Celebrating Together- a Message from Matt Mahan

Dear Neighbor,

Thank you to the over 2000 residents who joined us to celebrate a new era in our city focused on getting back to the basics! I couldn’t have imagined our inauguration without each and every one of you there to mark a renewed focus and increased accountability on our biggest issues: homelessness, blight and crime.

We were also joined by several fantastic performers from across our city — thanks to San José Jazz, Victoria Thúy Vi McDowell, Buu Kim Tu Dragon and Lion Dance Association, Grupo Folklórico Yolotli Alpha, and San Jose Police Emerald Society for sharing your talents on stage. In case you missed it, you can view the full inauguration here.

After taking the oath of office, I pledged to bring our city back to the basics by focusing on the issues that matter most to residents: cleaning up our streets, ending the era of unmanaged encampments, and keeping our neighborhoods safe. 

To start, we must address growing blight in San José. To do this, we kicked off our Inaugur-Action series yesterday in District 7! Inaugur-Action is a 10-week program launching a new era of resident involvement, where San Joséans can become a part of the solution by rolling up their sleeves and beautifying the place we all call home. You can sign up to get all the details on our next clean up right here.

Sign Up For Our Next Inaugur-Action Day!

Next, we need to end San José’s era of unmanaged encampments and treat homelessness as the humanitarian crisis it is. We will scale up basic, cost-effective, and safe places for unhoused residents to live and dramatically reduce the barriers to transition into these shelters while working with the state and county to ensure those suffering from mental health challenges get the care they need. 

The last basic priority we begin with is safety. Last year, our City Council committed to adding 15 officers per year over the next five years. But that’s just not enough – right now, when our residents are in distress, they wait far too long for help to come. We need to double that rate to at least 30 officers per year to keep our neighbors and our families safe.

These are clear goals with clear metrics of success. And when we tackle these basics, San José will become a place where every resident, newly immigrated or fifth generation, blue-collar or tech founder, son of a mailman or daughter of a Mayor, will find a brighter future and endless opportunity. Thanks once again to those of you who joined our inauguration celebration. Now, let’s get to work! 

Sincerely,
Mayor Matt Mahan

Original sent via email from Mayor Matt Mahan