Transcript of Irene Smith’s comments at September 9, 2023 San Jose Downtown Association Candidate Forum
Introduction
I’m running because our neighborhoods are in crisis. Crime. Homelessness. Blight. Boarded up Downtown. And let’s just speak frankly: this decay is happening because the current policies and system at City Hall are just not cutting it. They are slow, expensive, ineffective, and unaccountable. And when we see these patterns we must ask — Who benefits from all this? Big Benefits. Big government, big business, big nonprofits, big special interests. Who loses? Little loses. You, me, our neighborhoods. The guy living on the sidewalk being asked if he can stay there just five more years while we build, the mom-and-pop business owners struggling to survive.
We need radically new voices, and we need to ask ourselves, what experience does D3 need? I have the expertise treating the mentally ill, providing housing, and balancing big budgets. And I am the only one sitting at this table who has these critical skills.
Thank you for inviting me and listening to my ideas and plans.
Q: What is your position on reimagining the San Jose Police Department?
“It’s dubious when my opponent says he supports the police, when his political alliances and public endorsements suggest otherwise.”
Here’s how I reimagine the SJ PD in 2023.
· Imagine this — a city that has recaptured its position as the safest big city in America.
· Imagine this — a PD that can respond to 911 calls; to property crimes; and who keep our sidewalks safe.
· Imagine this — officers paid at a rate equal to or higher than neighboring cities.
· Imagine this — a county that has a jail with real mental health services.
· Imagine this — a police force who can enforce our laws.
These positions differ dramatically from my opponent who has publicly and personally aligned himself and endorsed extremists who stated, “fire every police officer in San Jose and dismantle the police department.”
It’s dubious when my opponent says he supports the police, when his political alliances and public endorsements suggest otherwise.
Q: The San Jose City Council has a “business vs. labor divide”.
“I don’t have to reach across the aisle, because I’m not in an aisle.”
I’m an independent. Always have been. And I sure as heck hope that we can keep the baggage of polarizing politics out of San Jose’s city government.
I am radically inclusive. My supporters include people from all across the political spectrum and I am happy to have them on board the bus, Green Party, Liberal Democrats, Independents, Libertarians and Republicans alike. I welcome and include all voices.
I am not constrained in my approach to policy. I will cherry pick the best ideas and the best solutions for D3 wherever they come from and whoever they come from.
And I don’t have to reach across the aisle, because I’m not in an aisle and that makes it easy for me to collaborate and coordinate with everyone.
Q: Should San Jose increase taxes on commercial builders to fund more affordable housing?
“We need more housing, not more housing that simply costs more.”
San Jose needs more affordable housing. How do we get there? In speaking to one developer, he talks about needing 6 inspections for one portion of a bathroom wall. I speak to another developer, and he tells me that they never know what the true cost of doing business in San Jose is and their financial model is always in flux.
If we make it harder, if we add to the costs of construction — through time delays and added costs and fees, — then we are the problem and we are adding to the cost of housing.
If we are unwilling to make it easier to build, easier to do business with San Jose then we will continue to suffer with less housing.
And eventually the housing that is provided will be subsidized to the tune of $1M per door and is unsustainable with our tax base. We need an economic model so that we can accommodate more housing that helps more people, not just a few people. We need more housing, not more housing that simply costs more.
Q:. Homelessness is increasing in San Jose — solutions?
“Housing First is not a prescription for mental illness.”
The city believes that housing first will resolve mental health issues. That’s misguided.
Housing in and of itself, is not a therapeutic treatment prescribed for mental illness.
Of course, we need to build more housing for the mentally ill, but what they need FIRST is Services & Shelter-Stability.
That’s why my Incremental Ladder of Housing Success moves folks to destination locations, to provide safety, shelter, showers, services, and PO boxes. Then move them into housing after it’s been built. Instead of inhumanly asking them to wait and live on the sidewalk.
Look, I have a doctorate in Counseling Psychology and practiced as a counselor in a psychiatric hospital.
And that hard won experience really matters because this population has very specialized needs. My opponent has no experience whatsoever diagnosing nor clinically treating the mentally ill. Services & Shelter-Stabilization — First.
Respect, Compassion, and Care — always.
Q: Would you be supportive of involuntary treatment for those unable to accept treatment
“This is a humanitarian disaster.”
Let’s not beat around the bush: We have a segment of the unhoused who are unable to take care of themselves. And we are, sadly, not fulfilling our duty. You can see them all day long in the middle of Santa Clara Street directing traffic, no pants, enthusiastically dancing all the while completely oblivious of traffic.
This is a humanitarian disaster. It took the county too long to embrace Laura’s Law — AOT, but it’s a positive step. Sometimes mental health problems arise because of addiction and sometimes mental health is the precursor as folks attempt to self-medicate with drugs. Drugs like meth are now hugely more powerful and capable of permanently damaging the brain — now measured in months of use, not years of use.
Our current system prioritizes new apartments and does not address addiction nor mental health. Hopefully Governor Newsome will sign CARE court and give us additional tools to mandate help.
So yes: I would support compulsory treatment for some service-resistant mentally ill.
Q: Parking supply is still a major debate downtown — should we build more parking or wait for the day autonomous vehicles arrive?
“We still need parking & parking enforcement — the City isn’t listening.”
As I walk through neighborhoods one common complaint is parking and the lack of parking enforcement. Neighbors call in parking violations without any response from the city. In Spartan-Keys cars are double parked along red zones and on sidewalks.
With insufficient street parking, neighbors are demanding permit parking for their communities, and they want buildings without parking — to require new residents to be car-less. This is coming from our residents and the city is not listening.
We must continue to have parking until such time as we have good transportation that people like to use. It’s coming but not here yet. We can prepare for planned obsolescence of parking spaces in the future. We can build parking and make it adaptable, flexible for a variety of future uses. Otherwise, the parents with two kids, in two different schools, two different jobs each, will spend 72 hours on mass transit trying to get through a 24-hour day.
Q: Would you support converting office or hotel buildings into housing?
“Placement First — repurpose, reinvent, and redefine empty spaces.”
When our mayor and city staff tell us there’s no unused inventory in SJ, they are deceiving us. The truth is we don’t how many unused units, spaces, and shelters there are because the city has been so dogmatic about its housing first strategy that it won’t investigate this potential.
What we do know, however, is that cities all across the US. including NY and LA are aggressively repurposing empty bedrooms, houses, apartments, government buildings and office buildings — and SJ isn’t. Even Milpitas has made proposals to help house teachers into the communities by sharing empty bedrooms.
We need to reinvent, repurpose and redefine empty spaces that exist and use the resources we already have available for housing. My placement first plan proposes that we develop a program to incent owners offer these spaces for housing.
Q: Do you support putting homeless housing anywhere in D3?
“D3 has become the dumping ground of subsidized and affordable housing for the SJ. And SJ is the dumping ground for the County.”
Let’s start with the facts: D3 has become the dumping ground of subsidized and affordable housing for the SJ. And SJ is the dumping ground for the County.
Here is an example:
The housing department refuses to acknowledge all the vast variety of affordable housing which already exists in D3: sororities, dorms, halfway houses, rooming houses, shelters, tiny homes, homekey hotels, rent controlled units, mobile home parks, group homes … and this refusal negatively impacts the cities’ own Siting Policy on affordable housing allocations to D3.
This has to stop. Neighbors near affordable housing have legit concerns. We need to communicate clearly and work to address those concerns. But D3 should not have to carry more than its fair share of affordable housing, and that means we need to manage the Housing Dept much more closely, because D3 pays the price.
Q: St. James and Guadalupe River Park — have been suffering for years.
“Stop the re-traumatizing hamster-wheel of abatements.”
I am in support of the Levitt Pavilion for St James Park with community input and the revitalization it will bring to the core. To make that happen the park must first be clean, attractive, and inviting for families; that will happen when the unhoused have stabilized shelter.
Guadalupe River Park is now in D6 and I have an excellent working relationship with Dev to join forces as this benefits both districts.
We must avoid the re-traumatizing hamster-wheel of abatements. Because if we abate one park, folks will move to the other. We need whole-picture solution like the Incremental Ladder of Housing Success.
Q: When was the last time you were downtown? Did you feel safe?
“I swerve daily on Santa Clara Street to miss people dancing without some form of clothing.”
I have lived here for 33 years and raised my daughter here and I have never felt less safe. The biggest factor is the mentally ill unhoused who have been abandoned to live on the streets.
This past week my husband went down to St James post office. He was followed by a man screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs and lunging toward him. If my husband was afraid, imagine what a young family would feel.
I swerve daily on Santa Clara Street to miss people dancing without some form of clothing. I pray each time that someone doesn’t jump in front of my car. They are not safe, — but neither am I.
These are people, individuals that are crying for our help.
This is completely unacceptable, and we need a radical change to get San Jose back to where it has been before — the safest large city in America.
Q: How well did San Jose respond to the Covid pandemic?
“We will need level-heads to create adaptive solutions.”
Here’s what we did right — outdoor dining to support small businesses, rent relief programs, and work from home options. Here’s where we can do better — schools were closed for too long, mental health and isolation took great tolls on our communities, some city departments were not able to function by working at home and we had disparate impacts on different communities and between different businesses.
We can improve our communication even when events are changing in a crisis and better help businesses and residents adapt. We can respond faster to change. We need thoughtful leadership, who will keep level-headed an urgent situation.
We will have other crises to face, and we need seasoned, quick thinkers who can create more adaptive solutions such as: permit process readiness, hybrid work from home, mental health support, and boldly bolstering those who cannot work from home and are critical to our economy.
Q: How do you work with the mayor’s office and is there board assignment?
“I have already worked closely with both Matt and Cindy.”
As a lifelong independent, I am confident that I will be able to work with either Cindy or Matt once elected to office. In fact, I have worked with Cindy through my volunteer organization Defenders of Clean Air eQuality and I have worked with Matt on Creekside cleaning initiatives. We have focused on solutions, not parties. And both were actively concerned when I raised the issue of air quality and the recent Stanford study that explained children who are exposed to the air quality from encampment fires of plastics, sneakers, computer parts and tires — suffer irreversible permanent IQ damage.
As for assignments — There are several committees I would like to be a part of including the new Office of Public Listening which will gather community input and report back to the community how their feedback has been used. I am also interested in anything to do with housing, and the Neighborhood Services and Education Committee.
Q: What is your position on the Google project and what it means for the future of the city?
“Companies are watching how we treat Google.”
Google is great but it’s a field goal, not a touchdown and we are nowhere near spiking the football. Business is what generates tax revenues. And San Jose is 80% residential and 20% business. Our bedroom community model is why other local cities have much bigger budgets than San Jose
So, let’s get real: If San Jose is to grow and do all the progressive programs, we want and need — then we will need many more Googles. Companies are watching how we treat Google. We will need to aggressively pursue and make it easy and attractive for more businesses to come here, not make a bunch of demands that chase them away.
At the same time, we can still pay attention to the needs of the surrounding communities. For example, there are only three Japantowns left in the USA, and we will make it a priority to keep that traditional community intact.
Q: What type of policies would you support to compel owners of neglected buildings?
“The cost of blight on the safety and welfare of the public demands action.”
The last thing I want to do as a city councilmember is increase the cost of living for anybody here. Owners will pass along those costs to the consumer. I would rather see incentives for owners to build, repair, and provide — moving them towards proper maintenance and eventually either demolition, sale, or full use.
Based on tangible research of the cost of blight on the safety and welfare of the public, it is legally defensible for local municipal codes to have strong anti-neglect ordinances — and a growing number of communities have enacted them. Boarding up a building does not bring it into compliance.
Code enforcement needs to be actively involved with buildings such as this, and there are many buildings, vacant houses, and properties just like this in D3. We need an active list of properties which are calling out for help, and we must streamline permits for quicker repairs and faster growth.
Q: How important are arts and culture to the city?
“Recovery of the arts is just like the recovery of downtown businesses — they are inextricable tied to solving street homelessness.”
The existing arts are suffering in downtown because of the uncomfortable, lawless environment. In order for the arts to thrive, we will need stabilized-shelter for those who are unhoused living in parks and sidewalks. Difficult decisions will need to be made regarding funding from the city but until the street-unhoused are in stabilized-shelter, no one will want to come downtown no matter what we build.
Neighbors don’t feel safe. The sidewalks smell of urine. And too many people are suffering by living without services, showers, and safety. We need to advance the arts and help people at the same time. D3 has the most unhoused of any district in San Jose and this has a direct impact of downtown vitality.
Recovery of the arts is just like the recovery of downtown businesses — they are inextricable tied to solving street homelessness.
Q: What initiatives would you support for the recovery of San Jose’s small businesses?
“My opponent has zero experience in the risks or operations of starting, running and building a small business.”
Look, I’ve founded, run, and struggled to make 3 small businesses work in downtown. My opponent has zero experience in the risks or operations of starting, running and building a small business.
Lots of local governments have developed ingenious interventions for small businesses, San Jose is not one of them. In office, here are two things I would pilot:
1. Encourage “Shop local.” Akron, Ohio, is actively encouraging shopping online with local businesses by building the Akronite app. which connects shoppers to local businesses and offers points that lead to discounts. We could do the same thing for D3 small businesses.
2. Streamline internal operations. San Jose can be way more invested in the success of small businesses by walking them through the onerous permitting process and providing outreach and headlights into options that would best serve their business in D3.
Q: DISC. Which organization –should be lead on the station?
“The City of San Jose is the most adept to direct the project.”
Electrified Caltrain, BART, and High-Speed Rail service will add to the trains, buses, and light rail at San José Diridon Station and add 1,000s of new jobs. The impact on San Jose and its residents will be tremendous and the organization and leadership provided by DISC will serve to unify our transportation options.
San Jose should be the lead on the project because the City Council is elected by the people and will be in the best position to balance both the positive and negative impacts. Caltrain, VTA, and High-Speed Rail are not elected and do not live here; we can take input from experts, but they are not qualified to represent the best interests of the people and communities of San Jose. Ultimately the City of San Jose is the most adept to direct the project.
Q: What would you do to encourage return to work by City Hall employees?
“For city employees we must attract, retain, inspire.”
While I want to say that I would require employees to return to their jobs, realistically the city must be able to draw in the best talent. Having city employees return to in-person work has a symbiotic relationship for other downtown businesses to stay open. If COVID has taught us anything it is — not business as usual. However, a replicateable hybrid solution would cut down on commutes and carbon footprints. We have a prime opportunity to learn about work from home as a result of COVID. As councilmember, I would seek a study on the efficiency and productivity of City Hall over the last 3 years.
We need to know if remote working is effective and if it will allow us to draw more talented and qualified employees — in order for the city to improve its delivery of services and streamline fees and permitting processes. The priority is getting the best city staff and what can we learn from COVID that will help us do just that. For city employees we must attract, retain, inspire.
Closing
Thank you. These were great questions and a very well-run forum.
This highlighted what the race is all about.
It’s this — Do we go down the same old road or do we turn onto a new road? We are choosing between unconsciously following our old habits or consciously choosing a change agent.
Omar’s experience in government and nonprofits points us backwards.
On the other hand, my experience in business, mental health and housing leads us forward with the real-world expertise that D3 desperately needs.
So, the question before us in D3, do we want more of the same or do we want a fresh start inspired by the incredible potential of D3?
