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SAM'S PRIORITIES
In his role on the San Jose City Council, Sam advocates for the downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods. His top priorities include affordable housing, smart growth & transportation, economic development & downtown revitalization, environmental stewardship and neighborhoods.
 AFFORDABLE HOUSING |
- Successfully initiated citywide inclusionary housing policy making San José the largest city in the country with a citywide policy.
- Led a successful push to revise the City’s investment policy to provide incentives for local banks to increase participation in efforts to reduce mortgage foreclosures in San José.
- Pushed efforts to approve award-winning affordable housing developments in the downtown.
- Initiated City's amendment of its investment policy to include social responsibility.
Selected policy memos related to housing, for a complete archive go to the City Clerk's Office.
 SMART GROWTH & TRANSPORTATION |
- Among leading advocates for successful passage of Measure B in 2008 to enable BART to Silicon Valley to move forward.
- Leading an initiative to improve bike safety ridership by implementing segregated bike lanes downtown.
- Co-initiated bike-share project countywide that brings bike-share vendors to key transit stations along with new streetscape designs that will enable cyclists and cars to share the road more safely.
- Leading the effort to create incentives for developers to support alternative transportation options (e.g., eco-passes, car-share programs) at major, high density housing developments in San Jose.
- As Chair of the Board, Sam worked to convert a $100 million deficit to a balanced budget in 2010.
- Leading advocate for Smart Growth downtown including sustainable development of Downtown's Diridon Area.
Selected policy memos related to transportation, for a complete archive go to the City Clerk's Office.
 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION |
- In response to the worst national economic downturn since the Great Depression, Sam has pushed for greater permit flexibility and Redevelopment support to bring retailers like Safeway and Ross Dress for Less to spur downtown retail development.
- Crafted a “Peralta Plan” for the redevelopment of the northwest quadrant of downtown, and led a hard-fought battle for approval of its centerpiece: the San Pedro Urban Market, due to open next summer.
- Drafted policies – all of which were adopted by the Council – to defer fee burdens on high-rise developments, to ease the restrictions in San Jose’s signage rules for downtown retailers, to push for a more collaborative policing model downtown, and to relax limitations on residential development along the North First Street transit corridor.
- Leading an effort to reduce fees on downtown event and festival producers.
- Spearheaded early efforts to convene community leaders to raise money and assess public support for the construction of a downtown Major League Baseball stadium.
- Drafted policy to ease restrictions on small businesses.
Selected policy memos related to downtown revitalization, for a complete archive go to the City Clerk's Office.
 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP |
- As the Chair of the City Council’s Transportation and Environment Committee, Sam has been a strong supporter of the Mayor’s Green Vision, including the investment of Redevelopment dollars to spur growth of green technology companies in San José.
- Sam’s Council office coordinated a successful effort with neighborhood leaders to negotiate a discounted “bulk purchase” of solar arrays on the roofs of dozens of downtown homes.
- Sam led an initiative to help keep single-use plastic and paper bags out of our landfills that will save residents and businesses millions in clean-up and disposal costs.
- He authored a policy to halt the purchase of single-use plastic water bottles at City Hall.
- As Co-Chair of San José’s Envision 2040 General Plan update, Sam has worked to focus development downtown and along key transit corridors, to preserve our hillsides and open space.
Selected policy memos related to downtown revitalization, for a complete archieve go to the City Clerk's Office.
 NEIGHBORHOODS |
Neighborhood Empowerment: Created a public forum for neighborhood leaders to meet monthly, called the Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG), to engage in dialogue with each other and identify district-wide priorities, focusing energies on developing long-term solutions through changes in city policy and budgetary priorities.
Downtown Healthcare: Worked with the County to coordinate the acquisition of the former San José Medical Center site for the development of a long-awaited medical clinic, one targeted to the many underserved low- and moderate- income residents nearby.
Building/Improving Parks
- Spearheaded the Citywide ballet initiative, Measure M, in 2008 to facilitate partnerships with nonprofit organizations and businesses to run community-serving programs and parks.
- Started construction and clean-up of the long awaited Watson Park.
- Leading innovative financing plan to build long-awaited park in Newhall.
Community Neighborhood Centers
- Leading efforts to keep community centers open in neighborhoods with greatest needs for youth and senior services.
- Introduced a new neighborhood center in Spartan-Keyes neighborhood.
- Advocated for funds to fill a $2 million gap to complete construction of Roosevelt Community Center.
- Extended late-night programs and healthy alternatives for teens in gang frequented neighborhoods.
Liquor stores: Led the City Council to refuse off-sell liquor permits consistently throughout downtown.
Bail bonds: Successfully led citywide moratorium on new establishments to prevent the saturation of bail bonds businesses in the downtown.
Pools: Successfully advocated for funds to restore and reopen two public pools in Gardner and Vendome neighborhoods.
Libraries
- Reconstruction of Joyce Ellington in Northside Neighborhood completed.
- Expansion on Carnagie Library in the Roosevelt Neighborhood completed.
- Successfully advocated for funds to maintain branch library hours in fiscal year 2009 budget.
Selected policy memos related to neighborhoods, for a complete archive go to the City Clerk's Office.
| SELECTED POLICY MEMOS for a complete archieve go to the City Clerk's Office |
Healthcare
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