Thursday, February 12, 2009

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.12.09: The electric car hum you hear is Tesla (officially?) leaving town...

Well, there was a good news/bad news Tesla story yesterday which we wrote and commented on. The good news is that the San Carlos-based electric car manufacturer is getting a huge $350 Federal loan to build a manufacturing facility. The bad news is that in early February the New Mexico Business Weekly reported that the company was in "late stage" negotiations to move the (previously slated for San Jose) manufacturing plant there...

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is probably not distressed at the unwanted back-to-back cross-country flights to D.C. after all. While there with 5 other California Mayors he saw the Senate and House approve the $789 billion stimulus plan. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer promised the bill would be friendly to urban areas and get some highway funding immediately in the works. Reed said, "We'll all be coming back on the parochial stuff." Don't sound so excited about it Mayor Reed...(Reed + Stimulus = Strange Bedfellows in a Sentence)

San Jose Inside/Metro’s Fly was there (or at least a former reporter was) to see SF Mayor/Gubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom’s introduction by Mayor Chuck Reed before Reed dashed off to D.C. (for a photo op?) The Chronicle got in on the Newsom/San Jose action too...

San Jose Councilmember Rose Herrera apparently got cold feet on the Constant-Oliverio bandwagon and yesterday suggested the tobacco money/crossing guard discussion could wait for the larger budget discussion. Again missing a quorum, the Rules Committee (Pete Constant) was unable to push the item forward to Council.

Archbishop Mitty High’s Assistant Soccer Coach/Santa Clara Sporting Coach Ricardo Sanchez, Jr. is accused of molesting two young teenage girls during his volunteer days. Mitty Principal Tim Brosnan put Sanchez on administrative leave (and let parents know after the Merc. published a story). Santa Clara Police Lt. Phil Cooke asks anyone with info to call (408) 615-4826 and notes they are also looking for additional victims.

There will be one less Deputy District Attorney to prosecute the Coach, however. That's because Judge Pat McElroy with the State Bar wants Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Ben Field stripped of his right to practice law for 4 years saying Field "abused his prosecutorial power,'' in his unethical approach to putting sexual predators behind bars. District Attorney Dolores Carr wants to read the 67 page ruling before talking about the case. Field was putting away some pretty horrible people...he just couldn't the rules apparently.

And...

Gilroy Magazine founder Sunny Pappu Kavil was facing charges of child molestation, assault, and sexual battery before Monterey County DA Glenn Pesenhofer said there wasn’t enough evidence. Kavil’s Bishop, Ben Griffin, helped ensure Kavil was innocent saying, "I have interviewed (Kavil) for his honesty, keeping the Ten Commandments and I can swear that he can be trusted for what he says.” Because the Church does such a good job of preventing sexual assault.

Between Santa Clara County’s (sometimes) overzealous prosecution of sex offenders and Monterey’s lack of prosecution, it would appear victims may need to videotape their rapists to see them behind bars.

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board declared 26 areas “trash-impaired” and in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. Last year, volunteers pulled 125 tons of garbage out of local creeks, including 15,000 plastic bags. David Lewis with Save the Bay said "… actions have not been taken to reduce the trash, so there have to be tougher regulations." San Jose Environmental Services Deputy Director, Melody Tovar, said "We recognize that trash in our creeks is a significant and complex problem. And we understand that it affects the vibrancy of our City's creeks. But we're concerned about the expense." So, save your town some money – pick it up and make sure it gets to the recycle or garbage bin. No word from the American Chemistry Council's local lobbyist...

San Jose Police are back in the news with another Taser death. A man in his 20’s died yesterday after having been Tasered when officers were trying to take him into custody. This isn’t the first Taser-related death in San Jose and it’s likely to add to the mounting legal costs of this non-lethal (?) tool. Officer Enrique Garcia said the man, who was in an Eastside backyard, “resisted and got into a violent struggle with our officers.”

The Merc.’s Editorial Board says San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen behaved foolishly during the Little Saigon uproar but that is not enough reason to recall her. The Merc. wants you to vote no on the recall calling it an act of vengeance and suggests a healthy challenge in next year’s election would be the grown-up response. Unforunately, grown-up responses haven't been the norm in this fiasco...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paragraph four:

"San Jose Councilmember Rose Herrera apparently got cold feet on the Constant-Oliverio bandwagon and yesterday suggested the tobacco money/crossing guard discussion could wait for the larger budget discussion. Again missing a quorum, the Rules Committee (Pete Constant) was unable to push the item forward to Council."

On this point, there are four rules committee members (Reed, Constant, Chirco, and Pyle) plus an alternative member, Nguyen.

Apparently a quorum is three of the four committee members, but why can't Nguyen be the third member when two don't show? Even without Reed and Constant, the city would still have three council members in attendance.

Anonymous said...

Because Nguyen RARELY shows up to Rules when an alternate is needed. While she should have her schedule blocked off so she can attend, the Rules Committee has no met for two weeks with no action taken because Madison is too busy to show up.

Maybe this helps explain why she's being recalled.