The plan, approved by the council on Tuesday night, would leverage $544 million in city and Redevelopment Agency funds to obtain an additional $1.6 billion in federal, state and private funds. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales says that 6,000 units of housing, with a majority being high-density, would be built under the plan.
"These are ambitious goals in a challenging economy to meet the pressing needs of both our families and our employers in Silicon Valley,'' Gonzales says."With our renewed financial commitment, focused efforts and continuing creative partnerships however, I am confident we will achieve the results we want in the next five years.''
San Jose City Councilman Forrest Williams says the high cost of living in San Jose means that affordable hosing needs to be built for many professional workers who would otherwise face long commutes. "We need our teachers here. We need our firefighters. We need our police, our technicians,'' Williams says. "We don't need them to be driving four to five hours.''
The mayor's communications director, David Vossbrink, says the council is scheduled to give final approval to the plan on Sept. 17. Between now and then the plan will likely undergo a "few tweaks'' relating to financing and downtown issues, according to Vossbrink.
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