Thursday, March 12, 2009

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.12.09: More Former Mayors in the News...

Baseball is back in the news…Mayor Chuck Reed and Company settled on an April 7 public meeting about bringing the A’s to San Jose. The decision followed input from the A's to San Jose Study Group Co-Chair Michael Mulcahy...and residents for and against a little springtime action. Metro’s Erin Sherbert weighs in on the growing excitement about the A’s. So does the Baseball San Jose blog...

The Merc’s Scott Herhold dedicates his space to musings over the Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins/Cindy Chavez shuffle at the South Bay Labor Council -- the impact to the Labor movement, to City Hall, and to local politics overall. (Herhold also mentions another Former Mayor in his piece...bringing the week's total of San Jose's Former Mayors mentioned on Watch Dog to 2, Former Mayoral Candidates remain at 3, and Current Mayors at 1.)

San Jose Inside/Metro’s Fly has been cruising Facebook (again) and found San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant's Chief of Staff, Jim Cogan, once again expressing an opinion in opposition to his boss. High on the list of all time best lines, Fly accuses Cogan of “performing rhetorical backflips” to explain his support of an anti-Internet filter groupBooks Not Filters’. (There is no truth to the rumor that Constant is searching for his ball gag for Jim...)

San Jose Inside blogger/Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio blogs that those who “choose to live outside” (i.e., homeless) are here because San Jose is unable to put a border around itself. Tough talk for a guy with a guaranteed job…

The Merc’s Editorial Board puzzles over the "layoffs" at San Jose’s City Hall. Expect a loud (obvious) response from San Jose Revealed...

The San Jose Medical Center closed its doors in 2004, with neighbors in an uproar over the loss of a downtown hospital. The Merc’s Editorial Board lends its support to a Gardner Family Health Network urgent care facility to replace at least some of the medical services for San Jose’s growing downtown. A few obstacles lay in the path of making this real – most notably the former SJMC owner HCA who is not likely to support a competitor. (HCA also runs/owns Regional Medical Center...)

San Jose’s Elections Commission is irritated by the anonymity of a complaint against former Mayor/lobbyist Tom McEnery. (Former Mayor count is now at 3 for the week...) Chairman Fred de Funiak is irked that Commission rules allow for anonymous sources but is unwilling to change those rules in the middle of the McEnery complaint. Attorney James McManis points out the complaint is based on public information...

McManis is busy these days...

James McManis is pleased to see the end of the decade long gambling lawsuit. His client, Bay 101 and San Jose’s other gambling paradise, Garden City, will be able to remain open 24 hours. Gamblers must, however take a mandatory 4 hour bet-free break. One wonders exactly how that will be enforced…

San Jose Revealed uncovers the insecurities that San Jose struggles with: does anyone know the way to San Jose, does anyone really care? Revealed poses questions about San Jose’s political relevance both State- and nation-wide while wondering when San Jose Mayors will get press for something other than being a stiff, a philanderer, a criminal, or all three.

Saratoga Mayor Chuck Page calls it a victory in the making. The Council has asked staff to examine Saratoga's permitting process with an eye towards decreasing the number of eyes that have to review. Will Saratoga NIMBYs still be allowed to oppose permits?

Warning to anyone living near a Caltrain line: an improvement project will be keeping you up at night, at least temporarily. Eventually the rail grinding project will decrease the noise but for now anyone hoping to sleep between 10 pm and 4:30 am better get earplugs.

A suspicious package in Palo Alto down the street from a Jewish day school caused the school's evacuation. The make-shift package was made to look like a bomb and carried with it a menacing note...That is a scary story...

So is this...Sunnyvale as beach front property? The Pacific Institute has released a report identifying Alviso, along with hazardous dump sites, power plants, sewer plants, and communities around the Bay as being in danger as sea levels rise. Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, recommends moving at high speed to resolve the problem. (Watch Dog San Mateo laments the possible loss of a blog-buddy during the rising tides...)

The City of Palo Alto and Stanford University don't always get along. Although neighbors and inextricably linked, land-use and taxes and traffic and housing cause all kinds of disputes. Take the proposed new hospital Stanford would like to build. Palo Alto is concerned about the impacts to roads, housing, etc. The City of Palo Alto and Stanford officials are set to meet to discuss the hospital and other Stanford-expansion projects in 3 days...in a thinly-veiled move to make the hospital look better to residents (and perhaps to the Palo Alto City Council as well) -- Stanford released a report yesterday pointing out that the hospital expansion would add $18 million in revenue to the City of Palo Alto...

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