Published in the January 6 – 19, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Mike Wasserman
Mike Wasserman
Last year was my fifth representing Morgan Hill on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and in the past 12 months I attended 750 meetings and events in Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, San Jose, Los Gatos, and Monte Sereno. I was especially honored to receive the 2015 Helping Hands Award from Community Solutions for my leadership to improve the health and well-being of South County residents. I look forward to working productively with my colleagues and the community in 2016 which promises to be another busy one with elections, several large development proposals going before the Local Agency Formation Commission, El Nino preparations, increasing homeless services, and maintaining our current health, safety, and recreation services for all 1.9 million county residents.
Many are excited that we have expanded regional open space with the purchase of 2,748 acres that link Coyote Lake Harvey Bear Ranch and Anderson Lake county parks to each other. They also link to Henry W. Coe State Park, the largest recreational land holding in the California Park System, resulting in a potential future trail network linking these three parks.
I am committed to supporting lasting solutions to homelessness. In one year, we lowered the number of homeless in our county by 14 percent — from 7,631 to 6,556. Working with Destination: Home, we launched a new program called “All the Way Home” to house 700 local homeless veterans. Additionally, working with HomeFirst, we opened cold weather shelters early and added emergency shelter beds so homeless families and individuals will have a safe place to stay warm and dry.
Following the state moving inmates from prisons to local jails through “realignment,” we have been adjusting our Department of Correction operations which currently house more than 3,600 inmates. We created a commission to evaluate current custody operations and to recommend reforms. Additionally, we are one of only a few counties to be awarded an $80 million state grant to help build new jail facilities.
One hundred and fifty people attended the Identity Theft and Fraud Prevention Seminars that I co-hosted with the District Attorney’s office in Morgan Hill and Almaden Valley. We plan to hold more of these useful seminars in 2016.
We are making it easier than ever to vote in Santa Clara County: all Vote-by-Mail return envelopes are now postage-paid. No more confusion over how many stamps are needed — just vote, sign, and mail. Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before election day and must be received no later than three days after election day.
My District 1 office joined Nextdoor.com, a relatively new private social network that lets neighbors communicate with each other about lost pets, yard sales, crime, and more. In addition to sending my monthly newsletter to 25,000 county residents, I can now notify the 50,000 District 1 households who use Nextdoor.com about important policy issues, meetings, and events, and receive feedback.
We created a Summer Youth Employment Program with the city of San Jose and Work2Future that will serve 500 youth aged 16 to 21. This new initiative places youth program participants in subsidized and unsubsidized summer employment. Services are offered at the Youth Employment Training Center in San Jose and at One-Stop centers in Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
Underutilized county properties will now be used for renewable energy development in order to reach our long-term goal to achieve sufficient revenue or savings to offset utility costs. Current plans for solar photovoltaic sites will generate renewable electricity equal to about 15 percent of the county’s total electricity usage, saving $35.6 million in 25 years and making Santa Clara County the 8th largest producer of on-site renewable energy in the U.S.
I wish each of you a healthy 2016 and I look forward to another productive year on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Please visit www.sccgov.org/sites/d1/Pages/Supervisor-Mike-Wasserman.aspx to sign up for my monthly newsletter, or to contact me or a member of my staff.
Mike Wasserman is the Santa Clara County Supervisor, District 1. He wrote this for Morgan Hill Life.
