Morning News Round-Up -- 2.9.10: It depends what your definition of "all" is...

Dolores Carr just can't help herself. She has some sort of addiction to bad decisions that inevitably lead to bad press... Her addiction and the bad press lead directly into more ammunition for Jeff Rosen's campaign. Remember the Memo she issued to her entire staff that said something like -- don't take any cases to a specific judge, you know, the boycott Memo. Well, she has been taking some serious heat for that decision... so she has back-tracked. Apparently Dolores Carr didn't mean it when she wrote: "I have decided to exercise a challenge to Judge Bryan pursuant to CCP 170.6 in all criminal cases." She is disputing the definition of the word "all" -- very Clintonesque Ms. Carr, very Clintonesque...

Speaking of interesting June 2010 ballot battles... the Santa Clara City Council will decide about what the actual ballot language will be on the ballot related to the 49ers stadium election. One small problem, the City Staff in Santa Clara seem to have a different idea of what voters should read and vote on in June versus what the stadium backers feel voters should read and vote on. Watch Dog's guess is that the 49er's language will take the day... This is such big news (apparently), even the Chronicle has a story...

Speaking of politics...

Mayor Reed did a big favor for the SJPD (and the POA) when he penned a very critical letter back to Assemblymembers Joe Coto and Paul Fong. Remember, Coto and Fong have asked a State Assembly Audit Committee to look into the San Jose Police Department training and practices in light of all the news stories and community complaints. By the way, the letter appears nowhere on the Mayor's website... only on Protect San Jose.

And more politics... and sports...

Matt Artz in the Tri-City Beat in the Contra Costa Times (you know you read it too) has a great piece about an imaginary conversation between Bug Selig and Lew Wolff about baseball and the Bay Area... Watch Dog's favorite line is from Imaginary Lew Wolff to Imaginary Bud Selig:

Bud, please, it doesn’t make sense to have two teams in one metropolitan area, and have both of them 40 miles from the area’s largest city.

That pretty much sums it up... unless of course your pitching ace is in arbitration...

Yesterday the Merc delved into the disagreement between San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and City Manager Deb Figone over how to revamp the City's pension boards. Figone had one way to do it, the Mayor had another way that was developed as a compromise. The Merc gives props for the Mayor for trying and encourages the reform, but ends with this: "But it's a shame taxpayers will still fall short of majority representation."

There was a huge fire in an East San Jose warehouse yesterday. You probably saw the smoke.

Soccer fields, soccer fields, everywhere there are going to be soccer fields near the new Earthquakes field.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board is about to get a new member soon to replace retired old-timer Sig Sanchez, who retired at the beginning of the year. The South County folks would like his replacement to be South County-centric. There are 14 folks whom the Board of the Water District interviewed and they will get resumes back soon... check out the list of folks who applied.

Scott Herhold gives some perspective on MediLeaf in Gilroy in his column today. Herhold thinks Gilroy is wasting money on a lawsuit against an establishment that isn't that dangerous because Gilroy thinks pot is the boogey-man...

This is fun: A Palo Alto public meeting on High Speed Rail design options. Expect a lot of angry folks yelling and screaming... And their neighbors to the north (Atherton and Menlo Park) are threatening to re-open lawsuits against the High-Speed Rail Authority...

More fun in Palo Alto... the City Council is getting out of the Palo Alto promotion business and letting the hotels in town spend the money it collects from a new "Tourism Business Improvement District" to promote themselves...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.7.09: Today's Round-Up...whether you like it or not...

San Jose has sports on the brain these days. Earthquakes/A’s owner Lew Wolff will get to take advantage of the cratering economy for the Earthquakes stadium land. San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo said, “...prices have come back to earth...” about the proposal to discount a smaller parcel of land for the proposed Earthquakes stadium. Council colleague Nora Campos was also supportive saying jobs would be created and an ongoing revenue stream created with the arrival of the Earthquakes.

San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo screwed up. In an email to constituents Liccardo said he wants to use “an abundance of caution” in moving forward. Apparently, Liccardo is the most newsworthy item in San Jose, the Merc can’t seem to get enough (re-writes) of this story. Watch Dog is about to point to something more newsworthy that the paper can focus on...here is a hint: It rhymes with Harry Seagram...

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, with community leaders, expressed concern over the data coming out of the San Jose Police Department. Rev. Jeff Moore, head of the NAACP said, “Chief Davis encourages strict enforcement with no apologies.” After other law enforcement experts suggested the data shows racial profiling and an overly aggressive policy towards minor street crimes, former Police Officer and Councilmember Pete Constant denied there was any problem saying the public expects a “standard of conduct.” (Watch Dog is sure that Police Officers wish Constant would have stood up for them when their contract was on the table...better late than never...) Drunk Task Force Member Pete Carrillo becomes the first (as far as Watch Dog can tell) to call for Davis' head...

San Jose Revealed asks if the Police Chief runs an (allegedly) overaggressive Police Department because of his religious beliefs. We'll let Revealed take the heat for even asking the question, and keep our snout shut.

The Merc’s Editorial Board says charter schools are coming “whether you like it or not.” (Newsom much?) They say that the best way for school districts to deal with it is accept the competition and step up their own efforts to educate children.

Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone sees a decline in property tax rolls – for only the second time since the Great Depression. The County, already struggling to make ends meet, will see lower revenues as a result by nearly $30 million. Supervisor Don Gage pulled out his crystal ball and said next year will be even worse. San Jose Insider/Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio calls on residents to pray “for the stock market to rise not just for your own 401k but for your City services.”

San Jose’s “villages” could see high-rises popping up in coming years. Planning Director Joe Horwedel said projects like the Ohlone planned for Midtown would ease San Jose’s anticipated growth spurt. Resident Dan Chapman worried that the tall buildings could create a mini-downtown.

The Morgan Hill Unified School District is seeing a growing rift between unions and administrators. The District proposed a one-day furlough, saying it could save over a quarter of a million dollars and could ask for another two furlough days. SEIU President Pam Torrisi wants reassurance that the furloughs will save jobs and that administrators are going to suffer as much as the custodians. Trust much?

Tempers flared in the usually mellow Palo Alto City Council chambers yesterday. Vice Mayor Jack Morton accused the Fire Department of "giving the City the finger" because it was refusing to figure out where to cut its own budget. This caused people to go ballistic, including Councilmember Larry Klein, who wants to keep Palo Alto mellow. Klein called Morton's choice words, "unprofessional and intemperate"...the gloves are coming off as the economic reality sets in.

Gilroy Unified School District Trustees want their money back. The District suffered a foul up when Measure J taxes were left off property owners tax bills but the District voted to tax residents at a higher rate for the last two years of the measure. Trustees had hoped the County Supervisors would be the bad guys but the County dropped it back in their laps – absent a court order.

Los Gatos normally looks down its nose at the mainstream chain store, but this month they’ll be welcoming J. Crew downtown. But, when the President’s wife and daughters are wearing J Crew…it must be good enough for Los Gatos...

Mountain View’s City Council is trying to deal with a $6 million shortfall this year. City Manager Kevin Duggan said the challenges are “so significant” they need more time to figure out how to cut the budget. First up, cutting maintenance in public parks and fees to residents to use sports fields. Lower on the list cuts to Police and Fire, which make up half the general fund operating budget.

The public has spoken and now it’s up to High Speed Rail officials to sift through all the comments to figure out the word. Dominic Spaethling, High-Speed Rail Project Manager, looks forward to digging through the mountains of comments saying cities provided “a wealth of information for things we should be aware of.”

Cupertino officials have been responding to complaints by neighbors upset with construction at the Villa Serra apartments. Seems residents can’t park at home and driveways are in a mess. Councilmember Mark Santoro said to residents “for having the fortitude to live there, I applaud you. No matter how good a job they do, it’s going to be a bad environment.” Construction won’t be completed for two years, in the meantime, if you live there good luck.

Sunnyvale City Manager Gary Luebbers will be talking with Councilmembers tonight about making “appropriate changes in the City’s business model,” and believes the changes are needed to address the global financial meltdown.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.31.09: Butterflies, Earthquakes, and Porn, OH MY!

In case you missed it, Watch Dog had late breaking baseball news yesterday…MLB Commissioner Bud Selig named a panel to study the A’s options. The Merc’s Morning Buzz tries to spray some water on San Jose’s excitement…the apparently aren't impressed with Lew Wolff's ability to attract microphones magnetically to his mouth...

A minor 4.3 earthquake in the foothills near Mt. Hamilton yesterday shook nerves around Silicon Valley and beyond and uncovered a brand new fault line. Oh, goody. The new fault line runs parallel to the more active Calaveras line which shook the area last in 2007. You can tell the USGS all about your shaking here...

The Merc’s Editorial Board wonders why Supervisor Dave Cortese is the only one seeking a public explanation as to why a 10 year old was tossed in the pokey. In case you missed it, tossing the 10 year old into jail is also a violation of Federal law. Oops…The DA’s office recently turned over kid cases to LACY, none too soon it would seem.

Neighbors around Watson Park are pissed off. It seems San Jose once used the park as a toxic dump. When the sludge was re-discovered the City offered to help. Now that the cleanup is over, the neighbors are trying to deal with the aftermath (home prices, health effects)…

Morgan Hill’s "mixed-use" Measure A plan could be considered panacea by proponents, at least the Morgan Hill Times seems to think so. With support by everyone from the Greenbelt Alliance and Sierra Club to the Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Association it looks like former Mayor Dennis Kennedy is keeping his promise to not take anything for granted. Not everyone seems to think mixed use is a good idea, downtown property owner Gary Walton claims it’s “like fitting a square peg in a round hole.” Walton must not get out of Morgan Hill much…

Gilroy’s Safeway has a creep prowling the parking lot. An 18 year old woman was the third victim attacked while heading back to the car. The attacker looks for women traveling solo, until they catch him, take the baggers on their offer for help back to your car...

San Jose Revealed offers a new target to porn crusaders Councilmember Pete "Ball Gag" Constant and former Councilmember Larry Pegram: Sexy San Jose. We would give you an idea about what Revealed wrote, but the website is down -- and has been since (before?) Revealed posted about it...

San Jose Insider/Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio keeps his partying ways going. This time celebrating the San Jose Bike Party with a “Psychedelic Robot Ride.” Watch Dog note from one blogger to another, too much rode-here-rode-there, blah blah blah.

According to the Merc’s Chris O’Brien, Senator Dianne Feinstein is trying to clean up the bureaucratic quagmire that surrounds the patent office. Local giants Cisco and Google have been complaining about patent messes that cost them big bucks and squelch the free flow of ideas... looks like they found their advocate.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold spends too much time wandering the halls of Justice. His column is all about the white or khaki shirts that watch as your worldly possessions roll through the x-ray machine, and how much those shirts make.

Sal Pizzaro shares a celebration with the Amigos de Cesar Chavez who will be delivering over 250 lunches to farm workers in Santa Clara County in honor of Cesar Chavez’ birthday today.

Those fluttering leaves everyone is seeing around the Valley are actually Painted Lady butterflies making their annual migration North. De Anza biologist Ryan Phillips is giddy with excitement and called the mass migration “truly spectacular.”

San Jose Police are investigating a late night shooting in San Jose. Sounds like neighbors on Sebasian Way were feuding, the gunman shot at men standing outside his neighbors home. Luckily for the victims (and shooter), neither victim was critically injured.

Meanwhile, Santa Clara Police are still looking into Sunday's murder/suicide...Neighbors are shocked by the deaths of 6 Sunday night. Neighbor Amit Sinha said, "It's such a quiet neighborhood. I don't even hear anybody speaking in a loud voice. And then there are 20 police with semi-automatic guns."

A Mountain View woman who disappeared for four days last year after partying in Mountain View is now heading to jail. To stay out of trouble with the parents she lied to the Police saying she’d been kidnapped and assaulted...now she’s ‘fessed up to concocting the story. Liz Wylie, Police spokesperson, said something was amiss about the story…Y'think?

We Are Leaving Oakland...a Lew Wolff timeline

Remember E.F. Hutton? When he talked, people listened.

Well, Watch Dog has been keen to point out that Lew Wolff is the Bay Area's version of E.F. Hutton. And E.F. Hutton is talking.

Check out this recent timeline and progression of Lew Wolff's (obvious) goals...:

• March 13, 2009 - We Are Leaving Oakland: Wolff let folks know that he doesn't want to stay in Oakland, but he does want to stay in Northern California. (Remember his "shot across the Oakland bow" statement?)

• March 26, 2009 - We Are Leaving Oakland, and We Heart San Jose: Wolff speaks to a group in SF, and officially adds the word "San Jose" into the conversation.

• March 30, 2009 - We are Leaving Oakland, We Heart San Jose, and So Will MLB: Wolff got his friends at MLB to give him some breathing-room. Wolff is in the firing line with his current City, Oakland, because he doesn't want to be there anymore. And now, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig had appointed a 3-person Commission to look at the A's options. This will sound like San Jose boosterism (which Watch Dog is generally not prone to), but San Jose is going to look really, really good for this MLB Commission, especially because Corey Busch is on the Commission and who had a love affair with San Jose when he worked for the SF Giants.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.30.09: What if Lew Wolff shared his microphone with Tom Campbell?

Watch Dog has said it before, but Lew Wolff is a microphone magnet. So much so that his statements from last week about wanting to move to San Jose just keeping getting covered. As a review, Wolff came out with his stongest stance yet on the status of the A's plans:

"...We are really saying that we'd love to stay in Northern California, and go to San Jose..."

Now to a local guy that has trouble finding a microphone to speak into...Tom Campbell. Did you know he is running for Governor? The Chronicle threw Campbell a bone and covered his long-shot effort to become the next Governor. Campbell's pitch? He knows the budget really, really well. In normal times, we'd advice Campbell to get a different political message, but extraordinary times may call for an extraordinarily boring messages...and Campbell's understanding of the State's complex budget is extraordinary (and dry)...

San Jose’s firefighters have offered to give themselves a wage freeze for the next year. City Manager Debra Figone should have been happy to hear about it but was pissed off the firefighters went around her to make the offer directly to the Mayor and City Council. (Former Vice Mayor) Chamber CEO Pat Dando didn’t seem to care who heard the offer and called it a “...bold step in saving the city a great deal of money this year...” (a million bucks that is)

Residents in San Jose’s Gardner neighborhood in Willow Glen say High Speed Rail is ok, just don’t take their homes to make it happen. It wouldn’t be the first time transportation took over the neighborhood. In the early 1900’s the railroads secretly bought land to build the Southern Pacific line.

The Merc’s Charlie McCollum seeks answers to America’s burning question: How does Steve Wozniak manage to keep on dancing (with the stars)? As everyone in Silicon Valley knows: geeks rule. In this case, the computers are humming with Woz love. With a broken foot, torn hamstring, and questionable dancing skills, the Woz still has fans (voteWoz.com). Gary ‘Mr. Roadshow’ Richards continues his love for our dancing Teletubbie as well.

The Merc’s Editorial Board adds their support to Congressman Mike Honda’s efforts to open Mount Umunhum to the public. The challenge is cleaning up the old Air Force Base and radio station...oh, and the $11 million required to do it. If Honda has his way the Midpeninsula Open Space District will have a new jewel. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said there’s an incredible vista and it would be a nice place to hike.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education hosted their annual History Day Competition, appropriately held at San Jose’s History Park. Students created, and defended, projects on everyone from famed United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta to Oprah Winfrey.

The Merc’s Internal Affairs expresses love for San Jose’s HP Pavilion after attending a Streisand concert and reading a study released from Sports Economics which says thousands of jobs have been created and millions pumped into the local economy. The lovefest is to support a theory that local sports officials are hoping to steal the Sacramento Kings. It doesn’t hurt San Jose's MLB ambitions either…Also in IA, their own list of Quick Notes this weekend…

• Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to ditch his Tesla...probably because the Governor read the Tesla Chronicles on Watch Dog...
• While the classes for East Side Union High School will be taking more students, and teachers no extra pay, the teachers in Palo Alto are getting a 5% raise...proving that it’s good to be in a town where property taxes keep on giving.
• Jude Barry apparently ditched John Garamendi’s Gubernatorial race because the Lt. Governor can’t raise any money. The rumors are not true that Barry was too busy writing Watch Dog to run Garamendi's race...
  

Santa Clara is reeling from the apparent murder-suicide of 6 people, including 3 children, over the weekend. Very little information has been released about this incident.

A former Marine reservist, distraught about losing his business, threatened to kill himself in his San Jose home. Members of the San Jose Police Department surrounded the house, barricaded the neighborhood, and readied themselves for a patient siege. Turns out the guy snuck away and later called the cops from a payphone to give them permission to enter the home.

San Jose Revealed voices loud support for making San Jose’s Fire Station One a historic landmark. Apparently the best reason for giving it landmark status is to prevent former Mayor Tom McEnery from having his way with it. Others in the community also hope for landmark status and want to restore the structure and convert it to a museum.

On tap around the Valley for your elected officials:

• Palo Alto Unified School District talks about growing elementary schools, changing school boundaries, and the aforementioned staff raises. Get ready for some wild discussions -- school boundaries are a big deal in Palo Alto...
• Santa Clara County’s Committee on School District Organization meets to talk about moving property from Saratoga's Union School District to the Los Gatos Union School District...again, heads up when discussing school boundaries in fancy towns...
• The San Jose City Council Salary Setting Commission considers a freeze on the Mayor and Council salaries...
• Mountain View’s City Council talks about financial goals – like staying afloat in difficult times...perhaps Tom Campbell could give a Power Point Presentation on budgeting...
  

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.27.09: Practice, Practice, Practice...

Is there a more fun guy to watch operate than Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff? He is like a microphone magnet. A few weeks ago, he tells Oakland 'thanks, but no thanks' for their renewed interest in keeping the team. (It was quite a statement. If you haven't read it -- Ms. Heffner over at the Baseball San Jose blog has it.) Then yesterday, Wolff was the speaker at a San Francisco luncheon and moved the ball down the field a bit (sorry to mix sports metaphors): expressing his desire to move the team to San Jose, the City's efforts so far to get the land, and what Major League Baseball's role in the deal would be -- including dealing with those pesky Giants. (Like in Chicago's northside, hope springs eternal for baseball in San Jose...)

Congratulations Santa Clara County, you locked up a 10 year old. Judge Patrick Tondreau, who made the decision, is said to be fuming and felt forced to put the kid in the pokey. Supervisor Dave Cortese is really pissed he had to hear about it from a reporter.

San Jose’s Police Department continues cultivating its reputation as a bad boy. San Jose is offering $360,000 to schizophrenic Kenneth Grason to end a Federal lawsuit alleging San Jose Police beat him up for wandering around San Jose Airport. City Attorney Rick Doyle said that while the settlement was “fairly large” it was better (less costly) than the alternative if they lost...(The City prefers to pay huge legal settlements directly to the County...)

Morgan Hill’s City Council faced a dozen pissed off coaches and parents. The coaches and parents convinced the Council to put off raising field usage fees until after a public meeting. Councilmember Larry Carr reminded the crowd there were “implications for the City budget.” Field usage fees are and increasing challenge for cities and school districts.
Valuable Assets (fields) + Economic Crisis (now) = Increased Usage Fees therefore
Increased Usage Fees = Pissed Off Parents/Coaches

Gilroy’s unions are not happy about the wage freeze handed down by the City Council this week. Police Officer Association President Mitch Madruga said that while the economy stinks it would be “irresponsible of the union to give up” their automatic raises before members have the chance to hear what the Council wants. Councilmember Perry Woodward said he was “relieved” the Council voted to stop the automatic raises. It sounds like this fight is not over.

An un-named San Jose man hooked up with a woman in cyberspace using MocoSpace. When they hooked up in the real world the woman and her friends beat him, stole his clothes, and his money before leaving him naked and dying along the Bethany Reservoir. He’ll survive, thanks to the fishermen who rescued him.

The Merc’s Sal Pizarro has a series of interesting bits including a tip that songbird Linda Ronstadt is headed to D.C. to sing for the Silicon Valley Arts Advocacy Day supper in front of Congress.

Councilmember Peter Drekmeier promised a green Palo Alto future. Part of the green Palo Alto future is banning plastic bags at grocery stores (over the objections of anti-enviro/former Assemblymember Manny Diaz). They are also bringing in local farmers to provide fresh, organic produce through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

Speaking of green…Palo Alto and Mountain View (along with San Mateo and San Mateo County) are getting green-bucks from the Feds to implement green job growth projects. Vice President Joe Biden said the dollars are meant to put people to work and cut energy use.

Sunnyvale Councilmember Melinda Hamilton asked California High Speed Rail leader Rod Diridon, Sr. to stick a stop in Sunnyvale. So much for the "High Speed" part of "High Speed Rail"...

San Jose Revealed was (apparently) impressed with the disclosure of Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino’s salary. So impressed that they bought the new version of Photoshop...Revealed dug up photos of everyone he could think of to give us a visual on how Guardino’s daily dollars stack up.

Gilroy’s Chamber Choir answered the age-old question: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?". They are headed to the Big Apple for an all-star performance there. Basketball star/singer Dylan Jensen admitted he didn’t start getting nervous until they started learning about the big voices who’d hit the stage at Carnegie before them.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.24.09: Drunk Corsortium/Task Force Edition...

San Jose Inside/Metro’s Fly questions the invitation to the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity, saying Police Chief Rob Davis likely had them in mind before the Drunk Task Force was a gleam in the Mayor and Councilmember Nora Campos’ eyes. Seems the Chief made plans with the Consortium sometime before mentioning it to the Task Force. He is said to have been eager to participate with the Consortium as of November last year and has San Jose Police Department as a participating organization on the CPLE website. So, back to Watch Dog’s original post: was there ever a plan by Mayor Reed or Councilmember Campos for the Task Force to be anything other than a place for community members to vent? Or was Councilmember Sam Liccardo prescient when he said: “…the place where good ideas go to die...” If Liccardo was right, then Reed and Campos must have known the bait and switch, Task Force and Consortium, was the plan all along...

San Jose Insider/Silicon Valley De-Bug(er) Raj Jayadev blogs his irritation with San Jose’s (apparent) drunk in public, racial (Latino) profiling problem.

Santa Clara District Attorney Dolores Carr finally has something to celebrate, a huge drug bust in a joint effort with Alameda and Monterey Counties. Over a million dollars in cash, weapons, and spy toys were captured along with 200 pounds of cocaine worth $5 million – leaving local coke-heads out of luck. Of course, the story also says the deliveries from Mexico take place every few weeks so how long the pipeline stays dry is up in the air.

San Jose and the County of Santa Clara are back at it with a tussle over money. Supervisor Don Gage seems hopeful saying under the previous regime (whose name he doesn’t share) they’d all be marching into court. This time the bickering is low key and private, like a tense couple at a party slugging down Martinis.

Would you rat out your neighbor for wasting water washing the Winnebago? The Santa Clara Valley Water District hopes you do. Facing an ongoing drought the District is contemplating cutbacks at today’s meeting. By the way, District Board members also consider allowing voters to decide term limits.

The Merc’s Editorial Board cheers for Supervisor Dave Cortese’s push towards solar and urges the Supervisors to look for rooftops and paved areas – rather than open space – for panel placement. Like, maybe their parking lot on North First?

The Merc’s Ann Killion, focused on sports, questions the wisdom of the A’s Lew Wolff bad mouthing Oakland and the stadium. Wolff initially called the Oakland stadium aging and backtracked a few days later saying he hadn’t intended to insult Oakland. Perhaps not, but Wolff wants a spiffy new place for his team to play and San Jose wants to give it to him.

Passage of Prop 1A and support from the Feds has high speed rail moving forward at a full gallop, which terrifies NIMBY’s between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro and Councilmember Perry Woodward agree the train is a boon to the Gilroy economy saying, “great European cities grew up around train stations.” Even Gilroy’s Chamber of Commerce gets in on the pro-train chant calling it an economic boon. The challenge for the High Speed Rail Authority is both how to prevent building a modern day Berlin Wall and letting NIMBY’s know their communities won’t be divided. And no offense Gilroy, but you'll never be a great European city...

Morgan Hill is into recycling – at least when it comes to ballot measures. The former Measure H has been repackaged as Measure A for May’s special election. Councilmembers hope to gain support for 500 homes they want downtown. Former Mayor Dennis Kennedy is leading the charge to May and vows not to get complacent – this time.

San Jose Revealed goes into mind-boggling (and mind-numbing) detail with charts and graphs analyzing the turnout in this month’s recall effort against San Jose Councilmember Madision Nguyen. (They lost me at Hello...) Bottom line in all the pointy-headed details: turnout was good not great and more people are voting absentee with each election. Mission City Lantern’s James Rowen also read Revealed’s analysis, Rowen calls it the “most accurate set of predictions of voting trends…”

Revealed uses their joy of analysis to look at local 2010 races. They agree with Watch Dog that San Jose’s Pete Constant and Sam Liccardo will have boring races, Madison Nguyen will face challengers and remain successful, oddly doesn’t bother to mention Nora Campos’ brother-in-waiting to fill his sister’s shoes. A fuller Watch Dog recap of Revealed's recap will appear here later today.

San Jose Insider/San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio complains he’s not part of closed door meetings with labor and calls for a city wide vote on making all negotiations public. Careful what you wish for Councilmember. Public negotiations are a sure way to kill any and all projects...and is what the Labor community was pushing with Community Benefits Initiative years ago...

The clerical screw-up that left the Gilroy Unified School District short $6 million has Supervisorial freshman Dave Cortese lending a hand. Cortese agrees with Supervisor Don Gage that something needs to be done immediately. With all the talking going on, Watch Dog hopes they figure it out soon. It is significantly less interesting to watch the screw-up drag on endlessly than it is to find (and share) solutions to them.

Mountain View residents and eight mediators met to talk about building affordable housing on a parking lot. One resident complained the area would be ghetto-ized with the ROEM development alongside the PacificEuro hotel. Jonathan Emami, a ROEM Vice President, promised a project that was “richly detailed” and would look like a market rate project. Pissed off residents have to wait until July for the design meeting. (If the name ROEM looks familiar, it is because they are the company looking to fast-track an expensive loan from the City of San Jose Housing Department...)

San Jose’s Bill Carlson is bringing good eats to the streets of San Jose – and hoping he’s found the next big thing in downtown eating: beer-bathed sausages. You can find Carlson, and your next brat, at Market & Santa Clara.

Silicon Valley’s Dancing ‘Teletubbie’ Geek Steve Wozniak fills in concerned Mr. Roadshow readers on his various injuries and his dancing exploits. Remember, Vote for Woz and your Prius speeding sins shall be forgiven.

The arts may be struggling with the economic downturn but that hasn’t stopped the Arts Council from naming Nils Peterson as Santa Clara County’s Poet Laureate. Peterson calls himself a ‘coffee shop poet,’ Watch Dog hopes that means we can see him wandering between Trieste and Peet's for a local reading.

Your Los Altos Town Crier mobile update will fill you in on PG&E’s planned power outages Wednesday.

On a (somewhat) related note...

There was a power outage in Palo Alto over the weekend, but that isn't the most interesting part of the story. Check out this media tid-bit about Palo Alto's Utility Department during the outage:

No city utilities officials were available Sunday afternoon or evening to provide information about what was happening.

Oops...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.17.09: MACSA meet Dolores Carr...

A harsh report confirms that MACSA skimmed/stole $400,000 from teachers at Gilroy’s only charter school. To add to the financial misery, students are underperforming and the schools (there is one in San Jose as well) haven’t met their diversity goals. District Attorney Dolores Carr is noodling over criminal charges, the School District is contemplating yanking the school’s charter. But wait...there's more...The report doesn’t include the $250,000 MACSA skimmed from teachers at San Jose’s Academia Calmecac. Former El Portal office coordinator Lucy Patereau says MACSA’s bad behavior started the day the school opened....expect the damage from this story to reach deep into San Jose politics...

Baseball is in the news...again...Here is the gist: The Giants think they heard good news from MLB Commissioner Bud Selig when he said MLB's stance on the Giants' territorial rights hasn't changed...Lew Wolff probably disagrees. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed waits patiently...

Speaking of education…The Merc’s Editorial Board cheers the collaboration between NASA, Foothill-DeAnza, and UC Santa Cruz to create a $1 billion research/education facility.

Supervisor Dave Cortese envisions arrays of solar panels soaking up the sun, decreasing the County’s energy cost/carbon footprint, and possibly generating revenue. Mike Mendizabal, President of the Milpitas Unified board points out they’re saving millions annually in electricity costs while covering 75% of their energy needs...Have you noticed that since Cortese and Shirakawa become Supervisors the Board is in the news a lot more?...

San Jose Revealed (apparently) spent the weekend reading San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s budget message. Sadly, the somnorific (look it up) did nothing to improve Revealed’s mood. Fair warning to the reader, it’s not the lively, biting Revealed we’re familiar with but a heavy handed grouch.

San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio blogs for San Jose Inside his solutions for the budget crisis. No surprises. Oliverio wants to generate new revenue with a utility tax and cut costs with a wage reduction.

San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo assesses the fiscal benefits for encouraging teachers close to retirement to ditch the classroom. The bottom line: new teachers cost less than those who have been around the block a few times. (On the flip side, they may not be as good in the classroom...)

The Merc’s Scott Herhold is in full-tirade mode about the San Jose Elections Commission. Herhold wants to disband it. (Is this Herhold's way to distract the reader from accusations of bad behavior by former Mayor/Lobbyist Tom McEnery?) Remember, Herhold hate anonymity...

Morgan Hill’s $4 million Third Street Promenade Project could be held up for the simplest of reasons…Morgan Hill declines to assume responsibility should any of the Dasovic family homes they want to work on get destroyed. Speaking mainly in bureaucratic gobblydegook Morgan Hill City Attorney Danny Wan shrugged his shoulders.

It seems like it’s all garbage all the time these days…Gilroy Dispatch Editor’s are urging the County Supervisor’s to just say no to garbage collector GreenWaste's 14% increase. (Good thing Gilroy isn't in San Mateo County -- the Dispatch would have a field day with the Garbage Saga of San Mateo County...)

Gilroy hasn’t seen the last of their gang problem. Friday the 13th included murder, arson, a sawed off shotgun, and a 15 year-old hiding in the bushes. Jason would have been so proud.

Silicon Valley giant Cisco is poised to do battle with longtime (soon to be former) partners HP and IBM by stepping directly into their playpens. Cisco’s John Chambers started the effort 3 years ago calling it Project California: to catch the next wave in the tech revolution.

A trio of teens were tossed in the pokey by the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department. San Jose’s Nicholas Masouris, Sunnyvale's Mitchell Azevedo, and an unnamed teen from Campbell are suspected of a string of auto break-ins netting high end electronics and other goodies.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.16.09: Great chefs are within SF's territorial rights?

Lew Wolff sent a big raspberry to Oakland on Friday saying thanks for the memories but it’s time for the A’s to hit the road. (Baseball San Jose's blog channeled Sarah Palin's "thanks, but no thanks"...) The move was predicted by former San Jose Insider Jude Barry four years ago. It looks like Barry may have been more prescient than he knew. Inside's Eric Johnson gleefully quotes sports experts Gary Radnich and Bruce Jenkins agreeing with Barry. The Chronicle's Matier & Ross fill us in on who’s fighting to keep the A’s where they are…some heavy hitters. Watch Dog hopes that Senators Boxer and Feinstein remember that folks in Santa Clara County voted for them too (oh yeah, and funded their campaigns...)...

The Merc’s Sal Pizzaro had a yummy task as Iron Chef America hit Silicon Valley. Los Gatos’ Manresa chef (and Michelin 2-star chef) David Kinch whirled around Kitchen Stadium with cabbage as his secret ingredient. In the end, it was Kinch over renowned chef Bobby Flay. The viewing party at Manresa cheered. It is unclear if Senators Boxer and Feinstein think that good chefs are actually within the territorial rights of San Francisco...

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Jay Boyarsky (former candidate for Judge) thinks a surge in anti-gay hate crimes is related to the passage of Proposition 8 -- increased visibility translates to increased “gay-bashing.” No doubt worried straight, white men might feel left out, Boyarsky added "We're not playing political favorites. Certainly, we've had Christian victims of hate crimes."

Speaking of the DA's office. Santa Clara County DA Dolores Carr has to be wondering why she wanted the job of top prosecutor. A national report released by the Innocence Project accuses the DA’s office of improperly investigating crime lab errors. Hoping to make the case that the fox can guard the hen house, DA spin-meister Nick Muyo says it is not true that they can’t properly investigate themselves.

NASA has asked the Navy to pay for re-skinning Hangar One. In exchange, NASA offered to clean up the toxic soup left behind by the Navy. To sweeten the pot for neighbors, NASA announced Friday a collaboration with the Foothill-De Anza Community College District to provide a $1 billion research facility focusing on renewable-energy and resource-conservation. Foothill-De Anza Chancellor Martha Kanter is giddy about the possibilities...

El Camino Hospital officials are starting to dish on their plans to expand services at their new Los Gatos home (the hospital formerly known as Community). Silicon Valley men will be happy to hear a fancy machine that turns kidney stones to dust is in the works. The League of Women Voters has joined forces with El Camino Hospital execs to host a forum at the end of the month.

The Merc’s Internal Affairs is dishing on the goodies our elected take home from their loyal (lobbyist) fans. Senators Elaine Alquist and Joe Simitian enjoyed a spa retreat in Lodi...(hopefully not at the same time). Senator Simitian reported his wife’s business brought in a healthy chunk of change. Assemblymember Joe Coto went to a charity ball courtesy of Verizon and got an unhealthy supply of liquor thanks to Diageo...he must have been preparing for St. Patrick's Day. (Coto should be careful if he plans to drink that stuff in San Jose...)

Prospective candidates hoping to replace San Jose’s Pete Constant should call the San Jose Police Officers Association. They are not happy that one of their own has “turned a deaf ear” to them.

His friends call him the Don Quixote of San Jose’s Clock Tower, but Naglee Park resident John Mitchell is determined to see his 30 year obsession brought to a happy conclusion. The tower, built in 1892, stopped working in 1906 when that pesky earthquake toppled the tower. (How very Back to the Future...) Mitchell calls it the heartbeat of San Jose. It is unclear if the clock tower would need to 1.21 gigawatts to get going again...

There’s more than green beer on tap this week. Plan on a busy Council/Board week around the Valley...

• San Jose’s City Council will hear the Mayor’s budget message. (You’ll need lots of green beer for this one...)
• Cupertino’s Fremont Union High School District goes over their financials and meets with students...no doubt to ready them for the grim news ahead.
• The Alum Rock Union School District will consider a teachers' contract, talk about closing Pala Middle School, and revisit their policies on small schools (probably hoping to make them much bigger)...
• Palo Alto Unified School District discusses budgets for remodeling, contracts, high school master plans, and staff reductions.
  

Speaking of Palo Alto...

You could sort of see this coming if you read this and this...but the community-wide, Palo Alto broadband project may be quickly dying. Palo Alto has no money and the company that was going to do the project, Axia Netmedia Corporation, doesn't really want any part of it anymore either...

You'll remember last-week's perfectly timed study by Stanford showing that its hospital expansion projects would bring in $18 million to the City of Palo Alto coffers. The timing was perfect because Stanford and Palo Alto had a meeting about the impacts/benefits of Stanford's development this week. Now, Palo Alto would like to see more of the "community benefits" that Stanford could/should/will do in order to get Palo Alto to stand back from its adversarial position...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.25.09: The Mardi Gras Hang-Over Edition...

San Jose survived the annual Mardi Gras madness. San Jose Police Officer Jermaine Thomas reported this year's celebration netted fewer than half the arrests of 2008 – most of those for weapons and probation violations. Sounds like a good time was had by all...

Bye, bye, Birdie! Lew Wolff has officially called off the wedding with Fremont. Wolff’s Dear John letter is a study in restraint, sending love even to those who disagreed and acted “…in a reasoned manner.” The Merc’s Marc Purdy chimes in on the Fremont loss saying it’s a no-brainer, bring the A’s to San Jose.

There’s a fire sale in the City of San Jose. With roughly 40 properties on the initial "For Sale," the City of San Jose hopes to raise as much as $137 million. Deputy Public Works Director Phil Prince said "It is urgent that we see what we can get out of here because of our budget situation." Nothing like selling land at the bottom of a market...

San Jose’s City Council was super busy Tuesday as 9 of them gave their blessing to $6 million in grants and loans to the much ballyhooed San Pedro Market (a.k.a. The McEnery Market). The lone dissenter (unsurprisingly) was Councilmember Nora Campos, who attempted one final shot at colleague Sam Liccardo over the proposal. Campos hoped City Attorney Rick Doyle would slap Liccardo for a legal violation - but the City Attorney said no ma'am. San Jose Revealed isn’t any happier than Campos and snarls through today’s column. Mayor Reed should find Campos' frequent frequent and lonely opposition flattering -- after all, imitation (of Reed's days on the Council) is the sincerest form of flattery...

San Jose Councilmembers asked nightclub owners to help cover costs of policing. Amazingly, not only did business owners agree but are delighted with the changes. Dan Doherty (Mission Ale & Smoke Tiki Lounge) said, "When elected officials trust small businesses, good things will happen." Councilmember Sam Liccardo gave credit to Police, City staff, and local businesses for working the deal out over the past 2 years.

The Santa Clara County Supervisors are giving $100,000 to the Public Defenders Office to re-examine 1,500 sexual assault cases whose (previously denied) videotapes have suddenly appeared. Public Defender Mary Greenwood called the move “extraordinary” and said, "The importance of the tapes is that with this new evidence, we need to see if there are people who were wrongfully convicted who are incarcerated." The DA Saga continues...

Sometimes, reform happens…and sometimes it doesn’t. The drama-shrouded Santa Clara Valley Water District voted to support a bill by Assemblymember Joe Coto which allows all 7 members of the Water District to retain their seats (in spite of a recently enacted law) but pushes reforms on the Water District Board. "I think these are fair," Coto said. "The public deserves these type of laws to make sure we rebuild the confidence in one of our important public institutions." Director Sig Sanchez (who has been on the Board for 29 years) disagreed with allowing the State legislature to define Board policy saying, "It would demean this district to where we were relegated to the role of some small district in the Central Valley." Ouch. Nobody replied, "Sig, get a new job..."

San Jose's Thomas Green, Jr. was the Finance Director for a local hospital, now he’ll be another perv behind bars. Green pleaded guilty to trading kiddie porn in chat-rooms according to U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello.

San Jose Revealed reports San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio is growing forgetful, or perhaps he’s in denial. Oliverio blogged for San Jose Inside details of a meeting then feigned surprise when people showed up. Revealed includes a video clip from the meeting with Oliverio and cohort Councilmember Pete Constant denying complicity in getting (partially informed) community members in the room. C’mon boys, you should take pride in getting the troops to turn out. You might, however, make sure they’re fully informed first.

San Jose Inside blogger/Santa Clara County School Board Trustee Joseph DiSalvo advocates the introduction of democracy, or at least a cessation of violations of the California Voting Rights Act. Local legislators received a call to action following a court decision last year – allow school district candidates to be elected by those they represent. DiSalvo points out at-large elections hurt minority (and women) candidates.

Morning News Round-Up – 1.19.09: Inauguration Eve...

Today, Watch Dog celebrates with the rest of the country the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King. The Merc. has a full listing of events that allow you to celebrate the legacy...starting with the annual freedom train from San Jose.

Marco Zuniga’s wife was Tasered early Saturday morning. Zuniga stepped up to the officer and was Shot outside the hip club Loft. Sunday, San Jose Inside followed the story of SJPD dropping deeper into trouble over the drunk and Latino in San Jose saga. Luckily for Chief Davis Marco Zuniga is resting in the hospital and is expected to survive. This was the second officer involved shooting in two days, on Friday a man took a gun from an SJPD officer and, after a 6 hour standoff, killed himself.

San Jose City Council will consider appointing recycled Employee Pension Board member David Bacigalupi who left the board in 2002 and former Retirement Director Edward Overton – who was replaced in 2007 after the pension board racked up $50,000 in undocumented travel expenses. Pension Board member/SJPD pensioner/San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant wants to toss those applicants in favor of retired officer Brian Arvin and is gearing up for a battle with his former colleagues who support Bacigalupi...oh yeah, Bacigalupi also voted against Constant's disability claim when Constant left the force -- no wonder Constant doesn't like this guy...

Lew Wolff doesn’t love Santa Clara, or maybe Wolff just fears the community's love for Great America...the Merc’s Internal Affairs reported Sunday that Wolff said Santa Clara was off the list of would-be locations for his A’s.

Watch Dog was tickled to see San Jose Inside following the Gilroy story of Garlic Ta-ta’s last week...that was even before Inside gave a shout out to Watch Dog for sniffing out the Tesla/San Jose story at the Mayor’s biscuits and gravy breakfast.

Creative refinancing sounded like a winning deal for cash strapped schools. The refi enabled schools to lower their interest rate, shorten their payoff, and even reduce property taxes. Citizens for Bond Accountability, with San Jose’s Jill Escher at the helm, questioned the legality of the financial wizardry. Attorney General Jerry Brown agreed declaring the scheme illegal though he left in place the funding received from past refi’s. The Los Altos School District breathed a deep sigh of relief, they gained nearly $11 million and were able to remodel the Gardner Bullis School as a result. Friday Escher called on San Jose Unified to come clean with the crafty dealings that lead to the AG’s decision.

The Metro/San Jose Inside’s Fly has insiders heading to D.C. for Tuesday’s historic inauguration. Fly reports Obama is already having a positive affect on the economy, most notably for the Fly’s favorite hang, the D.C. bar scene which will be open and serving until 5am for most of next week. Watch Dog hopes this includes the SJSU students who traveled the route of the civil rights movement on their way to the inauguration and are now reporting events for local news media.

Silicon Valley stands poised to have a direct influence on public policy following years of science and technology being ignored. San Jose’s Rep. Zoe Lofgren recalled days when then Gov. Jerry Brown was ridiculed for talking about windmills, “Now everybody is talking about wind energy and solar.” Silicon Valley stars with close ties to D.C. include Google CEO Eric Schmidt along with John Doerr and former Symantec CEO/possible Commerce Secretary John Thompson. SupervisorLiz Kniss is hoping...

Does San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen owe colleague Pete Constant and Mayor Reed a favor for their support while she battles a recall? It’s possible the former Labor darling will start voting the Constant/Reed ticket. The Merc’s Internal Affairs ponders the question as her friends at the South Bay Labor Council leap in with more assistance, perhaps an attempt to stave off a Reed/Constant maneuver. Mission City Lantern weighs in on the logic of Nguyen’s decisions...(Lantern talking logic?)

It’s a sign of the times, rural amenities disappearing as luxury homes pop up. San Jose’s Cevalo Riding Academy is being left homeless following the owner’s request for a change in land designation from rural to high density. This is the 11th lost home for Cevalo and leaves Calero Ranch Stables as the sole public stable in San Jose. The Santa Clara Water District holds the lease for Calero – that expires in 2010 – better move your horses now.