Morning News Round-Up -- 5.24.10: 4 losses/4 games = Shark's tee times

On Friday night the Sharks lost in overtime. Sunday they gave up a two goal lead to lose by two goals. For those of you counting at home, that's 4 losses in 4 games against the Chicago Blackhawks. And 4 losses in 4 games means tee-times all around today...

We finally have all the Mercury News Editorial Board's recommendations for San Jose City Council... Previously they came out in favor of Magdalena Carrasco over Xavier Campos et al and Don Rocha over Jim Cogan, Larry Pegram et al. Today we get the incumbents, Pete Constant, Sam Liccardo, and Madison Nguyen -- Nguyen being the only one with a real race this time.

It took a few days and seven pages, but Deb Figone, the San Jose City Manager, responded to the City's unions' plans to fix the budget... they aren't enough, too many one-timers, leave me alone at Flame's, etc., etc.

Deb Figone's ongoing battle with the City's unions won't (apparently) prevent San Jose's pools from closing for the summer, which was the original plan. The City is going to contract with some private companies to run the pools for the summer, which is great news... if it ever stops raining. Too bad the same deal couldn't be worked out for Family Camp.

Increasing the VLF. Remember when it used to be considered a political hot potato? That seems quaint now, right? Gray Davis did it and it cost him his job. Governor Schwarzenegger undid, and it cost his budget-balancing billions. San Mateo County (SamTrans) is now considering a local VLF and so is Santa Clara County (VTA) to help with their projects. According to polling, 59 percent of County voters support VTA's VLF $10/ car fee.

Well, the long-awaited investigation into the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District's Chancellor's travel, spending, and general sloppiness has concluded... the results: "We are taking responsibility for not seeing that all policies and procedures were enforced. It will help us doing a better job going forward" -- that according to Ron Lind, who serves on the Community College District Board. Of course, unelecting the Board who is supposed to pay attention to such things would also work.

Dude, that is so uncool... a medical marijuana dispensary was robbed at gun point in San Jose on Thursday. The robbers took the weed and the money off the patients who were in the dispensary at the time. Now the Medical Cannabis Collectives Coalition -- the pot club lobby, if you will -- would like the City of San Jose to hurry the hell up to write an ordinance that would set some security guidelines for clubs...

Steve Johnson at the Merc asked the question that nobody was asking last week when Toyota and Tesla announced their plans for NUMMI: Will Tesla and Toyota create as many jobs as hoped? Well, if you ask San Jose, who was promised jobs from Tesla, they'll probably say OHN...

This must hurt Paul Krutko's ego more than the Tesla thing... the Merc had a story over the weekend about how all the (cool, high-paying) Web 2.0 jobs are going to San Francisco...

Vic Ajouny, the Mayor Chuck Reed's campaign guru (?) is in the Merc's Internal Affairs this weekend about a questionable mail piece he put out for Richard Calderon who is running a quixotic campaign to try to unseat Sheriff Laurie Smith... Are you surprised that people would question Ajlouny's mailers?

In other Internal Affairs news... Pete Constant isn't pedaling stories about his challengers' police records (and if you believe that...) and John Weis, the San Jose Redevelopment Agency's number 2 is leaving town... weird, considering he is the one in charge of putting together the MLB plan for downtown San Jose. Apparently Weis couldn't wait for Bud Selig any longer...

Scott Herhold's column on Sunday gives a glimpse into the legal system about the long-forgotten case of Avo Makdessian/City of San Jose versus Dennis Fong (Tropicana) and a silly (libelous) email that Makdessian sent from City Hall...

A woman driving her SUV on early Saturday morning in Palo Alto was kidnapped, driven to Santa Clara, and sexually assaulted... scary.

You may remember last week when the folks at the Gilroy Unified School District were considering finishing the beautiful new Christopher High School with portables as opposed to a new school wing that was promised when the school bond was passed in 2008... well 100+ folks showed up at a special meeting last week to protest the portables...

Finally, if you have any campaign stuff that you would like to share, we're here for you. Especially copies of mailers that may be interesting for folks to see. We have collected some, but we'd like more: email us.

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.4.10: Buy your Corona today...

The County of Santa Clara has a big, gigantic $200,000,000+ deficit that they need to bridge. How? Like everyone else does: use reserves, cut jobs, "streamline services," and banning toys at fast food joints... But leave it up to a realist (non-politician) to shed some light on things. Patricia Gardner of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits adds, "...it is great that [County Executive] Smith is preserving so much of our servcies at a time when our community is having so much hardship...[but] we need to be mindful that this budget does not take into account any of the state cuts..." May revise next week... hold on to your hats...

The folks in South County are not too pleased (apparently) with the new redistricting lines drawn by the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board... that's because one of the two seats puts Gilroy with Palo Alto... can't we all just get along? Or at least get it right?

Joe Rodriguez in the Merc tries to get back into the political realm and breaks down the similarities between the San Jose City Council re-election races of Pete Constant in District 1 and Sam Liccardo in District 3. Two popular incumbents, also-rans running against them, etc., etc.

A San Jose Police Officer that is due to be laid off saved the life of a cyclist this week. Chief Davis jumped at the chance to praise the officer after getting bashed by Protect San Jose last week...

This is weird, and seems a little out of line. Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio writes an open letter to San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis on San Jose Inside pushing for the promotion of Captain Gary Kirby... Watch Dog has to wonder whose water PO is carrying with this....

Another tough day for the South Bay Labor Council in the Mercury News. This time from the Editorial page regarding the San Jose (barely) International Airport and recommendations from the Airport head honcho that should be re-looked at to cut costs at the airport to make it even a little bit competitive with SFO and OAK. They include: "...contracting out services and paying living wages..." That will be a fun Rules Committee meeting on Wednesday...

While we are on it... we bring you this from the Chronicle: "San Francisco and its largest union have reached a long-delayed tentative agreement on a giveback plan, helping the city trim its projected $483 million budget deficit."

While we are on SFGate.com...

The Chronicle gets in on the action, obviously. The newspaper is so worried that they will lose the 49ers and that their beloved Giants will somehow get hurt if a team moves 30 miles further away, that they are now writing Editorials criticizing the A's for cracking down on their banner policy in the stadium. (We'd LOVE to see someone try to put up a banner anywhere in SBC, errr AT&T Park...) Actually, the Editorial isn't that bad and tells the Oakland City Attorney to back the f... up.

You have got to love California. In November, we will have a ballot measure, funded by oil companies, that looks to make AB 32 (the big anti-global warming bill) obsolete and a ballot measure to make recreational pot legal. Ironically, you will need to smoke pot to make all the November election commercials bearable...

This will make some people really happy... and some people not so much... metering lights in San Jose on 280. Thank you Mr. Roadshow for the heads up.

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.30.10: DeadbeatDellums.com...

Sharks won Game 1... and not because the Red Wings were grounded for missing curfew either...

From the sublime to the ridiculous...

Because we can't help ourselves, Watch Dog Silicon Valley is now the "point out Mayor Ron Dellums' shortcomings" blog... yesterday we wrote about his Palin-esque (or was it Yoda-esque) quote in the paper. Today it is a story from the Chronicle about Mayor Dellums going back on his pledge to take a 10 percent paycut. (He needs the money to pay the IRS who probably have their own internal blog about Dellums' shortcomings... DeadbeatDellums.com) But should MLB really listen to guy who can't pay his taxes and goes back on his $18,000 paycut pledge? Just asking. We'll add this to the "things that won't happen in San Jose when the A's move here" list: there will be no anti-Wolff banners, there will be no anti-A's City Attorney, and there will be no Mayor that gives back his paycut... San Jose looks better and better everyday... don't you think Bud?

Super Bowl in Santa Clara? It could happen, and James Rowen will absolutely be there... His blog-enemies will absolutely not be...

But a story in today's Merc brings up the prospects of "...Raider Nation -- and its rough-and-tumble reputation -- descending on Silicon Valley for football Sundays..." and how that might impact the vote in June. It ain't the wine and cheese-going 49er crowd, that's for sure...

High-Speed Rail could be in trouble, according to a new State audit because it... "...suffers from 'weak oversight,' 'lax' management and a shaky funding plan..." Funny, we thought that was the norm for things coming out of Sacramento... One thing for sure, this audit will be the talk of the country-club set in Menlo Park and Atherton this weekend...

We'll let Sean Webby continue his work on this story and we won't comment at all: Prosecutor: San Jose cop's work on sex assault cases sloppy, but no charges...

Our only comment on this story is that the formatting, probably for a split second yesterday, was a bit screwy... so we share because we can't resist...

While we are on the San Jose Police, the San Jose POA's Vice President didn't mince words when he expressed regret that the Police Chief didn't get the Dallas job, sort of... "Chief Davis has lost the confidence of his troops..." tick tock Chief Davis, tick tock. Of course, we've said that before...

• Medical Cannabis Dude A: Dude, let's file a lawsuit against the City of San Jose for trying to screw with us...
• Medical Cannabis Dude B: Dude... let's do it...

(Don't worry all you medical cannabis users out there. I support you. But it is funnier to write about this story if we throw the word "dude" in once and awhile...)

If you life isn't boring enough, there will be public workshops will start this weekend about how to develop 2,600 acres of land around San Jose's "water treatment"/ sewage plant. Either your life isn't boring enough OR you ran out of your Ambien prescription...

Become the Lt. Governor go on Colbert... that is Maldo's path to fame.

But the special elections that the Governor is pushing got dinged in the Merc Editorial pages today... because of cost ($3 million) and because of politics...

The Board of Supervisors' plan to ban fast food toys gets some love on SFist.com... at the same time that George Shirakawa goes out for steak for a good cause (Dining Out for Life) and presumably not handing out toys... BUT wait, the comments on San Jose Inside tell a different story: apparently Shirakawa wasn't going to be there after his press release was sent out...

The City of Cupertino is laying out some cash ($2.1 million) now (with Siemens) to reap energy efficiency savings later (through cuts in energy and water bills)... How'd they find $2.1 million? $438k in grants, $562k in capital improvement reserves, and the other $1.1 will come from a private lender or reserves...

The Minton's project in Mountain View got approved. 203 "luxury apartments" will be built on the site of the old lumber yard... Prometheus Real Estate Group 1, NIMBYs 0...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.23.10: Leaving Mommy and Daddy Warbucks is a good thing...

The only San Jose news today is that the Sharks won... they lead the series 3-2.

Go electric or go to bankruptcy court... those seem to the options for Caltrain these days. That ain't fun. This would seem to have major implications up and down the region. Let is also be known that they are the first (but certainly not the last) local government agency to utter the "b" word...

Trouble in paradise... Paradise is Los Altos and the trouble is with the school district. Actually, the trouble is with getting a new teachers' contract signed by the school district. Some School Board members think the contract does nothing to address their budget problems now or long-term, some School Board members want to pass the thing and move on. The Board punted passing the contract earlier in the month and will take it up again on Monday. Is this a trend? Is this the educational equivalent of Police Officers and Firefighter contract/ benefit negotiations that cities are dealing with these days? We'll see...

It is very, very clear that (Almaden Valley's) Tom Campbell made the right move at the right time to get away from Daddy and Mommy Warbucks in the Governor's race. As Whitman and Poizner single-handedly boost up California's economy with their campaign spending, Tom Campbell is kicking ass in the U.S. Senate race he joined. A new poll done for Capitol Weekly has Campbell pulling away from Fiorina: Campbell 31, Fiorina 17, and Chuck DeVore (?) at 15 percent. (The betting line in Vegas is now Campbell by 6.5 points.)

Watch Dog is never really sure what James Rowen at Mission City Lantern means when he writes about us... but he wrote about our note on Jude Barry and Ed McGovern having clients on different side of San Jose's Measure K but working together on the 49ers' issue. It is clearly just business, but we just thought it was interesting and clearly that mainstream reporters aren't connecting dots, so we must.

Morgan Hill selected a (Barry Swenson) Builder to help redevelop its downtown... Congrats Mr. Swenson...

The same week as 420, Mountain View wants to crack down on a storefront pot club. Some people have no sense of humor dude... they are suing the club that opened up despite a City ban.

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.6.10: 161 more to go...

While it may not seem like the top story of the day, it should be: Public Defenders are now representing defendants in misdemeanor cases in Santa Clara County. You know, the whole "...if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you..." that the County sort of forgot about until now...

The good folks at Protect San Jose would like to remind everyone that there are three sides to every story as they chime in (briefly) on the court rulings in favor of the SJPD in the 2006 Mardi Gras trial. (Of course, Protect San Jose voices love the "three sides" mantra...)

Perhaps there are three sides to this story... or column. Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters wrote about skyrocketing public safety pensions and how they led to Vallejo (and other cities, perhaps) bankruptcies and the piece was re-run by the Merc. It is a good primer on how pensions grew, why, and what will happen next. But remember, there are three sides to every story... right?

Yes on Prop 14, according to the Merc. Editorial Board... Open primaries. Thank you Senator Maldonado...

Scott Herhold (two "h" sounds as you read this to yourself) looks at political family dynasties in Santa Clara County. Alvarado. Cortese. Shirakawa ("...a Rodney Dangerfield complex..."). Farr ("...a sturdy backbencher..."). Diridon. Campos.

High-Speed Rail is coming to town, we all know that. But the High-Speed Rail Authority is coming to town too, on Thursday in Santa Clara. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed with be there... will you?

The Chronicle loves to hate the idea of the San Jose A's. In today's paper, they cover an anti-A's to San Jose protest that wasn't at last night's game. By the way, the A's lost 5-3. 161 more to go.

The County Office of Education is perhaps the least understood government agency in Santa Clara County... The question is constant asked, "What do they do in that fancy building?"... But one thing is for sure, the Board loves to throw Superintendents under the bus... and the bus is about to start rolling over current Superintendent Chuck Weis. Perhaps he could call Colleen Wilcox for a quick pow-wow about how these things generally end. Today's story is about how he is getting mixed reviews from the County Board of Education, and has this strange nugget:

"...Last month he handed the board a letter from his doctor warning that "his work schedule is impairing his ability to maintain long-term good heath." It advises that he have at least two or three weeks of vacation each year — he gets 25 paid days a year — and time for vigorous exercise at least three times per week..." Tick tock Chuck Weis...

County officials (and candidates) had to file economic interest statements. Some folks are rich (Forrest Williams) and some folks not so much (Teresa Alvarado). Some folks got gifts (Larry Stone) and some folks got none (Jeff Rosen). But perhaps the most interesting thing we learned from the Merc's coverage is this: George Shirakawa received tickets to the San Jose Giants from a tribal casino in Madera County... What could they possibly want from Supervisor Shirakawa. Hmmm...

The Meg Whitman Campaign Start-Up just received another round of venture capital funding from the Meg Whitman Fund... $20 million...

A plan to study the compost-to-energy plant on dedicated parkland in Palo Alto is moving forward. But a plan to study and a plan to build are two very, very different things. And the City Council there is divided 5 to 4...

From the blogs...

Mission City Lantern covers the anti-49er's litigation that was dropped... (Thank you for the comment James to give us a heads up...)

Over on San Jose Inside, Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio continues his quest for a 420 San Jose... and the debate in the Comments prove that everyone already is smoking pot.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.29.10: Jude versus Cindy?

If you are involved at all in politics in Silicon Valley, Friday was a busy day. Local political guru Jude Barry was put on the "do not patronize" list of the California Labor Federation because he co-founded a company that allows folks to gather signatures for ballot initiatives via iPhone. Internal Affairs had a run-down, so did San Jose Inside. If you want the full story, including a quote from Cindy Chavez who (probably) coordinated the entire thing -- read the IA version of things. The labor folks are "unhappy" because the signature-gathering software -- Verafirma -- is being used for an anti-labor signature-gathering effort. Of course, it is also being used by a group aiming to repeal Prop 8 and another group trying to legalize marijuana. So, Watch Dog has to wonder, who is next on the California Labor Federation's blacklist: perhaps the "paycheck protection" folks are using HP computers, Apple iPhones, and Cisco routers... We wonder when Marc Hurd, Steve Jobs, and John Chambers will get their black-list notice...

So what does this all mean? We'll see. We know what it means for Teresa Alvarado, a Barry client. She didn't get the South Bay Labor Council endorsement but Forrest Williams did. The Labor Council must have been impressed with Williams' depth of knowledge, command of issues, and charisma... The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce endorsed Mike Wasserman. No doubt that they were impressed by the "R" after his name...

If you would like to see some Jude Barry's work, check out the 49ers new tv ad. Ironically, you know who could have used a campaign television ad this good? Cindy Chavez...

James at Mission City Lantern also has something to say about Jude... we aren't sure what he means all the time, but in this case, we think he means that he likes Jude and he likes Cindy Chavez, but that Jude is right in this case and Cindy is wrong.

San Jose, the self-touted "green capital," is putting two football fields' worth of solar on the new airport parking garage, but it seems that the two football fields' worth of solar will be Canadian football fields... because local companies didn't really bid on the project...

If you love public visioning processes, you were probably at the one this weekend for the Diridon Station area of downtown. If that stuff doesn't put you to sleep, try Ambien...

"Dude, let's go to the San Jose City Council on Tuesday to let them know about how much we love pot... err, cannabis, clubs." You have got to love a City that is going to the ballot to increase the number of poker tables, but may vote to shut down pot clubs.

From pot to prostitution: 5 folks were arrested in Gilroy for prostitution. But the best is the flowery language that the police officers used in their press release tooting their own horns about the arrests:

"They are in conflict with our philosophy of maintaining a city in which our residents and law-abiding visitors can enjoy a safe place to live, work and play... The disposition of our Department is that we will take whatever steps are necessary to dissuade those who choose to engage in illegal activities within our city from doing so."

Wow! The police have both a philosophy and a disposition on prostitution. Disposition is a 64 point word in Scrabble and prostitution is a 73 point word...(without double letters or double word scores)... kudos Gilroy PD.

Finally, perhaps the most far-reaching thing in today's Round-Up, besides the Barry/Chavez feud:

Mozart isn't just the name of a composer, it is also the name of a father/son development team. Both father and son are suing Palo Alto separately because they are claiming the 10 percent affordable set-aside for housing projects is an unfair tax. All housing eyes will be watching these lawsuits...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.18.10: Hungover? 420

John Woolfolk, the City Hall beat reporter for the Merc, has a piece in today's paper about pension costs rising in San Jose. The story is short, but the message is clear: the City of San Jose is in deep financial doo-doo. The City's pension costs are going up nearly 43 percent this year to clost to $200 million in the coming fiscal year. So all you folks who love neighborhood centers, libraries, and paved roads -- get ready.

Speaking of budget cuts... the East Side Union High School District is cutting just about everything in their budget for next year. You know what would probably help in these difficult times out there? A Superintendent...

San Jose has a pot club problem. You see, they are sprouting up -- and their landlords are being threatened to close them down. To add insult to injury, here is San Jose's chief Code Enforcement dude: "...It's not that we don't want to welcome medical marijuana dispensaries in San Jose. We just haven't had a chance to try to figure out where we want them, and how many we want..." Huh? It sounds like he's been to one too many clubs...

Yesterday we learned about a possible firefighter-backed ballot measure in Palo Alto (headed up by a Sunnyvale City Councilmember...). Today, we learn that the firefighters in Gilroy are just as pissed -- and so is the City of Gilroy. They keep sending nasty letters back and forth to each other (and to the Gilroy Dispatch). Perhaps the firefighters should call Councilmember Tony Spitaleri in Sunnyvale...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.26.10: SJC Bake Sale?

The news just keeps getting worse (and more embarassing) for the San Jose (International) Airport. First, a coast-to-coast snow storm impacted absolutely every airport in the country, execept SJC... Then, Frontier Airlines decides it is going to leave town... And then, a report about High-Speed Rail released yesterday says that the train will hurt airports in the Bay Area, especially SJC... Now, the airport is begging local businesses to pick up the tag of their grand opening. And they are using superhero Captain Sully to do it. Look for the SJC Bake Sale announcement soon... While funding the grand opening is one issue, larger issues remain, like the fact that the airport can't really afford its debt service... stay tuned.

Councilmember Nora Campos proposed expanding and increasing the number of 'no gang zones' in San Jose. It sounds like a great idea -- especially in an election year... It probably would have sounded just as good any of the other 8 years she has served on the City Council...

Team San Jose, Teamsters, the San Jose Convention Center... another story. It turns out the local Teamsters might get the work at the Convention Center after all -- and this time, it may not cost the Convention Center all of its business...

A team from a local newspaper finally (finally!) got to sit down with Atherton's Meg Whitman. The Merc grilled her and she seemed to respond pretty well. Of course, if you dodged the media for a year, you might be able to prepare yourself well too... Watch Dog's conversation with Whitman is slated for next week.

Another turn in the story of Sarah Botill, the 15 year old Gilroy girl who died after a night of drinking. The 18 year old (Kayla Dunigan) who brought the booze will face misdemeanor charges for providing the alcohol.

Perhaps Mountain View restaurants will be getting business from all the good folks with munchies after all. The Mountain View City Council banned pot clubs for a year, but they are draft regulations to (maybe) allow them after that.

Finally, our friend at Mission City Lantern takes aim at Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty for taking aim at the 49ers...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.9.10: It depends what your definition of "all" is...

Dolores Carr just can't help herself. She has some sort of addiction to bad decisions that inevitably lead to bad press... Her addiction and the bad press lead directly into more ammunition for Jeff Rosen's campaign. Remember the Memo she issued to her entire staff that said something like -- don't take any cases to a specific judge, you know, the boycott Memo. Well, she has been taking some serious heat for that decision... so she has back-tracked. Apparently Dolores Carr didn't mean it when she wrote: "I have decided to exercise a challenge to Judge Bryan pursuant to CCP 170.6 in all criminal cases." She is disputing the definition of the word "all" -- very Clintonesque Ms. Carr, very Clintonesque...

Speaking of interesting June 2010 ballot battles... the Santa Clara City Council will decide about what the actual ballot language will be on the ballot related to the 49ers stadium election. One small problem, the City Staff in Santa Clara seem to have a different idea of what voters should read and vote on in June versus what the stadium backers feel voters should read and vote on. Watch Dog's guess is that the 49er's language will take the day... This is such big news (apparently), even the Chronicle has a story...

Speaking of politics...

Mayor Reed did a big favor for the SJPD (and the POA) when he penned a very critical letter back to Assemblymembers Joe Coto and Paul Fong. Remember, Coto and Fong have asked a State Assembly Audit Committee to look into the San Jose Police Department training and practices in light of all the news stories and community complaints. By the way, the letter appears nowhere on the Mayor's website... only on Protect San Jose.

And more politics... and sports...

Matt Artz in the Tri-City Beat in the Contra Costa Times (you know you read it too) has a great piece about an imaginary conversation between Bug Selig and Lew Wolff about baseball and the Bay Area... Watch Dog's favorite line is from Imaginary Lew Wolff to Imaginary Bud Selig:

Bud, please, it doesn’t make sense to have two teams in one metropolitan area, and have both of them 40 miles from the area’s largest city.

That pretty much sums it up... unless of course your pitching ace is in arbitration...

Yesterday the Merc delved into the disagreement between San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and City Manager Deb Figone over how to revamp the City's pension boards. Figone had one way to do it, the Mayor had another way that was developed as a compromise. The Merc gives props for the Mayor for trying and encourages the reform, but ends with this: "But it's a shame taxpayers will still fall short of majority representation."

There was a huge fire in an East San Jose warehouse yesterday. You probably saw the smoke.

Soccer fields, soccer fields, everywhere there are going to be soccer fields near the new Earthquakes field.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board is about to get a new member soon to replace retired old-timer Sig Sanchez, who retired at the beginning of the year. The South County folks would like his replacement to be South County-centric. There are 14 folks whom the Board of the Water District interviewed and they will get resumes back soon... check out the list of folks who applied.

Scott Herhold gives some perspective on MediLeaf in Gilroy in his column today. Herhold thinks Gilroy is wasting money on a lawsuit against an establishment that isn't that dangerous because Gilroy thinks pot is the boogey-man...

This is fun: A Palo Alto public meeting on High Speed Rail design options. Expect a lot of angry folks yelling and screaming... And their neighbors to the north (Atherton and Menlo Park) are threatening to re-open lawsuits against the High-Speed Rail Authority...

More fun in Palo Alto... the City Council is getting out of the Palo Alto promotion business and letting the hotels in town spend the money it collects from a new "Tourism Business Improvement District" to promote themselves...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.5.10: No hospitals, no eminent domain, no affordable housing...

You may remember Greg Zlotnick, he was on the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board but was then gifted/given a high-paying job with the District in 2007 by then CEO-Stan Williams without the Board's approval. Well, Zlotnick has been fired... job-eliminated, actually, by the new CEO.

The County's Public Safety and Justice Committee voted not to arm Juvenile Probation Officers this week. Bringing up the obvious question, the County has a Safety and Justice Committee? Even the Merc had to throw in a little jab at the Committee: "...At a high-intensity gathering of the normally sparsely attended public safety and justice committee..."

Most people clamour to have a hospital in their town -- think about downtown San Jose... but Campbell is saying no to a certain type of "boutique hospital" that would only serve rich people. The vote was 4 to 1 against changing zoning rules that would have allowed the hospital to move forward.

A long time ago, there was a big deal about the Saratoga Cemetary Board and their plans for some eminent domain findings. That really raised the profile of the group just above "anonymous" to "almost anonymous" in the public's eye. But they are back in the news again arguing about what the minutes of their meetings say, who drafts them, and if they are biased in any way. There are some nasty accusations made relative to this story, which makes it all the more interesting. Enjoy.

Cupertino voted against a plan to build 18-20 new affordable housing units in their City. The plan was actually brought forward by the Rotary Club of Cupertino. We guess the Rotary Club of Cupertino doesn't have the same pull as the Rotary Club of Cupertino...

The Sunnyvale City Council figured out its priorities for the coming year... and marijuana is on the list. Thank goodness, we could use some. It is Friday after all... wait dude, they are actually going to crack down on it. Damn...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.28.10: 420 on 330...

On March 30th (unfortunately not on April 20th) expect a really cool (and mellow) crowd at San Jose City Hall as the Council discusses what to do with medical marijuana dispensaries in the City. With a seeming wink to 'friends', John Woolfolk, the Merc reporter covering the story, uses the term "haze" in the first sentence. Here's a wink right back...

Speaking of medical... this isn't a good day at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (or the County Building, for that matter)... VMC was one of three Bay Area hospitals fined for "...safety violations that put patients at risk of serious injury or death..."

Another Scott Herhold column about District Attorney Dolores Carr appears in today's paper about her boycott of a judge. He ends with: "...with her usual tone-deaf style, she's made herself look spiteful..." Look spiteful? (On a separate note, could DA. Carr please send a different photo to the Merc's online folks?)

There is a multi-billion upgrade about to happen with the San Jose Wastewater Treatment Plant (where your poop goes)... this could mean a big piece of land that is now a buffer between the plant and the Bay (where the wastewater eventually goes) could become something different -- which is what today's story is about. Hidden in the story, but well-known at City Hall, is that there will be multi-year rate increases to pay for it all. And there is really no better time for a rate increase than right now...

Some local aviation stories for your reading pleasure:

• A man was arrested for shining a green laser at a Sheriff's helicopter several times... of course, the Sheriff's could easily track him down because they were in a helicopter and he was in a Honda...
• Remember that "plane crash" over the weekend in the Santa Cruz Mountains? Well, it turns out it was a hoax. What kind of jerk?...
• More Hangar One drama... the Navy wants to tear off the 'skin' and leave a big metal structure out there at Moffett Field. Nobody locally wants that to happen and Congresswoman Eshoo is looking for ideas as to what the community would want to do with the structure before anyone asks Congress to fund restoration...

In Palo Alto, they are tackling the big issues: like cracking down on door-to-door magazine sales people... in other words, keep your middle schooler away from my house.

This is weird: A man with a knife robbed a Goodwill in Palo Alto... robbing a Goodwill? Really?

We hate to constantly re-report about crime in Gilroy, but when a gang-related drive-by shooting happens in downtown Gilroy... the Police did make an arrest.

While we are down in South County, the rain has had one positive effect: reservoir levels are up...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.22.10: More pot for Spicoli?

Storm, storm, storm... but drought not over... power out because of storm... etc., etc., etc....

The 49ers are headed for the ballot in June. Their ballot initiative qualified and the Santa Clara City Council placed it on the ballot. Good things the football playoffs aren't distracting anyone in the 49ers' organization from their pending political efforts.

Let's hope this press clip doesn't land in San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed's morning reading... or Harry's... or Krutko's... Tesla got its $465 million for their facility in Palo Alto. Ouch.

The Merc Editorial Board gives props to the (likely to be passed) Sunshine enhancement in San Jose that will include texts and personal emails. But the Ed Board can't resist taking this shot first: "...San Jose's mayor and City Council have resisted sunshine reforms for police records..."

The State Supreme Court struck down limits on how much medical marijuana patients and

caregivers can have for medical purposes. A ruling that will make Jeff Spicoli's day, but make the Morgan Hill and San Jose City Councils extremely angry and anxious. You know what can help cure anger and anxiety?

This story will make the San Jose Police Officers' Association a little angry and anxious... a City Auditor's report found that some Police Department desk jobs could be done by civilians rather than sworn officers. The City Council will take up the Auditor's report on February 2nd. Protect San Jose will (probably) take up the issue before that.

Speaking of Auditors and Police... San Jose Inside reports that Chris Constantin is leaving town and heading to San Diego. After being named, then un-named, as the City of San Jose's "Independent" Police Auditor, his stock sank (unfairly) locally. Unfairly because it was some other highly-placed peoples' lack of judgement that got him canned before he could actually get hired. Constantin is headed to San Diego to be the City's Deputy City Auditor. Good bye and good luck.

Yesterday we wrote that Tom Campbell woke up happy in Almaden Valley because the Governor's race which he left got more expensive right after he moved up in the ballot to the Senate race. (We got several wise-ass emails noting that everyone in Almaden Valley is required to wake up happy, it is in the deeds to their homes...) But the truth is that Tom Campbell will wake up even happier today when he checks the news on his HP computer. That's because he is leading the Republican field according to a new poll... and he is the Number 1 Republican contender to take on Senator Barbara "I heart the Oakland A's" Boxer...

Those poll results are being spun by Fiorina's team apparently. Politicon Valley has their press statement where Fiorina spins these results as positive for her camp (she's a strong candidate in the Primary and General) and opens up lines of attack on Campbell (career politician and worked in Sacramento recently). The best comes at the end of Fiorina's press person's statement: "...we expect his number to fall fast -- just like Martha Coakley's in Massachusetts..." Yes, because Carly Fiorina will be the Tea Party Candidate in this race...

Speaking of the increasingly expensive Governor's race, Steve Poizner criticized Meg Whitman's latest influx of $20 million bucks. Poizner says that Whitman is trying to buy the Governor's race... He did not say, "It isn't fair, I was going to try the Governor's race just like I bought the Insurance Commissioners office." Pot, kettle, black, irony... lots of zeros...

Hey, here's some positive news (with a downside)... home prices are up and so are sales. That's great as an economic indicator, bad if you've been saving up... Which makes this story sort of bad timing... or good timing, depending on how you look at it. The City of Mountain View is about to offer City employees $100,000 loans to buy a house in Mountain View.

Light Rail to Los Gatos? Maybe.

And while we are on rails... If State Senator Joe Simitian hosts it, anti-High Speed Rail people will come... that was the scene last night in Palo Alto when hundreds showed up to have their voices heard, or at least have their heads counted...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.20.10: Rubber Boots Wednesday...

It is going to rain really, really hard today... in case you've been living under a very wet rock.

San Jose Inside has some good "deep-throat" sources in the Merc's newsroom, and those sources are prepared to dish about how they are being kept in the dark about the Merc owner's bankruptcy. Kudos for San Jose Inside's Fly for covering this story even though the Merc isn't...

Speaking of the Merc newsroom...

The Merc's Patty Fisher gives us a little insight into some grassroots watchdogs (NIMBYs) doing work on High Speed Rail... we also learn that Fisher lives near the tracks, which should probably disqualify her from writing further on the subject...

Los Gatos is knocking down some buildings and building an affordable housing apartment complex near downtown. (You did not misread the previous sentence.) Now Supervisorial Candidate/ Los Gatos Councilmember Mike Wasserman can claim to be an affordable-housing advocate... even in his own backyard.

In other Los Gatos news, retiring City Councilmember Steve Glickman is not riding off quietly into the sunset... in fact, he is being a pain in the ass to his Council colleagues and upsetting folks all over town -- according to the Los Gatos Observer. He is criculating two ballot initiatives (one for term limits and one for stopping the library reconstruction). In his own words, Glickman is "...kind of cleaning up some unfinished business..."

The Morgan Hill Times reporter Natalie Everett got assigned a great story... one that she probably never imagined in journalism school. She tested how difficult (not very) it would be to get a doctor's note and get medical marijuana from one of the local dispensaries... Her next assignment, describe how delicious In-and-Out Burger is.

Mission City Lantern criticized us yesterday for using the word fuck. We are all grown-ups Mr. Rowen, but I will try to stay away from using it... unless I get really, really pissed.

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.19.10: A bankrupt Merc?

It has been a long, long weekend, so if you haven't had your coffee yet, go get it and come back to Watch Dog caffeinated...

This isn't good... the owner of the Mercury News are filing for bankruptcy. Is it possible that the paper could lose more reporters and more pages? The Mercury News Weekly perhaps? Watch Dog cannot fill the void, unfortunately, we just go Wii...

But remember, Merc. Columnist Cassidy says that they will succeed because they provide unique local content... or at least they used to...

In other stellar economic news, office vacancies may be through the roof (again) this year...

Here's one way to increase air traffic at SJC: have SFO-bound planes make emergency landings at SJC because of high wind gusts... "SJC, when the weather is too shitty for SFO..." That would be a hella cool ad campaign...

The Merc got into the weedily-witty headlines about local marijuana dispensaries this weekend with this: San Jose says pot clubs popping up like weeds; city starts cracking down. Is it fair to say that when the headlines aren't serious, neither is the actual issue? Of course, we often write Watch Dog stoned, so who are we to question anyone...

The County is finally helping folks who are facing misdemeanor charges by providing some with a public defender... which everyone should be shocked didn't happen before a Sean Webby news story last week. But remember, this is the same County that wants to do away with pre-trial services in order to get more business to bail bonds shops, so nothing should surprise you... Kudos to Supervisors Yeager and Cortese for realizing that having folks face charges without being represented by a lawyer is a horrible idea and is part of Criminal Justice 101.

Speaking of Criminal Justice 101, the good folks at Protect San Jose encourage you to be honest with police and tell them exactly what they want to hear when they pull you over. Of course, that flies directly in the face of "right to remain silent" and could find you in the County Courthouse without a lawyer (see above)... in case you believe (like Watch Dog) that incriminating yourself doesn't sound like such a hot idea when you get pulled over, here is some different advice about what to do when you get pulled over from a source other than police officers: "...Silence is not an admission of guilt and cannot be used against you in court..." So far, the advice on Protect San Jose is to respond to Police Officers like you were in kindergarten and provide them all the answers they ask for. Thank you Protect San Jose... The Fifth Amendment is still intact, right?

In an un(?)related note, the Chronicle gets in on the Freedom Train controversy between San Jose's NAACP, who pulled out of this year's Train, and the San Jose Police Officers' Association, who is one of the sponsors. In the Chronicle piece, we find another hard-hitting quote from Pastor Moore of the NAACP: "While Rev. Dr. King stood for nonviolence and against police brutality, we find ourselves honoring police, who talk to our community members in derogatory tones, who beat innocent citizens in our community, who unlawfully arrest people, and in extreme cases kill members who dare to speak up and stand up for their rights."

Update: It turns out the ride was well-traveled, even with the controversy and even without the NAACP... but a Freedom Ride without the NAACP is an issue that is not going away.

The Merc's Scott Herhold writes about Tom Campbell's running (again) for the Senate after dropping his bid for Governor. And ends with a prediction, of sorts, about whether Campbell, if unsuccessful this time in his third run for the Senate might look ahead to 2012: "Could Campbell try for a fourth time? If it happened, I wouldn't be surprised." Oh, and referring to previous races and other Republicans, Herhold assures us that: "...He [Campbell] wouldn't have been caught dead in a strip club..." Thank you.

Pete Constant is trying to up-end the plastic bag ban in San Jose by hitting up his misspelling cohorts (the Chamber of Commerce) for support -- or sopurt. He says the cost is too high. As usual, Constant was the lone vote against the plastic bag ban. Which brings up the question: What did Councilmember Constant think it meant when he voted for the Mayor's Green Vision which has this included in it:

5. Divert 100 percent of the waste from our landfill and convert waste to energy.

The good folks at Internal Affairs had a busy week writing for Sunday. First, they give us a "reversal of fortunes" of the highest order with Phil Angelides heading a serious, and newsworthy, Inquiry panel and Governor Schwarzenegger becoming the lamest of ducks. Next, they provide all of us more than we probably need to know about the dress code in the DA'soffice, and how it got relaxed an effort to help Dolores Carr politically. And finally, Larry "Boo" Stone calls the San Francisco Giant's efforts to fuck up the A's move to San Jose "...classic San Francisco politics..." We agree with Stone, but not for nothing: classic San Francisco politics launched the career of the Speaker of the House...

On a serious note: the post office is moving in downtown Los Altos.

If at first you don't succeed... the Fremont Union High School District to approve a parcel tax (again!) in May. They just packed up the stuff from their campaign office in November, but are going to give it another go. Desperate times, etc.

Aren't you glad you had your coffee? Stay safe out there folks...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.15.10: It is officially official for Candidate Campbell...

Good Friday to you all...

Almaden's Tom Campbell made it officially official yesterday -- and also successfully turned a one day news story into three -- when he made the jump from the Governor'$ to the race for US Senate. We can only hope for Carly Fiorina's sake that she is having serious cramming sessions on issues because there is no one that knows more about more stuff than Tom Campbell.

And the man Tom Campbell won't replace -- Governor Schwarzenegger -- was in town yesterday. If you missed it, it's because the sound of a lame duck is often quiet...

There is an awesome story about one of SJPD's finest in today's Merc. Darrell Cortez, who is about to retire from the force next week, saved a woman's life who was hanging from a tree. Thank you Officer Cortez.

The controversy about pot clubs is no longer just in Gilroy, but also in San Jose. Thanks to the Metro/ San Jose Inside, we know what's up. Here is the issue in planning/code enforcement-speak to "clarify":

“If it is determined that these businesses are dispensing medical marijuana/cannabis for a fee, which is neither permitted or a conditional use under the City of San Jose’s Zoning Ordinance, Code Enforcement Division staff intends to issue compliance orders to both the property owner and business owner requiring that the unpermitted businesses cease operating within 30 days.”

Speaking of permits... sort of: One of the biggest air polluters in Silicon Valley, Cupertino's Lehigh Cement Plant, permit renewal is put on hold because of new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are expected in June. The plant will wait for those new rules and adjust accordingly. Interesting in this article is that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is "...evaluating and responding to a deluge of public comments regarding the permit..." We bet.

The San Jose mom whose car was repo'ed with her kid in the back seat is getting help from Merc. readers... and from across the country. Folks really want her to keep her 2000 green Honda Accord.

The Campbell Union School District has named a new Superintendent that will take over mid-year on February 1st. Welcome to Silicon Valley Eric Andrew... Watch Dog thinks it is probably a good time to become a Superintendent because the economic forecast and school funding could only get better... right?

Milpitas politics is an animal unto itself. This year's contest for Mayor will feature two folks whose names you probably recognize: Milpitas Councilmember/ former Supervisor/ former Milpitas Mayor Primo McHugh and Milpitas Councilmember/ former Supervisorial candidate Jose Esteves... oh, and Councilwoman Debbie Giordano might jump in on Monday too. Watch Dog will try to keep an eye on this race for y'all because politics can get nasty in the big M.

You can add Morgan Hill (and Gilroy) to the communities concerns about California High Speed Rail's route into Silicon Valley. (Remember Mayor Chuck Reed, et al sent a letter about HSR's approach into downtown San Jose last week...) Morgan Hill is concerned because it may mean a loss of soccer fields...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.14.10: Nothing Snarky to Write Here...

The Oakland A's desire to move to San Jose continue to light up the sports/blog/news world. Here are a few samples... from the Tri-Valley Herald, and editorial about the NUMMI site as a possibility, pointing out this: "...Ironically, it was the NUMMI plant and Toyota that helped torpedo Fremont's last pitch to the A's for a new ballpark..." And a story from USA Today, includes this gem of a quote from A's owner Lew Wolff: "It is like we are bing held hostage... We tried to make it work in Oakland. We exhausted everything we could in our area. It can't work. For us to compete, we've got to have revenue, and for us to get revenue we have to move to San Jose. It's that simple."

Andrew King, the swim coach/molester, will face his victims in court...

Here's another heartwarming story... a San Jose woman's car was repossessed because she was late with her payments. Ok, that happens all the time. But her 2-year old son was in the car. Oops.

The Mercury News Editorial board comments (positively) on the Tom Campbell political switcheroo (from Guv's race to Senate race)... The Editorial board also chimes in (positively) on Google's pulling out of China. A very positive day on Ridder Park Drive...

Nothing is easy to build/upgrade/restore in Los Gatos, but (finally) plans to rebuild/restore the Los Gatos Public Library passed the Town Council on Monday. Kudos all around.

El Camino Real and Stanford Avenue, perhaps one of the worst intersections in Silicon Valley, is going to get redesigned... thank goodness. Maybe this is the one thing that everyone in Palo Alto can agree on... it got a 5-0 vote on the Planning and Transportation Commission.

Small town politics can be wacky... like in Morgan Hill. Years ago, a local attorney/Commissioner Bruce Tichinin hired a spy to keep tabs on the City Manager... the City Council condemned him and asked him to step down. Tichinin filed a lawsuit... yada, yada, yada... the California Supreme Court denied a legal petition by the City of Morgan Hill. Just be happy you aren't involved in Morgan Hill politics... sorry Larry Carr...

Gilroy is still obsessed with pot. We learn from today's Dispatch that there are at least 4 "quiet" dispensaries there... Watch Dog is fan of the loud dispensaries, rather than the quiet ones...

Most cities would love a downtown grocery store... heck, San Jose tried 30 years to get one and now has two. But the Mountain View City Council said no to two proposals for downtown grocery stores this week...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.13.10: Mayor of Almaden for Senate...

It is a big political news day locally...

The Mayor of Almaden Valley (not Jim Cunneen or Pat Dando) Tom Campbell is dropping out of the $uper rich race for Governor against Meg Whitman and $teve Poizner and turning his sites on the slightly less rich Carly Fiorina. Campbell will jump into the Republican primary for US Senate with Fiorina and the right winger from the Southern California (Chuck DeVore)... Continue to do Almaden proud Mr. Campbell.

The pro-Santa Clara 49ers stadium folks delivered 8,000 signatures for their ballot measure to Santa Clara City Hall yesterday. Begging the question: there are 8,000 people in Santa Clara? (Just kidding.) That is almost double what they need to qualify the measure. Expect an election in June. (And expect James Rowen to continue writing about it...)

Supervisor Ken Yeager is the new President of the Board of Supervisors, taking over for Liz Kniss at yesterday's meeting. Congrats President Yeager, and good luck with that budget...

And finally this political piece: the Palo Alto Unified School District will go for a parcel tax renewal and hike in May. They are looking to increase their current parcel tax ($493) by $96. Every other school district in the County is drooling at those numbers...

The much-discussed 'inclusionary housing' policy in San Jose passed yesterday, much to the chagrine of Councilmembers Pete Constant and Pierluigi Oliverio who were out-voted by a 9 to 2 margin. The policy doesn't go into affect until 2013 at the earliest...

Merc columnis Mike Cassidy continues his Mercury News boosterism by letting us all know that the Mercury News "focuses on offering unique local content" and that they do local better than anyone. Ok. Saying it doesn't make it so Mr. Cassidy. Perhaps covering a new President of the Board of Supervisors would be "unique local content" but it doesn't appear anywhere on the Merc's site...

A big Bay restoration project will break ground in Alviso today. This is a long time coming... like 80 years.

This should go over big... the Cupertino Union School District is increasing its teacher-to-student ratio in order to deal with budget shortfalls. Expect crowded meetings and upset parents...

The Third Street Promenade opened to traffic (cars and people) yesterday. Not the one in Santa Monica, but the one in Morgan Hill.

There will be no pot dispensaries in Gilroy. That's the vote of the City Council. It didn't pass by five votes, however, meaning that it won't go into affect immediately, but rather in February. (Note to those candidates running for the South County Supervisorial seat -- the vote at the Gilroy City Council was split. One of the candidates in your race is in favor of pot dispensaries...) San Jose Inside breaks the "sticky situation" down as well...

Protect San Jose, which has been complaining about the Mercury News for some time, is now fond of reposting things directly from their website. Yesterday they reposted some comments that have been published in response to Bobby Lopez's "Latinos have a drinking problem" piece. Because the comment section of the Mercury News is where enlightened dialogue thrives...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.12.10: Campbell vs Fiorina? Maybe...

Ah, political intrigue is afoot in Silicon Valley. The $trong $howing of Meg Whitman and $teve Poizner in the race to be the Republican nominee to take on Jerry Brown has left the most qualified candidate, Tom Campbell, way behind in the money race. Which is too bad for Mr. Campbell... which may really be too bad for Carly Fiorina. You see, Ms. Fiorina is running to be the Republican Senate nominee to take on Senator Barbara Boxer. There is widespread speculation that taking on Fiorina might be a lot easier for Campbell than taking on the endless bank accounts of Whitman and Poizner... so... we... wait... for... Campbell... to... decide... and Fiorina is getting nervous. So nervous that she put in $2.5 million of her own money into her own campaign.

On a somewhat related note, the Merc Editorial Board calls for the Gubernatorial candidates to release their tax returns for the past 10 years -- which they will then post on their website...

Assessor Larry Stone (booo) launched a new web tool to estimate what new homeowners might pay in taxes (yay)... the name of the new tool is the "Supplemental Tax Estimator." Larry, could you think of a less exciting name?

Arrest warrants have been issued for the parents (aiding and abetting) of the woman suspected of killing her former girlfriend in Alviso.

There is a battle brewing in downtown Palo Alto about renaming (or not) Lytton Plaza after the Thoits family. Like all things in Palo Alto, expect late-night meetings pitting neighbor against neighbor...

You remember the uproar in Gilroy about a medical marijuana dispensary... it seems that about six more folks would like to open dispensaries in Gilroy. It seems the demand is growing in South County. Perhaps a pot farm would be the best re-use of the Sargeant Ranch.

Thank you San Jose Inside for getting in on Councilmember Pete Constant's spelling errors on his re-election website. We also chimed in with web-shots over the weekend. The more the merrier, we like to say...

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.3.09: The Broom Closet Modeling Defense...

We can't believe that the Broom Closet Modeling story is still percolating in Santa Clara... but the Santa Clara Weekly couldn't resist taking a shot at the Mercury News. The Editor/Publisher Miles Barber in the (appropriately titled) Milestoneds is pissed the Merc Editorial Board called for a change in culture for a high school where it is (apparently) ok for a teacher to have sex with a student and a janitor to solicit “only the prettiest” students for personal gain. In Milestoneds Barber suggests a winning football team proves Wilcox High is a great place. Good point?

On a much more grown-up Santa Clara note: Santa Clara officials look forward to June 49ers stadium vote.

State Senate wannabe?/ San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce President Pat Dando was popping the champagne early after the “soft-money” controversy went her way, a second time. San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle calls campaign finance “an area of law that’s ever-evolving,” and will study the ruling before suggesting San Jose ditch rules preventing unlimited amounts of “soft money” put toward independent expenditures in local campaigns. Wouldn't it be great if there was a blog around that would give a snarky run-down on this ruling... Watch Dog misses San Jose Revealed...

San Jose’s City Council didn’t worry about nay-saying NIMBY neighbors when they said yes to two housing development proposals this week. Barry Swenson Builder looks forward to seeing a 15 story tower along (currently) sleepy West San Carlos while business owners in Evergreen are hopeful more neighbors will keep stores open.

Speaking of NIMBYs, we head further north to Mountain View... Coming in at 4 stories with a cost of $500,000 per unit, the Mountain View City Council approved use of $7 million for a below market rate development. Councilmember Laura Macias commented the “traditional” Mediterranean design looked the same as other developments (think “yawn”) but gave her support to the ROEM proposal.

Following the critical head injury San Jose High’s Matt Blea suffered on the gridiron, the Merc’s Editorial Board calls on football coaches to think about kids health over winning. Editors call on parents to lead the charge in this culture change.

Palo Alto Police hired security guards in an attempt to prevent more teen suicides along the CalTrain tracks. Police are hoping the public will keep the guards on duty with donations to Barbara Teixeira, c/o Rail Crossing Watch Fund, Palo Alto Police Department, 275 Forest Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94301.

Greenwaste of Palo Alto is seeing green on skinny streets. Palo Alto residents on narrow, private streets will cough up an extra $180 to have their waste removed.

Gilroy’s medical marijuana dispensary continues to face an uphill battle. The Police report kids and medical marijuana (and booze) are being found together – so far it has not been MediLeaf’s pot. Let's get this straight: teenagers, booze, and pot together in one place? Unbelievable! Opponents are starting a petition drive of their own while Gilroy resident Karin Clements is bothered the acrimony is dividing Gilroy.

Protect San Jose’s Sunshine fan, Ed Rast, used a public records request to dig into the drunk in public problems facing San Jose Police. While the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity looked at numbers for big cities, Rast looked at San Jose neighbors to find Gilroy and Milpitas outshine San Jose in the Latino arrest department.

And the love affair continues between Watch Dog and Mission City Lantern...

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.1.09: Chief Burns in Palo Alto?

Ascension Calderon wanted to know why San Jose Police had stopped his nephew. For Calderon that day in 2006 escalated into a nightmare with pepper spray and racial epithets. When Bruno Figueroa, the Mexican Counsel General, asked for more police accountability, Calderon’s case became international headline news. Today, San Jose’s City Council is expected to authorize $97,000 to make a lawsuit about it go away. City Attorney Rick Doyle points to possible “exposure to substantial attorney’s fees” as one reason to avoid the courtroom. Bobby Lopez gives us an interesting quote in the Merc story as well. Here is the paragraph from the story:

Figueroa's criticism drew a rebuke from the head of the officers' union, Bobby Lopez, who suggested the Mexican government solve its own police problems "before he tries to solve ours."

Is Mr. Lopez admitting that there are police problems in San Jose? Just asking...

Alviso may again be a launching point for fishermen, children, and marsh enthusiasts when the first boat launch in 25 years opens next year. County Supervisor Dave Cortese now worries a new dock will invite abandonment of boats “the last thing we want is for it to look like a junkyard on the water.” Way to lighten up the day Supervisor Cortese...

Great Oaks Water Company is doing the happy dance. A judge has ordered the Santa Clara Valley Water District to refund Great Oaks more than $4.6 million for overcharging.

On the heels of (more) bad news for the Water District, Sig Sanchez has announced his retirement after 55 years in public service. From 4 terms on the County Board of Supervisors to (nearly) 30 years on the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors, Sanchez has seen it all. About retirement Sanchez says “I’ve just updated my TV service and I’ve got 24 hour cartoons coming.”

San Jose lost an icon when developer Jim Fox passed away last week. Fox made sure San Jose’s old buildings were brought back to their former glory, he kept his promises, and smoked his favored cigars on the ledges of his restored buildings. The Merc’s Scott Herhold sends a fond farewell to Fox who left San Jose a better place.

It may be called the Rose Garden but San Jose residents are mighty pissed at the thought of losing a 70 year old Sycamore tree.

Busted. Gilroy’s medical marijuana dispensary owner Goyko “Batzi” Kuburovich refused to let City inspectors stroll through the joint and was tossed into the pokey. Gilroy Councilmember Craig Gartman was curious as to why Police were part of a code enforcement problem and said he didn’t “think the City should try to intimidate a business owner.” The Wild West Weed War...

It was a star-studded night for the swearing in of Palo Alto’s new Police Chief Dennis Burns. Former Secretary of State George Schultz did the honor of swearing in the replacement for Palo Alto’s ousted/ embarrassment Lynn Johnson, relatives from Ireland were on hand and Burns 11-year-old daughter pinned Daddy’s new badge on. Hopes are high for an end to the racial controversies that plagued Burns' predecessor.

Palo Alto’s sit-lie ordinance has been used once for prosecution since enacted 12 years ago to get homeless folks upright. Council candidate/ panhandler Victor Frost drew the lucky straw during his sit-lie candidacy at Whole Foods. Frost’s troubles mount as his public defender ditches Palo Alto for San Jose.

San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo is having a ‘60’s flashback chanting Books Not Bombs. DiSalvo expresses fading hope the new administration will focus on closing the achievement gap and educating the 40% of Latinos and African-Americans who do not graduate from high school.

Protect San Jose notes the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity released their much anticipated quarterly report without fanfare. Protect San Jose plans to dig deep in the 8 page report with regular updates. The first CPLE report concludes by suggesting San Jose Police should change the way racial arrest data is collected and make it public, tell CPLE whether arrests resulted from officer or citizen call, and create a community/police executive ongoing dialogue. Bobby Lopez did not say, "Why doesn't the CPLE solve its own police problems before trying to solve ours..."