Image by San Jose Public Library

David J. Johnson, chairman of the Santa Clara County Republican Party, calls on Mayor Mahan to strengthen his Reform agenda in his 5.17 State of the City address. Specifically, by pushing forward on permit deregulations, congregate shelters, sustainable fire/police depts—and (finally) corralling costs on the nonsensical BART-to-DTSJ extension. An Opp Now exclusive.

Dear Mayor Mahan,

This year’s State of the City speech is one of the City’s most consequential.

Here’s why: San Jose is at a turning point.

Common-sense voices in the city and on the SJ Council—often supported by Mayor Mahan—have begun to make incremental progress on reversing our community’s decades-long drift into far-left, unaccountable city policies. These policies have made SJ substantially less safe, much less affordable, and dramatically less attractive to families and businesses.

Nonetheless, the retrograde forces from the city’s far-left Labor and Progressive quarters are pushing back aggressively—just take a look at the far-left policies advocated by the two candidates in the D3 council race.

To succeed, the common sense coalition must remain firm in our principles, and avoid politically expedient compromises.

As a result, we look for Mayor Mahan to emphasize in his speech and push forward on the following agenda:

• Streamlining and rationalizing the construction and building permitting process to encourage the development of much more market-driven affordable housing;
• Insistence on much more cost-effective, large-scale, shelter-based approaches to helping the homeless;
• Aggressively reining in the out-of-control BART-to-downtown SJ project and work to cut the VTA losses;
• Provide a balanced and transparent city budget, with no new taxes nor fees;
• Build the Police and Fire Department staffs back to levels that allow them to do their jobs.

The Republican Party of Silicon Valley looks forward to working constructively with Mayor Mahan and the council as a good-faith partner, sounding board, and team-player on the issues facing the City of San Jose.