Showing posts with label earthquake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earthquake. Show all posts

Thursday, April 9, 2009

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...

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.31.09: Butterflies, Earthquakes, and Porn, OH MY!

In case you missed it, Watch Dog had late breaking baseball news yesterday…MLB Commissioner Bud Selig named a panel to study the A’s options. The Merc’s Morning Buzz tries to spray some water on San Jose’s excitement…the apparently aren't impressed with Lew Wolff's ability to attract microphones magnetically to his mouth...

A minor 4.3 earthquake in the foothills near Mt. Hamilton yesterday shook nerves around Silicon Valley and beyond and uncovered a brand new fault line. Oh, goody. The new fault line runs parallel to the more active Calaveras line which shook the area last in 2007. You can tell the USGS all about your shaking here...

The Merc’s Editorial Board wonders why Supervisor Dave Cortese is the only one seeking a public explanation as to why a 10 year old was tossed in the pokey. In case you missed it, tossing the 10 year old into jail is also a violation of Federal law. Oops…The DA’s office recently turned over kid cases to LACY, none too soon it would seem.

Neighbors around Watson Park are pissed off. It seems San Jose once used the park as a toxic dump. When the sludge was re-discovered the City offered to help. Now that the cleanup is over, the neighbors are trying to deal with the aftermath (home prices, health effects)…

Morgan Hill’s "mixed-use" Measure A plan could be considered panacea by proponents, at least the Morgan Hill Times seems to think so. With support by everyone from the Greenbelt Alliance and Sierra Club to the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Association it looks like former Mayor Dennis Kennedy is keeping his promise to not take anything for granted. Not everyone seems to think mixed use is a good idea, downtown property owner Gary Walton claims it’s “like fitting a square peg in a round hole.” Walton must not get out of Morgan Hill much…

Gilroy’s Safeway has a creep prowling the parking lot. An 18 year old woman was the third victim attacked while heading back to the car. The attacker looks for women traveling solo, until they catch him, take the baggers on their offer for help back to your car...

San Jose Revealed offers a new target to porn crusaders Councilmember Pete "Ball Gag" Constant and former Councilmember Larry Pegram: Sexy San Jose. We would give you an idea about what Revealed wrote, but the website is down -- and has been since (before?) Revealed posted about it...

San Jose Insider/Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio keeps his partying ways going. This time celebrating the San Jose Bike Party with a “Psychedelic Robot Ride.” Watch Dog note from one blogger to another, too much rode-here-rode-there, blah blah blah.

According to the Merc’s Chris O’Brien, Senator Dianne Feinstein is trying to clean up the bureaucratic quagmire that surrounds the patent office. Local giants Cisco and Google have been complaining about patent messes that cost them big bucks and squelch the free flow of ideas... looks like they found their advocate.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold spends too much time wandering the halls of Justice. His column is all about the white or khaki shirts that watch as your worldly possessions roll through the x-ray machine, and how much those shirts make.

Sal Pizzaro shares a celebration with the Amigos de Cesar Chavez who will be delivering over 250 lunches to farm workers in Santa Clara County in honor of Cesar Chavez’ birthday today.

Those fluttering leaves everyone is seeing around the Valley are actually Painted Lady butterflies making their annual migration North. De Anza biologist Ryan Phillips is giddy with excitement and called the mass migration “truly spectacular.”

San Jose Police are investigating a late night shooting in San Jose. Sounds like neighbors on Sebasian Way were feuding, the gunman shot at men standing outside his neighbors home. Luckily for the victims (and shooter), neither victim was critically injured.

Meanwhile, Santa Clara Police are still looking into Sunday's murder/suicide...Neighbors are shocked by the deaths of 6 Sunday night. Neighbor Amit Sinha said, "It's such a quiet neighborhood. I don't even hear anybody speaking in a loud voice. And then there are 20 police with semi-automatic guns."

A Mountain View woman who disappeared for four days last year after partying in Mountain View is now heading to jail. To stay out of trouble with the parents she lied to the Police saying she’d been kidnapped and assaulted...now she’s ‘fessed up to concocting the story. Liz Wylie, Police spokesperson, said something was amiss about the story…Y'think?