San Jose Mayoral Race and police "warning" (San Francisco: violent crime, salaries)

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by nagleepark

So, do you have security bars on all windows and metal gates on all doors and advocate that to all homeowners? Or is your assertion that those will never, ever be recommended in San Jose, no matter what happens, even if Cortese is elected, we go bankrupt and the police union sabotages and destroys the police force?

My recommendation is that it does not matter who gets elected, all homeowners should put be pro-active in providing security measures for their home above and beyond the "locks". I would recommend the same vigilance even if we have 5,000 cops, because they cannot be at all place at all time.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by nagleepark

I agree. I guess that you have to vote on emotion or vote on the smaller campaign promises or vote on what you personally know about the candidate. All told, I suspect that we are voting more on city hall's attitude than on the city's future which has preciously little flexibility.

End of the day, these guys are only here for 8 years top.

And like you said several pages back, it may just end in bankruptcy with both guys. So I suppose we just vote on whoever matches our principles the most.

Now that I think of it that way, I suppose I won't be too mad with a Cortese win Thank god for the Earthquakes and the Sharks, they'll take my mind away from these political pageantry

On another note, I think I may end up retiring in Morgan Hill. Just spent 3 days there this weekend (including Fri) and that town is pretty damn charming. The wine trail was an incredibly pleasant discovery! Now my girl and I are having regrets at not buying a townhouse down there 2 years ago

[Heidi60]

So, it looks like Sam won.

As San Jose residents, I think it is important to attend and speak up at counsil meets and be a loud voice for our neighborhoods. Politicians are just that; they need to be reminded who pays their salary and we need to be sure they act in our behalf. If cops don't like their pay and benefits, as other have said, then please don't take our tax dollars - we don't have the salaries typical of Palo Alto to pay you so just move on. Many of us do work hard for our dollar so as not to be on government gravy train so it is time that our work also be respected.

I used to work for a state government and while driving home at the end of the day, I felt glass was grinding in my stomach. No political system is perfect, but we can sure work to do a lot better than submitting to union bosses.

Best of luck to Sam and San Jose -we will be watching and speaking out.

[cardinal2007]

Looks like Cortese conceded, so the threat didn't get voters to vote for him. Now we will see how fast the police make good on that threat. I wonder if they are even going to respond to calls anymore.

[Heidi60]

If the police don't respond it will be a test of Sam's leadership ability.

In my option, if anyone doesn't want their job it is better for them to move on as there are people who do want to work.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

Looks like Cortese conceded, so the threat didn't get voters to vote for him. Now we will see how fast the police make good on that threat. I wonder if they are even going to respond to calls anymore.

If not, then I guess the next step is to vote to fire them all.

[nagleepark]

I really hope that Liccardo will find and follow the path that minimizes the damage from this crisis. I'll happily eat crow if he is an effective mayor despite being an ineffective rep for my district. If he destroys the city, though, I'll won't forget to say, "I told you so!"

No matter who won, it was a foregone conclusion that more police officers would leave the department in the near term and that recruiting would not yield enough officers to replace them. While it may feel good to say that we only need a small force of fiercely loyal, non-union officers, a city the size of San Jose needs a certain number of officers to keep patrols effective and to keep crime in check. For now, let's hope that Liccardo uses our limited resources as effectively as possible and crime victims recover as quickly as possible.

Let's also hope that he can move us through this crisis as fast as possible (hopefully only a few years) and get us to a point where both recruiting is effective and the compensation is affordable.

[bobby_guz_man]

I believe Sam won in part because Cortese's voters did not all show up at the polls. I'm sure Sam got voters from the other three candidates that were defeated back in June, but I'm thinking it's more that Cortese's voters didn't bother showing up.

I know of 3 colleagues who are Cortese backers, and they voted back in June. They did not vote this time. I asked them why and they didn't really give me any good reasons, but it sounds like they thought it might have been a foregone conclusion that Cortese would have won.

I almost didn't come out to vote, because I'm sick of the whole damn thing, and I also thought Cortese would won, seeing as how in the surveys he was a good 8-10 points lead over Liccardo. But I said what the hell and came to vote anyway.

Bottom line is EVERY VOTE COUNTS. And if you sit home for whatever reasons and did not get to the polls, you only have yourself to blame.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by nagleepark

I really hope that Liccardo will find and follow the path that minimizes the damage from this crisis. I'll happily eat crow if he is an effective mayor despite being an ineffective rep for my district. If he destroys the city, though, I'll won't forget to say, "I told you so!"

No matter who won, it was a foregone conclusion that more police officers would leave the department in the near term and that recruiting would not yield enough officers to replace them. While it may feel good to say that we only need a small force of fiercely loyal, non-union officers, a city the size of San Jose needs a certain number of officers to keep patrols effective and to keep crime in check. For now, let's hope that Liccardo uses our limited resources as effectively as possible and crime victims recover as quickly as possible.

Let's also hope that he can move us through this crisis as fast as possible (hopefully only a few years) and get us to a point where both recruiting is effective and the compensation is affordable.

I agree with you. This is not the time for Liccardo and his supporters to gloat. It's time to just get things done.

I think that sales tax ballot is going to be pretty important going forward. I hope Liccardo would have an easier campaign for the sales tax, now that he's seen in a slightly more "frugal" light than Cortese.

[bobby_guz_man]

By the way, I found a pretty good crime report link for the Bay Area for 2013. These stats came from the FBI.

Homicide down, but gains uneven in Bay Area crime - SFGate

Out of the 3 biggest cities, SJ has the most population, and the lowest number of violent crimes by far. SF has the same violent crime numbers as Oakland, but with 2x the population, you could say that SF is half as violent as Oakland. San Jose, meanwhile, with 2.5x the population of Oakland, has only half the number of violent crime as Oakland, so you can say that SJ is 1/5 as violent as Oakland.

Basically, San Francisco has twice the violent crime rate of San Jose, and Oakland has twice the violent crime rate of San Francisco.

By the way, SJ is the only city of the Big 3 to have a decrease in violent crime rate last year.

Keep in mind, SF has about 2x the number of police officers as SJ. Oakland has about 2/3 the number of police officers as SJ.

To me, it shows that SJ has a more productive police force AND a more peace-loving citizenry.