We never came back for a post yesterday, apologies to everyone... we'll include some stories from yesterday, just in case you missed them...
The story about the toddler who lost his life because of a tree that crashed into the parked truck in San Jose took an interesting turn into yesterday's paper. Of course this is a huge tragedy, but yesterday's story shed light onto the City of San Jose's budget cuts over the past few years that has meant trees in front of houses (but in the public right-of-way) are now homeowners' responsibility... expect neighbors to show up at the next round of budget discussions talking about trees. Trees, police officers (and pensions), firefighers (and pensions), public employees (and pensions), library hours, parks, community centers -- the budget discussions will not be particularly fun this year.
And...
There is already a response from the City about trees in today's paper in the form of an "aggressive public awareness campaign"...
And...
The Merc Editorial Board chimes in and says San Jose's tree law make sense... which is perhaps the last popular position of the day.
Sheriff Laurie Smith is in a much better re-election position than the other County law enforcement officer (DA Dolores Carr) this year, but that doesn't mean she is getting a free re-election pass... there are three folks lining up to challenge Smith. The Merc singles out one candidate, retired SJPD Captain Richard Calderon, as a candidate that "...has issues of his own..." (Rich Robinson, clip that sentence from the story for your "op research" file...)
And if it is Wednesday (or any day, for that matter), Dolores Carr will be in the paper. Today she is there defending her boycott of a local judge. Using a double negative (sort of) she wrote to the Merc via email and said that boycotting a judge is "not unheard of"... Maybe, there are some legal experts in the story that have a different opinion. Until tomorrow's story about Dolores Carr...
San Jose's Club Wet is back open... but the Police Chief's ability to close down clubs in the future is about to be curbed by the City Council. Stemming from a lawsuit Club Wet brought against the City last year, the City (and club owners) have reworked the ordinance, started talking to each other, and apparently the clubs aren't the brawl-magnets they once were... for now. Anyway, club owners and the City (but perhaps not the Police Chief) seem happier than they were late last fall. That doesn't mean Watch Dog will be rolling into Club Wet anytime soon, but maybe...
Mayor Reed and Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Rose Herrera proposed a job-spurring package this week to be heard in a few weeks that would encourage businesses to stay and grow or relocate to San Jose. Watch Dog doesn't know if it will help, but it probably can't hurt... Liccardo wrote about it this week on San Jose Inside.
Santa Clara County is the new Belmont? If a measure gets traction to ban smoking in apartment buildings, the County will join Belmont... it is one of the ideas Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager is proposing. He also gave his State of the County yesterday and it was nice to see all of you there... it was perhaps the most political crowd ever at a State of the County with all the candidates and glad-handing. Is the County Building sexy again?
The 49er's vote in June in Santa Clara is even closer than it was. The Santa Clara Council voted on a procedural measure to move it forward. But the quote in this Merc story is a gem, from Councilmember Jamie Matthews: "Ultimately, the people will decide, and they are smarter than all of us..." ...Especially smarter than the Santa Clara City Council... just kidding. Perhaps the "no on stadium" folks can use that quote against Matthews in a Gavin-esque manner...
Protect San Jose gives us the (Just the) "Facts About Cannabis Use"... which was not written by Sgt. Joe Friday (or Chief Davis), but it might as well have been... Damn hippies!
Monday's gun-point gas station robbery in north Gilroy was caught on tape... Don't expect this video to appear on one of those late-night "America's Scariest Videos" anytime soon. The whole thing went down in a pretty orderly and mellow way actually. They were probably stealing money for pot...
