Community Budget Working Group presents San Jose Excels! recommendations to City representatives

The final report of the Community Budget Working Group was presented to officials from the City of San Jose today.

The seven-page document articulates the community's driving budget principle and 10 keys to assure excellence from the City's budget process. Each key includes specific recommendations that stemmed from multiple conversations with scores of community members and suggestions that were submitted through the Working Group's website, MyBudgetIdea.com.

"We're pleased to be able to provide the community's thoughts on how best to allocate the City's resources," said Working Group member Tamara Alvarado. "We heard repeatedly that the City's top budget concerns should be public safety, neighborhood services, the environment, a vibrant artistic and cultural life, and a government that is community-oriented and friendly. Today, we're able to present the ideas of some of the City's brightest minds on how to ensure that those concerns are met."

Representatives from the Mayor's office and several Councilmembers' offices were on hand to receive the report, which the Working Group intends to present to the entire City Council during an upcoming Council meeting.

The full document can be downloaded from the group's website, MyBudgetIdea.com.

The Community Budget Working Group was formed by a group of community leaders to ensure that a broad range of voices is heard by elected leaders as the City of San Jose discusses how to allocate increasingly scarce resources. Convened by Working Partnerships USA, the Working Group features a steering committee of representatives from a broad range of community organizations and constituencies. Participants include City commissioners, heads of ethnic Chambers of Commerce, religious leaders, environmentalists and neighborhood activists.