The Good Guys:  Mayor Reed and Concilman Constant at January 2007 Swearing In Ceremony

San Jose City Council Votes Down Common Sense

By Jan Soule --Reporting on Local Issues for the SVARW Legislation Committee

The Tuesday, April  21, 2009, meeting of the San Jose City Council was truly an Orwellian experience.   Those of us who attended public school way back when education was the goal vs indoctrination, learned that the decisions of the “Politburo” were a far gone conclusion before the ruling body of Communist Russia met.  Such was the case when the San Jose City Council considered the issue of equipping public library computers used by children with filters to block pornographic images.

Spurred on by a graphic report on Channel 7 News, Councilman Pete Constant proposed protecting children from second hand porn in the San Jose Public Libraries. After 18 months of frustrating efforts to move the issue forward, Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilman Constant hoped to at least convince the San Jose City Council to approve blocking pornographic images on computers used by minors. 

The opposition lead by Vice Mayor Chirco and Councilmen Liccardo and Kalara, argued first about the expense and then that pornography really wasn’t that big of a problem.  To counter those arguments:

Cost.  City estimated that it would cost $80,000 to put pornography filters on the computers in the children’s area.  Values Advocacy Council offered a donation of $40,000 to the city to offset the expense and another individual added $10,000.  The cost to the city was a mere $30,000 which was primarily IT time.  Councilman Constant reminded the council that they had just voted to spend $50,000 to put signs in the parks letting people know they could enjoy a “smoke free” environment. The $30,000 was insignificant compared to the $900 million dollar city budget.

No Problem.  Security guards from the library and many people from the community spoke before the City Council offering first-hand experience about the problems with pornography in the public libraries.  And let’s not forget that Channel 7 has this on video!!

In the end, Councilman PierLugi Oliverio agreed with Mayor Reed and Councilman Constant that children should be protected but that was not nearly enough votes to overcome the seven council members who owe their positions on the city council to the labor union.   The seven showed their concern for children by voting to place signs on the computers reminding people that it is illegal to expose children to pornography. 

Background

ABC News Report

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=5831970

ABC News Story

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=5716705

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