Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Monring News Round-Up -- 5.27.09: Post Supreme (Courts) Edition...

The day after Supreme (Courts) Tuesday (Prop 8 upheld/Sotomayor)... Watch Dog stays local...

Following the firefighters lead, Palo Alto Police Officers have given themselves a pay freeze, saving Palo Alto $800,000. Vice Mayor Jack Morton, last month calling police and firefighters “extremely wealthy and overpaid,” tried to make amends by saying he’d never doubted the police would “step up.”

Which goes hand-in-hand with this story...

San Jose Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant asked their colleagues to take a pay cut and ditch the $600/month (?) car allowance as the Council asks everyone else to take a hit too. Councilmember Nora Campos wants to see double-dipper (disability/salary) Pete Constant take a bigger cut saying “anything less would be hypocritical.” Ouch. To check San Jose City employee salaries, check this out.

The Envision San Jose 2040 Task Force sent a hands off message to developers eagerly anticipating development in Coyote Valley. Task Force Co-Chair/Councilmember Sam Liccardo said the next Task Force could revisit the need for build out, but for now, there was “no surge of need.”

Two “plucky” San Jose teens have been awarded Horatio Alger California State Scholarships. A big Watch Dog bark-out to Vicky D. Nguyen of Lincoln High and Abel Lujan of Independence High, both in San Jose for making the grade. Perhaps they can put their brains toward solving the State's budget mess?

Deputy District Attorney James Leonard was on fire during closing arguments in the trial of Todd Burpee for the vicious attack on a young Jane Doe. Leonard used fetishist images from Burpee’s computer along with DNA and other circumstantial evidence to lay the foundation for conviction – he hopes.

The Merc’s business writer, Chris O’Brien, takes the Craigslist killer tragedy and turns it into a discussion about the world’s oldest profession. This should make San Jose Revealed happy... or not.

Speaking of the world's oldest profession...

Morgan Hill’s City Council is poised for a temporary moratorium on massage parlors while they figure out the impact of a new State law. Police Chief Bruce Cumming reports two local parlors are alleged to provide sex acts. The City also shut one down last year.

Someone screwed up at a Gilroy Girl Scouts' e-waste collection this past weekend. Perhaps they were high... you see, when the dropped off a microwave they forgot to take their pot out. It is not true that the Gilroy Girl Scouts will be selling pot brownies next cookie season...

Mountain View’s City Council was pissed to learn they were being asked to cough up more dollars than any other Silicon Valley city for the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County. In the end, Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga abstained, Councilmembers Jac Siegel and Laura Macias voted no, and the Trust walked out with half the expected dollars.

Guerilla/Gorilla Artist Harry P. Rymate met up with the Merc’s Patty Fisher in the back yard of a suburban tract home, far from New York’s avant garde SoHo district. Geography aside, the mysterious artist sprinkles his creations around San Jose’s Coyote Valley for viewing before art lover/thieves take the work home.

Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino and wife, Leslee, went about adopting a new baby with a Silicon Valley twist. The Merc’s Sal Pizarro covers the techie search for baby Sienna while sharing the news that NBC11’s Brent Cannon and Laura Garcia-Cannon along with 1stAct Silicon Valley’s Tamara Alvarado and Julian Peeples also brought new babies to Silicon Valley. In a whole family theme, Pizarro rounds out the story with news KPIX-TV’s Len Ramierez was awarded the Ruben Salazar Journalism Award.

Silicon Valley Newsroom/San Jose Inside follows the story of San Jose police shooting Daniel Pham with police not releasing the 911 recording. More interesting, and scary, are the comments decrying the Merc and Metro for creating controversy. Creating controversy? Really?

San Jose Revealed weighs in on a multitude of issues… but most interesting they pick a new nickname for Councilmember Pete Constant...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about Nora's family income from the same group that lobbies her? I bet Neal's salary is 10 times Pete's retiremet check.

Should all councilmembers who have outside income (read here ALL) take a bigger cut? We will seehow they vote.....

Watch Dog said...

Watch Dog (delayed) Update: from the Housing Trust...

"I just wanted to send a friendly email to inform you that the author of the article you referenced did not have his facts straight. The Housing Trust of Santa Clara County supported staff’s recommendations for $150,000 FY10 and $150,000 in FY11. The article you post incorrectly states we requested $300,000 for each year."