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Everyone loves applause—especially politicians. Yet leadership in difficult times often requires making decisions that don’t draw applause. It means having the independence to stand up for everybody, not just the loudest voices or the most powerful groups. When leaders have the independence to tell those groups what they don’t want to hear, it threatens the status quo. And threatened people yell. So, let’s take a breath, hit the “pause” button on the yelling, and start where we all agree. First, San Jose needs more police officers.

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Small businesses increasingly have become the employers of many San Jose residents—including self-employed entrepreneurs—left behind in the tech boom. One way to address the yawning opportunity gap would focus our municipal energies on lightening the burdens of those small businesses. As we all know, City Hall can get in the way.

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Original Joe’s has become a San Jose institution by serving the best eggplant parmesan in the Bay Area for over 50 years. It has thrived in Downtown San Jose because their owners, the Rocca family, like so many other San Jose businesspeople, know what it takes to compete. As they compete for the loyalty of their patrons, Original Joe’s has helped to support the college tuitions and mortgages of generations of cooks and wait staff.

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In light of the flurry of emails and phone calls we’ve received in recent days, I’d like to ensure that everyone is well-armed with the facts about our long-planned expansion of general aviation at the airport and its impact on the curfew.  In the social media-driven landscape of instant conspiracy theories, rumors and innuendo, as Justice Brandeis reminds us, “sunlight is the greatest disinfectant.” There will be a hearing this Tuesday, April 16 to discuss the impact of any new agreements with Signature Flight Support—a provider of services for corporate jets and other general aviation—on the curfew. San Jose is one of only nine cities in the United States with a curfew restricting flight operations at its airport.

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Nearly every civic official in San Jose agrees that promoting a stronger local economy is our highest priority. Regardless of our political perspectives, we all understand that supporting vibrant small businesses and high-wage jobs are key to putting our friends and neighbors back to work. We can revitalize our economy one street—and one vacant storefront—at a time. The small business incentive package currently pending before the City Council is important. The idea is simple—where landlords of long-vacant, street-facing parcels are willing to reduce their asking lease rates, City Hall should waive permit fees for new businesses seeking to get up and running.

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Creating a strong economy requires creating a “sense of place,” that difficult-to-quantify assemblage of urban elements—retail shops, flower-adorned paseos, street performers, murals or charming cafés—that make pedestrians want to linger, rather than merely to pass through. Last month, many of you saw news accounts of our most recent effort to enliven our public spaces, in the form of a pilot project to launch “Curb Cafés” in San Jose. By extending the sidewalks into the streets, adjacent businesses—restaurants, cafes, bike shops or bookstores—can create dynamic spaces that both draw customers out into sunshine, and enliven the streetscape for passers-by.

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