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San Jose mayor lays out city's top issues
In his State of the City address, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan talked about SJ's key issues, such as homelessness, mental health, and making the city safer.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan gave his first State of the City address this weekend, talking about some of the issues the city faces, and how he plans to address them.
The mayor talked about key issues like making San Jose safer, mental health and tackling homelessness, emphasizing how we all must make San Jose a city where everyone can thrive.
"By coming together and supporting our small businesses, tackling trash and graffiti, helping our homeless neighbors and keeping each other safe, you’re doing your part to get San Jose back to basics and create the city in which we all want to live," Mahan said.
In his first State of the City address, Mahan spoke at San Jose City College Saturday. The event began with acknowledgments from the presidents of San Jose City College and its associated student government.
"We invite the community to join us in addressing the pressing needs of affordability for all of our students, for together we can create a brighter future," said Valeria Herrera Vasquez, SJCC Associated Student Government.
After performances and presenting Community Hero Awards, Mahan spoke about getting back to basics including doing things like beautifying San Jose.
"Since taking office, my team has hosted a clean-up nearly every week, activating 2,914 volunteers and taking nearly 200,000 pounds of trash off our streets and out of our creeks," Mahan said.
The mayor also talked about improving safety by hiring more police, the use of speed safety cameras and tackling retail theft.
"We’ve recently collaborated to update the booking process to ensure that the DA and Superior Court judges have sufficient information when making critical decisions about prosecution and release or detention," he said.
Addressing one of the city’s most pressing issues, Mahan talked about how his administration is dealing with homelessness and the path to get more people off the street.
"We’ve also shown that we can continue to build affordable housing for working families while we embrace immediate solutions to homelessness. This year alone, we’ve issued permits for 842 new affordable apartments, opened over 150, and have over one thousand more in the pipeline," Mahan said.
Mahan also mentioned a new Urban Planning fellowship with San Jose State that he hopes will bring fresh new talent to work with the city as well as improve the permitting process, so more housing can be built faster.