Morning News Round-Up -- 2.11.10: Reed, Constant, Kalra, Chirco, and Pyle agree on something...

Earlier this week, Protect San Jose posted a letter Mayor Reed wrote to Assemblymembers Paul Fong and Joe Coto essentially telling them to back off their request for a State audit of the San Jose Police Department... yesterday, Mayor Reed (and the POA?) convinced some of his colleagues to make the trek to Sacramento to do the same thing. Pete Constant, Ash Kalra, Judy Chirco, and Nancy Pyle all met with Fong and Coto and asked them to hold off on their State audit. (Watch Dog is impressed that Constant, Kalra, Chirco, and Pyle all agree on anything... We would bet they didn't carpool up there.) All of this prompted the local ACLU chief Skyler Porras to respond with this witty alliteration, calling Mayor Reed's actions: "...petulant political posturing..."

We don't know the saddest part of this story and delays, or lack thereof, at SJC... so we'll just lay out the sad parts.

• Sad Point 1: There is a massive storm blanketing much of the Midwest and a separate, week-long storm from the Mid-Atlantic northward... and those storms have virtually no impact on San Jose Airport travel.
• Sad Point 2: There is only one, daily, non-stop flight to the East Coast.
• Sad Point 3: This quote from the airport guy, "Most of our flights from San Jose are in the western United States."

For those of you out there who can stay awake long enough to sit through all the States of the (Fill in the Blank) that happen this time of year probably already heard everything that Supervisor Ken Yeager said in his speech a while back... the Merc Editorial pages were nice enough to run an excerpt today...

Santa Clara Unified hasn't been in the paper lately -- mostly because the Broom Closet Modeling Agency flap has died down... and the news about the Principal who once dated a recent graduate at a previous job has died down... but the story about the teacher who had sex with a student is back on the front burner. That's because the former Wilcox High School teacher pleaded guilty yesterday and has already begun to serve his sentence of 2 years and 8 months...

High Speed Rail NIMBYs might have to take a chill pill after Jeff Barker of the High Speed Rail Authority announced that there was a typo in a report they issued about ridership numbers. NIMBYs were hanging on to that typo as proof that the High Speed Rail Authority was full of shit...

Mission City Lantern explains his thoughts a little bit better today about why he thinks Watch Dog was wrong on who wrote the new ballot language for the 49er's measure... thank you James. We heart you too... all the way from Hawaii...

Morning News Round-Up – 11.5.09: The pleasant edition...

The San Jose City Council said this time the 911 recordings should be released. You can listen in starting next Friday. Police Chief Rob Davis argued against release of 911 tapes citing concerns the neighbors voice would be recognizable. Of course, just knowing it was the neighbor making the initial call… Chief Davis also worried the police report is too “nonlinear” and “not chronological” and might mislead readers.

The race is on for District Attorney of Santa Clara County. Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rosen officially announced his desire to boot the boss. This promises to be the most interesting of all races. Shortly after Rosen’s announcement (ethically challenged) Carr shot back Rosen was tagged for making an error in a trial 8 years ago. Ouch, that has to hurt.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold digs into the Halloween shooting and stabbing of kids in East San Jose. Gang members asked the 12 and 13 year olds which gang they sided with before shooting/stabbing and stealing their popular Nikes. Herhold wonders if a pair of tennies is worth a child’s life.

Pissed off at neighbors for building on their border, Sunnyvale ponders rule changes allowing them to comment on (possible) non-Sunnyvalians in their midst and on their streets.

The Merc’s Editorial Board pokes at San Jose’s Pension Board suggesting they seek realistic returns on investments, pointing out the taxpayer makes up the difference.

Rumors of dealings in smoke-filled backrooms while weighing the merits of (medical) marijuana are unfounded (we think). Looking at a possible $10,000 fee per dispensary, Councilmember Nancy Pyle said “I’d like to get all the facts.” Perhaps a book is in the Councilmembers future.

The Elite Chinese School where a teacher ran over, and killed, a 5 year old boy, is in more hot water. Seems the school had a business license from Cupertino but not the required state license.

Protect San Jose’s Kathleen Flynn calls on San Jose’s City Council to stop allowing “special interest groups” to march on City Hall. Flynn suggests residents join police on a ride along and when you see a police officer “…thank him or her and ask them to stay safe.” Pocket the bad attitude that “can turn an easy-to-handle situation into an unpleasant one.” Stay pleasant out there...

San Jose Insider Pete Campbell suggests San Jose civic leaders have no sense and argues “Unions Control San Jose’s Budget.”

Meanwhile, Pete Campbell gets his own bit in Mission City Lantern as the “Constable of San Jose.”

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.26.09: A Supreme Tuesday Edition...

As we come back from a long weekend, the news today will be dominated by Supreme legal stuff... California Supreme Court's decision on Proposition 8 and Obama's pick for the US Supreme Court.

But Watch Dog must ask that you don't forget the local stuff... luckily, the Merc’s Internal Affairs never forgets the local stuff…

• Supervisor/President Liz Kniss is fighting with Supervisor Dave Cortese over foster kids. (No, this isn't a custody battle...)
• San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos has a friend in the White House, Adolfo Carrion. Unfortunately, Carrion is accused of taking bribes while a New York Bronx borough president and might not be there long enough to help. (Which is ironic, since Campos' mentor was also written about in the Merc this weekend... we'll get to this later.)
• San Jose’s normally genteel Councilmember Nancy Pyle got testy over accusations she met more than once with bail bonds lobbyists Tom Saggau and Dustin DeRollo and snapped at members of the public. Saggau said if he’s riding the elevator “with someone who's reportable, and I just mention Bad Boys Bail Bonds” he reports the contact.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is facing off (again) with labor leader/former Mayoral opponent Cindy Chavez. This time it’s a 34 page set of recommendations on how to handle the City's budget crisis. Reed did not say this, however.

San Jose Police are refusing to release 911 tapes from the fatal Mother’s Day shooting of mentally ill Daniel Pham. Santa Clara Police Lt. Phil Cooke crossed the Blue Line and sounded less convinced about the need for San Jose Police Department's secrecy saying, “Police departments live on public trust. You take that away and you have nothing.” Unfortunately, Watch Dog thinks the public trust in the San Jose Police Department may have been bruised well before this incident... (See: Drunk Task Force and IPA selection.)

The Merc Editorial Board sends kudos to the City of San Jose for helping to add Rancho San Vicente to Silicon Valley’s open spaces. The Merc credits San Jose Planners with resisting pressure from developers and lobbyists wanting to build luxury estates. (A much more contentious issue dealing with developers, open space, and lobbyists is brewing in Redwood City, for those of you interested in things north of the Santa Clara/San Mateo County line...)

It was a violent weekend in San Jose…

• A “melee” left 4 men with stab wounds at a South San Jose party. If you have info dish to the San Jose Police Department's assaults unit at 408-277-4161. (Watch Dog doubts many of our readers attend such parties, but you never know...)
• Paul Leyva was beaten and left brain-dead outside a San Jose pizzeria. Call Sgt. Merlin Newton or Detective Bill Hoyt of the San Jose Police Department's homicide unit at 408-277-5283.
• A 25 year old man was shot near McKee and Capitol. Anonymous callers can call Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867).

On a less violent crime note... Lincoln High School’s Jeremy Talamantes saw himself as an artist with all the walls of San Jose as his canvas. San Jose Police, and residents, didn’t agree. Talamantes was yanked out of art class when busted as a member of the Toon Goons.

Morgan Hill’s sparkling new courthouse is headed for its own courtroom battle. In a finger pointing drama, County Supervisor Don Gage says the builder blew it while Paul Thompson with West Bay Builders points at County staff for errors. At issue is $20 million which the County says it doesn't owe the builder -- and the builder kindly disagrees.

An (apparent) joyrider stole a Mountain View Police car during a Shoreline concert. Police later found the car ditched in an apartment complex parking garage. (The Officer left the keys in the car... oops!)

A Monte Sereno “good neighbor” fence was anything but neighborly for Darla Padget who says City Manager Brian Loventhal sent threatening letters. The 10 year old “fence” trial heads to the jury this week.

Here for your Watch Doggers pleasure… the week around Silicon Valley government, with mad props to the Merc's Government Watch (on-again/off-again) crew...

• The City of San Jose Rules Committee talks pay cuts for Councilmembers and management as well as the growing maintenance backlog.
• The Cupertino Union School District studies the Governor’s revised/slashed education budget.
• Franklin-McKinley School District reviews (horrible) financial projections.
• Palo Alto Unified has a full plate with talks of enrollment, boundary changes, Mandarin immersion, and a delayed reopening Garland Elementary. Oh, and the (crappy) budget.

San Jose’s Oak Grove students who come from 13 countries, speak 9 languages, and have to work while in high school, need your help. Dig deep people, send the Valley’s smart kids to D.C. to compete. Donations for the "Eaglebots" can be sent to Oak Grove High School, Attn: Jeanie Romanoff, 285 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose, CA 95123.

If you were anywhere near San Jose’s downtown you couldn’t miss Fanime’s costumed conventioneers. If you missed it, you really missed it...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.15.09: Post Marked (by midnight) Edition...

San Jose’s City Council learned their deficit is growing and the stock market meltdown requires San Jose officials to cough up an additional $50 million (or more) to recover the over $1 billion lost in the employee pension fund. The bad news led Councilmembers to quibble over details of the disaster. Councilmember Nancy Pyle urged not to plan the next 5 years based on bad news, Councilmember Sam Liccardo pointed out that even “great stock market returns…doesn’t get us out of the hole.”

Unless you live under a rock, you know San Jose Police are under the microscope for
their Drunk Latino arrests. Now it seems Santa Clara County arrests far more juveniles than almost anywhere else in California. The (not-so) lucky officials in San Jose arrest the highest percentage of the youth. Police Chief Rob Davis says, “We firmly believe other alternatives are more effective in helping these youth.” The hits just keep on coming for the Police Chief...

and, just in time…

San Jose’s City Council has (finally) found a new Independent Police Auditor. Senior City Auditor Chris Constantin steps into former Independent Police Auditor Barbara Attard's shoes (and her salary) with support from Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev. The appointment was questioned by ACLU Director Skyler Porras.

The demise of traditional newspapers is all the rage, San Jose Revealed jumps into the act advocating for the survival of hyper-local news. Yeah, kinda like what Watch Dog Silicon Valley does but without the snark. EveryBlock San Jose has cool charts showing the number of police calls -- 25,000 in the past month.

If you put off filing those taxes, you’re not alone. San Jose’s H&R Block office was open until 11pm Monday and the post office is open to midnight. One (anonymous) taxpayer still coughing up money for back taxes from a failed business is pissed he’s not getting any reduction while AIG walks with $100 billion. Looking on the bright side, Claudia Hill with TaxMam in Cupertino said with the reduced incomes (layoffs) more people are getting refunds this year.

San Jose icon Hicklebee’s hits 30 with a big party Saturday and an award from Senator Joe Simitian for being the small business of the year. Being the small business of the year in this economy is no small feat...

Pissed off Mountain View NIMBYs have asked the anti-immigrant Judicial Watch to help shut down a Day Worker center. The D.C. based bigots are “helping” around the country to shut down “sanctuary” cities. They didn’t do their homework well, Mountain View is not a “sanctuary” city, but this might encourage them to become one.

This is big news, especially if you are Stanford or the City of Palo Alto. Stanford dropped its plans to expand its Mall with new shops and a hotel. Stanford says it is because that expansion has been a distraction from their hospital and other expansion plans on campus. (Perhaps the economy has something to do with it too...) Former Palo Alto City Councilmember Bern Beecham had a different take. He is blaming the much talked-about "Palo Alto Process" for the demise of the Mall plan and said, "To me, this is a real black eye for the city process..." Tell us how you really feel Bern.

Los Altos City Council is ready to launch “Shop Los Altos” to separate you from your dwindling dollars. Julie Rose with the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce said it sends the message that Los Altos loves its business community.

The cratering economy is hitting local non-profits hard. Santa Clara County’s Healthy Kid’s wants to take care of 12 uninsured Morgan Hill children, they asked Morgan Hill for the dollars to make it so. Councilmember Larry Carr wants to help and asked the Community Health Foundation to cover the costs, after all, he said, we gave you a half million…

While we're in Morgan Hill...

Morgan Hill is laying people off and giving others raises. This has some Councilmembers scratching their heads. Councilmember Marby Lee wants to talk about the incongruity of firing people and paying the remain folks more. City Manager Ed Tewes said the failing property tax revenues means another $1 million out of City coffers.

San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Ed Trustee Joseph DiSalvo sends us back a few days and showing the report card to the parents. DiSalvo makes his case for doing away with grades and focusing on learning.

Keep your iPod at home is the word from Mountain View Police. Petty thieves are increasingly breaking car windows to steal everything from your smelly gym bag to iPods – so keep your stuff in your home, if that hasn't been taken away yet...

How did we miss this? Tesla CEO Elon Musk was pissed local gossip blog was getting the dish from insiders and set a trap by sending everyone their own personalized memo. Small problem, General Counsel Craig Harding sent everyone his “fingerprint” edition. Some smart aleck figured out the Musk idea and promptly sent the Harding memo to Valley Wag. (Tesla Chronicles here...)

Morning News Round-Up – 2.27.09: Guess the Connection Edition...

Story 1: San Jose Councilmembers Nora Campos, Rose Herrera, and Nancy Pyle want in on baseball too. Watch Dog wants to know: Is there a Memo that Rose Herrera has not signed on to since she was sworn in? Competition policy. Crossing guards. Baseball...even her press-darling colleagues Pete Constant and Sam Liccardo sometimes take a break. As of press time, none of the Campos/Herrera/Pyle crew had joined the growing grassroots Facebook group, however. (Ash Kalra and Pete Constant have.)

Story 2: Also feeling his athletic best, Supervisor George Shirakawa, Jr. put his lobbying experience to good use in hopes to snatch the San Francisco 49ers away from Santa Clara and put them at the County Fairgrounds. Shirakawa, Jr. met with Niner's CFO Larry MacNeil and Vice President of Communications Lisa Lang to lobby for the switch. The County’s 4-H President Murlin Lee pointed out that he’s not surprised a new new idea is in the mix, noting that Supervisors contemplated a concert hall on the site for 7 years before that ill-advised plan fell apart. Is this just a way to for the 49ers to pressure Santa Clara?

Story 3: "Technically, it's not legal..." said Ben Tan, Chief Financial Officer of the Mexican American Community Services Agency, parent to Gilroy’s only charter school El Portal's Leadership Academy. It seems MACSA skimmed $400,000 from El Portal teachers and Gilroy City Employee Retirement Funds. The “technically illegal” problem was uncovered by a teacher who tried to access his retirement funds. "It has yet to be determined if El Portal is financially or academically sound," Gilroy Superintendent Deborah Flores said. MACSA also runs Academia Calmecac in San Jose, where the organization owes staff nearly $250,000, Tan said. Add to the financial misery (and mystery), the school’s test scores plunged 66 points last year.

There is an interesting connection between the first three Round-Up stories today. Can anyone guess why the third story could cause political problems for folks in all three stories?

A disgusting 1.3 million gallons of raw sewage and storm water spilled into the San Francisco Bay in recent weeks. And those were from the big spills we heard about. "It's like living in a situation sort of like a Third World country, where there's poor sanitary management..." said Sejal Choksi of the environmental group San Francisco Baykeeper. There is a (very expensive) plan to fix up San Jose's water treatment facility before it is too late...

We Hate High-Speed Rail Story #101: Folks at last night's High-Speed Rail meeting in Palo Alto demanded tunnels, which may work in theory but probably not in practice. Doing his best school-yard bully impression, Palo Alto Vice Mayor Jack Morton threatened to sue the California High Speed Rail Authority if they don't listen to him...the rumor is not true that Morton also challenged Rod Diridon, Sr. to a duel after the meeting...

And with ironic timing, the California Avenue Caltrain station upgrade is complete and was celebrated by Palo Alto officials and the community alike...To review Palo Alto's position: Slow Train = good, Fast Train = bad...

Save the cheerleader, save the world…Morgan Hill’s Sobrato High School cheerleaders and parents stormed the (Bastille) School Board yesterday and demanded the kids be allowed to head south for the National Cheerleading Competition. (Remember, this was the story where the coach forgot to send the registration in on time...O...M...G...!) District officials complied!!! The team is going!!! Awesome!!!! F**king Awesome!!!

(Pissed off) Former Spansion employees found out their dismissal enabled company executive’s to give themselves a 10% pay raise. These would be the same executives who have driven stock prices down to a record low 5 cents/share. There are two lawsuits in the works to get to the bottom of the shenanigans at Spansion. One of the legal beagle’s, Ken Sugarman, said "Right now I just think that's a very unsavory aspect of it."

There’s a bright spot over at Valley Medical Center. A little boy who was run over walking to school with his Dad is now breathing on his own. Medical costs are mounting however. Find out how to help.

San Jose Revealed provides the results of their State of San Jose (Revealed) survey. Liccardo does well, Constant doesn't. The City Budget is a mess and folks agree that arts are important. Oh, and some folks read both Revealed and Watch Dog. Thank you. I read both too...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.2.09: Groundhog Day Edition...

The most interesting story in a while was in the Merc. this weekend about Mayor Reed's friend/advisor/confidant Vic Ajlouny. Tax Assessor Larry Stone calls the relationship odd and says, "Vic's style is kind of slash and burn, and it is very peculiar that Chuck continues to rely on him for political advice." Among Ajlouny's exploits, a failed attempt to fill Reed’s City Council seat with (less-than-qualified) Hon Lien. The real question is, why is this story with a byline from Josh Molina coming out now? Molina has been gone for a long, long time...

The Merc’s Scott Herhold picks his top 10 powerbrokers in San Jose... Herhold’s unsurprising list includes Bob Brownstein, Pat Dando, Chuck Davidson, Carl Guardino, Zoe Lofgren, Bobby Lopez, Tom McEnery, Chuck Reed, Bert Robinson, and Barry Swenson. He also includes the next 15 folks and a group of folks under 40...Watch Dog will revisit this list later today or tomorrow with some additional analysis...

The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, not to be left out, is hosting a luncheon for 100 Women of Influence in March and is also seeking your thoughts on the top 40 Under 40...

They may not know how to party, but San Jose’s Drunk Task Force does know how to attack. While sending Councilmember Nora Campos to Sacramento to urge Speaker Karen Bass to change laws about drunk arrests, the Task Force urged a 6 month moratorium on the arrests in San Jose and put a host of options on the table. Latino Forum’s Pete Carrillo, a master of understatement, said "I believe there is a credibility and trust issue between the SJPD, the city administration and the city at large.''

The Tesla news keeps coming, Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad said the company couldn’t raise $100 million in venture funding to make the move to San Jose and that, "It's not exactly clear when, if ever, the headquarters will leave San Carlos." So, it’ll be interesting to see what sites the Mayor’s spokeswoman, Michelle McGurk, means when she says "Our team is working aggressively to find a site that meets these new priorities here in San Jose."

Santa Clara County’s head lawyer Ann Ravel is gunning for the County’s top dog seat... Acting County Executive Gary Graves was hoping to get “acting” removed from the title and may have been surprised to hear who the competition was to replace Pete Kutras. This will be an interesting play with the new Board of Supervisors...perhaps Supervisor Shirakawa would like the job to go to Eddie Garcia?

The Merc’s Editorial Board weighs in on the recent negotiations between San Jose City Council and the Police Officers Association. Lots of numbers get tossed around but the bottom line is, don’t hand out any raises for the next contract negotiation.

Last year, San Jose’s Councilmember Nancy Pyle wanted to make it easier to bring on volunteer crossing guards, her colleagues didn’t share her spirit of volunteerism. This year, colleagues Pete Constant, Pierluigi Oliverio, and Rose Herrera want to take funds supporting dozens of non-profits to hire more crossing guards. Pyle said, "I just really think we need to do a fair process here." What’s really surprising here is the switch by Herrera, last week supporting her labor-backed friends when discussing the competition policy and this week supporting Council contrarians Constant and Oliverio.

Los Gatos Mayor Mike Wasserman will give his State of the Town speech at tonight’s City Council meeting. On deck, a look back to his previous Mayoral incarnations and a look forward at belt tightening.

In Cupertino, Mayor Orrin Mahoney will give his State of the City at a lunch meeting Wednesday. Mahoney is proud of the City’s low crime rate and says, "Basically, things are stable or have decreased. The only area that has increased is auto burglary." Mahoney will be arguing a refrain heard around the Valley -- people and employers choose places that have something to offer...

(Late) Morning News Round-Up – 1.29.09: The $6,000 Question...

Metro/San Jose Inside’s Fly takes San Jose Councilmember Nancy Pyle to task for spending $6,000 to replace old Council office furniture while staffers pack their boxes on the way to the unemployment line. San Jose Revealed spanks Metro/Inside's Dan Pulcrano for even wasting space on this earth-shattering news. Watch Dog would like to bet that if Mayor Chuck spent $6,000 on office furniture while cutting City jobs Revealed would feel differently...so would voters, if Pyle wasn't termed out...

Cupertino’s former/part-time Director of Community Development Steve Piasecki is double dipping (receiving retirement pay and a part time salary). City Manager Dave Knapp says Piasecki's lack of benefits and no holiday pay make sure the double dipper still earns less than before. Cupertino gets to keep the institutional knowledge but the City gets to pay less. What a deal...

De-Bug/San Jose Inside’s Raj Jayadev channeled Councilmember Sam Liccardo in his opening line, “Are taskforces where community hopes goes to die?” While Jayadev muffed the grammar a bit, he and Liccardo seem to share the sentiment. Jayadev concludes with, “The group [the drunk task force] certainly has the ability to usher in needed reform about problematic police behavior—it need only the will to do so.” (See Watch Dog's take here...)

San Martin is the scene of the latest pedestrian-meets-vehicle incident. William Flodberg, 75, was flown to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center after being hit by a truck driven by Raul Reyes. CHP Officer Erica Elias said neither drugs nor alcohol was a factor.

It’s called "suicide by cop" and tragic for everyone involved. Pete Joseph Valdez III told police he wanted to die when he pointed the gun at police officers, fortunately, no one was killed or shot. The 29 year old son of former 16 year Gilroy Councilmember Pete Valdez Jr. was arrested 14 months ago, arraigned last month, and now his trail setting date has been delayed for another month. Speedy trial?

There’s a guy in D.C. who believes in science. That's a nice change. So it’s good to hear the Save YSI Campaign is on track. The nature science program has youth curators and class aides who teach classes, conduct experiments, and rope in their classmates for the science fun in Vasona Park and along the Guadalupe watershed. "We do experiments and teach them about science and nature," Westmont High’s Sasha Sproch said. "We talk a lot about animals' different adaptations for survival, such as camouflage." Perhaps W. needs a lesson?...

Oops, seems some South Bay schools have sold (possibly) salmonella infested peanut butter to students...oops...See if your kid dragged home poison packed peanut products.

Morning News Round-Up – 1.28.09: Are you shovel-ready?

County Supervisor Liz Kniss created a list of 32 “shovel-ready” projects that the County will use to ask for Federal dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Supe’s list comes to $174 million, a fraction of the $1.6 billion San Jose’s Mayor Chuck is asking for. Reed has requested for 50 projects. As the Merc. points out Reed’s request represents “a good chuck of the City’s total…” A little Freudian slip with your coffee? As the Metro pointed out, Chuck doesn't really play an active role in politics outside of San Jose -- which may or may not help his chances at Federal cash...

San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber CEO Pat Dando left San Jose’s City Hall pissed yesterday saying, “this is policy run amok,” after the City Council voted to review a 12 year old policy on outsourcing City jobs. Ever chipper, Councilmember Nancy Pyle said, “If the current policy isn’t working, we need to find out why.” Perhaps because every discussion at the City Council takes 4 hours?...

Symantec CEO John Thompson will/may be heading to D.C. as President Obama’s Secretary of Commerce, filling the last remaining seat in the Cabinet. Thompson had already announced his departure from Symantec to be replaced by Enrique Salem. (Watch Dog guesses that the talk of San Jose’s Congressman Mike Honda getting a new gig was Honda-hype...because he is still in Congress and no one is asking Honda to serve...)

The USGS released new maps detailing seismic safety along San Jose’s Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek, home to San Jose’s tech companies and new housing. For a bunch of scientists, the USGS provides some fun stuff for the non-geeks among us. For developers and homeowners, perhaps not so much fun as a warning on encroachment into the liquefaction zone. According to Mineta San Jose International Airport's David Vossbrink, the new construction meets current standards and the concrete runways are less vulnerable than a building. (This isn't Vossbrink's first time speaking for folks on shaky ground.)

Following a closed door meeting Tuesday, San Jose’s Mayor Chuck Reed and Bobby Lopez with the Police Officers Association (POA) emerged happy about a new contract. Lopez said, “We gave a little to get a lot… we felt it was important to increase salaries significantly.” Alex Gurza said it was cheaper to increase salaries by 5.5% than agree to the pension demands. Maybe the POA saw the billion dollar pension fund loss as a sign of the future. San Jose Inside/Metro’s Erin Sherbert has been following the deal the POA cut with Mayor Reed. POA’s Bobby Lopez is quoted as saying, “We didn’t want to be accused of being the greedy filthy cops that everyone thinks we are.” Was that the message Lopez was supposed to deliver?

Probably not. Watch Dog blames/commends Erin Sherbert for Lopez's off-message (but certainly not misquoted) quote. She has a way of making people say things they probably shouldn't. Remember when Shirakawa (jokingly) called himself a "corrupt lobbyist" in one of her stories?

San Jose Revealed has some fun coupling news of the Merc’s location within the liquefaction zone with their economic problems and shrinking size.

Cupertino’s City Council approved Shashi Corp’s request to build a high-end luxury hotel but not before arguing over the aesthetics of the proposed design. Shashi representatives were adamant about receiving approval on the revised design, approved by the Planning Commission who also argued the original didn’t appear to be “luxurious” enough. "If you're trying to put in a high-end hotel in Cupertino and it's going to be that big and massive, you might as well have something that makes people say,`Wow, that looks neat' rather than`Wow, that looks big,'" said Councilman Mark Santoro. Cupertino Watch Dogs, if you saw the plans please weigh in. This is not the first time folks in Cupertino have had controversy about a hotel and growth...

Sunnyvale’s Planning Commission will review development plans for housing for mostly low or extremely low-income seniors early February. The Commission issued concerns about density and a lack of open space. NIMBYs don't like less-wealthy people in their neighborhoods...expect a battle in Sunnyvale. Otto Lee is going to be pleased he missed this one...

Saratoga’s City Council will be hosting a community meeting to talk about the $4,700 use permit fee – if you’re interested the meeting is next week at City Hall. If you aren't...join the club.

Get your credit cards ready. The Boss is coming to town, in fact, he begins his world tour on April Fool’s day at the Shark Tank. Tickets on sale Monday. This should help the Mayor with some of those tax dollars...

Romeo and Juliet, a.k.a. James Palmerson and Roselyn Marshall, were found sleeping in grandpa’s car at a mall outside the Mile High City. Los Altos Sgt. John Korges says, “Thank god they’re safe. This was a happy ending.” (Happy ending Sgt.? They are teenagers...) Not too shabby for a 14 year old, over 1,000 miles, through the Sierra, the Wasatch, and into the Rockies. Rosylyn’s dad, Steven Marshall was surprised his mild daughter, “..would feel empowered enough to do something like this.”