[ Silence ] [ Inspiring music ] [ Inspiring music continues ] >> Welcome to a very special edition of connect the Bay in partnership with Northern California Public Media, Creative San Jose and the League of Women Voters, San Jose, Santa Clara.

My name is Chad Johnston, CEO of Creative San Jose.

And today we're bringing you conversations with San Jose City Council candidates for district five, seven and nine.

We'll have 15 minutes to speak with each candidate, and we hope these conversations will help you better understand the candidates position on a variety of issues.

The questions were developed by the League of Women Voters, San Jose and Santa Clara, and each candidate will be asked the same questions and have one minute to respond.

We will be keeping time, and as moderator, I will be enforcing that limit.

Thank you very much for joining us.

We are now joined by candidate for candidate for district five, Nora Campos, former San Jose city councilwoman and former California state rep.

How are you today?

>> I'm doing great.

Thank you for having me here.

>> Thank you for coming down.

Well, we're going to jump right into it.

What is the most important thing you plan to accomplish if elected?

>> I think that's an important question, even if people think it's a basic question.

I have been walking the district in the primary, and the things that are on people's minds are quality of life.

The minute that they walk out their front door, do they feel safe?

Is the trash removed in their neighborhoods?

Can they go to their neighboring park?

Do they feel that they are safe when they go to the grocery store?

Those are the issues that people are really concerned about.

Homeless is an issue.

So those would be the things that I'll be focusing on, including affordable housing.

>> Great.

Thank you.

Well, that leads into our next question, which is affordability and housing.

And how do you plan or how do you balance new development with concerns about displacement of long term residents?

>> I think that as we think about the the city moving forward and where we're going to go, it is important that we think outside the box around affordable housing.

I think it's really crucial that we use the infrastructure that we have now, and I will work towards expanding on affordable housing, on transit corridors.

What I've heard from young people that have gone to college, and they want to stay here and they're still living with their parents, is that they can't afford to live here.

So I will work to make sure that we're creating housing on transit corridor.

Great.

>> Thank you.

We'll move now into neighborhood quality of life.

What approach would you take to addressing blight, illegal dumping, abandoned cars and unsafe parks in terms of code enforcement, city services or something else?

>> Well, first of all, I'm going to work with my colleagues to prioritize what is important for the residents in San Jose.

East San Jose is like no other district.

The issues that are important to them is the abandoned vehicles that are in their neighborhoods, which means that they can't park in their neighborhoods.

And I will work with the city to come up with a special project, and hopefully a pilot project that shows that we can remove that and work with the industries that remove the abandoned vehicles and blight.

When I was there in 2001 to 2010, we had a full time code inspector that just focused on East San Jose.

>> Great.

Moving on to immigration, what would you do to help residents access legal help, health care and other city services, regardless of immigration status?

>> You know, that's such an important issue right now.

And one of the things that I want people to understand is that we're in an era where, you know, it's just not safe.

People don't feel safe in their neighborhoods.

They don't feel safe answering their front door.

And I think one of the things that we need to start looking at is how technology can reach our immigrant community so that they can get their phone.

If they get in a situation where they have no access to talk to anyone, that they can access an app.

And I know they're out there that says, sends a message to their loved ones, or sends a message to an attorney, or sends a message to their nonprofits that are serving, serving our immigration, our, our immigrant community.

>> Okay, excellent variety of topics.

Now, on to economic development.

What's your specific plan for revitalizing East San Jose, the commercial corridors and supporting small businesses?

>> Well, what I will say is that I will that's an area that I thrived on when I was there and I served.

I will continue to build on the policies that are in place and add to those so that we're encouraging the economic development to continue to thrive in East San Jose.

Mom and pop shops are having to close, and the city is not giving them the resources.

So being able to get someone that works with them full time, that they have access that can help them access capital, that can help them access information, that can help them access the tools that they need, so they can continue to be able to thrive in the community that they want to and provide for their families, because that's what it's about.

Our small businesses are entrepreneurs, and they're providing for their families so that they can be able to continue to thrive in the area that they want to thrive in.

Economic development is an area when I took on Story and King, that was a project of $100 million.

>> Thank you.

On to some climate.

>> Yes.

>> Given San Jose's San Jose residents is.

Concerns regarding the impact of data centers on the environment, electricity rates, water and air pollution.

What, if any, specific new standards on data centers, data center developments would you support in City Hall?

>> Well, first of all, we know that what we're hearing on the national news is pretty scary.

Of the data centers, we know that technology continues to evolve.

And I think one of the things that I'm going to make sure that is a standard.

I understand this is going before the council in December.

One of the things that I will make sure, whether it's addressed then or we amend the policy when I get there, is that we need to make sure that resources that should be going to the community, whether it's the water and the electricity, is not taken away because the data centers come into.

And also being able to create smaller footprints in the city of San Jose and in our communities.

And one of the most important things that I will make sure is that, is that we're getting input from the community.

The community should be able to be at the table when the city is creating these standards for people to be able to build their data centers.

>> Thank you.

Government and process, particularly in district five.

How do you plan to engage residents, many of whom face language barriers in that city decision making process?

>> Well, first of all, if they haven't continued to keep the policy in place, that translates from English to whatever your preferred language is.

That will be my number one priority, because it is important for the community to be able to have information in a in a timely manner so that they know what is being discussed and so that they can get involved.

The other thing that I will make sure in district five is to activate neighborhood associations, making sure that every community has a neighborhood association where that I can go out and talk to them like I'm talking to you face to face.

It is so crucial that the community has input on policies that are being proposed in the city of San Jose.

So that's my number one priority for the community when we're talking about community involvement.

I will also make sure that we are giving access to people that can't come in person so that they can give their comments.

>> Great.

Thank you.

Moving on to public safety.

How do you view the balance between policing, police funding and investment in community based prevention programs?

>> So one of the things that I've heard is that people want to feel safe in their neighborhoods.

And I have to say that the community has been concerned that when they call the police, that they're not responding in a timely manner, which means that we need to get the resources, we need to make sure that we're fully staffed.

We're one of the biggest cities in California and in the United States.

We need to be able to reflect that in our public safety, whether it's police or whether it's fire.

And I will make sure that we continue to move forward in creating a budget that is able to fully staff our public safety departments.

If you don't feel safe in your neighborhood, you're not going to feel that you can walk out your front door.

So that is something that I will definitely work towards.

And if that means redistricting, allocating money in a different way, then we need to do that.

>> Thank you.

We'll go on to a closing statement here.

What what in your background makes you the right fit for district five right now?

>> Well, I think the fact that I served on the City Council, the fact that I served in the state Assembly, I bring a unique lens to the table and to the leadership, because I understand how Sacramento works.

I can bridge the two together, whether it's funding, whether it's resources, whether it's relationships.

And sometimes there's a barrier there on getting things done.

We can get things done with just the city budget, but can you imagine to be able to partner and be able to have access to resources that are in Sacramento so that we can bridge those gaps when we have gaps?

That's a game changer on being able to create housing.

I'm making sure that our public safety department is fully staffed.

I'm making sure that the basic issues on your quality of life are addressed, and making sure that our children that want to live here have a future here in San Jose.

That's the unique lens I bring to the table and the unique leadership I bring to the table.

So having said that, I hope you consider voting for Nora Campos for San Jose City Council, district five.

>> Thank you.

Former council.

City councilwoman, former California State Assembly Rep Nora Campos running for district five.

Thank you so much for the time.

>> Thank you for having me.

>> Appreciate it.

>> And now we're going to speak with current Council member for district five running for a second term, Councilmember Peter Ortiz.

How are you?

>> I'm doing very well.

Happy to be here.

>> Great.

Thanks for thanks for coming down.

We're just going to start right off the bat.

So what's the most important thing you plan to accomplish if elected?

>> Great.

Great question.

For my next four years, I am going to be laser focused on economic development in East San Jose.

There's no question that historically, when the city has made its investment decisions, when they've been allocating resources, East San Jose has been an afterthought.

And that's why I've launched the San Jose Economic Revitalization Framework to encourage philanthropic, government and private dollars to come in to East San Jose while also being on the ground organizing local business associations.

Just this last budget cycle, I secured a grant to start the East East Story Road Business Association along Story Road to essentially mimic our great progress along alum Rock, cultivating economic impact.

>> Excellent.

Thank you.

We're going to talk about affordability and housing now.

>> Of course.

>> How do you balance new development with concerns about displacement of longtime residents?

>> You know, that's that's a great question and one that I, you know, face head on.

I am a renter.

I grew up in a working class home.

I know what it's like to experience foreclosure as a young individual.

And I know what it's like to unfortunately be unhoused.

And so when it comes to making decisions on the dais around affordability, I will always champion our working men and women and people who have contributed so much to our our city.

I'm very proud of the progress we've made in East San Jose, specifically around alum Rock developing affordable housing.

Another policy that I'm really proud of is the introduction and passing of the Tenant Preference ordinance, so that when we build this affordable housing, a certain percentage of these units actually go to the residents who live in the designed area.

And then as we talk about economic revitalization and new investment, it's important that current residents, especially our vulnerable ones, have a seat on the table.

And that's my commitment to my residents.

>> Excellent.

Now, sort of neighborhood quality of life.

What approach would you take to address to address blight, illegal dumping, abandoned cars and unsafe parks in terms of code enforcement, city services or something else?

>> I'm really glad that you mentioned this being the representative for East San Jose.

I deal with issues like abandoned vehicles, blight, unkept parks on a daily basis.

And if you look at our previous council meetings, I've been at the forefront of both holding the city accountable for results for our residents, because it's not just about allocating money, but also making sure that the city is properly investing in beautify SJ in park maintenance, and making sure that we are maintaining our areas for the greater public.

This last budget cycle, I secured a grant to expand beautify SJ specifically for my district to do a targeted abatement of illegal dumping, of littering, and of helping homeless people get off the streets.

So East San Jose does have its share of blight and unhoused individuals, but I'm making sure that the city is investing properly in our level of need.

>> Yeah, it's a complicated issue.

>> Yeah.

It's not something that's you can't just flip a switch and then fix that issue.

>> Exactly.

Immigration.

What what would you do to help city residents access legal help, health care and city services, regardless of immigration status?

>> You know, as the as the council member for district five, I take this, you know, this topic very personally.

I have been the leader on the council when it comes to immigrant rights.

When Ice first increased its activity here in South Bay, it started in my district on the street corner of King and Story.

And so I'm a member of the Rapid Response Network.

I've been advocating from the dais to, to invest in the Rapid Response Network.

And I'm proud to say that before I was on the dais, we only raised $15,000, spent $15,000 annually on the Rapid Response Network.

I've increased that to $1 million.

And so when when our community is hit hardest, I've been the council member to stand up and fight back.

>> Excellent.

>> Going through all the issues, economic development.

What's your specific plan for revitalizing East San Jose's commercial corridors and supporting small businesses?

>> I'm glad you.

I'm glad you mentioned that this these last four years, I have been focused on building out a foundation along the alum Rock Santa Clara Street corridor.

Years ago, before I was a councilmember, I helped start.

I helped start that business association.

Since I've been in office, I've helped launch a business improvement district, which is similarly what they do in downtown Willow Glen to do events to put up new art pieces.

This is the first one in district five.

I've been able to make that a reality.

When the city was talking about entertainment zones, they wanted to do that all in downtown San Jose.

I said, nope, you're going to do that here in East San Jose.

When the Super Bowl and the World Cup were coming, you're not going to have a sports event without East San Jose.

And so I'm going to make sure East San Jose gets its fair share and gets the attention it needed to build that foundation to, to finally see that level of investment, both private and public, that we deserve.

>> Well, here's a conversation happening a lot in our in our city right now.

Given given San Jose.

Oh, residents concerns regarding the impact of data centers on the environment, electricity rates, water and air pollution, what, if any, specific new standards on data center developments would you support in City Hall?

>> I'm glad you mentioned that.

You know, it's funny, every single topic that you've mentioned, my office and myself have been a leader at the forefront of these discussions back.

You know, data centers isn't something new.

We're here in Silicon Valley.

I'll be honest with individuals.

We've had data centers way before.

Individuals were talking about them on TikTok.

Right?

And so it's, it's a trade off with me.

I'm always going to go back to the environment.

I'm always going to go back to community protections because I prioritize vulnerable residents.

That's why I've pushed both of these new memos.

I've partnered with the mayor, Councilmember Cohen and Domingo, to introduce these policies, to have this discussion on environmental framework.

We need it on environmental impacts.

We need to make sure we're protecting ratepayers because it's not, you know, Tom, Dick and Harry's job to pay for these huge impacts to our utilities to make sure that we actually have the foundation needed to support these data centers, because it's not just about building them, but how do we make sure it doesn't impact blackouts and other service cuts to our residents?

And so I'm confident we have a plan in the works.

I'm confident that we're going to present something that works.

>> Excellent, particularly for your district, how do you plan to engage residents, many of whom face language barriers in decision in city decision making?

>> I'm, you know, very important topic, especially in East San Jose.

In my district, we are very diverse, probably one of the most diverse districts in the city, a thriving Portuguese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and of course, our Spanish speaking Mexican Colombian community.

I've been intentional with how I've approached my my residents, majority of my staff is multilingual.

We bring in translators to all of our town halls.

All of my documentation that I print and share on social media, I make sure that it is translated because if my residents aren't receiving what I've been doing, aren't receiving proper updates from me, then I'm not properly doing my job.

And so my goal is to reduce as many barriers as possible to civic participation.

>> Excellent.

>> How do you view the balance between police funding and investment in community based prevention programs?

>> You know, this is a very important topic.

I started out in in activism, specifically in the criminal justice reform arena.

I was, you know, system impacted growing up.

My family was system impacted growing up.

And so that's always kind of been my north star of how do we make sure we're not over criminalizing the same youth that the city or, or our school districts have been failing because they've been falling through the cracks.

You know, I authored the memo during my first budget in office for the city to fund trust, which is that alternative first responders program for individuals who are maybe having substance abuse, mental health problems.

The city needs to continue to fund these types of programs.

This I'm also on the Youth Empowerment Alliance, where we we fund things like new Hope for youth Gang Intervention, Clean Slate program.

And I specifically am partnering with Somos Mayfair and other organizations to engage our youth in a positive way through the Children and Youth Master Plan, not just about hurting them when they make mistakes.

>> Excellent.

>> Well, what in your background makes you the right fit for district five right now?

>> That's that's a great question.

I have a very unique background.

You know, I'm very much an outsider when it comes to local politics.

I'm not the type of person who's just going to defend the bureaucracy, defend the status quo.

Because as somebody who personally, I lived in a house that was under foreclosure, I saw what it was like for my mom to work long hours just to keep rent over, over, keep, keep us in a house, pay rent, keep a roof over our heads.

I understand that, you know, our governments are failing our residents every, every day.

And so I'm not going to mince my words.

I'm going to hold government department heads accountable.

I'm going to prove to the city that East San Jose is worth the same amount of attention, the same amount of resources, and the same amount of investment that other parts of our region have seen.

And we were doing that.

We brought millions of dollars over this last term to district five, and I'm going to continue to do that to make sure our families get the resources and support they deserve.

>> Current council member for district five running for a second term.

Councilmember Peter Ortiz, pleasure.

Thank you so much for chatting with us.

>> Happy to be here.

>> I appreciate you.

>> And now we're going to speak with current Council member for district seven running for a second term, Bien Doan.

How are you?

>> Oh, fantastic.

Thank you for having me here.

>> Thanks so much for coming down.

It's a pleasure to see you again.

We're going to jump right into the questions.

So what's the one thing residents most misunderstand about what a district council member can actually do, and how do you respond to that?

>> Well, one of the things that they they misunderstand is that they think we have this unlimited power to make things change overnight.

As you well know, in the city, the county, the states, everything takes time to implement the policy, to make changes.

And I look at the government as a whole.

I don't look at just very small minute areas like some people expect me to go, oh, go find them housing.

And I go, no, that's, that's part of the county.

And that's how we move forward.

Now also, people would love to me for me to go find them a job.

Yes, I can direct you to, you know, the website, the county, the state and so on.

And it's on your own capability to do so if you qualify.

>> Great.

Thank you.

>> We're going to move on to public safety and community trust.

So how would you balance funding for policing with investment in prevention programs like youth services, mental health, homeless outreach, etc.

>> Well, number one, it's the number one pillar of our community safety.

If you don't have safety, you're not going to have other programs because without safety, we're going to have lots of crime.

We're not going to have business investment right here in this city.

So how do you balance it?

Is that right now we only have 1000 police officers.

We should be at 2000.

I'm very supportive of public safety.

As a former fire captain, I work with our PD department all the time, and I want to make sure that we also invest millions of dollars in the what you call San Jose, San Jose Youth Empowerment Alliance, and then lots of prevention to make sure our youth is not going to join gangs or doing a lot of mischievous activities.

And then on top of that, we make sure that we support like the work work force, helping the youth to, to work right here in the city of San Jose.

>> Great.

>> Thank you.

Now on to affordability and housing.

What what's your plan for addressing homelessness in the district, including encampments and access to services?

>> Okay.

Well, that was a little confusing.

Affordability.

And then we went right into homelessness.

Right.

So but homelessness is, you know, our city has done an incredible job in reducing the amount of homeless right here in the city of San Jose.

We have built over 2000 units of emergency interim housing, and we continue to build emergency interim housing to shelter.

First of all, we have to have a plan, a clear plan to remove or move our residents or unsheltered residents away from the element to save their lives and to some type of program, including what you call mental illness, drug addiction, wraparound services with job training, job placement and mentoring ship.

So there will become help them on their feet.

So that way they can be part of the community.

And I have a very clear plan in my website, you know, district seven at San Jose, ca.gov, explain how we're going to do all those things.

>> Excellent infrastructure and city services.

What are your top three infrastructure priorities?

Streets, sidewalks, storm drains, parks or something else?

And and how do you plan to fund those?

>> Well, the city is is behind on the infrastructure.

So what we need to do is be more efficient with the money that we have and be more effective in maintaining the infrastructure that we have.

That's talking about.

Well, number one, the the cleanliness of the city.

You know, as you see, our streets now are being paved at almost 90% of the streets are being paved.

We have what you call free dumpster day.

We clean after from street cleaning and removing all the garbage that illegal dumpers.

We also caught about, I believe, about 104 illegal dumper.

And we're going to use some of that money to keep our streets, continue to be clean and safe, and reduce our amount of unsheltered.

That would help our city quite a bit.

And including we also have a program, what you call free pickup versus dumping your garbage out in the street.

You call three, you know, look, get on the website three, one, one and register and we'll come pick it up for free.

>> Excellent.

Thank you.

Talk a little bit about community representation.

How do you plan to engage residents who feel disconnected from City Hall, either because of language access, cultural responsiveness, or something else in city services and communication?

What's your outreach strategy?

>> Well.

>> You know, I don't just represent the Vietnamese community.

I represent all community, including the Hispanic community, but I have translation in multiple languages.

Having office, our off site, that's allowed the constituent to come to me with their needs, their concerns.

And not only that, by using our businesses, I support small businesses and large businesses using our businesses as for example, a restaurant, right?

You got hundreds or even a thousand visitors.

That's one way to get the message out there to the constituents.

I use radio, I use television, I use social media, I use my newsletter in order to reach the mass constituent that we have within the city of San Jose.

And I also go out there on enormous amount of events to make sure that I'm out there knowing and listening and hearing what their needs and their concerns are.

And I'm proud to to be the council member for district seven.

>> Thank you.

Go to budget and fiscal policy.

With San Jose's ongoing budget pressures, what city services would you protect first, and where would you look to cut or to find efficiencies?

>> Well, we have 268 services.

Out of those.

We have 95 core services.

We definitely need to protect our public safety to make sure every citizen, every business and visitor and worker in the city feels safe when they come here.

And only then are our economy will will continue to prosper.

Now we have to be very efficient and effective in what we do by reducing the redundancy program that we have, moving that money to where it's most needed, what you call the core services.

Now for, for example, we have again, the police and fire.

We we have not have enough police and fire in the Metropolitan.

We should be out.

2000 police officers and 1000 firefighters.

And by investing in the core services only then our city will economically thrive.

>> Thank you.

Climate related question here.

An AC to heat pump reach code requiring replacement of most AC's with a heat pump at burnout narrowly failed at City council last year.

Would you support efforts to bring it, bring it back and pass it?

If not, what other policies and programs would you pursue to speed up building electrification and help San Jose residents afford cleaner, safer, cost saving electric home appliances?

>> Okay, well, PG and E have made a commitment to the City of San Jose $1.5 billion to upgrade the grid system.

We also have less power, who has also joined the City of San Jose to create more more electric electrification.

Now, regarding heat pumps and electrical appliances, there's a balance.

A lot of our constituents are elderly and they live on a very limited income.

So I would make sure there a policy that protects or at least grandfathered them in until their appliance fail.

I myself just recently changed from, you know, your normal heating air conditioning to heat pump.

And I think it's a great way to move our city to the future.

But there is a balance.

We I would definitely support it with policy that help our residents, including PG and E, to certain rebates to meet the new requirements.

>> Excellent.

Thank you.

Economic development and small businesses.

How do you how do you plan to attract investment for foot traffic.

Investment or foot traffic to commercial corridors that have struggled.

>> Well, first of all, we we as Council have have voted to reduce the permitting time.

We have given incentive for investor and the growth of downtown.

And we're hoping to do that throughout the city of San Jose to create more businesses on the commercial corridor.

What we need to do is have a better.

If you could say the marketing CEO that advertise the city of San Jose and the growth and the safety nets city, San Jose, we are the capital of Silicon Valley.

We are going to become the AI hub.

We want to make sure that business, not only large business, but small businesses, thrive by advertising, by giving incentive, by letting our citizens know that we have events right downtown every single day.

But a lot of our residents don't know.

And not only that, like, for example, in district seven, we have the Happy Hollow Zoo, the History Park, the Barracuda, the shark eyes.

Those are the things that our communities should come together.

Thank you.

To know.

>> We're going to wrap up here.

What in your background makes you the right fit for district seven right now?

>> Well, first of all, I've been in office for four years and we've done incredible work for the underserved community.

We protected our immigrants.

We support our small businesses and large businesses.

We have clean up the streets, reduce the amount of unsheltered residents, and we build more housing than ever now.

And not only that, not only we work on the affordability by not only building low income housing, affordable housing, and including market rate housing, we now reduce again the large amount of homeless we have placed into EIH.

We are the safest city, largest city in the nation.

And as a former fire captain, I know what it is to to build a safe city.

I work with our police department with the experience that I have, not only as a fire captain, as a project manager, as a psych nurse, I understand the need for mental illness and drug addiction to reduce the amount of unsheltered residents we have right here in the city of San Jose.

>> Thank you so much.

Thank you for taking time out with us today.

We've been speaking with current Council member for district district seven running for a second term.

Bien Doan, I appreciate your time.

>> Well, thank you so much.

I'm looking to serve us another four years.

>> Thank you.

>> And now we're going to speak with candidate for district seven, Van Le.

How are you today?

>> I'm fine.

Thank you.

>> Thank you for joining us and for taking the Time Out.

>> TV, as well as the League of Women Voters of San Jose and Santa Clara.

It's my honor to be here today.

Great.

And to get the message out to the community and to the residents of district seven.

>> Wonderful.

Well, we will just jump right in.

All right.

What's the one thing residents most misunderstand about what a council member can actually do, and how do you respond to that?

>> So one thing that I talked to our resident, when I knock on the door, what they told me is the communication from City of San Jose throughout the community to district seven.

Some of them did not receive it and they don't know what's going on.

So I think it's something that it's looking to for the transparency as well as accountable for all of those decision makers at City Hall.

So I hope that's something that the community want to hear, understand how city government works and how could they participate.

In.

>> Thank you.

Excellent.

We're going to move on to public safety and community trust.

How would you balance funding for police policing with investment in prevention programs like youth services, mental health response, homeless outreach, etc.

>> Well, public safety is one of the district seven residents most concerns, as well as other areas, you know, in city of San Jose.

And I believe that when I went out and talked to all of those thousands of households, and everyone feels that they want to feel safe in their neighborhoods, in their homes, as well as their business.

So public safety, I believe that we need to have more visible officer presence like in the neighborhood as well as businesses.

And also we're going to have to work and support the services as a police so they can have protect more of the residents instead of because all of those paperwork, we can give it to shift to AI so they can work on this, you know, time so they can protect more and engage with the community.

>> Thank you.

We'll move on to affordability and housing.

What's your plan for addressing homelessness in the district, including encampments and access to services?

>> Yes, I believe that City of San Jose has put a lot of money budget for and camping, and also a lot of homeless tent.

And I know that we still have a lot of people that come right back to our city of San Jose to corner.

I believe we need to have prevention program because if you don't have the like a rental assistance, someone that lost their job and they going to have to have to give up their space or their home because they couldn't afford to live in this Bay area.

So if we can look into all of those issues, all of those story, then we can help them before they fall into the crack.

So I think it's prevention is very important and we need to work together with county, and we going to remove all of those similar program between city and county so we can have a better program to support our homeless encampment.

>> Thank you.

Now we'll look at infrastructure and city services.

What are your top three infrastructure priorities streets, sidewalks, storm drains, parks or something else?

And and how would you fund them?

>> Well, okay, so I think infrastructure is very important.

Just like when people live in the area that much more condensed, they couldn't find the parking and they have more chaos, the more other people going to have dispute.

And I think it's also traffic is also important because a lot of traffic's right now, you know, in the street, people can get one place to another.

So we have to synchronize the light and we're going to find the report that where is the most incident happen or accident happen.

We're going to have to bring back, you know, the report for the area that need maybe speed bump, or we going to look into the area that we have need the parks and rec, you know, that open space for quality of life for the community.

So I believe that the town hall could get into the community so they can understand and they can voice their opinion.

And right now, I want to have that kind of transparency.

And the leaders should listen to the community, to the residents.

>> Well, on that note, talk about community representation.

How do you plan to engage residents who feel disconnected from City Hall because of maybe language access, cultural responsiveness, or something else in those city services and communication?

What's your what's your outreach strategy?

>> Well, in my Eastside Union High School District, I have experienced something, and I know that I always ask the staff to have a recruit more languages staff to serve better for our community.

And I know that we need to have maybe more town hall meeting or maybe small business as well as small meeting so we can understand and we have staff represent the group to understand, to work with the community and to listen to their voice.

Because right now, if we don't listen, we don't know what they need and how can we help them?

To me, that's very important.

We want to reach out, but we need to listen to them.

It's right now, I don't think the leader has time or listen to them.

And there's a lot of complaint.

And as well as the community, you know, mentioned to me that, you know, when they call responsive is not have answer.

So I think that's something that we need to work together to improve it.

>> Thank you.

Similarly, budget and fiscal policy is the next one, what with with San Jose's ongoing budget pressures, right.

What city services would you protect first and where would you look to cut or find efficiencies?

>> Well, I know that city has close with 50.3 million shortfall.

And for fiscal year 2627.

And I know that the city must prioritize is the core is with police and fire protections, street and infrastructure maintenance, and clean and safe neighborhood services that produce measurable outcomes.

The city budget by 151.5 million for homeless program in 2526, plus 5.6 million.

I want to have a accountable report.

How many homeless shelters have done?

How many baths?

How many?

How many homeless that we being supported and how many people that being in the rehab and when do they come back?

Do we provide enough job for them to come back to work?

And all of those things is really taking into consideration of the budget.

So we need to have a measurable report, and we're going to question where's that money come from and how are we going to handle it and report to the community?

>> Thank you.

Now we have a climate question.

The AC to heat pump reach code requiring replacement of the most AC with heat pumps that burn out that narrowly failed at City Council last year.

Would you support efforts to bring this back and pass it?

If not, what other policies or programs would you pursue to speed up building electrification and helping San Jose residents afford cleaner, safer, cost saving electric home appliances?

>> Yeah, electricity is also important, especially during the hot season.

And I know that a lot of seniors have been in trouble and really get in the house and really be heated.

And the health was is a concern as well as in the student, you know, for for our Eastside Union High School district, the students want to play on one of those basketball.

And, you know, the gyms really did not have the heat.

And it's really, really heated, you know, outside.

So I think that we need to have a program.

We're looking to some way that we have some revenue to provide it, and maybe the shelter to help those seniors.

When it's really hot, they can go and we have to have some transportation for them and we make it easier for them.

So sometimes that if they can't afford it, electric, electrical and electricity bill.

So we need to provide the best way that we keep them safe and work.

>> Thank you.

Economic development and small businesses.

How do you plan to attract investment or foot traffic to the commercial corridors that have struggled?

>> That's a very good question, Chad.

I'm a small business owner and I know how hard it is, how challenging it is.

What I want to say that we need a three issue.

We want to bring a customer to the business.

So we want to create more cultural event.

Festival event must be like the last time we have a the World Cup and we brought a lot of people come to the business, right?

Even though I know that it's a little Saigon.

And we also have the theater, we have the war, we have the all of them.

We promote, you know, the culture, we promote also for the business.

But I want to say that we need to really look into we all of those barrier permitting, you know, and how can we connect with the services for economic development, for the services that we provide, like a grant or loan or, you know, technology support because city need to go with them, not they have to come with the city.

>> Thank you.

We'll close up here with this question.

What in your background makes you the right fit for D7 right now?

>> All right.

Well, I am a a small business owner and I have served Eastside Union High School District for 16 years, including board president.

And I have involved and served the community for more than 40 years.

I'm also a did work for City of San Jose Redevelopment Agency for more than 13 years.

As my background.

All I want is to continue the community to serve the community and I love this district serving the most lower income, you know, average for working family.

And I want to support them.

And we want to lift up our younger generation and the quality of life, because if we don't have the younger generation and the older generation, we will not help uplift the community.

And I want to work and I want to serve the community with my background, and I want to have the experience and also as accountable leadership, as well as independent voice.

>> Thank you so much Van Le.

Candidate for district seven.

Thank you so much for coming down and talking with us.

>> Thank you Chad.

Thank you, thank you.

Great TV and League of Women Voters.

And I think it's a pleasure for me, and I think this is very important for the resident, the district seven, to know which candidate is the best to serve them.

>> Well.

Thank you.

>> Now we're going to speak with candidate for district nine, Genny Altwer.

>> Hi.

>> We're going to start here.

Just tell us what in your experience and background makes you a good fit for district nine right now.

>> Right.

Well, thank you for having me here.

I'm really excited to be here today.

You know, I grew up in San Jose.

So for me, this is home.

I grew up in district nine specifically, and I had two parents who were public servants.

Both went to San Jose State.

They were both Spartans, followed in their footsteps, went to Sjsu myself, and after that I went to into a career of law enforcement.

And the city of San Mateo hired me.

For the next 14 years or so I worked as a police officer.

I worked in several different departments.

I worked as a field training officer, sexual assault detective, and following that, I saw the stressors that the job had on my peers.

So I went back to school and became a therapist.

And now I have a private practice here in the district or in district nine, where I work with first responders and essential workers.

So with that real life boots on the ground experience, I think it makes for a unique combination to work on city council and serve our our community here in San Jose.

>> Excellent.

Thank you.

We're going to talk public safety and policing.

Where do you stand on the use of the city's use of automatic license plate reader cameras, and what safeguards would, would, would you require around data sharing with outside agencies, including federal immigration authorities?

>> Right.

This is a huge topic at the doors.

When I'm out knocking on the doors, people are very curious about what's happening right now at the Real Time Intelligence Center.

That's what San Jose Police Department has named their their center.

I'm happy to say I've been there and been inside and see how it works and operates.

And we have a police department who cares very much about solving crime and solving it quickly.

And that's what these tools allow us to do.

And surveillance, you know, I think it's become a scary word for people, and rightfully so, because there's been some instances of misuse.

And when it comes to data collection, we as a council have to be very mindful about how we work with the police department to make sure that we're accurately recording data, auditing the data, and creating barriers that are difficult enough so that we do make our police department have to put in a case number to be able to access information.

And also, how long do we store this information for?

It used to be 30 days.

Now we're moving back towards seven days.

So those are the things I'm interested in understanding.

>> Great.

>> Thank you.

We'll move on to homelessness and housing.

How would you increase the supply of affordable and market rate housing in a district that's largely built out and suburban in character?

>> Yeah.

District nine is highly residential, and a lot of the homes and doors that I'm knocking on have folks living in them that have lived there as first time homeowners.

They've been there 30, 40, 50 years even.

But we all have to do our share in the city.

We all have to be a part of building housing where it makes sense to do so.

And I still think that that includes near our transit corridors, near where jobs are building downtown.

We have we're going to have a very exciting City Council meeting tomorrow talking about density and how we're going to define that within the city of San Jose.

And my job as a council person is to make sure I'm listening to my constituents, but also balancing how do we bring housing into our district, but also make sure that we're paying attention to things like infrastructure?

How do we support more housing on a single family home lot?

So this is a really layered issue.

That's hard to answer in a minute, but we do need more affordable housing to make sure that we can take care of our community.

>> Great.

>> Thank you.

Moving on to some budget and fiscal management topic, San Jose has faced recurring budget deficits.

What specific cuts or new revenue would you support and what's off the table?

>> I think the hottest topic right now are data centers bringing in revenue for the city of San Jose.

And I'm guessing there might be a question on data centers.

Don't go too deep into that right now.

But we have to be, you know, fiscally responsible about what we ask of our community members to pay in taxes.

And so sometimes that does mean the city has to make difficult cuts.

And I think that our city council has done a really fine job of balancing that to, you know, where we can still have core city services functioning at a level that takes care of our community.

So I'm not interested in cutting things like our police services or fire services, our city hall services.

Those are jobs that actually impact our city in a positive way and keep people safe.

And that's at the core foundation of my platform.

So that's where I will definitely not be making cuts.

>> Great.

>> Thank you.

Similarly, >> Growth, development and and neighborhood character.

How would you balance the state mandated housing growth targets with preserving the single family character of neighborhoods like Willow Glen and Cambrian Park?

>> Well, we've seen it happen already.

There have been new builds over on Bascom Avenue near where I live on Hoosier Avenue.

There's going to be, I think, seven seven story apartment complex going up there.

And I talked about infrastructure before, and I continue to say that if we're going to bring more housing onto a single family unit lot, we've got to make sure that the plumbing is in place.

We've got to make sure that we are honoring neighbors, home values and being mindful about that.

And, you know, I use the example that last year we paid my husband and I paid $7,000 to have our pipes cleaned out so that we could flush one toilet.

And if our neighbor happened to sell their home and build ten units on there, how is that going to impact the rest of the neighborhood?

If the infrastructure is not in place.

So whoever's on council just has to be really investigative about these things to make sure that, yes, we're bringing in more housing because we need it, but doing it strategically.

>> Thank you.

>> Similarly, around infrastructure and city services, what's your plan for maintaining or expanding city services, libraries, community centers, park maintenance?

Given the budget pressure, right.

>> And everything you just listed are core city services, because without all of those operating, we don't have a city that's functioning and we don't have communities that are thriving.

So making sure that we fund police and fire, making sure we fund the library system, making sure that we are taking care of our parks that provide environmental benefits for not just our humans that live here, but also the animals and all our our friends that we share the valley with.

And it's, it's not going to be an easy task to decide who gets what funding and moving that that funding around.

But I will always come back to what keeps people safe in their homes and out on the streets so that they can feel good about walking to their local park, so they can feel about walking to their local library and knowing that there are funded entities in place to make sure that they get a response when they call for help.

>> Excellent.

Thank you.

This is climate related, which you aptly predicted given San Jose residents concerns regarding the impact of data centers on the environment, electricity rates, water and air pollution.

What, if any, specific new standards on data center development developments would you support in City Hall?

>> I think with data centers right now, what I hear the most are concerns about water feedback loop systems, recycled water versus our our data centers going to come in and actually utilize our clean water as a city.

That, coupled with some of the other exposures from data centers that people are extremely concerned about.

Those are the things that I'm looking for as a council member.

In fact, I'm going to go to our data center soon so that I can see firsthand how they operate.

We know that in other cities like Santa Clara right next door, they've had data centers for years.

And, you know, if you asked a lot of people two years ago, most of us weren't talking about data centers.

So we're all on a big learning curve right now.

I think there's opportunity for data centers in San Jose if it's done responsibly.

And that's where the environmental factors come in.

And it is a huge concern.

And I hear people when they voice those concerns.

>> Excellent.

Thank you.

Moving on to transportation, what's your position on traffic calming by bike infrastructure and pedestrian safety improvements in the district?

>> In district nine, we've seen a lot of change, I would say, over the last several years when it comes to these road diets that have gone up and, you know, depending on which door you knock on, some people are in favor of them, some aren't.

You know, everyone should be able to get on their bicycle and ride safely on our streets.

As a former law enforcement police officer, I've seen firsthand the dangers of being out on the road, things that I'm concerned about and that I've heard from constituents at the door, things like e-bike use with our youth population speed continues to be the number one factor in accidents.

And this kind of relates back to staffing.

Our police department.

Our police department needs more numbers so that they can have their motor unit back out, patrolling and shooting radar on our streets to get speeds down.

So while I'm in favor of some of these policies to create more safety within our roads and our systems, it is more integrated than that.

We have to include law enforcement as well.

>> Great.

>> Thank you.

And in closing here, what's one thing residents misunderstand about what a district council member can actually do, and how would you respond to that?

>> You know, schools, schools comes up a lot at the doors.

When I'm out talking to community members.

They're very actively wanting to know what their city council is going to do about the school district.

And I think that's a really fair question, because there's been a lot of movement within our school districts and schools closing down in the last several months, especially in the surrounding neighborhoods of district nine and and our neighbors.

So I provide that education at the door that it's not necessarily under city Council's purview.

But my take away from that as a candidate is I hear people saying, well, can you work with our school districts?

Can you help and work together so that we feel like we have more knowledge and transparency around what's going on?

And that's my takeaway, is making sure that if I'm elected, that I have those strong relationships with our school boards and that we're all working together.

>> Excellent.

>> Thank you.

>> Genny, thank you so much for joining us today.

Genny is the candidate for district nine City Council.

And now we're going to speak with candidate for district nine Gordon Chester Gordon, how are you?

>> I'm wonderful.

How about yourself?

>> So far, so good.

Thanks for coming down today.

>> Thank you for having me.

Appreciate you.

>> We're going to jump just right into the questions.

So.

What in your experience and background, makes you a good fit for district nine right now?

>> Yeah.

Right now district nine needs somebody that has experience but also has a new vision.

I have 11 years of experience with the city of San Jose, and my past work experience includes working in child care, working in customer service, put all of that together, and we have a lot of policies that are going to be able to help district nine, especially when it comes to safety and sustainability.

I also want to note I have a small stutter, so if that comes out, I appreciate you helping me out and post.

>> You're good.

Thank you so much.

We're going to dive into a question about public safety and policing.

Where do you stand on the city's use of automated license plate reader cameras, and what safeguards would you require around data sharing with outside agencies, including federal immigration authorities?

>> I do not believe we should be sharing that information.

I do believe that FLoC, as a company has proven themselves time and time again, most especially just recently, irresponsible in not allowing a a concrete area for information to be contained within the city that's operating it.

So I don't trust FLoC as a company, though I do know that Alpr can be useful to be able to solve crimes.

We should be working with somebody that's going to be able to develop something just for us.

>> Okay, great.

Thank you.

>> Talk a little bit about housing here.

How would you increase the supply of affordable and market rate housing in a district that's largely built out and suburban in nature?

>> Well, tomorrow will be an interesting day.

We have our general plan amendment recommendations that are coming through right now.

We have actually allowed three units on every lot, and their recommendation is to extend that to four units.

What it actually does allow is more flexibility in how we build those out.

That's how we help a lot of market rate.

What we also can do with affordable housing is making sure that we have a use measure E to be more equal distribution.

As far as our investment as a city.

And so that way we can see and promote those, especially where transportation is very helpful in those neighborhoods.

It's going to be incredibly helpful.

>> Great.

Thank you.

Now on to some budget and fiscal management.

San Jose has faced recurring budget deficits.

Yes.

What specific cuts or new revenue would you support?

And and what's off the table?

>> Well, I think making an investment in a few small and key staffing areas is going to help streamline housing production.

But also, we have a focus that I've been promoting to have small businesses integrated into our neighborhood.

What that does is it increases the property tax revenue just from, you know, developing that land.

But what it really does is having that mixed use actually allows for more tax revenue from sales tax to be given to the city.

So that way we can be invested in the way that we want and expect district nine to.

Definitely, it feels the heat when it comes to property tax.

And so what they want to see and feel is like they're invested in.

And that's the best way that we can do it.

And to make sure that our city employees are paid in a way that keeps up with the standard of living.

>> Thank you.

>> Similar vein around growth, development, neighborhood character.

How do you balance the state mandated housing growth targets with preserving single family character of the neighborhoods like Willow Glen and Cambrian Park?

>> Yeah, actually, I've had a lot of support to be able to integrate mixed use neighborhoods, and they feel like it is part of the character of the neighborhood that they want to be able to have for the future, not just for them now, but they're also thinking about their kids, their grandkids, to make sure that San Jose is a place that can grow to meet the needs of not just today, but the future.

And to allow that to be able to happen is really important to a lot of voters.

One thing that we like to be able to do is just talk to the neighborhoods we meet at a home and school clubs and PTAs.

We meet at neighborhood associations, and we listen for what's more tolerable.

And different neighborhoods have different tolerances.

And I know that sometimes seeing is believing.

So if we have neighborhoods that are more accepting of more growth, that's great.

We'll make sure that we can focus there.

So that way people can see this can be done responsibly and helpfully.

>> Excellent.

Thank you.

Infrastructure and city services.

What's your plan for maintaining or expanding services?

Libraries, community center, park and maintenance?

Given all the budget pressures?

>> Well, certainly driving up the tax revenue is going to be a necessity.

More than half of our tax revenue comes from property and sales tax.

So we need to make sure that we don't push anybody out.

We welcome a little bit of growth.

We focus growth on and where it can be maintained.

And also focus infrastructure needs where we have the ability to grow.

You know, we, I, I work in public works and I look at maps for a living and know where the sanitary and storm infrastructure can allow that growth.

And I know that we under utilize that right now.

And so we can definitely be more sustainable in our practices when it comes to land use and allowing that development along those corridors, and then also making sure we invest in more water wise policies around our parks as well to make sure that they stay open, but also using less water.

>> Thank you.

>> Similar vein, climate, given San Jose residents concerns regarding the impact of data centers on the environment, electricity rates, water and air pollution, what, if any, specific new standards on data center developments would you support in City Hall?

>> I'm going to be listening to we have a a conversation right now where residents are putting input on data centers and how they're going to be developed in the future.

I'll be listening directly to them to make sure that you know their standards while high.

We make sure that we hear the residents and make sure that they're going to be protected because we are people first.

But we also want to make sure that, you know, this is.

Your question was pretty broad as well.

When it comes to the environment.

You know, I think about also transportation.

We're decades behind in transportation infrastructure.

So we'd like to also make sure that we have a vision for how we connect San Jose through more transportation options than we currently have today.

And it's a, it is admittedly a long term vision, but somebody has to be able to speak up about it.

>> Thank you.

>> Speaking of transportation, you just lead.

What's your position on traffic calming bike infrastructure and pedestrian safety improvements in the district?

>> You know, I'm serious about safety.

And I take it serious because I've listened to the needs of the community.

I, like I said, gone to home and school clubs, gone to PTAs, neighborhood associations.

Our families want to make sure that their kids are safe and able to be out walking and biking, taking public transit on their own, and what they need in order to feel safe is that infrastructure.

So I think we need better bike lanes right now.

That is a huge, huge vocal from our residents.

And to make sure that we have the sidewalks, crosswalks, the bulb outs, all the technical things that communities really need to feel safe.

>> Excellent.

>> We'll close with what's one thing residents most misunderstand about what a district council member can actually do, and how do you respond to that?

>> Council member is not the mayor of their council district.

They are one of 11 votes.

And what we can do about that is actually local and statewide.

We are an advocate, a partner, both to our city council members throughout the city and to our state members and our Congress members.

So being able to have informed those connections is incredibly important.

That's where I will be listening to district nine residents advocating on their behalf at each level, whether we're talking city, county, state and federal.

>> Excellent.

Candidate for district nine, Gordon Chester, thank you so much for taking the time out to chat with us.

>> Appreciate you.

>> So much.

Appreciate your time.

>> Have a great day, y'all.

>> I'm Chad Johnston.

Thanks for joining us for connect the Bay with Northern California Public Media, create TV, San Jose and the League of Women Voters, San Jose and Santa Clara.

We look forward to seeing you next time.

Take care.

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