San Jose Firefighters Gather To Protest Sam Liccardo For Making San Jose Less Safe & Attacking First Responders

San Jose, CA – September 26, 2024 – At 11 AM on Thursday, firefighter leaders will gather outside San Jose City Hall to protest former Mayor Sam Liccardo’s detrimental policies towards public safety. As Liccardo runs for Congress, firefighters are calling attention to his past actions as both a city councilmember and mayor, accusing him of undermining first responders and driving many out of the city.

“Don’t let Sam Liccardo do to your city what he did to ours,” firefighters will caution voters in the district.

Firefighters’ concerns echo those raised by the San Jose Police Association (SJPA) just last week. “There is a reason why every law enforcement organization has not endorsed Sam Liccardo: we don’t trust him,” said SJPA President Steve Slack.

As one of the architects of the controversial Measure B, Liccardo has been held responsible for the following impacts on San Jose’s public safety infrastructure:

· A rise in emergency response times across the city
· 49 San Jose firefighters laid off
· San Jose having fewer firefighters now than in 2008
· 500 police officers leaving San Jose in the four years after the measure took effect
· A near doubling in response time to Priority Two calls (such as gang assaults, weapons calls, and burglaries) during his second term as mayor

While Liccardo claims he shouldn’t be held accountable since he became mayor after Measure B passed, critics point out that his leadership on the city council helped push the measure forward. In 2012, the San Jose Mercury News reported extensively on how Liccardo refused to collaborate with police and first responders, choosing instead to defend Measure B in court.

Firefighters at Thursday’s protest will urge voters not to let Liccardo’s record in San Jose extend to the congressional district he now seeks to represent.