Morning News Round-Up -- 1.14.10: Nothing Snarky to Write Here...

The Oakland A's desire to move to San Jose continue to light up the sports/blog/news world. Here are a few samples... from the Tri-Valley Herald, and editorial about the NUMMI site as a possibility, pointing out this: "...Ironically, it was the NUMMI plant and Toyota that helped torpedo Fremont's last pitch to the A's for a new ballpark..." And a story from USA Today, includes this gem of a quote from A's owner Lew Wolff: "It is like we are bing held hostage... We tried to make it work in Oakland. We exhausted everything we could in our area. It can't work. For us to compete, we've got to have revenue, and for us to get revenue we have to move to San Jose. It's that simple."

Andrew King, the swim coach/molester, will face his victims in court...

Here's another heartwarming story... a San Jose woman's car was repossessed because she was late with her payments. Ok, that happens all the time. But her 2-year old son was in the car. Oops.

The Mercury News Editorial board comments (positively) on the Tom Campbell political switcheroo (from Guv's race to Senate race)... The Editorial board also chimes in (positively) on Google's pulling out of China. A very positive day on Ridder Park Drive...

Nothing is easy to build/upgrade/restore in Los Gatos, but (finally) plans to rebuild/restore the Los Gatos Public Library passed the Town Council on Monday. Kudos all around.

El Camino Real and Stanford Avenue, perhaps one of the worst intersections in Silicon Valley, is going to get redesigned... thank goodness. Maybe this is the one thing that everyone in Palo Alto can agree on... it got a 5-0 vote on the Planning and Transportation Commission.

Small town politics can be wacky... like in Morgan Hill. Years ago, a local attorney/Commissioner Bruce Tichinin hired a spy to keep tabs on the City Manager... the City Council condemned him and asked him to step down. Tichinin filed a lawsuit... yada, yada, yada... the California Supreme Court denied a legal petition by the City of Morgan Hill. Just be happy you aren't involved in Morgan Hill politics... sorry Larry Carr...

Gilroy is still obsessed with pot. We learn from today's Dispatch that there are at least 4 "quiet" dispensaries there... Watch Dog is fan of the loud dispensaries, rather than the quiet ones...

Most cities would love a downtown grocery store... heck, San Jose tried 30 years to get one and now has two. But the Mountain View City Council said no to two proposals for downtown grocery stores this week...

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.8.09: A frosty Round-Up...

San Jose’s new affordable housing policy could get some tweaking before it even takes effect in 2013. City Planning staff will suggest ditching the rental property portion of the new rules, unless the state Supreme Court has something to say…

Gilroy’s City Council looked at loosening regulations for gambling and adult businesses. No word if medical marijuana joints would benefit from the (apparently) liberalization of Gilroy.

Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner is asking the City Council for doggie laws with “more teeth,” in an attempt to prevent dog maulings. Doggie laws... more teeth...

The sorry tale of Palo Alto’s JJ&F grocery is over, for now. In a(nother) contentious meeting, Palo Alto’s City Council said “yes” to rebuilding the grocery along with offices and housing. Hoping to prevent a bait-and-switch, Councilmembers tied the land to food, forever. The party-pooper in this shopping parade was Assemblymember wannabe/ Councilmember YorikoKishimoto .

A new tax (might be) on the horizon for the cash-strapped Morgan Hill? A gathering of the City Council minds seems to say yes. Apparently frustrated by discussions over pennies under discussion, Councilmember Larry Carr said “City Connections, meetings – those are all distractions…” (apparently) hoping to move talk to high dollar salaries…

Stevens Creek Trail assault perp John Detches was busted over the weekend. Mountain View Police spokesperson, Liz Wylie, reports Police “pretty much stumbled upon him…”

Perhaps hoping for a Psycho Donuts redux… Antonio’s Nut House patron Afshin Fouladpour got ripped and waved a gun around after being booted from the bar multiple times.

Gubernatorial wannabe/(former) eBay CEO Meg Whitman took the stand in a federal case saying eBay wanted “all of Craigslist” but they didn’t do anything naughty with information they had from owning a huge chunk... No word if the Poizner people were in the courtroom taking notes...

Protect San Jose blogger/(former) San Jose Council Chief/ (former/losing) Council candidate Chris Hemingway suggests community activists looking within (and taking the San Jose Police Department’s Citizens’ Academy) will allow citizens to “…address issues like the language barriers between Police and non-English-speaking immigrants, immigrant prejudice against police derived from their native country, an increase in drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, and gang-related crime, and the bad attitudes of youths when dealing with authority.”

Mission City Lantern is thoughtfully sending a little Cheez Whiz to friends at Santa Clara Plays Fair, and props to Watch Dog (again) for nominating Campbell Mayor Evan Low the coolest Mayor.

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.

Morning News Round-Up – 1.27.09: Recall Vic?

San Jose Revealed makes a pretty serious accusation today against Mayor Chuck Reed's chief political strategist. Revealed says Vic Ajlouny is doing campaign work for the Recall Madison Nguyen team while Reed (strongly?) opposes the recall effort. If this is true, Ajlouny is as big a jerk as (most/all) people say he is...Revealed's evidence is the (obvious) similarities of direct mail used by the Recall people and past Ajlouny clients. Perhaps Reed is quietly trying to help out both sides? He does need to get to six votes after all...

The Morgan Hill City Council really knows how to party. They met all weekend in a community center to address the pressing economic issues facing them and to figure out how to collaborate with other elected bodies during the rough times. Councilmember Larry Carr is ready to move forward with downtown redevelopment saying, "In the past, we've always been more than willing to wait for other people to catch up. I'm willing to tolerate the flack we will get from not waiting for others." There will be little flack about downtown Morgan Hill on Watch Dog...after all, we've never been there...

The always entertaining Gilroy City Council also met over the weekend. They spent half of Saturday “chatting” with Morgan Hill Councilmembers about collaboration and still managed to wrap their retreat in half the time they did last year. Special guest Santa Clara City Clerk Rod Diridon, Jr. talked to the Gilroy Council about a voter outreach program enacted in Santa Clara that made for more ethical candidates. Nobody said, "Thanks RDJ2, if you only put as much effort into your own campaigns as you do into the ethics of others, you might be a State Assemblymember..."

The Gilroy Dispatch wants to know if you think Gilroy police should be paid significantly more than Gilroy firefighters. So far, the firefighters are winning.

In these difficult economic times everyone is scouring their budget to see where they can cut costs and generate additional revenue. Imagine the surprise then when Santa Cruz County officials learned that they were paying for roughly 16 fire emergencies each month – in Santa Clara County! County Supervisor Gage says Santa Clara County officials are looking at the problem but is dismissive of the financial burden to Santa Cruz County.

The idea of a joint stadium moving both the Niners and the Raiders to the South Bay received mixed reviews yesterday. Santa Clara Councilmembers Jamie McLeod and Will Kennedy said the project with both teams is more attractive. Along with the added/needed revenue, the Councilmembers and nearby residents worry famously rowdy Raider fans will bring more traffic, noise, and crime. Apparently boring, wine sipping Niner fans are better behaved.

The Merc’s Editorial board had some fun writing about a serious subject. Books, safety, and Winnie-the-Pooh – oh, yeah and a Tigger quote. Congress may have made the unintended consequences blunder of the century with a law that could force children's books off library and bookstore shelves.

Last year Rita Campos hit cyclist Bruce Finch and he was killed after being ejected from his bike. Campos said she didn’t know if Finch was still alive as she waited with him before the paramedics arrived. The CHP investigation has landed at the DA’s office, they recommend charging Campos with manslaughter.

Mr. Roadshow, Watch Dog is interested in knowing, is this year different with respect to crappy drivers or is it normal in the first three weeks for five people in the County to get hit? Is this how we kick off the Year of the Pedestrian? Yesterday it was a 9-year-old, with his Dad, on the way to Alum Rock’s Goss Elementary. Yesterday’s accident happened while the child and his father crossed, with the green and in a crosswalk. If you saw anything at Story/Adrian call SJPD at 408.277.4654.

Valley Medical Center, led by a committee of staff and consultants, want to do away with security glass separating patients from emergency room registration staff. The consultants said the move will make it more customer-friendly. Some hospitals have floor to ceiling protection and metal detectors patients must clear before entering the emergency room. VMC sees roughly double the number of patients it did before HCA shutdown the San Jose Medical Center. Arthur Slauer a healthcare security expert and former Kaiser Permanente security guru says, "All it takes is one incident, and I guarantee there's going to be a problem." The safety glass was installed 5 years ago.

Young love run amok caused two (barely) teenagers to steal grandpa’s car and wallet. At least, that’s the assumption for now. Roslyn Marshall, 13 of Saratoga, and James Palmerson, 14 of Los Altos, fell madly in love three weeks ago and Sunday morning made like Romeo & Juliet and have high-tailed it to the place where underage marriages are all the rage – (Verona?) Utah or Vegas. They’re in a grey Honda Civic, plates 5NLM445. If you see them call the tip line 408.808.4431. But don't forget to the tell the youngsters that you know where they can see a Jonas Brothers' concert for free -- that ought to stop them in their tracks...