San Jose has a Manager-Council form of government with the mayor and City Council setting policy and a non-elected city manager executing that policy. All other large cities in California, and the vast majority across the nation, use a Strong-Mayor form of government, in which power is split between an executive mayor, who runs the city, and a legislative council.

The Manager-Council form of government was created early in the last century to remove politics from local government, which was viewed as just providing basic services. It works well in small to medium size cities, but because of the power of special interests and size of city council districts, removing politics is nearly impossible in larger cities.

In large cities, council members represent more than 100,000 people and become mini-mayors with full time salaries, professional staffs, and the ability to affect how policies are carried out. The wall that is supposed to separate policy from implementation is almost non-existent in larger cities.

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Whether it is jobs, affordable housing or safety, the city council member is a key player in implementing policy and managing the district’s interests, sometimes over the interests of the city as a whole. That problem is less significant in smaller cities, which prohibit council members from interfering in the implementation of policy.

In San Jose, accountability is vague. Who is in charge? The mayor, with less than 10 percent of the council vote? Is it the increasingly quiet and temporary city manager? Is it the council that sets policy, but supposedly doesn’t implement it?

If the answer is “all of them”, then it really is nobody.

Most people in San Jose believe the mayor runs the city because the mayor is the voice of the city. But the mayor cannot direct the city manager or city departments to do anything, even during major floods or campaign demonstrations turned violent.

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San Jose’s mayor spends a significant amount of time in City Council and Rules Committee meetings and is less able to promote the city and drive city-wide issues as effectively as mayors in other large cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego and Los Angeles.

This disadvantage, which is not a reflection on the talent of any current or former mayor, can be seen in the inability to attract or retain businesses, take quick advantage of opportunities, bring political muscle to negotiate deals with other public agencies or handle natural disasters. Yes, we have our success stories, but they pale in comparison to those in other large cities.

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San Jose mayor and former adviser split over high-rise near Santana Row It is time that San Jose follow the best practices of the state and nation and change its government structure to a Mayor-Council system. San Jose cannot handle obstacles that other large cities seem to more than capable of solving.

This is not a silver bullet. It doesn’t directly provide more food to the hungry or housing for the homeless. But it does move San Jose onto a better path to solve those and other complex problems.

This is not a business vs. labor, right vs. left or Republican vs. Democrat issue. It is simply common sense for the tenth largest city in the country.

Norman Kline is CEO and founder of LibraryWorld. He was a candidate for San Jose City Council in 2016.