Friday, November 7, 2008

Morning News Round-Up -- 11.07.08: The Aftermath...

It's time to look at how Santa Clara County did compared the rest of the state on some key election issues. The County supported Obama by nearly 70%, surpassing the rest of the State support. The County also strongly supported giving chickens room to breath and flap their wings, funding children's hopspitals, and redistricting. We also rejected two of the more divisive measures on the ballot -- the retread of parental notification (Prop 4) and banning same-sex marriage (Prop 8).

Silicon valley voters, along with most of the Coast and two mountain counties, marched to the beat of a different drum on Prop 8 -- a proposal to strip same sex couples of the right to marry, granted earlier this year by the state Supreme Court. Check out the interactive map provided by the LA Times.

It's all in who you know -- if San Jose's parking enforcement officers tagged your car and you paid the ticket -- you must not be one of the "Lovely Rita's" spouses. Ratha Pen's wife couldn't find parking near their home around San Jose's downtown, no matter, her husband and his colleagues took care of the problem. San Jose's Director of Transportation, James Helmers, indicated frustration with those who favored friends and family. Watch Dog has received a ticket (or six), while in San Jose and I know the enforcement officers are fierce about catching meters as they click to blinking red.

The Valley Transportation Authority will be opening, four months early, the last of the stations getting a makeover to accommodate "mobility impaired" riders. The new sloped platforms have been making their way through the lightrail system since 2002. San Jose Councilwoman Nancy Pyle will join VTA General Manager Michael Burns at the Ohlone/Chynoweth station Wednesday for the ribbon cutting. (Perhaps if they had finished one week earlier it could have pushed the VTA/BART measure just enough to win...)

The folks at Metro's Fly were kicked out of the South Bay Labor Council "Labor Temple" on election day and then reported about on San Jose Inside. The Metro has had a rocky relationship with Labor for years, so getting the boot probably wasn't much of a surprise.

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