Morning News Round-Up -- 5.21.10: "NUMMI A's" no more...

Go Sharks! (Please win... pretty please?)

Well, we guess the Oakland A's won't be going to the former NUMMI plant after all... that's because Tesla and Toyota will move in to build electric cars. Of course, Tesla track record of sticking to its word is someone less-than-desirable, just ask San Jose, but we wish Fremont, Tesla, and Toyota well. (Here is a full run-down of the Tesla Chronicles...)

As a reminder, Watch Dog predicted the NUMMI/A's effort last August...

"...Fremont’s Nummi plant is packing the bags and heading to Texas leaving nearly 5,000 newly unemployed in its wake. Perhaps a Fremont ballpark can actually happen now?...

Maybe now Bud Selig can make a decision?...

The Mercury News Editorial Board continued to look at their ballots... and today they have made the 18th floor a very exciting place to be. They endorsed Don Rocha for San Jose City Council District 9 to replace Vice Mayor Judy Chirco. They say he has "...the potential to continue in the tradition of Chirco..." They also give some ink to Jim Cogan (too close to public safety unions) and Larry Pegram (too close to Jerry Falwell)...

The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce put out a reward for clues leading to catching the culprits behind the hit pieces sent against Magdalena Carrasco... ironically, the place to call with your tip is Crime Stoppers -- whose President is the aforementioned Jim Cogan, running for City Council in a different District. Hypothetically, what if someone called with a tip that identified a Cogan supporter as the culprit? Just asking... (Mission City Lantern is on the fake-mailer case too...)

While we're in District 5, ProtectSanJose.com brought us a message from Xavier Campos...

A San Josean will head to the Senate... no, not Tom Campbell (yet)... but County Superior Court Judge Edward Davila has been tapped for the federal bench by the Obama administration...

This will be bad news piled on top of bad news... property assessments are down... way down... boooooooo...

Dear Gilroy Unified Voters... thank you for passing the school bond in 2008... we are over budget... so Christopher High School will have portables instead of a great new facility... will you trust again with your vote and your cash? Love, the Gilroy Unified School District.

Sunnyvale may lose its seat on VTA, and Sunnyvale Councilmember Chris Moylan is pissed about it: "...Based on population, the one city other than San Jose that should have a permanent seat on the board is Sunnyvale..." No word on dweeb.org yet on the issue...

Some folks in Silicon Valley will be voting on June 8th and June 22nd... the 22nd being the date that the Special Election to replace Senator-turned-Lt. Gov Abel Maldonado's seat will be voted on... and if no one gets 50 percent plus, a run-off will happen on August 17th. Expect an influx of Sam Blakeslee and John Laird visits in the coming weeks...

The Lame (Duck) Governor was at Google yesterday... no doubt in an effort to shift attention from Google's bad European news this week...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.18.10: Commie Gate

The news didn't stop in the San Jose City Council District 5 race. Actually, Commie Gate became even more intriguing... Richard Hobbs, Supervisor George Shirakawa's opponent for in 2008 released a statement about a hit piece that was mailed against him during that race. It had a striking resemblance to the hit piece mailed against Magdalena Carrasco late last week. Of course, Xavier Campos, Magdalena Carrasco's opponent for City Council works for Supervisor George Shirakawa, raising obvious questions, but prompting a Clintonesque response from George Shirakawa:

"Xavier didn't work for me or my campaign in 2008, and my office has nothing to do with this mailer against Carrasco."

I guess it depends on what your definition of 'my office' is... Notice he didn't say, "I had absolutely nothing to do with it." He said, "...my office has nothing to do with this mailer..." Shirakawa also didn't say that he didn't know about the mailer in 2008, just that it didn't come from his campaign...

The DA is looking into the entire episode, and they have ways of looking into DNA and finger-prints... (Of course, sometimes Dolores Carr pulls the plug on investigating forensic evidence...) The Merc Editorial Board had some not-so-nice things to say about this episode as well...

"...The link between the Hobbs mailer and the one against Carrasco is clear for all to see, and not just because of their physical similarity. Xavier Campos, Carrasco's chief opponent in the District 5 race, is a policy aide to Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. — the man who beat Hobbs in that 2008 campaign..."

Perhaps this is what Watch Dog meant yesterday when we wrote: Watch Dog won't speculate, even though we'd love to...

Several City of San Jose unions came forward with a plan to save costs in the City budget. It was met with mixed reviews...

• Chuck Reed: The proposal is "...nowhere near the 10-percent concessions..." that he says are needed
• Madison Nguyen: The unions should be "...commended for coming together..."
• Nancy Pyle: The proposal "...demonstrates very clearly that our employees are willing to make vital sacrifices..."
• Sam Liccardo: "We got into our current predicament with gimmicks and shell games... and that is not the responsible way out..."

Speaking of the Mayor and unions... Chuck Reed responded via blog post to the POA's accusations last week that the Mayor doesn't know what he's talking about with regards to binding arbitration... One big blog step for Chuck Reed, one small blog step for ProtectSanJose.com...

The Tour of California rolls through the Bay Area today and tomorrow... So shave your legs tonight and head to downtown San Jose tomorrow...

Speaking of high speed... a car crashed into a home in Morgan Hill following a high speed chase with police... drunk teenagers.

Hey all you Mountain Viewers... your City Council wants to hear from you about the new High-Speed Rail Report. Watch Dog is willing to bet that Mountain View will regret putting out the word that it wants public input...

While we're in Mountain View, the old San Antonio Shopping Center will be getting a new development... housing and a Safeway.

Staying in the big MV, more details are coming out about the dry cleaning murder-suicide...

Super-Sized Morning News Round-Up -- 5.17.10: Blood-Sport Monday - Hockey and Politics...

The Western Conference Finals started Sunday... Sharks lost... but at the end of the series, we are looking forward to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley sending some of Chicago's finest (and fattiest) foods west to San Jose. He and Mayor Reed made a little wager. Chuck may receive a bunch of Vienna Beef soon. Yum.

But hockey was the mild sport over the weekend with politics being a little more dangerous... Especially in San Jose's City Council District 5...

Let's go chronologically:

The Mayor may be sharing some of Chicago's finest foods from Mayor Daley with his new BFF, Magdalena Carrasco. He endorsed her late last week, according to Watch Dog's email...

But that wasn't the only, or the most intriguing, part of that City Council race this weekend. Mailers were mailed out that took a big shot at Xavier Campos' role at MACSA courtesy of the Chamber. (Can you use the phrase "courtesy of" when you are talking about who paid for a hit piece?) Longtime readers of Watch Dog will not be surprised about the MACSA/Campos connection...

But that wasn't even the more intriging news out of that City Council race. It seems someone is (illegally) using Magdalena Carrasco's name to put out a fake mailer that has her standing with a communist Vietnamese flag... welcome to 1950... The Mayor is not pleased with this latest development and is calling on the DA, the Elections Commission, the post office, and the media to all do their job to identify who did this shady work... Watch Dog won't speculate, even though we'd love to...

As if there wasn't enough going on on San Jose's east side, there was an emergency landing at Reid-Hillview over the weekend... and a man was shot and killed in the Tropicana parking lot on Sunday morning.

Expect this story to also have political repurcussions: Dolores Carr's DA's office apparently stopped the forensic testing of some evidence in the De Anza rape case. This according to evidence in an ongoing civil trial... Jeff Rosen's team is no doubt reprinting this story and distributing it widely... Especially now that he has the support of some high-placed friends...

A big, long in-depth story was in Saturday's Mercury News about the new County Executive Jeff Smith. He has some fans, namely the County Board of Supervisors, who extended his contract through 2013. But the more interesting part of the story is the detractors: the County's unions do not like Jeff Smith. But that might be expected... but Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren? Apparently Smith pushed off a meeting with Lofgren for months. Here's what she said:

"His comments so far appear to be precipitous, haphazard and detrimental to the foundation of county government... People are calling to complain to me. I spent 14 years of my life making a good hospital and many of us are thinking, 'What is he doing?'"

Well, we know he isn't making friends with people in high places...

That isn't the only County employee in the news this week... there is a new County Counsel in the mix -- the acting County Counsel Miguel Marquez is getting the acting removed from his name...

The Merc's Internal Affairs shed some light into how the employee negotiations are going at the City of San Jose. It seems that City Manager Deb Figone had her lunch at Flames interupted by some city workers that were having a protest and started banging on Flames' windows yelling "Save our jobs!"... of course, Figone used to eat lunch at Morton's, but since the pay cut, she's now at Flames... We also learn from IA that the San Jose Redevelopment Agency forked over a $62 million check to the State Govenrment t his week. No word yet if the Governor has signed the thank you note...

Also in an attempt to get attention for their union plight, Jim Unland at the San Jose Police Officers' Association wrote a Memo to the Mayor on Friday... we're sorry we missed it then, but the Mayor probably isn't...

Perhaps this will help with the Figone/Employee and Police/Mayor relations: Measure K in San Jose got the deep dive in Sunday's paper as the Merc's Sandra Gonzales goes into the lovely Garden City Casino for some "man/woman on the street/at the table" interviews and looks at the pros and cons of relying on gambling to plug San Jose's budget holes...

The Water District reversed course and approved a new map for districts. Gilroy is no longer with Palo Alto... And that new Gilroy/Morgan Hill district is the one that the fast-food toy-loving Supervisor Don Gage will run for this fall... But the Mayors of Gilroy and Morgan Hill are still not pleased...

Sometimes it is good to have a reporter/columnist that is over 25 years old... such is the case with Scott Herhold. He gives a great perspective on Larry Pegram's first go'round on the San Jose City Council. If you read between the lines, Pegram left the Council with his three buddies on the heals of a bribery scandal... Pegram wasn't indicted or found to have done anything wrong...

File this story under D -- as in "Drive Cindy Chavez Crazy." Local political consultant Jude Barry is a founder of a technology firm that allows folks to register to vote and sign ballot petitions through iPhones, iPads, and other smart phones. It is the same company that landed Barry on the California Labor Federation's Do Not Patronize list... (This story should tell you how important that list is...) The Santa Clara County Registrar is accepting registrations that use Verafirma technology...

File this story under W for Weird... the Merc Editorial Board, generally a pro-education parcel tax bunch is "reserving judgement" on one parcel tax this June -- Measure I in Alum Rock Union Elementary School District because they are not including charter schools in their tax measure. The other parcel taxes in Milpitas, Oak Grove, and Mount Pleasant get the Merc Editorial nod...

Palo Alto may be getting some taller buildings... above 50 feet actually. Expect the NIMBYs to start the rebellion soon...

Ken Yeager and the rest of the Santa Clara County Supervisors (except Don Gage and George Shirakawa) get props from Dorothy Dimitre in the San Mateo Daily Journal for their fast food toy ban...

We didn't write about this last week, but it doesn't mean we missed it. Saratoga City Councilmember Susie Nagpal died last week. Very sad story.

And because sometimes important things happen outside of our regular sphere: Burlingame and its police department have started the long road toward pension reform. From the San Mateo County Times: "...Police sergeants and captains in Burlingame have agreed to pay freezes through the end of the year and are ready to cut retiree benefits, the first union contract that includes pension reform for a city struggling to deal with escalating employee costs..."

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.12.10: Where's Palin?

This is not the type of news that Morgan Hill likes, we'd guess. The Live Oak t-shirt flap has reached a new level of idiosy. Hundreds showed up to hear themselves talk and to get on the evening news yesterday... One question remains: when will Sarah Palin chime in?

The Santa Clara Valley Water District seemingly can't get out of its own way on their redistricting plan. They put Gilroy with Palo Alto which almost prompted the South to invade the North talking about states' rights... Anyway, the Water District reversed its decision and will scrap the map and start over... sounds like a plan that would have been a smart idea before the initial new map was released... better late than never?

Yesterday, the Mercury News Editorial Board announced their endorsement for San Jose City Council District 5: Magdalena Carrasco. Later in the day, the Metro came to the same conclusion. Some choice quotes:

"...Carrasco has a shot at this seat because she seems better able to connect with East Side voters. The fact that she is fluent in Spanish is a big plus with many of them (Campos does not speak Spanish)..."

"...Xavier Campos worked for 20 years at the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA), ultimately becoming chief operations officer. MACSA is now under criminal investigation following findings that it was skimming from its employees’ pension funds..."

San Jose Inside gives us a glimpse into the County Board of Supervisors meeting, which we know you didn't attend... Shirakawa cried about the Arizona anti-immigrant law. Seriously, check out the story...

Dolores Carr gets a write up in the Merc today looking at her successes and talking about the other stuff too. The story comes with the obvious headline: Carr seeks re-election despite 'mistakes'... When you are the incumbent and the words 're-election' and 'mistakes' make the headline the week ballots go out, you aren't having a good week...

The mural at Mineta San Jose (International?) Airport Terminal C (that's the one you don't fly out of) will come down with it. The Merc's Joe Rodriguez gives some background about the mural and its struggle to survive.

Hey all you kids out there... the County Supervisors will pass a policy soon that keeps kids under 13 out of juvie lock-up.

Yesterday we let you know about a plan to get rid of the leaf blower hotline to help fix Palo Alto's budget shortfall. That was controversial enough... but Palo Alto also wants to charge kids to participate in the Palo Alto Children's Theatre. Now the Palo Alto City Council has crossed the line, apparently...

The Los Altos School District got a new Superintendent this week. An internal pick, Jeffrey Baier...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.11.10: Life without a leaf-blower hotline...

Ballots are out... candidates are running around like crazy... and the Merc is about to weigh in on all the races... A while back they endorsed Teresa Alvarado for Supervisor... and Jeff Rosen for District Attorney... and now they are getting into the San Jose City Council races. District 5 is first up and they give a big nod to Magdalena Carrasco to replace Nora Campos. Some choice quotes that District 5 voters will be seeing a lot of in the coming weeks...

"What she lacks in political connections, she makes up in intelligence, thoughtfulness and a deep understanding of the values and needs of the community. We recommend her in the June 8 primary."

"Despite having served on the Planning Commission, he shows little insight into city operations."

And perhaps the most damning...

"He [Xavier Campos] was chief operating officer of the Mexican-American Community Services Agency, which is under criminal investigation for skimming off workers' retirement contributions. He says he was aware of MACSA's cash-flow problems but not the diversion of funds."

Ouch...

New, high-tech luggage scanners at Mineta San Jose (International) Airport get a write up in today's Merc. They are apparently cutting-edge, very cool, and something that "should be done everywhere"... Now, if only airlines and people started flying out of the joint, they could actually start using the luggage scanners...

Apparently several judge seats are up in the County... Tracey Kaplan at the Merc had the (tedious) task of getting into the nitty gritty of each race.

The San Jose/Evergreen Community College District is closer to getting a new chancellor... there are three finalists -- one local (the President of Evergreen Valley College) and two not so local... Watch Dog will bet on one of the two not so local folks...

The not-so-newly-formed Santa Clara County Elections Commission will meet finally... after 2 years. This seems to be over the objections of the Registrar of Voters. He seems to hate oversight more than a large, local police department does...

Add a rail company to the list of folks opposing High-Speed Rail... Union Pacific.

This should piss people off... the Leaf Blower Complaint Hotline in Palo Alto will be shut down due to budget cuts. If you have a complaint about your neighbor's leaf blowing, please call 800-Get A Life...

A new tax may be coming to Mountain View this fall... this time, more taxes on your 650 phone line that you are so proud of...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.5.10: Margaritas all around... the Sharks won...

Sharks win... and it was a doozy. Four words: Overtime, Breakaway, Joe Thornton.

Hey, Denis Theriault is back on the Merc's local political scene... he covers some young-ish Silicon Valley guns running for office: Chris Kelly (running for Attorney General) and Josh Becker (State Assembly)...

San Jose's City Council will extend a program that has curbed "drunk-in-public" arrests... This story allows the Merc to reprint their favorite line:

The pilot program followed Mercury News reports that San Jose police were arresting more people on charges of public intoxication than any other law enforcement agency in the state. Some community members alleged the statistics showed police were inappropriately using the public drunkenness law as "social control," a charge police denied.

Speaking of the San Jose City Council, the Merc's John Woolfolk provides a preview of the San Jose City Council 4 way race to replace Nora Campos. We learn that Nora is Xavier's older sister, that Manuel Herrera ran for City Council in a different district, that Aaron Resendez is a press operator, and that Magdalena Carrasco is "a hard charging mother"... (It seems the Merc's website is on the fritz, the URL for this story is:

www.mercurynews.com/mr-roadshow/ci_15016835

Gilroy will sue the Water District over their redistricting plans... this is going to be good. (That is, if you like one government agency suing another... and Watch Dog does like that, a lot...)

Speaking of Gilroy and the Water District... the "campaign" to overturn the groundwell fee failed. Everyone at the Water District is breathing a sigh of relief, until they get subpeoned in the Gilroy lawsuit...

Another Gilroy story... Gavilan College is really screwed up financially and so is its foundation. This story has the phrase "misappropriated funds" which usually tickles the DA's fancy...

It was an election day (sort of) yesterday. Mail-in ballot elections were due in several school districts... Palo Alto, Fremont Union, Union, and Loma Prieta school districts won their parcel tax elections... Lakeside lost...

United Carr Workers... and Xavier Campos

Well, we thought we were on top of our game. Not that many fun tidbits get by the Watch Dog staff. But an astute reader reminded us of something we wrote some time ago, and how it relates to last week's news...

Here's what we wrote in January:

...You remember that Dolores Carr's office is looking into potentially illegal financial practices and misappropriation of funds by MACSA in running a Gilroy-based Charter School... well, the DA's office is conveniently waiting until June to decide about whether or not to bring charges. It isn't just Watch Dog wondering if this is politically motivated procrastination on the part of Dolores Carr... the Gilroy Dispatch does too. Here is why it might be political: Carr would like to get a certain group's endorsement for her re-election campaign in June... this certain group has a favorite candidate running for City Council in June who used to be in charge of operations at MACSA... if she buries the charges until then, perhaps this favorite City Council candidate rides into office, Carr gets the endorsement, and everyone wins, except voters, of course.

Fast forward a few months, and we read on San Jose Inside/ Metro that exactly what was predicted happened, sort of... Dolores Carr got some impassioned support from Cindy Chavez, the head of the Labor Council, at the Labor Council endorsement proceedings. One can only surmise that Dolores Carr's political favor to hold off on the MACSA stuff played a role in Chavez's hard-sell of Republican Dolores Carr to the Labor Council. Chavez's plea wasn't exactly enough for an endorsement though... so that part of the Dolores/Cindy plan failed... which must have pissed of Dolores Carr to no end, as she is the one who went out on a prosecutorial limb for Labor...

Which leaves the real winner in this sad episode: Xavier Campos...

He got the double whammy: the Labor Council endorsed him (unsurprisingly, given his brother-in-law and sister) and his past affiliation with MACSA has been placed on investigative hold by Dolores Carr until after June, when he will presumably be in an election run-off.

Well, one thing you can say about Xavier Campos, luck is on his side... at least for now.

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.12.10: Thinking of summer...

Because what everyone needs on a rainy day is to think about summer... and nothing says summer like Major League Baseball:

Bill Shaikin of the LA Times writes a great piece about the Oakland Athletics and their quest to move to downtown San Jose. Please Mr. Selig, at least tell us something... anything!

For those of you that remember back a few years ago know that NUMMI was opposed to the Oakland A's moving into Fremont. Well, now NUMMI is gone and Fremont might want the A's back. They got a federal grant to look at possible reuse options and the folks in Fremont might be looking at the Green and Gold again. Unfortunately for Fremont, the Green and Gold are (probably) really, really sick of Fremont...

We know that the Chronicle doesn't like the ideas of the A's moving to San Jose... but even they couldn't deny that San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed having an Opening Day meeting with Bob DuPuy of MLB was a good sign...

And from summer sports to fall ones...

The Merc goes through the "on the one hand" and the "on the other hand" economics of the 49ers stadium. Watch Dog is sticking with James Rowen's version of things and not these guys, if for no other reason than Rowen is much more interesting...

On to things not related to sports...

The task force tasked with figuring out what to do with the Mexican Heritage Plaza is almost done with their work and will send their recommendation for a school for art and culture to the San Jose City Council. Of course, they are sending their recommendation to the City Council with a $500,000 annual price tag... which may mean the recommendation is DOA...

Here's a surprise, San Jose Firefighters don't like cuts to the fire department. Of course, they don't have their own blog, so they are resigned to voicing their displeasure through the media. But when you go through the media, you let the City Manager and the Mayor tee-off on you like Phil at Augusta. The Mayor's retort: "If the firefighters gave up 10 percent [salaries], we wouldn't have to consider this [cutting services]..." The City Manager's mouthpiece Tom Manheim (he's still there?) said: "We're not in a situation that allows us to hold the Fire Department harmless..."

Here we go... it was only a matter of time before legislators on the Peninsula started listening to all the NIMBYs... and Joe Simitian is the first to crack. In the Chronicle's Matier & Ross column today, Simitian raises questions and doubt about the financial projections to High-Speed Rail... but reading between the lines, Watch Dog thinks this is really about neighborhood opposition up and down the Peninsula... who's next? Jerry Hill? Paul Fong?

Yesterday was Internal Affairs Sunday in the Merc...

Item 1: Campos the Elder (Nora): We learn that Roy Avila is not running against Nora Campos after all. (Even though he still has a website up.) Apparently he put more time into his website and initial fundraiser in Los Gatos than in actually getting his name on the ballot... or he cut himself a deal with the Campos clan...

Item 2: Campos the Younger (Xavier): We learn that labor leaders Cindy Chavez and Neil Struthers sent a threatening letter to 11 members of the State Assembly because they gave money to Xavier's opponent, Magdalena Carrasco. (If you would like to see what a threatening letter from Chavez/Struthers looks like, click here.) Sometimes it helps to have a powerful big brother-(inlaw) and sister... Mission City Lantern even chimed in on the non-Mission City-related stuff...

Scott Herhold compares the books of GOP Gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, becoming perhaps the second or third person in the world to read both books... Essentially, Herhold writes that Poizner is more entrepreneurial and Whitman more corporate... but he also throws in that Jerry Brown is old... which is a theme this week. (The theme was carried through to Internal Affairs, which runs down the funny jokes Republicans made about Jerry Brown's age (72)...)

Palo Alto has a budget gap of $8.3 million. They will close it the way everyone else will close it in the lesser zip codes in Silicon Valley, cutting services, laying off workers, instituting new fees, and charging residents for sidewalk repairs...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.19:10: The State of the City is... like canned brocolli

You may have read or heard that the Mayor of San Jose gave his annual State of the City address yesterday morning. It isn't good. The speech included big cuts to the City budget and a big ask for employee concessions. Most disappointing, however, is that the Mayor never actually said, "The State of the City is ____..." But Lew Wolff introduced the Mayor... which was the highlight, according to Watch Dogs who were there...

The Merc Editorial Board said it was "...a plate of canned broccoli..." among other things... Dan Pulcrano (actually) wrote something about it too on San Jose Inside...

But in bigger political news than a bad City of San Jose budget has been announced: The San Jose Police Officers' Association is endorsing District Attorney Dolores Carr over challenger Jeff Rosen. That said, Rosen has lots of other public safety-types, like other police department unions and the Deputy Sheriffs, on his side...

That wasn't the only POA endorsement announced... but it was the only one in the Merc. Here are the rest, courtesy of Protect San Jose: Incumbents Mayor Chuck Reed, Councilmember Pete Constant, and Councilmember Madison Nguyen. For open seats, the POA is getting into bed with Xavier Campos for District 5, Jim Cogan for District 9, and JoAnne McCracken for Judge. If you don't see your favorite candidate in your favorite race, here's why: "In city or county races not listed here, the POA chose not to endorse a candidate." Which probably pisses off Forrest Williams to no end...

Either Rosen or Carr may get to bring charges in the 4th homocide of the year in San Jose which took place last night/ this morning at a restaurant on Berryessa Road and Capitol Avenue...

Our sister blog, Watch Dog San Mateo, has been pointing out what a big deal a "two-tier" retirement system for municipal employees is, as South San Francisco considers the idea... well, Gilroy has taken some preliminary (and ceremonial) action on the idea too... Guess what? Municipal employees don't like it...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.11.10: NAACP vs SJPOA (still)

In case you don't read Watch Dog on the weekend, and we can't imagine there is anyone out there that doesn't... you missed, or should we say mist, some spelling mistakes from the right side of the political spectrum. First we chronicled, or kronikled, Pete Constant's re-election site and then an advertisement from the Chamber of Commerce, or Commerse.


Watch Dog had to be the first to mention this: the NUMMI site in Fremont is being repackaged as the perfect site for the A's according to a story in Saturday's Merc. On August 17, 2009, Watch Dog wrote this:

"...Fremont’s Nummi plant is packing the bags and heading to Texas leaving nearly 5,000 newly unemployed in its wake. Perhaps a Fremont ballpark can actually happen now?...

The head of the local NAACP may not board the Freedom Train on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day because the San Jose Police Officers' Association is a sponsor this year. In his words in the Merc, "After years and months of abusing the community, the San Jose Police Department has the nerve to show up under the banner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..." Well, yes.


But don't worry, it is clear that the SJPOA hears the concerns of the community and is taking steps to repair its reputation... right? Well, not so much... Bobby Lopez, on his way out the door as head of the SJPOA, wrote a piece for the Merc titled: In San Jose Latino arrests, the problem is Latino drinking -- not police practices. Lopez's thinking goes like this: If Latinos would just stop drinking so much, the Police wouldn't have to arrest them so often... Protect San Jose has a reprint of Lopez's OpEd, in case you don't want to give the Merc your "business"...


Taking on the big (sign) issues, San Jose's City Council is going to review changes to the sign ordinance... too big? not big enough? too graphic? too electric? Tuesday is the big day to find out.


"Nobody wants to have any more City bailouts..." That's the sentiment of Chris Esparza who is on the committee (responsible for) making the Mexican Heritage Plaza financially sustainable. He favors a school for the arts while the other major idea is a cultural and entertainment center. The Committee will discuss the ideas publicly Tuesday night...


Scott Herhold provides a picture of how the Sargeant Ranch development (now on hold because owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy) involved Congressman Mike Honda, former Congressman Vic Fazio, and the Amah Mutsun tribe as part of the Ranch owner's bid to circumvent the planning regulations of the County.


The Merc delves a little deeper into the crisis facing Bay Area transit agencies, including the VTA -- but more importantly, brings us a new feature whereby they provide video of reporter Mike Rosenberg talking about the challenges of transit agencies... "New" technology being integrated into the Merc's website? Say it ain't so... That VTA story was on Sunday. Today, the Merc has a piece about how VTA has ambitious plans for the coming years, even though the agency is cash-strapped. Sort of like a newspaper implementing new technology, even though it is cash-strapped...


Speaking of cash-strapped... Team San Jose's Dan Fenton is on his way to Dallas to rescue San Jose's convention business. Team San Jose's labor contracts have pissed off just about everyone in the convention business, and the Convention Center in downtown San Jose is at risk of losing megabucks. The Business Journal (and San Jose Inside) chronicles Fenton's efforts to fix the screw up...


It is car show week in San Jose for all of you folks in the market for high-end automobiles... all three of you.


The race to replace Councilmember Nora Campos on the San Jose City Council got a little more crowded this week, and a little more complicated for sibling Campos (Xavier) who would like to walk right into his sister's seat. Neighborhood leader Aaron Resendez is signing up to run. And in a weird use of City employee time and energy, Councilmember Campos' Chief of Staff takes on the duty of criticizing a political opponent of Xavier Campos...


Moving north... Apple plans to open a "flagship" store in downtown Palo Alto... and yes, there is already an Apple store in downtown Palo Alto -- but this one is going to be a "flagship" store -- so when it opens we'll all have to go see the difference.

Morning News Round-Up -- 9.14.09: Welcome to Club Wet, here's a card for Bad Boys

If you were online and reading Watch Dog this weekend, you probably saw a post from Friday evening about Club Wet's latest and greatest. It includes a YouTube video, so you should probably check it out if you are trying to ease into your Monday morning without doing any real work -- but turn down the volume. (We thank San Jose Inside for being on top of all things Wet.) The Merc followed up with a story on Saturday about the Club. We are especially fond of the quotes of Club Wet's lobbyists/ spokesmen Tom Saggau:

"...No one was hurt, no one was arrested..."
"...every once in a while, people act inappropriately..."

Flashback: Remember, these quotes below that followed a stabbing at Club Wet made by Saggau's partner, Dustin DeRollo, not so long ago

"...It was one individual bad apple that spoiled the barrel..."
"...We don't think this was preventable..."

We bring this up because the firm of Saggau and DeRollo is in the paper again today... but not about Club Wet, about bail bonds. We wonder if Saggau and DeRollo hand out Bad Boys Bail Bonds cards inside the Club...

Speaking of bail bonds, the issue is back and it looks like a 22-month moratorium for new bail bonds will be voted on. The Merc's Editorial Board chimed in supporting the moratorium and called it a "gift" to bail bonds operations. (They also call out the aforementioned lobbyists...)

(Former) Mayor Tom McEnery is moving forward with plans for his Urban Market hoping San Jose’s (already struggling) restaurateurs will help with mini-eateries. The Merc’s Sal Pizarro reports more than a little eye-rolling at the thought of expansion during the economic crisis.

and, speaking of (receiving) anonymous complaints… San Jose’s Elections Commission isn’t interested in hearing from anonymous whistleblowers unless they use the phone. (Former) Mayor Tom McEnery’s 20 “unintentional” paperwork screwups pissed off Commissioners and McEnery neighbors.

Proving nepotism runs strong in San Jose, Councilmember Nora Campos hopes to hand the keys to her office to brother Xavier in San Jose’s 2010 council race. The Merc’s Internal Affairs checked with Campos about the little problem of embezzlement charges facing former employer MACSA to learn the former Chief Operations Officer didn’t get involved in day-to-day operations. (If that is true, we love the ironic job title Campos had...) IA also dishes local judges are refusing furlough days. No doubt the folks making a lot less than the judicial $170,000 would like to do the same. Also in the news, the Boots (Del Biaggio) heading to prison pulled out all the stops with everyone from Catholic Bishops to San Jose Redevelopment Agency staff writing “he’s a nice guy who made a boo-boo” letters to lessen the sentence. Finally, the Van Jones leaves D.C. story won’t end with a return of former labor leader Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins.

The economic crunch continues to pound public libraries. The Santa Clara County Library shut down a third of their computers leaving (unemployed) web-surfing wannabe’s in the lurch when the demand for high intensity data shot up.

For government Watch Dogs, this week is full of fireworks… thank you Merc.

• The County Board of Supervisors discusses passing the State’s cutbacks on to foster care and AIDS prevention.
• San Jose’s City Council hears a debate between experts about San Jose A’s bringing a pretty penny and (finally) concludes the long discussion about bail bonds moratoriums.
• Figuring out whether there are enough textbooks is on tap at the Fremont Union High School District.
• County pockets could become part of the City of Monte Sereno and the Monte Sereno City Council reviews a hazard mitigation plan.
• The Franklin-McKinley School District talks test results.
• During the economic disaster, and with schools losing State money hand over fist, the Santa Clara County Office of Education reviews policies on Board compensation, benefits, and travel.
• The Campbell Union High School District gets an update on the strategic plan. Wonder if this economic crisis was predicted 3 years ago.
• Superintendent Bob Nunez is the discussion at the East Side Union High School District... again.
  
• Hearing about test results and studying student enrollment, attendance areas and transportation is in the works for the Mountain View-Whisman School District.

Morning News Round-Up -- 6.26.09: Ich bin ein Berliner Day...

Seriously, it is Ich bin ein Berliner Day...

The estranged wife of San Jose pension fund Trustee Patrick Skillsky has come to his defense calling him a wonderful man. The Mrs. blames booze and stress for her husband trying to kill her and beating the tar out of San Mateo Police Officers. Stress and booze leading to domestic violence, sounds like just the type of guy you want overseeing billions of public employee pensions...

Aspiring politicos love to be on the San Jose Planning Commission. Unless, of course, you are involved in a controversy just as you prepare to run for City Council. That's what's happening right now on the Planning Commissioners. At the center of the controversy seems to be Xavier Campos, who denies that he violated the Brown Act open government rules.

East Side Union High School District Trustees saved sports! The formal (one time) money shuffle is complete. The future of East Side Union sports is up to athletes and donors to find another $1 million. Now, onto the academics...

The dip in White Road was not your imagination, there’s a busted water pipe leaking thousands of gallons of water a day. Santa Clara Water District spokesperson Susan Siravo is hoping the pipe and road will be up and running in a week. Your shocks and struts may not be so lucky...

The Merc’s Editorial Board cheers the County’s decision to bring Lawyer/Former Supervisor/Dr. Jeffrey Smith on board as the new County Executive. The Editorial closes with a nudge for the Supervisors “…find the political will to back him up...”

After “VIGOROUSLY” objecting to Morgan Hill’s “low-ball” offer for their downtown home, Dwight and Linda Jungkeit asked the City Council to delay the decision on eminent domain. Next time the attorney is expected to be in the room for what promises to be a fun discussion.

The party is over (for now) in Gilroy. Officials from the Department of Justice along with Morgan Hill and Gilroy Police swept up a “bevy” of coke, shrooms, pot, and the “Love Drug” along with guns not meant for a deer hunt.

A little over a decade ago, Morgan Hill Unified School District was ordered to stop harassment of gay students and pay over $1 million in damages to six gay students. The settlement period is finished. Status reports to the ACLU will stop, as will training. Oh, by the way, complaints of discrimination are up, according to Board President Don Moody.

Gilroy Unified School District needs a new Superintendent and is giving themselves 16 weeks to find the new Super. Watch Dog San Mateo has an idea...

Checking in on the local blogosphere:

San Jose Revealed seems to be sticking to the "pneumonia" excuse for a long, long time. Not to sound unsympathetic, but Watch Dog is skeptical... they haven't posted since June 14th. According to WebMd:

For most people, pneumonia can be treated at home. It often clears up in 2 to 3 weeks.

San Jose Inside gets in on Mayor Reed's trip up to the Most Dysfunctional Place on Earth (a.k.a. Sacramento) to tell the Governor to keep his hands off local funds. Sounds like an awesome meeting. (Mission City Lantern likes this story too...)

Protect San Jose has some reader-generated ideas about how to solve the City's budget mess. Most interesting to Watch Dog is that Councilmember Pete Constant takes aim at the Mariachi Festival. He and Bobby Lopez must share talking points...

Morning News Round-Up -- 6.1.09: Football season begins early...

It is almost professional football season... at least in Santa Clara it is. The Merc’s Editorial Board offers an opinion on the (Santa Clara) 49ers – let the voters chime in. Santa Clara Unified School District Superintendent Steve Stavis is on board and sent a note to Mayor Patricia Mahan that included mention of $141 million for schools if the 49ers make their new home here… At the same time, Santa Clara City Manager Jennifer Sparacino says the proposed stadium will result in “excellent economic development.”

Calling San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis’ “just say no” policy to public requests for the 911 tapes “inflexible” the Merc’s Editorial Board also says it's bad policy. They call on the Chief to release the tapes from the death of Daniel Pham. Very Herholdian of the Editorial Board...

The economic meltdown could bring benefits to San Jose development projects. Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Nora Campos are teaming up to support lowered fees for Mesa Development’s 360 Residences. According to Campos the biggest risk is “failing to support projects” ready for prime time.

The Campos Crew was elsewhere in the news over the weekend too...

• Mr. Insurance, otherwise known as Assemblymember Joe Coto, is handing his lucrative reins to San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos. According to the Merc’s Internal Affairs, Campos should officially announce that she is running for Assembly today. San Jose Revealed dished last week on the (un)surprising news…
• Councilmemer Nora Campos’ brother Planning Commissioner/Council hopeful Xavier Campos’ involvement in multiple “scandalous” events.
  

Assemblymember Joe Coto is focusing his legislation on the hyper-local. Legislation changing elections for the Santa Clara Valley Water District is on tap for Assemblymembers. Water District Director Rosemary Kamei calls it a good idea and says it will ensure South County of representation.

The Merc’s Man About Town, Sal Pizarro, didn’t offer to help the Institute of Contemporary Art’s Cathy Kimball with her dunk tank. But, he does ask you to offer names for the ICA’s buck a dunk fun during the SubZero Festival… Pizarro hopes you’ll head to the Fairmont for dinner with Cisco’s John Chambers and (former) Foothill-DeAnza Chancellor/D.C.-bound Martha Kanter.

San Jose brothers Kulbir and Amirtpal Dhaliwal walk away with $900,000, Carlos Sousa, Jr. and Tatiana lost their lives. The Merc’s Scott Herhold says the boys aren’t angels but the San Francisco Zoo got off easy.

Mountain View Police ended a Shoreline concert early when fighting broke out and 6 people were stabbed. None of the victims appears to have life threatening injuries.

The perv following sisters on their way to school was busted. Seems Armando Sanchez is already a convicted sex offender.

And the understatement of the day... schools in Mountain View and Los Altos didn’t do too badly in the states new API rankings.

San Jose Inside gets a giggle out of a Tesla recall…

Here to inform, the Merc’s Government Watch…

• The budget is top news for City Councils in Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, along with Fremont Union High School, Palo Alto Unified School District, and San Jose Unified School District
• Milpitas Councilmembers discuss a proposal from Vice Mayor Pete McHugh for an un-layoff of full-time City employees.
• San Jose’s City Council considers keeping/cutting their pay and hears recommendations from the (decimated) Drunk Task Force.
• San Jose’s Rules and Open Government Committee talks to the Merc about release of the Daniel Pham/911 tapes.
• Santa Clara County Office of Education talks school safety and charter schools.

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.20.09: Porn on 420...a perfect day?

Where to begin today's Round-Up? That is the question. Let's go with porn...

If you missed it, a pissed-off library patron shot Watch Dog a copy of a flier that "Values" Advocacy Council folks were handing out San Jose libraries this weekend. Please notice that none of these folks bothered to enter the library and take a look through the Chicago Manual of Style...or an 8th Grade English text book.

While we are on it, the Merc’s Editorial Board chimes in on Internet filters and advocates common sense and spending money where it helps over fear-mongering. “The long-expected showdown over censorship at San Jose's public libraries has fizzled into a squabble over money. And that is a very good thing.” Watch Dog will have more on this subject as today (and tomorrow) roll on.

Now, onto the San Jose and another controversy about police and police oversight...not as sexy as pornography, but...

The new Independent Police Auditor may have a tiny conflict of interest. Ok, probably a bit larger than tiny. It seems seems Chris Constantin’s brother is a San Jose homicide detective. Mayor Chuck Reed and the City Council were aware but no one bothered to mention it during the press roll-out. (Check out the Mayor's press release here. See if you can find mention of Chris Constantin's brother...) Downtown Association President Scott Knies called for Constantin’s resignation. San Jose Revealed offered up the news as well…

District Attorney Dolores Carr has yet another prosecutorial mishap on her hands. This time David Tomkin’s identified his status as prosecutor in a letter to the Santa Cruz Planning Commission. The husband and wife duo of Cheryl and Thad Poland called it inappropriate and so does the State Bar code.

In an obvious sign that there are a lot of folks who are willing to work for free and do tedious work...San Jose Revealed has a new Friday feature – “Next Week’s Agenda.” This week Revealed is excited to see:

• Retiree Healthcare
• Porn-For-All
• No Free Parks
• Drunk Latino Task Force Squabbles
• Who Hangs in Downtown San Jose

Retired San Jose firefighter James Carter collected a cool quarter million for unused sick days. Apparently not getting his talking points from Jack Salois, even Mr. Carter thinks it was over the top. When told the amount he’d collected a surprised “Holy Cow” popped out of his mouth.

Baseball neighborhood NIMBY’s get their Easter cocktails at Patty’s Inn with Baseball San Jose fans according to bartender Ken Tonelli. Neighbor Bobby Menbari is worried about drunk baseball fans ambling through the neighborhood. Neighborhood President Helen Chapman says the new ballpark should be built “…really, really well.” As opposed to what, Ms. Chapman?

Roll out the bike – it’s a Spare the Air Day – no free transit though on this record breaking hot day.

San Jose Insider/Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio confesses that, although a San Jose native, safety concerns kept him out of East San Jose. The Campos combo of Councilmember Nora Campos and Planning Commissioner Xavier Campos took Oliverio touring to dispel his childhood bias. It must have worked, Oliverio becomes a pitchman for Council wannabe Xavier Campos.

The Metro/Inside Fly got a giggle when Council candidate Pam Foley received a plug (and dinner) from San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Pat Dando. The irony is, Foley’s opponent in the race, Ball Gag’s Chief of Staff Jim Cogan, once worked for Dando. Cogan was a no show at the Chamber event. The following night Foley was the guest of Silicon Valley Assemblyman Jim Beall at the annual Santa Clara County Democratic Party dinner. Watch Dog spies tell us Cogan did make the Democratic Dinner which featured Gubernatorial wannabes John Garamendi and Gavin Newsom.

Speaking of Pat Dando..."Run, Patsy, Run!" Is the word from the Merc’s Internal Affairs about Chamber CEO Pat Dando’s toying with a shot at County Supervisor next year. Dando says she’s interested in balancing the views on the Board, not that she’s politically ambitious. Good thing the political reporters at the Merc. read the Metro a few weeks ago or they would have missed this one...

The Merc’s Joe Rodriguez shares the life of San Jose’s Yosimar Reyes and asks “Poor, brown and gay: Poetry makes his day, but does it pay?” MACLA leader Tamara Alvarado said slam poets tend to fade quickly but “Yosi” is a natural writer. With friends like Carlos Santana and Harry Belafonte, the poet is headed for good rhythms.

Internal Affairs also reports a squabble is brewing between GOP gubernatorial wannabe/neighbors Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner. Poizner is calling Whitman’s handling of eBay finances “disastrous. Easy for Poizner to say, he sold his company at the peak of the original tech boom and didn't have to manage it through any busts...

Finally, Internal Affairs calls out San Jose’s Mayor Chuck Reed for “stupidest statement of the year.” His Mayoralness apparently thinks Silicon Valley families earning $250,000 can’t buy a house and created the up and coming “upper working class.” Really, Chuck?

A second Councilmember Herrera!?

When Watch Dog wrote our 2010 Political Predictions, we included a hint when describing the San Jose City Council race for District 5 to replace Councilmember Nora Campos. Here is what we wrote then:

District 5
Councilmember Nora Campos will be termed out of office and will seek greener pastures...which will leave the race wide open, right? Well, not so much. Her brother, Planning Commissioner/Political Hack Xavier Campos is lining up to coast into office. Unless something goes horribly wrong. (Which judging from who Xavier hangs out with, is not impossible.) There will be other folks in the race, like Bud LoMonaco, but unless someone else gets in the race (hint hint) it is going to be a Campos Cakewalk.

Watch Dog District 5 Prediction: Boring Race (unless)
Watch Dog District 5 Winner: Xavier Campos (unless)
Watch Dog District 5 Loser: District 5 Residents

Guess what Watch Dogs...our hint to Manuel Herrera joining the race was right.