The next step in the revolution of common sense is getting San José back to basics
The next step in the revolution of common sense is getting San José back to basics
During Matt Mahan’s successful campaign for Mayor, thousands of San José residents worked together for a “Revolution of Common Sense.” When we launched our campaign, victory seemed improbable because virtually the entire political establishment in Santa Clara County was aligned with Matt’s opponent. But we learned that when we focused on talking with our neighbors, listening to them, meeting with them in living room after living room — we built a bond of common purpose that was much more powerful than politics as usual.
We set out to educate people about our Revolution of Common Sense. But in the end we learned some important lessons ourselves. We found that people who were frustrated by the direction of our city and felt powerless to change it became empowered when they sat together for an evening and learned they were not alone. People who gathered together as strangers left understanding that there was so much we could do to change our government and to improve our city when we worked together.
During our discussions with voters in every neighborhood in San José we heard time and again — the people of San José were united in a common goal of getting the city back to basics. Our neighbors wanted a city that worked – a safer city, a cleaner city, a city that can create high-wage jobs and opportunities for more people, and most of all a city that can bring everyone indoors.
This is not always what you hear at City Hall — which can be an echo chamber for those with the time and resources to lobby, testify, and on occasion — simply shout.
If you watch these City Council sessions, you would think our city was divided. You would think it is controversial, for example, to prioritize bringing our homeless residents indoors. You might even think it is controversial to expand our police department or focus on balancing budgets by growing our tax base, rather than simply increasing taxes.
The truth is both polls and recent election results show that the people of San José want our leaders to focus on the basics — and get the foundational job of government done with greater efficiency and accountability.
But the challenge we face is how to make sure our voices are heard. Yes, we have the opportunity to vote and we have used our votes to elect back-to-basics leaders like Matt Mahan. But between the votes we take every two years for city leaders are hundreds of votes at the City Council and thousands of decisions that are made by city staff that can make or break our Revolution of Common Sense.
That’s why a few of the veterans of the Revolution of Common Sense got together after Matt’s overwhelming re-election in March to talk about how we can support a back-to-basics agenda for San José in the years ahead. While Matt’s margin of victory is a clear mandate for a vision of a city that works better for all of us — we know we can’t rest.
We believe that more effective government requires that engaged residents hold our elected leaders accountable every day — so our government is delivering on the basics, like addressing the homelessness crisis, getting smarter about fighting crime, cleaning our streets, and creating an economy that works for all of us.
That’s why we are launching a new community group — Back to Basics. We are dedicated to helping create an informed community that is empowered to advocate effectively for better government.
We will start by training residents on how they can engage to make their voices heard on important issues. We will work to curate, commission, and share important research on what works, and doesn’t work, when it comes to government and other programs that we are funding with our tax dollars. Certainly we want to keep bringing residents together so they can share ideas, learn from each other, and build the kind of social capital that strengthens our communities.
But most of all we want to be the place where common-sense voters can participate in shaping the direction of our city. A place where we understand that the people of San José have so much more in common than the news and social media would lead us to think. Our city doesn’t need to be “us” versus “them” fighting the same old political battles. We will be so much stronger when we unite as “we” and move forward together — starting with getting San José City Hall back to basics.