San Jose alternative pension reform plan appears to pass

San Jose city officials and employee unions appear to have gained a victory Tuesday with voter approval of an alternative pension reform plan for city workers, according to unofficial election results.

About 62 percent of San Jose voters approved Measure F, which will allow the city to adopt retirement health care and pension benefits it agreed on with its 11 employee unions.

The measure, which required a simple majority, would also replace 2012’s Measure B, a controversial measure that led many city workers to leave their jobs.

Measure F’s proponents have argued that the negotiated plan will save the city $3 billion in the next three decades and draw in new and former employees, including police officers needed to help fill patrol shifts as the city’s population grows.

Critics of the measure contended that it will cost the city more money to pay for increases in benefits and there wasn’t enough public dialogue on the alternative plan before the City Council voted to place it in Tuesday’s ballot.

Measure E in San Jose appears to have passed with 63 percent approval, calling on employers to provide part-time employees with additional hours before looking to hire new workers.

Supporters dubbed the measure as the “Opportunity to Work”

initiative and said it will help the tens of thousands of part-time employees supporting their families through multiple part-time jobs, but opponents criticized the initiative’s open-ended language that left many unanswered questions.

San Jose’s Measure G received 66 percent of votes to raise the base business tax for the first time in 30 years from $150 to $195 for road repairs, police response and other services.

Los Gatos voters passed a similar proposal with 81 percent of votes to fund essential services through Measure T, which raises the short-term rental tax for hotel guests and other visitors.

Two Santa Clara County measures looking to alleviate housing and transportation, two of the region’s primary issues, appear to have passed by gaining more than two-thirds of the vote at the polls Tuesday.

Measure A was popular at the polls with 67 percent of votes for $950 million in bonds for the county’s 15 cities to provide affordable housing not only for the homeless, but for people at risk of becoming displaced such as veterans, seniors and foster youth.

With 71 percent of votes, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Measure B will create a half-cent sales tax for the agency to work on crowded expressways and finishing the second phase of the BART Silicon Valley extension into San Jose and Santa Clara, among other needs.

Two Cupertino measures with different approaches to redevelop the declining Vallco Shopping Mall have failed.

Measure C to exclude offices and homes from the site and set a 45-foot limit on buildings outside neighborhoods had 60 percent “no” votes.

Measure D would have allowed the city move forward with a 58-acre plan to make over the site with residences, offices, commercial spaces and a community center, but was struck down by 55 percent of votes.

Gilroy’s Measure H and Milpitas’ Measure I both had proposals on an urban growth boundary that passed by 66 percent and 73 percent, respectively.

Sunnyvale’s Measure M barely passed with 51 percent of yes votes to require a city election before public land is sold, leased, extended, renewed, swapped or transferred, and Measure N was supported by 77 percent of votes to extend its nearly 50-year-old utility users tax to new technology.

Santa Clara voters were faced with two proposals affecting the mayor and City Council in the form of Measure O that sets their monthly salaries to $2,500 and $2,000, respectively. That passed with 72 percent of votes and Measure P gained 81 percent of votes to set a two-term limit for office.

Santa Clara voters also approved Measure Q to make the City Council fill elected office vacancies by a fourth-fifths majority, and Measure R that requires a two-thirds majority vote on whether city-owned property used for park or recreational purposes can be sold.

Morgan Hill’s Measure S was passed by 78 percent of voters to update the city’s residential development control ordinance by extending it to 2035, limiting residential allotments to 215 per year and setting a population ceiling to 58,200.

Mountain View voters faced two proposals surrounding rent stabilization that appear to have narrowly passed. Measure V received 53 percent of votes to tie yearly rent increases to the Consumer Price Index and stops unjust evictions for units built after Feb. 1, 1995. With 51 percent of votes, Measure W creates a tenant and landlord dispute program if rent increases exceed 5 percent within the span of 12 months.