Our live tweeting is ABOUT TO COMMENCE. https://twitter.com/SVCN/status/1311082967238754305
@wendylho is reminding folks that we are hosting another candidate forum focused on children's issues next week!

Register:
https://svcn.regfox.com/choose-children-candidate-forum
Lan Diep: As a charter city, we have responsibility for basic city functions, and also as a former nonprofit legal aid attorney before I came to City Hall, I'm very supportive of nonprofits and all the services they provide.
Jake Tounkel: Nonprofit services are undervalued. As a former Peace Corps volunteer, I believe we should invest in environmental reform and economic justice and remedying underlying disparities. San Jose is the most unequal city.
David Cohen: As I saw the Council become more divided, I decided to run against an incumbent because the District isn't being adequately served. We have lots of challenges ahead in San Jose and it will take creativity and working together to solve them.
Gina Dalma: How can the City better partner with nonprofits?
Jake Tounkel: It's unfortunate that nonprofits are undervalued. San Jose should acknowledge that our City can't function without nonprofits. My opponent placed a developer on the 2040 General Plan review; we need nonprofits in those spaces.
JT: Money often talks in politics and nonprofits don't have a lot of it. We need to remedy that.
Lan Diep: Yes, there are a lot of inefficiencies in the City that need to be fixed. Paying for some nonprofit services is sometimes hard for the City with limited dollars. We need to turn people on to donate to nonprofits.
David Cohen: Partnering with nonprofits is going to be very important. It is a symptom of the current majority that business and nonprofit partners are treated differently. Nonprofits who have expertise should be supported with contracts when they are solving community problems.
David Cohen: “I don’t think that there is enough focus on the importance of nonprofits in the City.”
Q: 68% of Santa Clara County residents who have died because of COVID-19 are Latinx. What is your response to calls to action by nonprofits to remedy systemic racism? What should be the priorities for the new SJ Office of Race Equity?
Lan Diep: As a City, we should certainly try to even out disparities and open up access to people. But the City can't alone undue generations of racial disparities due to redlining and other practices. We can't be everything to every person.
David Cohen: In 2019, Councilmember Diep voted against the creation of the Office of Race Equity. There are deep disparities in things like transportation access, traffic, and health. We should give those
Jake Tounkel: Decisions are made to prioritize the interests of the wealthy at City Hall all the time. My opponent was also opposed in 2019 to the Office of Racial Equity. If we would have made a different decision then, perhaps we would have been better off now.
Lan Diep: When I voted against the Office of Race Equity in 2019 and wrote an Op Ed about it, it was because four councilmembers demanded $500,000 yearly for that office one week before the budget was going to be passed.
Lan Diep: In 2020, there was more information about that and I was proud to vote for it.
David Ccohen's wifi is giving him trouble. We can all sympathize.
David Cohen: The idea about the Office of Race Equity is to empower the community to give input about city priorities and City budget.
Jake Cohen: The City could benefit from an international development lens. When I was in the Peace Corps I worked with the community; we didn't just go into a small village and tell people this is what you need for a quality of life. We had hundreds of conversations with people.
Lan Diep: There should be a transparent thoughtful process with the community input. But we shouldn't give the impression that what happens in a library on a Monday night will be the path we take moving forward. We are a representative democracy.
David Cohen: This (what Lan Diep said) is a common refrain that we hear in our District (yes, we like to get input but it's up to the City to decide). The community wants an advocate.
Lan Diep: People don’t understand how government works and I am proud that I help people understand what is realistic and what is not the City’s role.
Jake Tounkel: We need to help folks who can’t get to community meetings easily to provide input.
Favorite ice creams:

Diep: Spumone
Tounkel: Chocolate
Cohen: Cookies and Cream

Moderator Dalma showed her bias and said she prefers chocolate.
Q: The City is facing a loss of about 11 percent in this year’s budget due to the impacts of COVID-19. What services, departments, or programs will you prioritize to save from deep cuts, and how should the City conduct budgeting through a racial equity lens?
Jake Tonkel: Austerity measures really hurt our city’s ability to recover. I do think there are areas within the police department where we should be shifting resources from, and adding mental health services. We should invest in at risk youth. We should look at public banking.
David Cohen: We need to advocate for Prop 15, but it will take a year or two for revenues to come in. While there is pain in the short term, sometimes streamlining is not bad. But we need to get community input about priorities. W need to push federal to give cities COVID relief.
Lan Diep: we should do an overall assessment of where the needs are around the city. Investing in parks and libraries and roads come from the general fund. There are competitive feelings among the councilmembers about addressing needs in districts, but we are
Q: In light of calls to divest from police, what is your vision of public safety?
David Cohen: I'm not in favor of defunding the police , but we should increase spending for mental health services like delivered by nonprofits and spend less on militarization.
Lan Diep: I'm not for defunding but investing in police. We need to grow the police force.
Jake Tonkel: A police officer is trained to look for a criminal. If you have a hammer, you see a nail. We should set up programs for crisis response that will send in non-police experts who can respond in a way that doesn't unnecessary criminalize people.
Jake Tonkel: There are areas within the police department where we should be shifting resources around. Education, healthcare initiatives, mental health, those things are really important making sure our community survives this difficult time.
CLOSING STATEMENTS
David Cohen: We didn't talk about affordable housing and that is a big issue. I have consistently held values that haven't changed to get elected. We need to enforce inclusionary housing. We need to adopt a commercial linkage fee that is similar to cities around us.
David Cohen: I got a solar program and saved a music program. We started an East Side Alliance even though the Superintendent said no. Now it benefits 20,000 students.
Lan Diep: Public service is a calling and has a learning curve. I have invested four years in learning the job. My experience is important. I'm the last Asian-American councilmember on the Council. This is relevant lived experience that adds value. My opponent is privileged.
Jake Tonkel: We are at a crossroads. We have tried a trickle-down philosophy that hasn't worked. When we advocate for low wage workers & remove barriers for marginalized communities we make our city stronger. I'm privileged to run for office.
Jake Tonkel: We need publicly funded elections to get money out of politics.
Thank you to our candidates for sharing their visions for the City of San José and to our better-than-Chris Wallace moderator @GinaDalma!
You can follow @SVCN.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: