Tordillos says San Jose needs new leaders, approach to break up status quo

When Anthony Tordillos introduces himself to prospective San Jose District 3 voters and explains what he does for a living, he is often pressed with why he would want to leave a lucrative job managing a team of engineers at Google for a sometimes thankless City Council position.

It’s an answer he can give easily. The 33-year-old said that the city he has grown to love has come upon a pivotal moment where it needs an image reset in the eyes of voters hurt by the child molestation scandal that forced the resignation of now-former Councilmember Omar Torres. And, it is at this moment that it needs a new generation of leadership — not the old guard or those at the beck and call of special interests — that can add a different perspective and policy approach to either break up the disconnect with residents’ most pressing concerns or place a greater impetus on solving them.

“It’s really clear a lot of folks have lost trust in local government,” Tordillos said. “I think that’s obviously in part due to the scandal that led to the vacancy and special election but also just because many folks are not seeing the results that they expect on the issues that matter the most to them. I think in order to make progress on those issues, we need leaders who have policy experience and who can bring an evidence-based approach to their governance, to really treat these problems with the urgency they demand.”

Tordillos is one of seven candidates that will appear on the April 8 special election ballot, joining a mix of political regulars and fresh blood that include:

• Gabby Chavez-Lopez, CEO and Executive Director of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley
• Tyrone Wade, retired family counselor and former mayoral candidate
• Philip Dolan, knife sharpener salesman
• Retired law enforcement officer Adam Duran
• Irene Smith, pro tem judge and the most recent political challenger to Torres
• Matthew Quevedo, deputy chief of staff to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan

The two highest vote-getters will advance to a runoff on June 24, if none of the candidates receive more than 50% of the vote.

Tordillos’ baby face belies his experience as he has been heavily involved in local government since he and his husband moved to San Jose in 2018.

Along with serving as the president of the South University Neighborhood Association, Tordillos is chair of the San Jose Planning Commission, which has not only played a role in expanding his political interest but also made him realize that local leaders are not focusing enough on their central role as policymakers.

Tordillos first realized how much value he could add as the city reviewed and ultimately adopted its housing element, noting that he was one of two commissioners who voted against the initial draft because he felt that the city had not cobbled together a plan that met the basic requirements and did not meet urgency of the city’s housing crisis.

“I think we ended up in a place where we had a much stronger housing element with more concrete targets and more aggressive goals that will pave the way for tens of thousands of new homes in San Jose in years ahead,” Tordillos said.

Tordillos has identified homelessness, affordable housing development, public safety, and improving downtown vibrancy as his chief priorities.

He said San Jose needs to focus more on homelessness prevention — including stronger tenant protections and working with Santa Clara County on emergency rent relief and rapid housing programs to get people off the streets as they became homeless — which has proven to be a less costly and more effective approach.

Although he understood the need for flexibility in using the voter-approved Measure E funds for interim homelessness solutions instead of affordable housing in some situations, Tordillos has pushed back against the city administration for wanting to make that a permanent policy position.

Noting that a high percentage of San Jose residents are rent-burdened, Tordillos said that city officials and candidates who reject the connection between affordability and homelessness and believe it is a purely addiction and mental health problem are “untethered from reality.”

Tordillos said not only did the city need to respect the intent of the measure, but he did not see the city rectifying the homelessness crisis by solely relying on interim shelters and without also growing the supply of affordable housing.

While he acknowledged that affordable housing financing takes more time to secure as it has become more complex due to the need for more funding sources, Tordillos said that developers could use those city funds to gain matching grants from county, state and federal agencies to get shovels into the ground faster.

Perhaps an indication of the city’s flawed approach, Tordillos recalled an incarcerated homeless resident telling him, “At least when I’m in jail, I know that I have a roof over my head and a meal,” after he failed to gain placement in an affordable housing development and was kicked out of an interim shelter.

“That is not good for our unhoused population and that is not good for the city because those are people who will be very skeptical of taking the city up on future offers of service,” Tordillos said.

With downtown suffering from the perception of poor public safety, Tordillos has identified two policy goals to bolster the city’s police department and its standing within the community.

In addition to increasing staff numbers, Tordillos wants a greater focus on local recruitment, which would offer more officers from the community who have existing relationships with their neighbors or could serve as liaisons within the community to help restore trust. He also believes that the department needs to expand its recruitment of underrepresented backgrounds so that the police force resembles the city’s broader, diverse population.

Although San Jose’s police staffing levels are low relative to those of its big city peers, Tordillos said the city needs to expand its non-sworn programs to avail more staff to respond to lower priority calls and provide nonpolice alternatives for more sensitive and traumatic events.

While adding more police would help improve the perception of downtown, Tordillos believes its future lies in shifting it away from less of a pure business district into a more balanced area with arts, culture, reaction and housing.

Arts and cultural events helped spur downtown’s recovery on nights and weekends, providing a winning investment for the local economy. Tordillos said he would like to see the city do a better job of utilizing its storefront activation program and also lessening the administrative burdens for hosting events.

“As we start to make progress here, I’m hopeful that will become a bit of a virtuous cycle where as one block improves, it makes the next block a more attractive target for potential investment,” Tordillos said.

As an up-and-coming leader, Tordillos said the status quo is not working and has had its chance.

If leaving his job at Google and liquidating his stock holdings in the company were not enough for voters, Tordillos has also pledged to reject corporate and lobbyists money as a sign of commitment to them.

“I’ve heard from folks that they don’t always feel like they can trust that their local representatives have their best interests at heart versus the special interests that play such a large role in our politics,” Tordillos said. “I really do want to be a representative for all of the people of District 3 … and always take the time to make sure that our neighbors and communities are brought along in every decision that is made in City Hall.”