San Jose's new mayor Sam Liccardo delivered his first "State of the City" address Saturday morning, and he pledged to beef up the police department and restore services.
But it was not delivered at City Hall. Mayor Liccardo gave his address at Independence High School. And instead of a weekday, he chose to share his vision for the city on a Saturday, so families could attend.
More 1,000 people came out to hear what the new mayor had to say about the future. He said the city cannot prosper if people are worried about safety, so he pledged to make that a top priority. He said he will work to restore staffing at the police department and offer better compensation to retain officers within the next five years.
"So first, we will renew San Jose by making our city safer," Liccardo said. "Of course, our hard-working police officers remained stretched parsley thin. Despite our department's shrinking size, we've seen our hard-working officers actually reduce crime in the past two years."
Liccardo also said he would beef up help for the homeless and expand after-school and teen-job programs.
He also said he would work to secure funding to bring BART into downtown and Alum Rock.
