| Local Politics |
Election Process |
Civic Involvement |
Neighborhood Groups |
| 1) City Council must work with the schools; 2) need better
relations with school district; 3) new housing without schools |
Public
Financing 1) public financing of campaigns (e.g. Arizona,
Maine); 2) clean money / public
financing; 3) public financing; 4)
clean money addresses issue of special interest influence; 5 "clean
money", public financing of campaigns; 6) "clean" elections,
toom much undue influence; 7) campaign for clean money; 8) clean money/pubilc
financing; 9) it's a working mechanism |
1)
give people a reason to care; 2) complacency; 3) people disgusted by
corruption; 4) give back pride; 5) Curb existing free speech infringements at
public events. |
Better
Citizen Input through neighborhood associations 1) Organize for change starting with
neighborhood groups; 2) More neighborhood associations; 3) San Jose has 27
neighborhood associations each sending a delegate to round table of all; 4)
emphasis needs to be on neighborhood organizing; 5) help organize
neighborhood associations |
| 1) Unresponsive Local Government; 2) clique of political
thought; 3) Council has 3 real estate people with interests of their own but
not for the people |
1)
District Elections? ; 2) Districts vs.
at-large, no advantage to districts; 3) electrct council members by district
rather than at large; 4) elect at-large, but candidates have designated areas
of focus; 5) increase number of City Council members to break-up 3-2
division. |
1)
engage ethnic communities (Spanish, Vietnamese etc.); 2) reach out to Asian
and youth communities; 3) drawing people into events, especially minorities,
with phone trees with native speakers; 4) work through existing school
groups, e.g. Spanish parenting group |
1)
Each of us do something in our local neighborhood; 2) Pines has 37 of 800
households in the Yahoo group; 3) take back neighborhood; 4) communities
within commuities |
| 1) conflicts of interest (Gomez works for SJ Mayor); 2) City's
Sunshine Oversight Committee - is City Council the fox in the hen house? |
1)
Special interests control government and newspapers; 2) Monied interests
control the government; 3) reduce special interest influence; 4) special
intests hold the money (esp. developers) |
1)
Volunteerism - To implement civic programs; 2) volunteerism; 3) volunteering
is key; 4) encourage volunteering with vouchers for food |
1)
Ask people for their quality of life issues; 2) home owners' issues |
|
| 1) More publicity and citizen involvement in the budget; 2)
create a Budget Advisory Committee; 3) Too much tax money spent on personnel,
not services. |
1)
stop stealing campaign signs; 2) limit campaign signs to private property; 3)
many opposition candidates split the vote so incumbents won; 4) theft of
campaign signs - police and community presence; 5) people cynical because
police can't stop sign stealing |
Youth 1) focus on youth; 2)
youth representatives on City Council; 3) youth feel powerless; 4) organize
youth |
Neighborhood
councils could send representatives to Council. |
| Planning Commission - make appointments by expertise. |
1)
election reform; 2) things need a good kick; 3) ranked voting (votes not
lost) |
1)
use schools to teach democracy; 2) move civics classes; 3) increase awareness
of democracy in schools |
Asset:
small community -- Liabilities: not enough binding together the community,
losing identity by trying to be big like San Jose |
| replace the incumbents in City Council |
1)
make PACs illegal; 2) courts say that local ordinances can't regulate
independent expenditures |
1)
need town hall meetings; 2) empower people through community forums; 3) get
together more often |
connect
existing organizations |
| Elected politicians tend to be self-serving |
1)
U. S. Politics - 1st world country with 3rd world politics; 2) Local
campaigns are dirty and unethical |
1)
have public meetings at more convenient time; 2) Public access TV underused;
3) podcasts of City Council meetings and campaigns |
|
| politics = public looting |
1)
Of 70,000 residents, 24,000 are registered to vote; 13,723 vote (57%); 2)
holiday for voting; Saturday voting |
1)
register new voters; 2) Voting rights (green card holders, probation) |
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1)
local newspaper tries to influence political process; 2) Web is an
alternative |
1)
More Citizen involvement - education; 2) less involved electorate due to more
new residents |
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1)
Standardized information source; 2) get independent objective information on
candidates at smartvoter.org |
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1)
Common language - Homogeneity of Understanding; 2) English spoken by eveyone. |
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need
a gathering place |
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offer
phone-banking opportunities to seniors who want to get out of the house |
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