Wednesday’s Palo Alto shooting has the police trying to ease resident fears about a possible incursion of gangs. Police Agent Dan Ryan says Daniel Gil-Fernandez was a wannabe gansta’. Yep, Ryan says, Gil-Fernandez and friends wore red, talked about being Nortenos, sported gang tattoos, and had been involved in violent and drug related crime but… Ryan says “They're intimidating other kids in their mostly white junior high or high school, but if they were to go to Mountain View they could get murdered." Take that, Mountain View.
Also exhibiting ostrich-like behavior… Vandals (wannabe Nazis’?) attacked Evergreen Valley High School leaving a giant 20’ swastika etched into the lawn and chopping down 13 tiny trees. In a potentially related note, envelopes with a (harmless) white powder were mailed to the school office. Principal Cari Vaeth says she hasn’t organized discussions with the students because race relations are just fine, thank you very much. (Really?) East Side Union High School District Associate Superintendent Alan Garafolo seems to disagree and says once an arrest is made the District will push for hate-crime charges.
It wasn’t bad enough that muralist Frank Torres’ work was attacked by San Jose wannabe Surenos who tossed blue paint everywhere. Former gang member/Veteran/ex felon/ex-dealer Torres was profiled by the Merc’s Joe Rodriguez following the damage to his mural this week, the next day he was back on the job when eight wannabe’s showed up to beat the crap out of him in East San Jose. Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev is collecting donations while Marcos Gutierrez with the San Jose State University Foundation has offered Torres a job teaching and is organizing a fundraiser.
Los Altans need never be far from the latest happenings in town, the Town Crier is now offering breaking news flashes to your cell phone.
If you’d had your mobile news service you’d have known the Los Altos Hills' City Council was slapping some property owners for illegal sewer hook-ups to the tune of nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Mayor Jean Mordo is trying to be nice and says there’s a sewer amnesty program – pay up in two months and you’ll get a discount.
Mobile updates no doubt included this too: Los Altos sold its sewer land for $6.5 million and Mayor Megan Satterlee wants to use it after the sewer master plan is ready for action next year while Councilmember Ron Packard urges holding off until the current financial crisis is over. Maybe Los Altos can just sneak a hook-up to the Los Altos Hills sewer system.
Former eBay Chief/Gubernatorial wannabe Meg Whitman’s Fortune magazine cover has the blogosphere buzzing about the comparisons with former Governor/President Ron Reagan. The Merc’s Tech Notebook pulls other details out of the story like… Whitman hasn’t purchased a suit in 11 years, her friends are helping her shop at Stanford, and she’s planning to drop $50 million of her own fortune to be the next Governator.
You remember this story…Somehow an unnoticed clerical screw-up left taxes for Gilroy Unified off last years property tax bill. Not bad if you’re one of those knuckleheads who pretends not to notice your bill doesn’t match the stuff in your bag, but if you’re a School District losing $6 million it’s a big problem. The School Board decided this week not to re-send the tax bill and is hoping to hold County Supervisor Don Gage to his word: "They’re going to be made whole one way or another.” Deputy Superintendent Enrique Palacios has the dubious distinction of juggling the County’s clerical screw-ups and the “… moral issue…” of MACSA’s theft from teachers…
Speaking of the MACSA (Mexican American Community Services Agency)… More than 100 students, parents, teachers, and administrators crowded the Gilroy Unified School District Board meeting to ask the Board not to punish students for MACSA’s embezzlement. Tearful students spoke about grades going from F’s to A’s and B’s, seemingly overnight. Trustee Denise Apuzzo wondered how, with grades shooting up dramatically, students were still failing State tests.
Gilroy Councilmember Bob Dhillon wants to stop the bleeding and says the public is truly pissed. Gilroy’s City Administrator Tom Haglund is (apparently) begging the City Council to wallow in Gilroy’s daily operations and figure out who gets raises and who does not. Councilmembers (and residents) are pissed off that Haglund has been handing out raises to some while others lose their jobs. Councilmember Cat Tucker took a 25% pay cut in her day job and wants to see City Staff cut back as well. The Gilroy Dispatch Editorial Board gets in on the act calling it one of those “you-couldn't-make-this-stuff-up" situations.
Give a little, get a lot…City staff unions in Morgan Hill have figured out a way to keep jobs: they voluntarily reduced raises by 3% to 4% for as long as 5 years. Don’t worry about employees, the starting point was a 9.5% raise. Councilmember Larry Carr praised the leadership of the unions in meeting the challenge while offering a mild slap to other communities (Gilroy?).
What’s the loss of a little green belt if it makes the Pope happy? The Diocese of San Jose is hoping to buy up another 20 acres of agricultural land in Morgan Hill to add to the 20 acres they bought last year. The land is part of Morgan Hill’s last remaining “green belt” to be chopped up into developable portions. There’s still that pesky Environmental Impact Report, rezoning, and the obscure "LAFCO review," so don’t count on ground breaking before 2011.
San Jose Insider Eric Johnson calls the cries of impending doom for the Chronicle premature and is predicting a new paper in town, the MerChronicle. The Chronicle did that once before when they became the ExOnicle/ChronAminer following a merger with the Examiner. Lot of good that did either of those papers.
Showing posts with label lafco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lafco. Show all posts
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Morning News Round-Up – 3.10.09: Mr. Carr Goes to DC. Et tu Mission City Lantern?
In case you missed the news (that means you Merc. reporters) -- check out the Tesla update from yesterday.
Developers John Vidovich and Gary Gillmor have a big carrot: 1,700 acres of open space. In exchange, the City of Gilroy would annex 285 acres to be used for housing, parks, and a bigger golf course. The obscure Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) are the folks that can make this deal happen. An alternate on that Commission, Supervisor/lobbyist George Shirakawa, Jr. received $4,500 from Vidovich last year during his campaign, preventing him from voting on the proposal. But, LAFCO Commissioner/Supervisor Don Gage hasn’t received any money from the developers since 2005 – making former State Republican party official Vidovich happy. Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro says it’s too early to speculate, a previous proposal failed due to Gilroy’s financial straits two years ago. Watch Dog can only assume Gilroy's financial picture looks worse today than two years ago...
The Merc’s Editorial Board asks East Side Union High School District parents to get pissed about the loss of teachers and librarians, not simply sports. East Side Union has a high dropout rate, which is unlikely to be corrected without teachers or library access. The Merc also wants Trustees to prioritize what to restore if the Obama stimulus dollars for education comes through and encourages Trustees to look at education first. Supervisor/former football star/former Trustee George Shirakawa, Jr. hasn’t weighed in (publicly) on the Sports vs. Education drama. (unelected) Trustee Eddie Garcia is no doubt struggling with the options.
Looks like the Bay Area Mayoral collaboration helped…Silicon Valley could receive as much as $7.7 billion in earmarks for projects ranging from flood control to juvenile justice. San Jose Congressman Mike Honda has been busily working to bring $87 million to the area saying the requests will spur job growth and economic development. Of course, one person's earmarks are another person's pork. In this case, some of San Jose's earmarks/pork have caught the attention of Senator John McCain...
Every 5 years cities are required to update their housing plans. It’s never easy as NIMBY’s decry adding housing. This year, Saratoga’s Planning Commission and City Council will consider more than a dozen recommended changes designed to allow mixed-use and increased housing for extremely low-income families. Planning Commissioner Joyce Hlava said existing ordinances make some of the proposals very difficult. No doubt that some of the neighbors make new housing proposals difficult too...
Palo Alto (rotating) Mayor/environmentalist Peter Drekmeier raised a few eyebrows with his State of the City speech yesterday when he said everything from a carbon tax to a sewage-to-energy composting should be looked at.
The Merc’s Scott Herhold seems pissed the Santa Clara Water District Trustees have managed (again) to drop consideration of term limits. Herhold sends props to Board Members Patrick Kwok, Richard Santos, and Rosemary Kamei for supporting Assemblymember Joe Coto’s recent reforms. Herhold identifies the Boards longest serving member, Sig Sanchez, 88, as Methusaleh.
Morgan Hill Councilmember Larry Carr, in D.C. on business for San Jose State University, carved out a little time to lobby for the funding needed to finish a flood control project started in the 1950s. Morgan Hill’s Recreation Director, Steve Rymer, joined Carr to meet with Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and the Army Corps of Engineers. (Watch Dog expects a Mission City Lantern critique of Carr's trip to DC sometime soon...)
Former Christian prep school softball coach Abigail Holloway was arrested in Colorado following revelations that she’d had a 3 year affair with a student. The former King’s Academy student went to a college counselor as she struggled with the aftermath.
Apple’s Steve Wozniack is hoping to prove “nerds can dance.” His first night out on Dancing with the Stars was a disaster however, with Judge Bruno Tonioli saying the Woz looked like “a Teletubby going mad in a gay pride parade...” Woz took it in stride saying it was almost a compliment.
Developers John Vidovich and Gary Gillmor have a big carrot: 1,700 acres of open space. In exchange, the City of Gilroy would annex 285 acres to be used for housing, parks, and a bigger golf course. The obscure Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) are the folks that can make this deal happen. An alternate on that Commission, Supervisor/lobbyist George Shirakawa, Jr. received $4,500 from Vidovich last year during his campaign, preventing him from voting on the proposal. But, LAFCO Commissioner/Supervisor Don Gage hasn’t received any money from the developers since 2005 – making former State Republican party official Vidovich happy. Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro says it’s too early to speculate, a previous proposal failed due to Gilroy’s financial straits two years ago. Watch Dog can only assume Gilroy's financial picture looks worse today than two years ago...
The Merc’s Editorial Board asks East Side Union High School District parents to get pissed about the loss of teachers and librarians, not simply sports. East Side Union has a high dropout rate, which is unlikely to be corrected without teachers or library access. The Merc also wants Trustees to prioritize what to restore if the Obama stimulus dollars for education comes through and encourages Trustees to look at education first. Supervisor/former football star/former Trustee George Shirakawa, Jr. hasn’t weighed in (publicly) on the Sports vs. Education drama. (unelected) Trustee Eddie Garcia is no doubt struggling with the options.
Looks like the Bay Area Mayoral collaboration helped…Silicon Valley could receive as much as $7.7 billion in earmarks for projects ranging from flood control to juvenile justice. San Jose Congressman Mike Honda has been busily working to bring $87 million to the area saying the requests will spur job growth and economic development. Of course, one person's earmarks are another person's pork. In this case, some of San Jose's earmarks/pork have caught the attention of Senator John McCain...
Every 5 years cities are required to update their housing plans. It’s never easy as NIMBY’s decry adding housing. This year, Saratoga’s Planning Commission and City Council will consider more than a dozen recommended changes designed to allow mixed-use and increased housing for extremely low-income families. Planning Commissioner Joyce Hlava said existing ordinances make some of the proposals very difficult. No doubt that some of the neighbors make new housing proposals difficult too...
Palo Alto (rotating) Mayor/environmentalist Peter Drekmeier raised a few eyebrows with his State of the City speech yesterday when he said everything from a carbon tax to a sewage-to-energy composting should be looked at.
The Merc’s Scott Herhold seems pissed the Santa Clara Water District Trustees have managed (again) to drop consideration of term limits. Herhold sends props to Board Members Patrick Kwok, Richard Santos, and Rosemary Kamei for supporting Assemblymember Joe Coto’s recent reforms. Herhold identifies the Boards longest serving member, Sig Sanchez, 88, as Methusaleh.
Morgan Hill Councilmember Larry Carr, in D.C. on business for San Jose State University, carved out a little time to lobby for the funding needed to finish a flood control project started in the 1950s. Morgan Hill’s Recreation Director, Steve Rymer, joined Carr to meet with Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and the Army Corps of Engineers. (Watch Dog expects a Mission City Lantern critique of Carr's trip to DC sometime soon...)
Former Christian prep school softball coach Abigail Holloway was arrested in Colorado following revelations that she’d had a 3 year affair with a student. The former King’s Academy student went to a college counselor as she struggled with the aftermath.
Apple’s Steve Wozniack is hoping to prove “nerds can dance.” His first night out on Dancing with the Stars was a disaster however, with Judge Bruno Tonioli saying the Woz looked like “a Teletubby going mad in a gay pride parade...” Woz took it in stride saying it was almost a compliment.
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