, but once the dust settles, in the long run, we will be much better off.
Let's at least give props for our city for at least trying the unthinkable (pension measure). Let's give props to our city for at least growing some balls and suing for our future (ie the MLB suit).
As a resident who had lived here all his life, I can say that in no other time have I felt more optimism for my own city. There are going to be short-term upheavals, but we are bravely laying down the foundations for a more prosperous future.
The future is: no middle class, just rich and the poor, more corruption and H1B's being hired for pennies on the dollar over US graduates. Cost plenty to go to college, unless you get grants and scholarships and those will be even more competitive in the future, so much for affording the lifestyle that your grandparents lived since your job will be probably be filled by a H1B who doesn't mind working for nothing. Supply and demand, China and India are graduating hoards of Engineering graduates, China's economy is slowing and a few recruiters and HR managers I know tell me that 2/3rds of the applicants mainly from LinkedIn, are from India or China or some other place outside of the USA. I get tons of connection requests on LinkedIn from Chinese, Indian and Pakistani people I do not even know, asking me of I can hire them like WTF?
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