SV GOP chief says city, county homelessness increases are a sign of strategic failure

 

Image by Edward Kimmel, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

County and SJ City homelessness rates are rising. The majority of our homeless neighbors are unsheltered. Yet local officials, say SV GOP David Johnson, refuse to respond in a businesslike manner to the scope of the crisis. From svgop.com.

After tens of millions of dollars, and countless speeches by city officials, the results are in: San Jose's homelessness crisis is getting worse. The most recent point-in-time count tells us that after all the hand waving and spending, homelessness is actually more prevalent than when the city started its most recent remediation efforts two years ago. The homeless population in SJ increased to 9,600 (according to reports which are, in actuality, most likely underestimating the true numbers…).

Anyone who works in business knows these results are completely unacceptable. These are the kind of results you get when your strategy is wrong. When your tactics are wasteful. And when your leadership is presiding over a culture of unaccountability.

To suggest, as Mayor Mahan and City Manager Maguire do, that these results are somehow a sign of progress is Orwellian claptrap of the highest order. And to deflect responsibility onto other levels of government for not spending enough, as Mayor Mahan does, is blame-casting of a shameful order.

--David G. Johnson, Chairman, SVGOP

Read the whole thing here.

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