It is Boxing Day for our British (Empire) friends...enjoy...
And what would a holiday season be without a story of someone doing some unselfish...oh wait...this is the opposite. Police Chief Rob Davis said, "It's unbridled greed. Minor dishonesties build upon themselves, and (this is) the criminal house of cards crumbling down." Garbage is a favorite topic for Watch Dog San Mateo, but now the juiciest garbage story is here...James Lucero, owner and president of Resource Development Services, (not to be confused with Tony Soprano) managed to dump millions of pounds of waste without paying fees to the Kirby Canyon landfill for nearly a decade. Lucero collected waste and charged customers who (may have?) thought they were paying for proper disposal. Lucero, however, slipped landfill workers $50 - $100 for each load and dumped whatever he liked – construction waste, perhaps hazardous waste requiring special treatment, no one really knows. Employees at Kirby may have taken home as much as $100,000 a year from Lucero’s operation. San Jose Police estimate Lucero bilked Waste Management out of $13 million, prominent in each of the numerous stories is an unknown cost to the city of San Jose due to loss of fees and taxes. A City employee led to Lucero’s downfall, having heard rumors of illegal dump activity the employee blew the whistle in 2007. Lucero’s lavish lifestyle is coming to a close, this means goodbye to his Andalusian show horse named Fugitivo, along with his Carmel home and Bentley. Perhaps Chief Davis would have been on the case sooner had Lucero been Latino and drunk...
Los Gatos Councilmembers have given the go-ahead to convert the Bay Tree apartments to condos. Residents and neighbors expressed concern over parking and inconvenience to residents during construction. Lyon Capital Ventures proposes to increase parking, neighbor Wilfrid Houde says the existing parking is untenable, “You cannot park SUVs, vans, or pick-ups."
At the same meeting the Council awarded construction of the new police building to Swenson Development and Construction and anticipate a September 2009 move-in date. (Because public buildings are always finished on time...)
San Jose Inside’s Tom McEnery wishes all a tranquil Christmas and hopeful New Year while cheering the strongest start in Sharks' team history (he discloses that he’s an owner) and realizing the economic crisis is real (an attempt to return jewelry to a bankrupt Whitechapel Jewelry proved impossible).
Metro’s Fly reports former Metro publisher David Cohen (not to be confused with Berryessa Union School District board president David Cohen) is now the former head of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers having been dumped by new owner Merc.
Oh...and unlike some of our friends...Watch Dog will continue to post over the next week...including at least one more (shocking!) East Side Union High School District update...
Friday, December 26, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment