PROVIDING EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AT CITY COLLEGE

Stemming cost overruns

John Rizzo has saved millions in taxpayer-funded contruction costs by stemming cost overruns with tough new control policies. As a result, the new Multi-Use buidling is the first building to come in on budget and on time.

John is now providing strict oversight for the one remaining project, the Chinatown-North Beach campus, to make sure that it comes in on budget, in order to avoid cutting features out of the project.

Lowering taxes

John authored a measure that will refinance the existing bond debt to take advantage of lower interest rates. John's measure will return the cost savings to taxpayers in the form of lower property taxes..

Expanded green jobs training for disadvantaged communities

John has made green jobs training a priority of the District and worked to bring in grants to fund new programs. The most recent program just started, Johno secured funding from a private green energy company and worked with community members and City College staff to craft a solar training program for economically disadvantaged Bayview residents.

I also put together a team of industry, government, and community-based organization representatives to go after grant funding. This resulted in several million dollars in state and federal grants to create new solar training for disadvantaged youth and a hybrid car mechanics training program.

Increased hiring of local residents

John has worked to employ more San Francisco residents in the District’s construction projects. He put together a program that works with contractors to encourage them to hire San Franciscans.

Handling the budget crisis fair to students and employees

The State has cut $25 million from the City College budget in the past two years, at a time when employee health care costs are skyrocketing. Although this has caused some painful cuts, John has favored an approach that focuses on retaining quality support for students, and one that is fair to all employees.

• Cutting adminstrative and management costs. Many government agencies are top heavy--too many manangers and salaries that are too high. John worked to cut the salaries of all administrators and managers, and to reduce the number of administrators by 25 percent.
  
  
• Collaboration with unions. Through collaboration with employee bargaining units in seeking budget solutions. the result are give-backs by employees at all levels, including administrators and managers, in the form of salary freezes and cuts, and furloughs.
  
  
• Management Audits. Audits have worked well for construction projects. John is working for audits of the operations side of the District.

• Seeking to lower the coast of healthcare by seeking new providers
• Lowering utility costs by implementing energy-saving measures in buildings

The achievement gap: Improving student success rates

We need to redesign the way counseling is done to reduce the achievement gap. Better counseling can get the right services to the students who need them. It can also prevent students from wasting time taking the wrong classes and focus their efforts one what they need to succeed.

The academic programs themselves need to be reevaluated and probably changed. The Board of Trustees can also provide the framework to enable the development of new types of curriculum and changes to current curriculum. However, the Board must respect the principles of academic freedom that are required by law.

Environment

John coauthored and and passed a Sustainability Plan, which imposed high environmental standards, includong green building standards on new construction. The newest building to open, the Multi-Use Building, is a LEED Gold standard building. Other areas of the plan include energy and water conservation, increased recycling, better facilities for bicycle commuters,

Updating the District’s Technology

As chair of the Facilities, Infrastructure and Technology Committee, John has pushed for keeping the District’s technology up-to-date. He has pushed for the addition of "smart classrooms" and lead an effort to get a document imaging system installed in the Financial Aid Department, in order to save an enormous amount of paper and cut down the time in processing student applications.

John also pushed for the creation of a new position for an Information Technology Director. The District's first IT director has now been hired, a move that is already showing results.