Walking a Mile in Her Shoes

One in six American women has been the victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Last week, I put on two-inch heels and walked in the 2013 YWCA "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" event to help raise awareness about sexual assault in our community and provide funds to support the YWCA Silicon Valley Rape Crisis Center. To learn more about how you can help this worthy cause, please visit the YWCA website at www.ywca-sv.org

Tuesday, June 4 is Election Day for residents of County Supervisorial District 2. There are seven candidates (six plus one write-in) running for the vacant seat, and if no one candidate receives a majority of the votes, a run-off election will be held on Tuesday, July 30. Vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed to voters beginning May 6 and the last day to register to vote is May 20. For more information, please visit the Registrar of Voters website at: http://www.sccgov.org

I am proud to report that the County was the recipient of a California Energy Commission grant to fund a new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station. As the County increases its CNG fleet, we will not only be reducing greenhouse gases and pollution emissions, but the County will also save money on fuel as CNG is about half the cost of gasoline or diesel. That amounts to $2,400 in savings per vehicle! Once built, the station will be located at 2265 Junction Avenue, San Jose and open to the public.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District launched a new blog dedicated to the future of Almaden Lake. The blog offers greater access to up to date information regarding the project, and avenues for the public to log opinion and concerns. This will allow the Water District to respond quicker to resolve issues and highlight the solutions.

As I reported last month, Santa Clara County’s fiscal year 2014 budget workshops will take place from May 7-9 and the budget hearings will be held on June 17, 18, 19, and 21. The annual budget process begins with a review of the County Executive’s recommended budget, which will be released this week. The workshops will examine each budget of the County’s 40 agencies and departments, organized by committee: children, seniors, and families; health and hospital; finance and government operations; public safety and justice; housing, land use, transportation and environment. For more information on the budget process and time frame, please visit the County website at: http://www.sccgov.org/sites/scc/countygovernment/Documents/FY2014RecommendedBudget.pdf

As always, you can reach my office at 408-299-5010, or you can email me at mike.wasserman@bos.sccgov.org with your comments and concerns.

Mike Wasserman
Santa Clara County Supervisor, District 1
www.supervisorwasserman.com

P.S. My monthly newsletter is distributed the first Wednesday of the month. If you would like to submit a community event, please email it to Elizabeth.Sanford@bos.sccgov.org.