Morning News Round-Up -- 3.3.10: Gambling Good. Family Camp Bad...

Division on the San Jose City Council doesn't happen that often, if you ask Watch Dog. But it did yesterday, twice and they sent a pretty interesting message about their priorities:

Division 1: On a 6-5 vote, the City decided to prepare language for another tax on card clubs that would increase the City's rake but also allow the card rooms to become Las Vegas-esque. The pro-gambling six were Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Judy Chirco, along with Councilmembers Pete Constant, Pierluigi Oliverio, Rose Herrera, and Nancy Pyle. The anti-gambling five were Councilmembers Sam Liccardo, Ash Kalra, Kansen Chu, Nora Campos, and Madison Nguyen. We'll see what happens next week...

Division 2: On an 8-3 vote, the City decided to close San Jose Family Camp for the season. The (losing) pro-Camp camp included Liccardo, Herrera, and Pyle.

Just so we are clear about what message the San Jose City Council's sent yesterday: gambling good, family camp bad.

District Attorney Dolores Carr will announced today whether or not she is charging any of the San Jose Police Officers with the beating of Phoung Ho. Watch Dog is on record predicting that no charges will be brought against the Officers, based solely on the San Jose Police Officers' Association endorsement of Carr's reelection campaign. Scott Herhold of the Merc doesn't think charges will be brought, independent of politics...

On the other side of the courtroom... the Merc Editorial Board gives mad props to the County Board of Supervisors on their decision to provide a public defender for those charged with crimes... imagine that.

It was a strange day in San Jose yesterday. First, a man jumped off a bridge to commit suicide. Then, a second man tried to do the same thing, but was talked down by SJPD.

Unfortunately, this sounds like a story from San Jose, not Mountain View... a woman is claiming she was the victim of "negligence and/or excessive force" at the hands of the Mountain View Police and has filed a $1 million lawsuit.

It looks like the new California Assembly Speaker has been reading the Mercury News and/or following the San Jose City Council... he is proposing that lawmakers be disallowed from getting text messages from lobbyists. (We will leave obvious the texting/ Tom McEnery/ lobbyist jokes up to San Jose Revealed...)

Morning News Round-Up – 10.27.09: It's bad news Tuesday....

According to attorney Terry Bowman, representing the San Jose police officer caught on video striking San Jose State math student Phuong Ho with a police baton, “Mr. Ho is responsible…” San Jose Councilmembers Madison Nguyen, Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra stated they were “saddened the Vietnamese American community has recently experienced two incidents with the San Jose Police Department regarding possible use of excessive force.” The Merc’s Scott Herhold steps into the fray with his own analysis of Phuong Ho’s videotaped interview offering this “It’s hard to think he’s making this up… it is extraordinarily hard to make charges against cops stick before a jury.”

Following the death of Beverly Head when she got tangled up by a dog leash, San Jose takes on bikes and pooches. Somewhere, someone is hoping bikes and pooches become a leading story...

Santa Clara’s City Council tackles one hurdle standing in the way of bringing the 49ers to town. Up tonight, letting the team pick the builder of their (planned) Santa Clara Stadium…

The Merc’s Editorial Board wants Sunnyvale voters to know they’re not getting all the facts. The Merc takes a swipe at endorsed candidates Mayor Tony Spitaleri and Councilmember Chris Moylan for telling pieces of a story…

Love is in the air for the Mountain View Whisman School District. Superintendent Maurice Ghysels sheepishly admitted he’s been getting cozy with elementary school principal Carmen Mizell.

San Jose’s Redevelopment Agency released their bad news budget. After $75 million was taken by the State and facing decreased property tax revenues the Agency did some fancy (internal) footwork slashing budgets. Set your sights lower for the convention center expansion…

If you’re looking for your swine flu shot make sure you’re tops on the list. Public Health Officer Marty Fenstersheib had to shuffle after learning fewer (anti) swine-ish shots would be arriving. Kids and pregnant moms top the list… Keeping in mind, not all flues are swine-ish…

Speaking of budgets… San Jose Insider/San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio takes a stab at explaining the financial benefits of outsourcing city jobs and how San Jose’s budget works…

Also a San Jose Insider, Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo is eternally optimistic that San Jose’s 19 school districts can be organized into 4, DiSalvo wants to hear from you. Do you think 19 school boards, 19 superintendents, 19 sets of district staff, 19, well, you get the picture… willing to give up turf for the good of the children?

Protect San Jose’s numeric guru/Sunshine Task Force chair Ed Rast digs into the mind-numbing world of “item 3.5” and suggests the City Manager is reading Protect San Jose. Still no word about Sunshine…

Morning News Round-Up – 10.26.09: No singing in San Jose...

Across California, San Jose has landed in the news…

• San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis put 4 officers on leave after a videotape wound up in the hands of Attorney Duyen Hoang Nguyen.
• (apparently) Showing a brutal beating of San Jose State University math student Phuong Ho, the video is disturbing.
• Former San Francisco Police Chief/Mayor Frank Jordan joined others in asking if the beating was necessary.
• Following a yearlong series of questions about San Jose police (possibly) profiling or behaving badly, this has to sting.
• The Merc’s Editorial Board reminds San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed of his previous statements that it’s not enough to avoid breaking the law, it’s doing the right thing that counts.
• The Merc calls on District Attorney Dolores Carr to open the (inevitable) grand jury hearings on this case.
• San Jose Inside shares Mayor Reed’s comment that he is “troubled” by the contents of the video and notes Chief Rob Davis launched an Internal Affairs investigation after learning from the Merc about the video.

Following two deaths from illegal road races in San Jose, the Merc’s Gary “Mr. Roadshow” Richards did a little digging. Thousands of racers are ticketed in the Bay Area. It’s tough tracking down races. And…. California Highway Patrol Sgt. William Bradshaw says the solution is to give kids their own race track, Sonoma’s Infineon is too far and, well, kids will be kids…

Former Vice Mayor/Labor leader Cindy Chavez says calls by San Jose City Manager Debra Figone for drastic cuts will damage the city and isn’t very creative. Figone, facing a $90 million budget gap is calling for reductions in pay and benefits including elimination of “redundant compensation” to police and firefighters.


Sunnyvale dentist John Licking bucked the sagging home value trend after the city of San Jose offered to settle a lawsuit and buy up property near a planned BART station for a cool $2 million. San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo said, in “technical legal terms” the deal was “twofer” noting the end of the lawsuit and purchase of needed land.

The Merc’s Internal Affairs uncovered a little gloating in District Attorney Dolores Carr’s office. Carr let loose a “final salvo” at (former) Deputy DA/Councilmember Sam Liccardo and (former) defense attorney/Councilmember Ash Kalra for supporting the dangerous promotion of Sunshine. After a Pacific Research Institute report that said Los Altos elementary school, Santa Rita, suspended 81% of their little tykes for “obscene, disruptive, hostile or intimidating behavior” IA went to the source only to find Los Altos is not a hotbed of violent crime.

Thanks to a Watch Dog tipster this blurb from last week. Porn king/Values Advocacy Council president Larry Pegram has officially tossed his hat in the ring to unseat Congressional representative Jerry McNerney. Pegram plans to ditch San Jose for Plesanton. Oddly, the Pegram press release made no mention of Pegrams penchant for censorship.

The Merc’s Patty Fisher was reminded of the importance of friends during the memorial service for former Mountain View Mayor Rosemary Stasek. Email was Stasek’s favored communications tool as she maintained lives, and friendships around the world. Still mourning Stasek, husband Morne du Preez said his wife love parties but always liked leaving while “she was still having fun.”

For your government Watch Dog pleasure…

• San Jose’s City Council talks further cutbacks and critter care.
• The Los Altos School District (not a hotbed of kiddie violence) considers renewal of a parcel tax.
• School closure is on the minds of Trustees for the Alum Rock Union School District with 5 schools facing darkness.
• The Cupertino Union School District considers technology and special education.
• In Palo Alto the Unified School District noodles over plans for student achievement and Gunn and Palo Alto High buildings. The board also considers a pre-kindergarten plan.
• San Jose’s Franklin-McKinley School District hears Rocketship Education's plans to open charter schools.

Following a weekend of bad news for local deputy dawgs, Protect San Jose leads with an invite to the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers dinner.