SJ City Council Members Meet Tuesday in City Hall

Posted on Sun, Aug. 07, 2005

City council set to relocate
MEMBERS MEET TUESDAY IN NEW CITY HALL
By Janice Rombeck
Mercury News

The San Jose City Council's first meeting in the new state-of-the-art council chambers Tuesday will be light on business and heavy on ceremony.

It's not every day that the seat of local government sets up shop in a new location. The last time was in 1958, when Mayor Ron Gonzales was 6 years old. So, city officials wanted to mark the inaugural meeting with a ceremony and recognition of former council members and officials.

Warning: the new council chambers is loaded with technology that has been tested, but never officially used.

``We wanted to keep the agenda from a business side very light to recognize the fact that it's the first meeting in a brand new building with lots of new technology,'' said City Clerk Lee Price.

The public testimony podium, for example, uses technology that allows speakers to display images onto the large screen above the council dais. The council members sit before computer monitors that show them what's on the screen and can link them to computers in their offices.

The Tuesday meeting will start with a 1 p.m. flag-raising ceremony outside in front of the rotunda, followed by the national anthem sung by the San Jose Fire Department choir, a San Jose Taiko performance, and a few words by the mayor.

Inside the chambers at 1:30 p.m., the invocation will be given by Monsignor J. Patrick Browne of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, and historian and Superior Court Judge Paul Bernal will give a historical presentation.

After the meeting is called to order, but before business items are considered, the mayor will recognize former council members, mayors and city managers invited to share the historic day with the current elected officials.

Beyond that, just a few items on the city council or redevelopment agency agendas appear likely to generate discussion or public input. They include:

• Watson Community Park. The council will consider spending up to $800,000 for a two-year contract with a consulting firm to develop a plan to rid the park of soil contamination.

• Taser stun guns. The council will hear police officials' response to a grand jury report that recommended training and tracking of police officers' use of Tasers in controlling criminal suspects.

• Housing development. The redevelopment agency will seek council approval to move ahead with negotiations with the Olson Company and Barry Swenson Builder for a 394-unit project west of North San Pedro Street. Action on the so-called Brandenburg site project was delayed last year while city officials negotiated a land exchange with another developer for a possible baseball stadium at the site of the former Del Monte cannery. Those negotiations were called off in March.

Contact Janice Rombeck at jrombeck [at] mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5944.