Morning News Round-Up -- 3.26.10: Can you name the 1992 San Jose City Council?

A couple of days ago in the Palo Alto Daily News, there was a story about a Palo Alto City janitor who cashing out sick leave ($100k+) and retiring with a pension and benefits for life... well, the Merc must have seen that story and asked around San Jose City Hall if the same thing happens there. Guess what? It does. The total amount of sick leave cash outs in 2009 was $11.3 million, up from previous years. It is mostly to police officers and firefighters, who have unlimited (?) sick leave and vacation payouts when they are donPublish Poste with their stint with the City. The leader of the pack was a retiring deputy police chief who cashed in $305,447 of unpaid sick leave and vacation. Today's story also has a little history: "...But the presidents of the police and firefighters unions noted that city officials in 1992 gave them the unlimited sick-leave cash out benefit..." Ok all you old timers... We'll start the 1992 City Council list with Mayor Susan Hammer, David Pandori, Shirley Lewis, Pat Sausedo... can anyone out there name the rest?

(Not to be out-reported, the Palo Alto Weekly dives deep into how much 'cash outs' have cost Palo Alto... $5.3 million last year. We have no clue who was on the Palo Alto Council when those cash out decisions were made...)

The finalists for the now-high profile Independent Police Auditor's job in San Jose have been announced, even though the Merc caught wind of LaDoris Cordell's name prevoiusly. The other three:

• Jeff Schwartz, the head of Letra, a consulting firm that trains and researches law enforcement stuff,
• Marcos Soler, a director with the Research and Strategic Initiatives for the Civilian Complaint Review Board in NYC, and
• Victoria Urbi, a police review commission officer with Berkeley's civilian Police Review Commission.

Well, let's hope whomever gets the gig that they are not neutered like the last several IPAs have been... Because there's nothing a Watch Dog likes less than being neutered...

There is some closure to the sex with a student story in Santa Clara Unified. The Wilcox High School "special" education teacher Ed Slate will spend 2 years and 8 months for "...oral copulation with a minor, sexual penetration, and sodomy with a person younger than 18..."

While we are talking about schools, sort of... the County Office of Education is under the gun from "Alternative School" teachers and staff. The teachers are worried that by taking their concerns to the Board of Trustees, rather than the Superintendent Chuck Weis, that they may face retaliation...

No more classes, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks... at least for summer school. Morgan Hill closed summer school for the coming summer...

Morning News Round-Up -- 9.3.09: Mr. Pegram goes to Washington?

Most Gilroy schools are celebrating. California High School Exit Examination results were posted. Gilroy winners include Gilroy High with 81% and 80% of students passing Math and English respectively. At the bottom of the barrel the beleaguered MACSA-managed El Portal with less than 45% of students passing math and English. Ouch. Maybe if the folks running the schools paid the teachers instead of embezzling, test scores would go up...

Porn king Larry Pegram has a new adventure in store for unsuspecting voters. On top of recent announcements that he is recruiting people to look over your shoulder at libraries as well as collecting money for a ballot measure to overturn San Jose City Council’s decision to keep San Jose out of the Big Brother role at libraries, Pegram’s longing for a Congressional gig came out at the ChamberPAC's annual picnic. (carpetbagger)/ Congressional wannabe Pegram told the Metro’s Fly he’s ready to move to Tracy. Watch out, Congressman Jerry McNerney, the porn king is on your trail.

If Second Harvest Food Bank didn’t know the power of social media 3 weeks ago, they do now. Carolee Hazard asked her Facebook friends what do to with an extra $93. More than $10,000 and 10 countries later, Second Harvest celebrates the $93 Dollar Club.

The Merc’s Mr. Roadshow (a.k.a. Gary Richards) is looking out for everyone, including Mountain View City Councilmember Laura Macias. Worried about hitting California’s “craziest” traffic after a holiday in Tahoe, Macias wants to know if she should hit the road before dawn or after sunset Monday?

Silicon Valley Leadership Group revealed plans to honor former San Jose Mayors Susan Hammer and Tom McEnery to the Merc’s Sal Pizarro. Also on tap, a look at gubernatorial wannabe’s in separated conversations. The only candidate not showing up, Meg Whitman. That should be awkward for the folks sitting in the eBay seats...

The Merc’s Editorial Board has a message for the City of San Jose – get serious about trails. The Board suggests a missing trail between the Los Gatos Creek and Guadalupe River is the same as leaving out sections of Highway 101.

The City of San Jose got a little love (not the kind of love that makes Larry Pegram blush, however) from the Civil Grand Jury according to San Jose Inside. The sucking sound was dollars disappearing in the links at Los Lagos and Rancho del Pueblo golf courses...

The San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce got props during a recent Los Altos City Council meeting. Under discussion, should the Los Altos Chamber model itself like San Jose’s Chamber. Councilmember David Casas thinks so saying the “clear line” between business and politics would make it easier for Los Altos to hand money to the Chamber. If only San Jose Revealed was still up to comment on this story...

Los Altos residents on Blue Oak Lane want to ditch their septic tanks, but cost and giant holes have some worried. Elementary school teacher Mildred McColloch is pissed about the $40,000 (+) price tag saying “I’m basically being booted out…" And that just stinks...

Business owners and planners in Los Altos are at odds over strengthening downtown. The economic downturn hurts business owners who believe that revitalization is great but the real pain is now.

Those pesky (toxic) Perchlorate chemicals found in wells around Silicon Valley are disappearing. Of course, if the drought disappears those Perchlorates could continue their journey.

Morgan Hill City employees will breathe a sigh of relief: the City Council decided no mid-year layoffs. Mayor Steve Tate and Councilmember Larry Carr have their fingers crossed the unions will give up raises to help out.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.11.09: "San Jose's Mayor, former Mayor, and three former Mayoral candidates walk into a bar..."

There was a lot of fast-breaking news yesterday. The two big stories involved the Current San Jose Mayor, a Former San Jose Mayor, and 3 Former San Jose Mayoral Candidates...(these folks are bolded for your reading pleasure...)

Former Mayoral Candidate Story 1:
The South Bay Labor Council broke the news that Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins would be moving to Oakland to head up Green For All a non-profit dedicated to building the green economy. Former Mayoral Candidate Cindy Chavez is taking over the helm of the South Bay Labor Council. This news has big political implications, but the roll-out of the news speaks a lot about who is covering and driving news in Silicon Valley these days:

Here’s a rundown of how the news broke.

• 9:39 a.m.: San Jose Revealed broke the news (hmmm...)
• 10:01 a.m.: Watch Dog caught the news from Revealed and published a brief piece
  
• 10:05 a.m.: KLIV broadcast the story, including props from Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Leader/Former Mayor Candidate Pat Dando on the selection of former Councilmember Cindy Chavez as the new Labor leader...
• 11:19 a.m.: Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal posted props from Congressman Mike Honda.
• 12:58 p.m.: The Merc finally caught up in the afternoon. To their credit it was a detailed story with a quote from Ellis-Lamkins that watching families earn more made “it worthwhile at 2 in the morning.”
• 1:25 p.m.: San Jose Inside’s The Fly (apparently) reads Revealed and congratulates themselves for predicting the departure of Ellis-Lamkins.
  

Former Mayor/Former Mayoral Candidate Story 2:
Former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer and Former Mayoral Candidate Michael Mulcahy are Co-Chairing the A's to San Jose Study Group. The San Jose Rules and Open Government Committee, Chaired by Current Mayor Chuck Reed will discuss baseball's prospects today. (That is different than Billy Beane discussing baseball prospects...) It’s unlikely that anyone on the Council will object, since Current Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmember Sam Liccardo first raised the issue, their colleagues “have practically been tripping over each other to demonstrate support” according to the Merc. We also re-welcome Baseball San Jose to the local blogosphere -- we like your look...

Mountain View’s City Council doesn’t share their neighbors' (Palo Alto) disdain for high speed rail. Councilmember Mike Kasperzak has asked Mountain View be considered for a station though he’s doubtful the State will agree. Councilmember Laura Macias said no to the request saying Mountain View didn’t have room for a station.

Mountain View-Los Altos Adult Education is letting go 119 folks. The program serves 11,000 adults annually. I guess Watch Dog won’t be brushing up on those cooking skills after all…

The East Side Union High School Trustees will ditch 129 teachers, 116 staffers, charge $200/year/student for after-school sports, and ask students to raise $500,000 on their own. Superintendent Bob Nunez acknowledged the cuts will affect students and said “certain things just won’t get done anymore…” Like teaching?

Morgan Hill’s Ann Sobrato High School is raising the next generation of soil chemists, biologists, and agriculturists with the help of Cal Poly grads/teachers Myndi Muzik and Tanya Salo. Their enthusiasm and support have junior Tracey Salvador lusting for a career in floral design and sophomore Joey Cassibba heading to veterinary school. Muzik says her goal is teaching ag literacy which is critical when 2% of the population supports the other 98%.

Palo Alto business owners won’t easily accept the proposed business tax. Dozens of business owners showed up for a Finance Committee meeting to protest. Pat Sausedo, executive director of a local Realtors association, complained this was the wrong time to consider a tax. The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce also took a stance against the proposal and called for a Task Force. Councilmembers Pat Burt and Larry Klein suggested a possible compromise was in the offing.

The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ Patricia Gardner reports that only 7% of their 100 members are financially strong. More than half will be issuing pink slips and those who support the homeless and mentally ill are flooded with new clients.

San Jose Inside’s man-about-education, Santa Clara County Board of Education Member, Joseph DiSalvo, voices outrage that federal income guidelines aren’t indexed to the community. Welcome to the real world Joe...

The news from South County has reached San Jose. The new courthouse will be open in less than a month. Judge Edward Lee won’t miss their current digs which are filled with vermin of the 4 legged kind. Morgan Hill leaders are hoping the new digs are pedestrian friendly and everyone at the courthouse will schlep over to downtown to spend their hard earned dollars.

Khaled Hosseini’s family fled Afghanistan and landed in East San Jose when he was 15 and spoke no English. A year at Independence High paved the way for Hosseini to become a doctor and a celebrated author. Although Hosseini’s first novel, ‘The Kite Runner’ has been made into a movie and praised by renowned author Isabel Allende, Hosseini says it’s surreal to see his story come to life in a play in the town where his family lived on welfare.

Watch Dog note to Los Gatos Observer’s Dan Pulcrano – when you decide to publish news again let us know…