San Jose Mayor Doesn't Know the Way to a Fair Budget

by Allison Padgett  |  May 24, 2011

Libraries only open three days a week. Fewer police officers on the streets. Programs for youth slashed or eliminated. These are just some of the items in the proposed budget for San Jose, Calif., that led hundreds of residents, community groups and city workers to hold a Neighborhoods First rally last week.

In addition to these devastating cuts, Mayor Chuck Reed recently declared a state of fiscal emergency in the city despite no new developments in the budget situation. This move is aimed at curtailing the collective bargaining rights of city workers under the guise of “fiscal reform” — similar to political attacks on public service workers seen across the country.

At the Neighborhoods First rally, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee A. Saunders rallied the crowd to fight back against these tactics.

“San Jose will not become the Wisconsin of the West,” Saunders said. “We will not let that happen.”

A growing chorus of elected officials and civil rights leaders are speaking out against this attack on workers and questioning its legality. The San Jose City Council is set to vote on Reed's controversial plan today.