SAN JOSE — As worried as San Jose residents may be about changes emanating from the White House and Congress, the pressing concerns they raised at a town hall meeting Saturday with elected officials were local — crime, homelessness and the noxious Newby Island Landfill, among others.

About 150 residents met with San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-San Jose, and District 4 City Councilman Lan Diep at the Berryessa Community Center.

Several residents said they were worried about a rise in petty theft and their inability to get the police department to take it seriously.

“Neighborhood crime is horrible,” said Berryessa resident Betty Reutter, who recently chased after a thief stealing mail from her neighbor, whose identity was stolen and later discovered credit cards opened in her name.

Another resident complained that police would not even take a report on mail theft, referring him to the Postal Service.

Liccardo acknowledged that while San Jose police have a good track record in solving major crime, dealing with minor crimes is often more challenging — even if the city had more officers.

Other residents said they were worried about proliferating homeless encampments along creeks and on other public land.

“This is a huge challenge for any big city in this state,” Liccardo responded.

He pointed out that the city is on its way toward housing 703 homeless veterans identified in the Santa Clara County’s 2015 homeless census, is developing more housing downtown and is working on creating affordable “microhouses” and identifying sites for them.

“But with the federal government trying to shut down housing assistance programs, we have to more and more think about how we are going to do this on our own,” Liccardo said.

Khanna said that President Donald Trump’s budget proposals, including a $3 billion cut to community block grants, would hurt both local housing and policing programs.

“For all the president’s claims to be a law-and-order president, he’s gutting the budget that would actually fund law enforcement,” Khanna said.

Another recurring complaint has been the Newby Island Landfill. The trash site, which borders Berryessa and Milpitas, has been reviled as an eyesore and blamed for traffic and noxious odors that envelop their neighborhoods. The city recently agreed to expand the landfill’s capacity and extend its operations by 16 years to 2041.

Liccardo said much of the odor emanates from open-air drying beds for sewage treatment. The city, he said, is trying to get partners such as Cupertino and West Valley cities and agencies to agree to spend millions to move those beds indoors.

With Berryessa largely spared the floods that inundated Rock Springs and downtown neighborhoods, fewer questions focused on flood recovery and prevention, which have put Liccardo and the city on the hot seat in recent weeks.

On the issue of traffic, residents worried that their streets are about to become even more congested with the BART extending to Berryessa later this year.

“The BART station’s opening will attract traffic,” Diep acknowledged. But he noted that a new Charcot Avenue overpass over Interstate 880 is in the works. And he assured residents that the city would issue residential parking permits in neighborhoods near the new station to prevent commuters from leaving cars in front of their homes.