As a regular at City Council meetings, I was both stunned and proud of District 6 Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio when he asked the council to amend the loss of three fire fighters at Fire Station 6 who are being removed because of budget deficits.

Oliverio went out on a limb, suggesting that the safety of the residents of Willow Glen is more important than library hours. Most in Willow Glen have missed their branch library during its remodel and were loathe to see its hours diminished when it reopens. A number of people made their feelings known on the Willow Glen E-list.

The City Council too, was not in favor of his proposal, even though they would be the first to agree that San Jose’s citizens’ utmost concern is safety.

The fact that the council member took a path that was unfavorable and unpopular, which looked to his own district to find extra money speaks volumes about putting District 6’s needs above his own. It was a very brave step.

Too bad it didn’t work.

From: “Fedor, Denelle” < Denelle.Fedor@sanjoseca.gov>
Subject: RE: [WGNA] Library hours and Fire station 6

Dear E-list,

Councilmember Oliverio is in the evening session of the City Council meeting for today and has asked me to send an update to you regarding his proposal to keep the fire engineer position at Fire House 6.

Over the past seven years, the City of San Jose has built approximately three new fire stations. As a result; the city has hired 20 new firefighters for the city. Due to these new positions, the council felt that they needed to save money in the fire department and voted to eliminate the Hose Wagon/personnel at Fire House 6 in Willow Glen which costs $1,296,654.

Although the Hose Wagon is a dated piece of equipment; the councilmember as well as many community members felt the additional person at Fire House 6 was important to keep. However, the council decided not to keep the position at this time. The Hose Wagon and the engineer will cease on
July 1, 2008.

As you know, the council member included reducing library hours to provide some of the funding for his request to keep a fire engineer position. The proposal the councilmember made would have reduced library hours from 47 hours a week to 42 hours which equals 5 hours a week. The councilmember
proposed the 10% library hour cut to show that he understands that these are difficult budget times and he was willing to make a small concession in his district in the interest of protecting the residents for emergencies.

You may have seen in the councilmember’s memo that the city has been spending money on many different items that do not necessarily meet the needs of the residents they serve. Regarding the discussion of golf courses, for example, (as you may know), the councilmember has been very critical of city owned golf courses specifically two of them which are heavily subsidized by the city and costing millions of dollars each year.

The City currently owes over 30 million dollars to pay off these lease bonds. The 30 million dollars does not include the $2.26 million dollars for nets the council just voted to spend on for Los Lagos golf course which Councilmember Oliverio was the only council member to vote against.

Unfortunately (at least in the opinion of Councilmember Oliverio it is unfortunate), the council cannot “outright” close the golf courses to save money to pay for core services because the city owes millions of dollars on the golf courses.

Thank you to everyone who shared their concerns one way or the other. It is important to have these discussions and to understand what the city is choosing to spend money on and what it isn’t.

Denelle Fedor
Office of Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio