Morning News Round-Up -- 5.26.10: not very CSI-like...

Ah, the news about how shabbily handled the De Anza rape case was just keeps coming. Today's news: "...nearly 24 hours elapsed between when the semi-conscious girl was brought to a hospital and the first sheriff's officers knocked on the door of the house where the incident occurred..." That doesn't seem very CSI-like. Expect the Merc's Sean Webby to get another award around his coverage of this story... and expect the Sheriff, the DA, and nearly every other law enforcement official and organization to continue to hate Sean Webby. Which is a pretty good indication that he is doing his job...

Fresh off banning toys at fast food joints, the Board of Supervisors is about to get into the parcel tax game on the November ballot. The tax will go to "preserve health insurance for low-income kids"... this seems pretty ground-breaking to Watch Dog and we wish the Supervisors luck in November. We are pretty sure that there are about a dozen or so school districts out there that were eyeing November for a parcel tax as well. They might not wish the Supervisors much luck because they have to ask themselves: How many new parcel taxes are people willing to support?

The Las Vegas-ification of San Jose gets a deep dive in the Merc today. It doesn't sound like that many people have confidence in the plan for a major hotel near the new San Jose "Strip on First," but Garden City Casino is certainly moving and they are getting more tables (and increasing the City's rake) when they do...

There is at least a conceptual plan, even if not a fully-baked financial one, to make the Mexican Heritage Plaza an arts and culture school. Maybe the increased rake at the card clubs could help finance the place...

And what would a day be without a little news from the San Jose City Council District 5 race? Yesterday all the candidates attended an "ethics workshop" at Santa Clara University and they all signed a pledge to run ethical campaigns. A little late, perhaps? One candidate has already been called a communist and a gang-banger...

If you are planning on getting a fat loan from San Jose as part of your compensation for being hired to a high-level management job, it just got a little less fat... Of course, judging from some of the salaries highlighted in the Merc's Public Employee Pay Database thingy, why would someone need a loan anyway?

San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon gets the Merc Editorial Board nod for the 21st Assembly District... for a Board that questions the status quo up in Sacramento, it seems a strange choice, no?

As a companion piece up the Peninsula, it was Yoriko Kishimoto's turn for a Will Oremus profile...

While we are in Palo Alto... the Palo Alto Finance Committee voted to start charging kids/families to act in the Children's Theatre... that should go over big.

Here's something: Mountain View Police will "forgo pay raises for a year"...

We mentioned earlier this week that we can't resist pointing out imperfections with the online Merc... we are clearly wildly immature. We wouldn't argue agains that...





Finally, where have you gone Politicon Valley? We miss you...

Super-Sized Morning News Round-Up -- 5.17.10: Blood-Sport Monday - Hockey and Politics...

The Western Conference Finals started Sunday... Sharks lost... but at the end of the series, we are looking forward to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley sending some of Chicago's finest (and fattiest) foods west to San Jose. He and Mayor Reed made a little wager. Chuck may receive a bunch of Vienna Beef soon. Yum.

But hockey was the mild sport over the weekend with politics being a little more dangerous... Especially in San Jose's City Council District 5...

Let's go chronologically:

The Mayor may be sharing some of Chicago's finest foods from Mayor Daley with his new BFF, Magdalena Carrasco. He endorsed her late last week, according to Watch Dog's email...

But that wasn't the only, or the most intriguing, part of that City Council race this weekend. Mailers were mailed out that took a big shot at Xavier Campos' role at MACSA courtesy of the Chamber. (Can you use the phrase "courtesy of" when you are talking about who paid for a hit piece?) Longtime readers of Watch Dog will not be surprised about the MACSA/Campos connection...

But that wasn't even the more intriging news out of that City Council race. It seems someone is (illegally) using Magdalena Carrasco's name to put out a fake mailer that has her standing with a communist Vietnamese flag... welcome to 1950... The Mayor is not pleased with this latest development and is calling on the DA, the Elections Commission, the post office, and the media to all do their job to identify who did this shady work... Watch Dog won't speculate, even though we'd love to...

As if there wasn't enough going on on San Jose's east side, there was an emergency landing at Reid-Hillview over the weekend... and a man was shot and killed in the Tropicana parking lot on Sunday morning.

Expect this story to also have political repurcussions: Dolores Carr's DA's office apparently stopped the forensic testing of some evidence in the De Anza rape case. This according to evidence in an ongoing civil trial... Jeff Rosen's team is no doubt reprinting this story and distributing it widely... Especially now that he has the support of some high-placed friends...

A big, long in-depth story was in Saturday's Mercury News about the new County Executive Jeff Smith. He has some fans, namely the County Board of Supervisors, who extended his contract through 2013. But the more interesting part of the story is the detractors: the County's unions do not like Jeff Smith. But that might be expected... but Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren? Apparently Smith pushed off a meeting with Lofgren for months. Here's what she said:

"His comments so far appear to be precipitous, haphazard and detrimental to the foundation of county government... People are calling to complain to me. I spent 14 years of my life making a good hospital and many of us are thinking, 'What is he doing?'"

Well, we know he isn't making friends with people in high places...

That isn't the only County employee in the news this week... there is a new County Counsel in the mix -- the acting County Counsel Miguel Marquez is getting the acting removed from his name...

The Merc's Internal Affairs shed some light into how the employee negotiations are going at the City of San Jose. It seems that City Manager Deb Figone had her lunch at Flames interupted by some city workers that were having a protest and started banging on Flames' windows yelling "Save our jobs!"... of course, Figone used to eat lunch at Morton's, but since the pay cut, she's now at Flames... We also learn from IA that the San Jose Redevelopment Agency forked over a $62 million check to the State Govenrment t his week. No word yet if the Governor has signed the thank you note...

Also in an attempt to get attention for their union plight, Jim Unland at the San Jose Police Officers' Association wrote a Memo to the Mayor on Friday... we're sorry we missed it then, but the Mayor probably isn't...

Perhaps this will help with the Figone/Employee and Police/Mayor relations: Measure K in San Jose got the deep dive in Sunday's paper as the Merc's Sandra Gonzales goes into the lovely Garden City Casino for some "man/woman on the street/at the table" interviews and looks at the pros and cons of relying on gambling to plug San Jose's budget holes...

The Water District reversed course and approved a new map for districts. Gilroy is no longer with Palo Alto... And that new Gilroy/Morgan Hill district is the one that the fast-food toy-loving Supervisor Don Gage will run for this fall... But the Mayors of Gilroy and Morgan Hill are still not pleased...

Sometimes it is good to have a reporter/columnist that is over 25 years old... such is the case with Scott Herhold. He gives a great perspective on Larry Pegram's first go'round on the San Jose City Council. If you read between the lines, Pegram left the Council with his three buddies on the heals of a bribery scandal... Pegram wasn't indicted or found to have done anything wrong...

File this story under D -- as in "Drive Cindy Chavez Crazy." Local political consultant Jude Barry is a founder of a technology firm that allows folks to register to vote and sign ballot petitions through iPhones, iPads, and other smart phones. It is the same company that landed Barry on the California Labor Federation's Do Not Patronize list... (This story should tell you how important that list is...) The Santa Clara County Registrar is accepting registrations that use Verafirma technology...

File this story under W for Weird... the Merc Editorial Board, generally a pro-education parcel tax bunch is "reserving judgement" on one parcel tax this June -- Measure I in Alum Rock Union Elementary School District because they are not including charter schools in their tax measure. The other parcel taxes in Milpitas, Oak Grove, and Mount Pleasant get the Merc Editorial nod...

Palo Alto may be getting some taller buildings... above 50 feet actually. Expect the NIMBYs to start the rebellion soon...

Ken Yeager and the rest of the Santa Clara County Supervisors (except Don Gage and George Shirakawa) get props from Dorothy Dimitre in the San Mateo Daily Journal for their fast food toy ban...

We didn't write about this last week, but it doesn't mean we missed it. Saratoga City Councilmember Susie Nagpal died last week. Very sad story.

And because sometimes important things happen outside of our regular sphere: Burlingame and its police department have started the long road toward pension reform. From the San Mateo County Times: "...Police sergeants and captains in Burlingame have agreed to pay freezes through the end of the year and are ready to cut retiree benefits, the first union contract that includes pension reform for a city struggling to deal with escalating employee costs..."

Morning News Round-Up – 12.28.09: Club Scarlett, where the cool kids hang...

Senator Dianne Feinstein made the call, the President agreed and the Senate confirmed it. San Jose U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate to sit on the U.S. District Court.

It has all the earmarks of a dirty story, complete with mudslinging. San Jose paid contractors McGuire & Hester $3 million, and hope to recovery some money from RMC Water and Environment for a sewer screw-up before paying for work to start over.

The Valley Transportation Authority hit the bicycle jackpot with a grant kicking off a bike-share program for Silicon Valley. San Jose Councilmember/VTA Chair Sam Liccardo pushed for bike share as part of the bicycle master plan doubling San Jose’s bikeways.

The Merc’s Internal Affairs hits the 2009 highlights with a year-end review. Complete with embarrassing drunk arrests, embezzlement and conflict of interest – what a political column wouldn’t give for a year like this. Too bad San Jose Revealed is no longer...

Scott Herhold reminds us it’s not just a year-end review but the end of the first decade in the 21st century. Herhold provides a decade review of the top 25 with the good (Google), the bad (De Anza rape) and the ugly (economic crisis).

Club Scarlett… The Merc’s Editorial Board extends a welcome to non-profit leaders at Working Partnerships as they join the club filled with lawyers, engineers and, yes, lobbyists wearing the Scarlett L.



Silicon Valley kids will not be happy to hear this… Summer classes in algebra paid off with big improvements. According to Silicon Valley Education Foundations Muhammed Chaudhry, kids can forget the local swimming pool and plan on a little number crunching.

A pedestrian died after being struck by a Cadillac on Blossom Hill Road in San Jose. Police want you to provide details (408)277-4651.



Mission City Lantern wants your John Hancock on the 49ers ballot measure petition and reports a brisk business just North of an opponents home.

Morning News Round-Up -- 10.30.09: Respecting Girls Edition...

According to (former) prosecutor/ ABC 7 legal analyst Dean Johnson, the Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr crossed an ethical line by (seemingly) cutting a plea deal for a campaign contributor's client. Deputy District Attorney/ DA wannabe Jeff Rosen offered his opinion the DA cast doubt the equity of treatment from the Carr. Rosen is no doubt delighted his boss is tripping over her own pointy-toed shoes.

The Merc’s Patty Fisher takes on the tragic gang rape in Richmond, attempting to use it as a teaching moment. Fisher points back to the DeAnza gang rape and asks why, in both cases, it was young women who bravely stepped forward to stop their male friends from torturing young women and call the cops. Fisher suggests a societal problem – we do not respect girls. (Note to Dolores Carr, please read Patty Fisher today...)

Speaking of respecting girls... (or perhaps 'respecting' them a little too much for a school employee)...

Wilcox High students pissed over the turmoil janitor Joe Miller finds himself in launched the Silicon Valley solution – a Facebook page filled with comments from adoring fans. Following a five month investigation into Miller's use of students for his modeling agency and complaints about “provocative” photos, it seems the School Board is ready to unload the questionable broom-closet modeling agency. (To all of you who are about comment on this blog about this case -- bring it on. Just because someone is a great guy and is "Mr. Wilcox" does not make what he did right. Stick to your guns School Board.)

The Mountain View Los Altos High School District is hoping to go green – and have the voters say yes. If your phone rings it could be the pollsters deciding whether to move forward with greening the classes.

A Cupertino family is struggling with the loss of their 5 year old son after one of his teachers from the Elite Chinese School accidentally drove over him.

San Jose’s Pamela Root and 2 year old Adam were surprised to find the fun loving skies of Southwest Airlines wouldn’t include them. Seems Adam was doing his terrible 2’s best when flight attendants decided they’d had enough – the plane returned to the gate in Texas and left the Root’s stranded on the tarmac. The flight attendant told Root “we just can’t tolerate that for 2 hours.” Ironic, since that's what most folks say about flying Southwest, "we just can't tolerate that for 2 hours..."

Morning News Round-Up – 9.22.09:

You remember this story, former San Jose Police Officer/Santa Clara County District Attorney investigator Sandra Woodall smashed her car into parked cars and injured a teenager. Collegial courtesy (allegedly) caused San Jose Police Officers Will Manion and Patrick D’Arrigo to look the other way after Woodall's visit to the neighborhood bar for a post-rehab celebratory drink (allegedly) impaired her driving. San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis let the other shoe drop this week, he wants to fire Manion and D’Arrigo.

California hopes to snag $1.28 billion in federal funds to bundle with Prop 1A funds for Caltrain expansion and moving High-speed rail at high speed to Northern CA.

It’s a little anti-climatic - the Palo Alto City Council approved a change over to (formerly interim) Police Chief Dennis Burns who hopes to “lead the organization in a fair and ethical way.” A slap at former boss/predecessor Lynne Johnson?

De Anza community college is at the “…bottom of a funnel” according to spokesperson/former Merc reporter Becky Bartindale so they shut the doors on more than 8,000 students hoping to beef up their accounting, chemistry and writing skills.

The Merc’s Editorial Board offers San Jose the chance to step out from the crowd and become a leader – ditch the bag. Likening the demise of the plastic bag to getting cigarettes out of restaurants, Merc Editors offer it could be increasingly painful to keep the bag (along with (possible) federal sanctions).

Earthquakes/A’s owner Lew Wolff isn’t caught by surprise often so when Soccer Silicon Valley President Don Gagliardi rattled off SSV’s good deeds even Wolff was impressed according to the Merc’s Sal Pizarro. State Senator Joe Simitian and San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos will be in San Jose to discuss State reform with Joint Ventures Silicon Valley and the American Leadership Forum.

San Jose Insider/San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio was not happy with his colleagues last week when they ignored his request to kill a “Shared Room Occupancy” proposal in his neighborhood. Watch Dog is hopeful Oliverio meant “Single Room Occupancy” in his collegial spanking.

Mission City Lantern slaps a favorite, Jamie McLeod, and celebrates a win by the San Francisco/(future Santa Clara?) 49ers.

Protect San Jose's Tuesday numbers guy, Ed Rast, wasn't up and running by post time, the Friday forum landed two comments over the weekend.

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.20.09: "Morgan Hill, the (soon-to-be) Los Gatos of South County..."

While the Guvernator is licking his wounds over yesterday’s election, folks in Morgan Hill are still pouring champagne. Measure A, addressing downtown revitalization, passed with 60% support. Former Mayor/Campaign Chair Dennis Kennedy said it would help make downtown Morgan Hill more like Los Gatos or Santana Row. Really? I guess we'll soon see a downtown Morgan Hill Prada...

As we said yesterday, Election Day was followed up by (bail bonds) Fight Night...

Councilmember Sam Liccardo won the first several rounds... but the fight looks like it will continue as the City Council (unanimously) took the first step towards a temporary ban on new bail bonds. This turn of events must have pissed off Councilmembers Pete Constant, Nora Campos, and Ash Kalra who last week wanted to let the bail bonds folks operate 24 hours a day and have no moratorium. Their proposal wasn't even discussed last night. What did get discussed by several in the audience, was the Merc column from yesterday... much to the (public) chagrine of several City Councilmembers...

San Jose Revealed also jumped into the bail bonds ring this morning calling Liccardo's win "predictable." Really? Why would the Constant/Campos/Kalra Crew have pushed their bail bonds proposal if a loss was so "predictable"?

On to more important stuff... like football...

Santa Clara City Councilmembers took the next big step towards welcoming the 49ers. They worked out a plan to share the financial pain. Mayor Patricia Mahan says the next step is bringing the public in to see the proposal. Jamie McLeod, not a 49er cheerleader, said “I have some pretty strong concerns,” but wasn’t dishing.

Silicon Valley loses another local star to the bright lights of Washington, D.C. A Watch Dog favorite, County legal top dog Ann Ravel, is packing her bags to head up Office of Consumer Litigation. Ravel will be reporting to another local legal rockstar, Tony West who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

Speaking of justice...

The Merc’s Editorial Board calls on Santa Clara County Supervisors to reject District Attorney Dolores Carr’s request to move victim services out of FACES control. Citing improved management and increased victim services the Editorial Board suggests other counties adopt the FACES model.

Friends Outside, a San Jose non-profit helping inmates' loved ones, has an unlikely leader. Former Sheriff’s Deputy, and guard, Dave Gonzales took the helm in a pinch two years ago. Gonzales, who is not a “liberal do-gooder,” has developed friends like District Attorney Dolores Carr, politically connected Mike Fox, Sr., Sheriff Laurie Smith, and Labor to bring Friends the economic support it needs.

Morgan Hill’s Christian bookstore owner Richard Dresser turns out to be a perv, maybe. Dresser was picked up by police after an employee accused the boss of several inappropriate acts. Dresser confessed to most of the charges during the interview but later told reporters he didn’t do it. “These charges are wrong, and I know they’re going to be dropped,” Dresser told the Morgan Hill Times. (Not to be outdone in the sexual assault news today, Watch Dog San Mateo has a piece about the Belmont Chamber of Commerce Board President (allegedly) molesting his step-daughter...)

Mexican American Community Service Agency (MACSA) CEO Olivia Soza-Mendiola sent a last minute email to Trustees for the Gilroy Unified School District asking for a one year transition of their MACSA-managed Charter School to an unnamed partner. Trustee Rhoda Bress called it a stalling tactic and said the students deserved better. (At some point, we'll (hopefully) see what the DA has to say about the MACSA/Charter School/embezzlement case...)

The Los Gatos Planning Commission nixed development plans for Los Gatos Boulevard pointing at a lack of a long term vision for the area. Commission Chair Tom O’Donnell said he was uncomfortable approving plans without knowing the Town Council’s vision.

San Jose residents, welcome to the season of brown... lawns that is. Strict regulations are now there for water hog yards. The upside for scofflaws is the City is depending on your neighbor to rat you out. Adding to the complexity, different parts of the City may end up with different rules.

Thousands of Silicon Valley residents sought heat relief at the beach Sunday. The miserable trip home was caused by Caltrans roadwork which shutdown one lane, leaving beachgoers creeping along for hours. The Merc’s Mr. Roadshow, Gary Richards, asked Caltrans what was up. Repairs, heat, time, and apologies came from “Ben-the-Caltrans-Spokesman.” Watch Dog was in the traffic, panting out the window...

San Jose Insider Eric Johnson dishes on a (possible) battle of the electric cars. Fisker Automotive arrived in San Jose’s Santana Row the day “bitter rival” Tesla announced a deal with Daimler Motors. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed was on hand to welcome Fisker adding it would help make the Bay Area the “electric vehicle capital of the world.” (Last time the Mayor stepped out to declare anything related to electric vehicles, Tesla turned around and screwed San Jose...)

When Foothill-De Anza Chancellor Martha Kanter was tapped by President Obama to be the Undersecretary of Education it left a big hole. Board President Betsy Bechtel announced retired Vice Chancellor Mike Brandy will return with “a steady hand and deep knowledge of the district,” to become the Interim Chancellor. What better time to take over the helm of a Community College than in the worst budget situation ever, and a State on the verge of financial collapse. Welcome back Mike...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.9.09: Could you be San Jose's next Chief of Police?

In case you missed it, Watch Dog posted a little ditty about Pete Constant and his BFF Larry Pegram yesterday. Our call to 18th Floor Spies has paid off...we heard the Rules Committee meeting yesterday where the item was discussed was less-than-smooth. As usual, Councilmember Constant wasn't there so things got a little off track from what Constant probably wanted. The Rules Committee saw the Rove-like name for Constant's proposal and want to change it. Also, Constant hasn't really developed his proposal yet, much to the dismay of some Rules Committee members. More to come...

Also, yesterday we posted a bit about the Metro's story about San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis. Well, only the edited version was posted on San Jose Inside. The real (extremely in-depth version) is now online here. This is a doozy. Davis's days seem to be numbered...the armor is cracking. Most stunning, Bobby Lopez, the head of the Police Officers Association takes shots at the Chief...so does Councilmember Liccardo, the La Raza Roundtable, the former NAACP head, the ACLU, the Downtown Association CEO, and a lot of other people. Chief Davis, we can help with your resume...

Jude Barry is back...as a CalBuzz contributor...What do you say now Revealed?

Head’s up, the phone lines are down for thousands in Silicon Valley as well as San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties. The lines went down early this morning and there’s no timeline for getting everyone back online. So if you are lucky enough to have Internet service today, welcome to Watch Dog Silicon Valley. Just don't have any real emergencies -- no 911 service. We are squeezing in Watch Dog while our connection is sound...

The fireworks went off when defense attorney Al Lopez claimed there was proof the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office withheld videotaped evidence in sexual assault cases. DA David Tomkins denies any conspiracy...the DA saga continues...

Former Mayor/Lobbyist Tom McEnery (now) wants San Jose’s Elections Commission to look into the complaints against him. But, he can’t be happy to see Councilmember Liccardo’s Sharks tickets have been added to the complaints...

The Merc’s Man About Town, Sal Pizzaro hooked up with Baseball San Jose boosters for a pre-City Council tail-gate party at Billy Berks on Tuesday night. Pizzaro notes San Jose movers and shakers included Pro Baseball San Jose’s Michael Mulcahy, County Assessor Larry Stone and Councilmember Ash Kalra – along with Baseball San Jose’s blogger Jacquie Heffner. Who has a better job than Sal?

The Merc’s Editorial Board urges a speedy sale of City lands to Earthquakes/A’s owner Lew Wolff and a quick groundbreaking to get the proposed Quakes stadium underway.

On the one hand, Mountain View doesn't like outsiders: Mountain View’s senior citizens center is so popular that folks from around Silicon Valley meet there to shoot pool with friends and enjoy themselves. Sounds good, right? The Senior Advisory Task Force reports a small number of Mountain View’s own are pissed off by the out-of-Mountain View influx. Mountain View Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga wants to make sure her constituents receive the highest priority.

On the other hand, Mountain View loves outsiders: Mountain View’s City Council wants the Robert Green Company to build their first “four diamond” hotel. Ellis Berns, Mountain Views Economic Eevelopment Manager, calls the fancy hotel an amenity “we’re missing.” Councilmember Jac Siegel gushed calling it a “creative source” of dollars flowing into Mountain View. Colleague John Inks voted against the hotel saying he was worried about the money Mountain View would have to cough up to make the deal work. Perhaps once they have the hotel, they won't mind outsiders visiting their senior center...

West Valley College President Phil Hartley is stepping down after five successful years, leaving a big hole at a very tough time. Add that to Martha Kanter's departure from DeAnza, and we have some gaping community college holes locally...