Mercury News Supports More Inclusive Budget Process

We welcome today's acknowledgments by the Mercury News ("Citizen input crucial to fix budget gap") that the answers to San Jose's city budget questions will come from all its people.

From the outset, this has been the Community Budget Working Group's approach to an intelligent and equitable city budget: Involve more San Joseans in the process. We are the people who built this great city -- the brains, builders and financial backers of its success. And we can figure out what we want city government to do and how to pay for it.

The Community Budget Working Group includes labor, business executives and chamber of commerce leaders, faith-based groups, environmental organizations and non-profits. Just as important, it is the only forum in the budget process urging you, the taxpayer, to weigh in with your concerns and your solutions. What do you want from city government, and how much do you value it?

Start by going to MyBudgetIdea.com and then come to the Working Group's first public meeting at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Martin Luther King Library downtown. Mayor Reed and the City Council have already said they're interested in what you say to us.