One could call the new mayor of San Jose’s job akin to rolling a boulder up a hill for eternity.
And in his debut inaugural address on Wednesday night as the city’s 66th mayor, Matt Mahan gave a nod to Greek mythology that sums up the task in a single word: Sisyphean.
The reference is likely not hyperbole.
Mahan, a business-backed former school teacher and technology entrepreneur who won San Jose’s top job in an ultra-tight race last November against candidate Cindy Chavez, has just two years in his term to show results. He comes to the city council with few allies among its ten members — and has inherited a seemingly endless list of intractable quality-of-life problems that plague its residents.
So now, says the former District 10 councilmember, it’s time to get back to basics.
During Wednesday night’s speech, Mahan narrowed the city’s ills down to three problems: homelessness, blight and crime.
“One of the greatest temptations in government is to try to be everything to everyone,” he said before an audience of several hundred at San Jose’s Performing Arts Center that included entertainment and speeches representing a crosscut of the city — from a Vietnamese dance troupe to a heartwarming pledge of allegiance by preschoolers from a local Lutheran church.
“The truth is that there are needs and desires in our community that far outstrip the capacity of City Hall,” he said. “And when we attempt to solve every problem at once, the harsh reality is that we tend not to solve any of them.”
As for homelessness, Mahan called for “ending San Jose’s era of unmanaged encampments,” sparking the largest roar of applause during the entire night from the audience. By the end of his two-year term, Mahan said he will build 1,000 units of interim housing — and said the city should focus first on interim shelters rather than more resource-intensive housing with wrap-around services.
“If we had a massive earthquake tomorrow that displaced 4,975 people, which is the number of neighbors living unhoused on our streets, FEMA would have safe shelters lined up on public lands within 72 hours,” he said. “Every displaced person would have access to shelter. While I agree permanent affordable and supportive housing is the ultimate goal, we can’t rely on an incremental approach to a crisis of the magnitude we see on our streets each day.”
When it comes to city cleanliness, Mahan wants to fill the vacancies among the city’s code enforcement officers to address a backlog of 4,000 complaints through its 311 app — and promises to revamp the service request system to make it more accessible for residents. He plans to organize regular trash clean-ups, tree planting and wall painting.
To bolster public safety, Mahan intends to bring on 30 more police officers within a year and tweak recruiting efforts to speed up the hiring pipeline. The mayor also called for the end to what he calls a “revolving door” of offenders being arrested and then placed back on the street — citing an example of one individual who was arrested 27 times over the course of roughly two years.
“We need to disrupt this pattern by identifying the small number of people who need intervention and creating a system that intervenes early and appropriately,” he said. “I’m committed to working with our county leaders to ensure that when an officer takes someone to jail or Valley Medical Center, they are not simply returned to the street a day or two later when their situation demands further intervention.”
Wednesday’s inaugural address sought to also heal old wounds from November’s bitterly contested fight for the mayorship. Mahan noted that Chavez — who had been backed by labor interests — was in attendance at the inauguration — and said at a press conference earlier in the evening that the two had recently shared a dinner of ravioli at Original Joe’s on First St.
“We are all here for the same reason, elected by the people of this city, and dedicated to seeing it become the best it can be,” he said.
For Mahan’s supporters, the night represented a stark reflection of the shifting political winds in San Jose.
High school senior Keirah Chen, a resident of Mahan’s old District 10, interned for the mayor’s campaign. She says his message on homelessness is what pushed her to back him.
“I know most mayors have (talked about homelessness),” said Keirah. “But his was particularly intriguing. He’s talked a lot about not just homelessness but also drug abuse — and rehabilitation over incarceration. I really like that message.”
John Gallo, who lives in the city’s Berryessa neighborhood and voted for Mahan in November, sat in one of the Performing Arts Center auditorium’s red seats on Wednesday night, waiting patiently for the inauguration speech to begin. He said he’s excited for Mahan to take the helm at City Hall.
“I wasn’t surprised that he won,” Gallo said about Mahan’s narrow triumph in November. “I think people were looking for something different.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com