Morning News Round-Up -- 5.25.10: 2-40-2 Head line Bold herej head line bold goes here and here's more headling bold jyg

The Bay Area News Group is very proud of itself today as it unveils a (growing) database of public employee salaries for much of the Bay Area. Expect lots of folks on the 18th Floor to be search the database today... and if you have time, you can see how much more many of these folks make than you.

Speaking of public employees...

Not a day can go by without some news coming out of the San Jose City Council District 5 race. Yesterday it was Aaron Resendez who was making public a conversation that he had with Councilmember Nora Campos' Chief of Staff Ryan Ford. (Nora Campos is candidate Xavier Campos' brother.) It wasn't a conversation as much as it was a dressing down of Resendez by Ford, according to Resendez. He has called on Councilmember Nora Campos for a public apology, which sounds like he deserves... even Kathleen says so. Ryan Ford should expect a congratulatory call from Cindy Chavez and Neil Struthers today, "Our little boy is all grown up..."
Also, our call for campaign mailers yielded some fruit, and since we are in District 5 already, here is a glimpse of how nasty the race has become... With all due respect to Pat Dando, do voters in District 5 know her name still? Do voters in District 10?

Scott Herhold can not resist apparently. He takes yet another shot, albeit from a different angle, at District Attorney Dolores Carr. This time, Herhold isn't talking about her fancy car or her lack of ethics, although these things find their way into the piece (ok, not the car stuff). He profiles a Deputy DA who wants her boss to lose... she joins 40 other Deputy DA's in wanting the same thing. 40 DA's and one columnist...

Speaking of issues of crime and justice, the Merc Editorial Board continues to review its sample ballot and come up with judicial nominations in todays paper. They choose JoAnne McCracken, Vanessa Zecher, and Julia Alloggiamento but absolutely positively do not want you to vote for Thomas Spielbauer. They went so far as to write: Don't vote for Thomas Spielbauer. Wow. Perhaps Speilbauer and District Attorney Dolores Carr could commisserate about being treated like shit from the same newspaper...

Willow Glen Middle School was at the center of the world yesterday. (Some would say that Lincoln and Minnesota are always the center of the world...) A student apprently wrote a "hit list" on a bathroom wall that sent everyone into high alert.

Matier and Ross at the Chronicle (and the entire Chronicle, come to think about it) loves writing negative stories about the 49ers wishes to move to Santa Clara... yesterday's story was about how much money the 49ers are spending on their campaign. Another way to look at it is they are spending all that money to get the hell out of San Francisco...

Violent crime is on a downswing, according to statistics in San Jose. Of course, if you read Protect San Jose, we are headed down the road of Oakland...

Mountain View is buying up land faster than a South Bay city trying to land a Major League Baseball team...

Assembly candidate Josh Becker gets a long write-up by Daily News Group reporter Will Oremus... and the story (obviously) includes a stop at University Cafe in Palo Alto... a.k.a. Becker's headquarters.

Admit it Palo Alto readers, you were at the City Council meeting last night when the Council was discussing the Stanford University hospitals' expansion plans... that must have been so much NIMBY fun... so much fun, in fact, that the Palo Alto City Council put more demands, euphemistically called "community benefits" on the growing list of things Stanford should do to make their project acceptable to Palo Alto... like a "revenue guarantee"...

It has been a while since we made fun of Palo Alto Weekly's Editor Jay Thorwaldson for his "blogging" -- but his recent chime-in on High-Speed Rail re-sparked our snarkiness. He has posted twice in 2010. Perhaps he is getting into this new-fangled technology thingy...

We put this towards the end because really, who cares: Newt Gingrich endorsed Meg Whitman. One has to believe that Whitman sold her 2012 Presidential endorsement down the river for this endorsement...

Finally, does pointing out the Merc's technical difficulties ever get old? Watch Dog doesn't think so... this was a headline for a breaking news story last night:

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.13.10: Bike to Work... (or think about it at least...)

San Jose will join forces with other right-minded (or is it left-minded) California communities in pushing for some sort of boycott of Arizona... Don Gage and Pete Constant are the only (tea party) hold outs and are supporting the Arizona law -- sort of. Expect lots of American flag t-shirts and a Tea Party rally before the Council meeting in June...

When the San Jose City Council does take up the issue in June, it is likely that they won't get a lot of text messages during the Council meeting... John Woolfolk at the Merc looks into the lack of texting between lobbyists and the Council during Council meetings, which they banned a few months backed -- it wasn't so much as a ban as much as it was that those texts were open to the Public Records Act. We did learn something interesting from Councilmember Ash Kalra:

"Councilman Ash Kalra said he was messaging back and forth with his staff about unrelated upcoming agenda items, something he does frequently because "it's the one time of the week when they have me captive and I can get stuff done.""

That probably isn't very reassuring to all those public speakers (and City Staff) who think that Kalra is actually listening to them... silly public speakers (and City Staff)...

Yesterday was the Merc's deep-dive into the Dolores Carr half of the DA's race, today is Jeff Rosen's moment in the spotlight. There is lots of good information in the piece about his background, his law school days, how he didn't like being an associate at a law firm, and this little tidbit: he weighs 140 pounds...

Just to pile on...

The Metro's endorsements have been piling up on someone's desk, because they are all coming out at once. First it was Magdalena Carrasco and now it is Jeff Rosen. Just so we are clear, Metro endorsed Dolores Carr last go'round, but not this time...

49ers in. Yahoo in. The Santa Clara City Council is having a very busy year...

The Mercury News Editorial Board agrees with just about everyone else that the Water District should redo how it redrew their District lines... the District has scrapped the old plan and now is looking for a new plan...

The Merc Ed Board also commends the East Side Union High School District Board for cutting their own stipend and insisting on paying part of their medical benefits... which begs the question: East Side Union Board members get a stipend and health benefits?

We can't believe we've missed out on another local blog... Sunnyvale City Councildweeb Jim Griffith is writing frequently and brings us an insider's perspective to the goings on in Sunnyvale. Read more at dweeb.org... the latest updates are about Nokia opening up their Nor Cal headquarters in downtown Sunnyvale, which is "huge" according to Jim's Council Blog... He recommends: "...every one of us should immediately go out and buy our City Manager, our City Attorney, and their respective staffs a large bottle of their favorite alcoholic beverage..." That would be a sleepy party...

In sad news, the ACLU is closing its San Jose office because of budget cuts. That will make San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis and the POA pretty happy... but it makes Watch Dog sad. Why? First, the ACLU protects idiots like Watch Dog... and second, the ACLU local person, Skyler Porras, was a great quote. Remember these highlights?:

• About Mayor Reed: "...petulant political posturing..."
• About a plan for the San Jose Police Department to police themselves: "...Asking the police department to police themselves has been about as effective as asking a teenager to ground themselves after missing curfew..."
• About San Jose's plan to hire a group of social scientists to study the drunk arrest problem: "...a bumbling way to appease a scandal-plagued but politically powerful police department..."

While we are on the topic, did you know that a west coast big city mayor forced out the city's police chief? There were concerns about how the police department was dealing with vulnerable populations in the city... hmmm...

Finally, there is a woman at Valley Medical Center that they are trying to identify. If you know an elderly Asian woman that is missing, please take a look at the photo.

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.30.10: DeadbeatDellums.com...

Sharks won Game 1... and not because the Red Wings were grounded for missing curfew either...

From the sublime to the ridiculous...

Because we can't help ourselves, Watch Dog Silicon Valley is now the "point out Mayor Ron Dellums' shortcomings" blog... yesterday we wrote about his Palin-esque (or was it Yoda-esque) quote in the paper. Today it is a story from the Chronicle about Mayor Dellums going back on his pledge to take a 10 percent paycut. (He needs the money to pay the IRS who probably have their own internal blog about Dellums' shortcomings... DeadbeatDellums.com) But should MLB really listen to guy who can't pay his taxes and goes back on his $18,000 paycut pledge? Just asking. We'll add this to the "things that won't happen in San Jose when the A's move here" list: there will be no anti-Wolff banners, there will be no anti-A's City Attorney, and there will be no Mayor that gives back his paycut... San Jose looks better and better everyday... don't you think Bud?

Super Bowl in Santa Clara? It could happen, and James Rowen will absolutely be there... His blog-enemies will absolutely not be...

But a story in today's Merc brings up the prospects of "...Raider Nation -- and its rough-and-tumble reputation -- descending on Silicon Valley for football Sundays..." and how that might impact the vote in June. It ain't the wine and cheese-going 49er crowd, that's for sure...

High-Speed Rail could be in trouble, according to a new State audit because it... "...suffers from 'weak oversight,' 'lax' management and a shaky funding plan..." Funny, we thought that was the norm for things coming out of Sacramento... One thing for sure, this audit will be the talk of the country-club set in Menlo Park and Atherton this weekend...

We'll let Sean Webby continue his work on this story and we won't comment at all: Prosecutor: San Jose cop's work on sex assault cases sloppy, but no charges...

Our only comment on this story is that the formatting, probably for a split second yesterday, was a bit screwy... so we share because we can't resist...

While we are on the San Jose Police, the San Jose POA's Vice President didn't mince words when he expressed regret that the Police Chief didn't get the Dallas job, sort of... "Chief Davis has lost the confidence of his troops..." tick tock Chief Davis, tick tock. Of course, we've said that before...

• Medical Cannabis Dude A: Dude, let's file a lawsuit against the City of San Jose for trying to screw with us...
• Medical Cannabis Dude B: Dude... let's do it...

(Don't worry all you medical cannabis users out there. I support you. But it is funnier to write about this story if we throw the word "dude" in once and awhile...)

If you life isn't boring enough, there will be public workshops will start this weekend about how to develop 2,600 acres of land around San Jose's "water treatment"/ sewage plant. Either your life isn't boring enough OR you ran out of your Ambien prescription...

Become the Lt. Governor go on Colbert... that is Maldo's path to fame.

But the special elections that the Governor is pushing got dinged in the Merc Editorial pages today... because of cost ($3 million) and because of politics...

The Board of Supervisors' plan to ban fast food toys gets some love on SFist.com... at the same time that George Shirakawa goes out for steak for a good cause (Dining Out for Life) and presumably not handing out toys... BUT wait, the comments on San Jose Inside tell a different story: apparently Shirakawa wasn't going to be there after his press release was sent out...

The City of Cupertino is laying out some cash ($2.1 million) now (with Siemens) to reap energy efficiency savings later (through cuts in energy and water bills)... How'd they find $2.1 million? $438k in grants, $562k in capital improvement reserves, and the other $1.1 will come from a private lender or reserves...

The Minton's project in Mountain View got approved. 203 "luxury apartments" will be built on the site of the old lumber yard... Prometheus Real Estate Group 1, NIMBYs 0...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.26.10: to Round 2...

Let's start with all things South Bay professional sports related...

Sharks, Sharks, Sharks... onto round two of the playoffs. A choke-free playoffs, perhaps? Tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. -- perhaps Councilmember Liccardo can help you score some tickets...

We learn today that 52 percent of folks in Santa Clara are supporting Measure J, the stadium measure, with 36 opposed and 11 percent undecided. Which begs the question, who are these 11 percent of the people. The stadium has been a civic question in Santa Clara for about 2 years, give or take. Have they not picked up the Weekly, the Mercury News, or talked to a neighbor in that period of time? And you know this must be newsworthy because the Chronicle picked up the poll numbers as well...

Lawyers, lawyer, lawyers. Cedar Fair, the folks that own Great America, love their lawyers. They are trying to renegotiate their lease at Great America in Santa Clara to account for the 49ers stadium.

San Jose is pushing forward with buying the land around the proposed A's baseball stadium site near Diridon Station. Tracy Seipel at the Merc has the run-down about which pieces of land need buying and which ones don't... (Note to Michelle McGurk: Please clip and send this story to Bud...)

Speaking of buying land... San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos gets a little piece in Internal Affairs written about her -- and not in a good way. The gossipy piece talks about how she was (perhaps?) shilling for her husband's unions when she made a stink about the sale of the $20 million pair of parking lots in downtown San Jose and if the eventual developers will use "prevailing wages" to pay its workers to build -- which, it is noted in the story, the City of San Jose and the Redevelopment Agency has no ability to demand or enforce...

Internal Affairs finally catches up with the Metro/ San Jose Inside (Chuck and Larry?, San Jose Inside, April 8th) in running a piece about a possible Mayoral endorsement of right winger Larry Pegram in the San Jose City Council District 9 race. The Mayor's spokesperson gives a classic non-answer/answer: "As of today, he has not endorsed anyone." Of course, that was yesterday, who knows about today...

Teresa Alvarado got the nod from the Mercury News Editorial Board for County Supervisor... they call her "a standout"... (Cindy Chavez is going to be really, really pissed about that endorsement... so will Forrest, Mike, Tom, and Peter...)

From the previous Hispanic Foundation chief to the current one... Ron Gonzales, you remember, the former San Jose Mayor, climbed out from under a proverbial rock to pen a piece for a newspaper that he had a pretty big feud with. Bygones, we guess... He writes about the need for companies to come to the aid of schools locally.

Speaking of feuds with the local paper... Here's something that Protect San Jose will actually like that is written in the Mercury News. The words "police tactics" and "widespread praise" are in the same headline... the story is about the downtown San Jose policing, which was (ahem) a bit of an issue for a while...

The San Jose City Council will consider (again) cutting its salary and the salary of high-ranking City officials. But that isn't the part of the story that is striking in any way, this passage is: "...a 10 percent salary cut would bring council members to $84,442 — less than the wage of the average city worker..." The average working in the City of San Jose makes $88,000. $88,000! To quote the head of the Municipal Employees' Federation (who was critical of how much high-ranking City officials make): I'd love to have that kind of accounting in my checkbook...

Interestingly, a similar story (sort of) appears in the Chronicle today, noting that 1 in 3 employees in the City and County of San Francisco government make over $100,000. Perhaps the Merc could re-run their numbers and find the same thing for the City of San Jose (and perhaps even for the County of Santa Clara...)

The Morgan Hill Times does a deep dive into the District Attorney's race... and uses more flattering pictures for both Carr and Rosen. That is something they can probably both agree on, that newspapers ought to use flattering pictures...

Meg Whitman = Big Connections... and she showed it on Friday night when Mitt Romney and John McCain showed up at an event in Redwood City. Of course, both of those guys lost their last election, so perhaps she should invite more folks on a winning streak... just a thought.

We love you too Mission City Lantern... and that is non-negotiable...

Good luck getting your Sharks' tickets everyone...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.19.10: When in Munich...

The Sharks won game two... but lost game three in OT...

Speaking of Silicon Valley professional sports... The Merc's Editorial Board loves Measure J: "...The site near highways and rail is perfect for football, and Santa Clara is a well-run city that can capably handle this project..." So does the Merc's Scott Herhold, who says the 49ers' stadium makes sense, even if it didn't make cents... (Mission City Lantern is happy...)

This will make everyone at Protect San Jose very, very angry. (As if they weren't angry enough!) The Merc won a bunch of awards at the California Newspaper Publishers Association annual contest, and the stories that Sean Webby wrote about the use of force by the San Jose Police Department are now "award-winning stories by Sean Webby"...

Oh, and this: Sean Webby has a profile of LaDoris Cordell as she gets ready to move into the Independent Police Auditor's office in San Jose. We learn about her background, her time on the bench, her time in Palo Alto City Hall, and how she will approach the IPA job. We also get a choice quote from Councilmember Pete Constant, who along with the Mayor and Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio, voted against her appointment: "...I have concerns that her star power may overshadow the role of the IPA..." Because why would we want an Independent Police Auditor that is independent or that audits the police?

Patty Fisher of the Merc dives into the deep end with her column today criticizing the firefighters unions in Palo Alto and San Jose. And even calls out the San Jose firefighters union and their ideas to help close the budget deficit in the city: "...Their idea of concessions is to defer some vacation and their $495 annual uniform allowance. Hey heroes, let's get real..."

It was Sunday yesterday, which means the Merc's Internal Affairs is reason enough to get the paper... usually. This week we learned that San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio gets more girls without the beard, even if it is the NHL playoffs and that Dr. Phil is helping State Senator Leland Yee get a bill passed in Sacramento...

Who said that only Southern California could have a 3rd Street Promenade? Not Morgan Hill... their's opened up this weekend to much fanfare... at least a lot of fanfare for Morgan Hill...

There was a brutal attack during a home invasion in Gilroy on Tuesday. The two victims are still in the hospital and one is still in critical condition. Police think the home, and the victims, were targeted.

A group of musicians from Los Gatos High School had a great trip to Europe to play some concerts... on their way back home, they had a layover in Munich, which is where they have been since Friday because of the volcano in Iceland. Don't worry, they are having a great time in Germany and they are enjoying missing class too. Thank you Luftansa! Here is some advice for you high schoolers, from Rick Steves...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.16.10: All Tea Partied Out...

Tea Party on Cesar Chavez Plaza (ironic?) happened yesterday. Were you there? Was Pete Constant?

Here's something that perhaps the Tea Party folks might like, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmembers Pete Constant and Sam Liccardo are taking a further big pay cut and asking key City staff leaders to take a 10 percent cut as well. What's good for the goose is good for the gander and all that shit.

Speaking of people that want to be Mayor... Cindy Chavez is in the news again (again, again). First it was her blacklisting political consultant Jude Barry. Then it was threatening Assemblymembers who gave money to Magdalena Carrasco. Now we learn that she thinks that there is some evil cabal trying to screw up her world. So pervasive is this thought that she apparently gave an impassioned plea to labor folks to endorse (Republican) Dolores Carr for District Attorney because Jeff Rosen "...is endorsed by Sam Liccardo, who is linked to former Mayor Tom McEnery and Deputy District Attorney David Pandori..."

Last week we read in a Merc OpEd why the 49ers' stadium was bad dead for Santa Clara, today we read why that was BS and how the football stadium "makes sense for Santa Clara"... or makes lots and lots and lots of cents... take your pick. It is penned by Santa Clara Mayor Patricia Mahan and Councilmember Jamie Matthews.

Emile's. Home of fine French dining in downtown San Jose and child pornography? Well, Emile Mooser, the restaurant's namesake was picked up on child pornography felony charges... and he has never even been a priest...

San Jose State is facing big budget cuts... 76 staff folks are losing their jobs. We are sure Mission City Lantern has some ideas who could be included in the 76...

Speaking of bad news for workers and institutions...

Stanford Hospitals final final offer to nurses was final. Of course, that's if you ask management. If you ask nurses, they think there is still room to move... room to move to picket line maybe.

And this, the Gilroy Unified School District has reached a "stalemate" with the teachers union: how many times can you split $0?

And remember that the Palo Alto Firefighters' Union (led by a Sunnyvale City Councilmember) was circulating a petition to get a ballot measure in November that limited (stopped) cuts to the Palo Alto Fire Department? Well, three (brave) Councilmembers are asking voters not to sign the petition: Karen Holman, Larry Klein, and Greg Scharff.

Hell hath no fury like neighbors facing school field lights...

Shocking! The Mercury News says vote "yes" on the school district parcel tax elections on the (mail-in) ballot this May...

We've seen it in San Mateo County for some time, as Watch Dog San Mateo can attest, but now some Santa Clara County cities and agencies are thinking about consolidating their police and fire departments... like Morgan Hill contracting with the Sheriff's office.

Sharpen your skates for game two tonight...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.13.10: Battle of Millionaires...

Let the battle of millionaires (billionaires?) begin... Great America is suing the City of Santa Clara and the 49ers over their plans to build a stadium. The suit is over the Environmental Impact Report and its legality... as the story in the Merc suggests, this might be a way for Cedar Fair (the folks that own Great America) to improve their position in negotiations with the City and the Team... sort of like the San Francisco Giants complaining about the A's move to San Jose. As we said, it is a battle of millionaires... (Even the Chronicle wrote about the lawsuit, so it must be important...)

Gilroy might be happy about a story where a man drove 3,000 miles to get to their town... if it was about someone going to the Garlic Festival or to shop at the outlets... but this story is about a Canadian man who drove from Ontario, Canada to Gilroy to have sex with a 17 year old. Not exactly the stuff of note for the Gilroy Chamber.

On a lighter note, there are three new chicks at San Jose City Hall... (and no, we don't mean the new summer interns Councilmember Oliverio...)

If you love Ming's in Palo Alto, and any who is anyone in politics does love Ming's, then get ready for a big change in your life. The owners of Ming's are taking all the money you paid for your dim sum and putting into a big new hotel on the same site. Don't worry, a new Ming's will emerge out of the project and they will have plenty of pork buns for everyone...

In case you have extra time today, take a look at this PensionMeter put together by the SacBee. We'll write about it later...

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 -- 4.7.10: San Jose A's won in extra innings...

Big news on the San Jose baseball front... Bob DuPuy, a senior executive of Major League Baseball had lunch with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed on Monday. That has to be a good sign. No word on what they ate... but the fact that Mr. DuPuy had lunch in San Jose rather than Oakland on Opening Day is probably more important...

Big news on the 49ers in Santa Clara front too... Cedar Fair will not be sold to a private equity firm after all, which means Great America will still be owned by Cedar Fair, and Cedar Fair doesn't like the 49ers one bit. Perhaps the EJR (Enemies of James Rowen) will get some political cash behind their cause... Less newsworthy on the 49ers front is that Councilmembers Will Kennedy and Jamie McLeod are opposing it... and wrote about their opposition in a Merc Op-Ed today. It isn't easy being on the wrong side of history... This hints to Watch Dog that a glowing, pro-49ers Editorial is in the works, perhaps for Sunday's paper.

Big (and head-scratching) news on the political front having to do with Mayor Chuck Reed. He is endorsing Richard Calderon for Sheriff over incumbent Laurie Smith. This just proves that the Mayor will listen to any advice Vic Ajlouny gives him, even if it makes absolutely no sense. Watch Dog predicts Reed will soon endorse Vic's other client, San Jose City Council District 9 candidate Larry Pegram... (Even though Pegram raised virtually no money up to now.) More on Richard Calderon is forthcoming on this blog... stay tuned.

In other endorsement/announcement news, the South Bay Labor Council's Committee on Political Education (COPE) made their endorsements for the June ballot. They endorsed Forrest Williams, Madison Nguyen, Xavier Campos -- also known as the "brain trust"... They made an "open endorsement" of Don Rocha and Jim Cogan in District 9, which means individual unions can choose who they like as long as they stay are far away from Larry Pegram as everyone else is, except the Mayor. They made no endorsement in the re-election campaigns of Pete Constant, Sam Liccardo, or Mayor Reed... Here's the full list, not a lot of surprises.

Attention San Jose: Los Angeles could go broke by June 30. That should send fiscal shock waves through the state...

In an effort to not go broke by June 30, the San Jose City Council will make kids and families suffer this summer without (most) City-run pools...

Gilroy is also trying not to go broke, and how they are doing it is going to make public safety officials throughout the County nervous... Gilroy is putting a ballot measure to voters that would repeal binding arbitration for their firefighters...

More strict rules on alcohol in restaurants in downtown Morgan Hill are on the horizon. As if you needed another reason not to go to downtown Morgan Hill. (Just kidding Councilmember Carr...)

Until tomorrow loyal readers...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.1.10: XXL Round-Up...

We picked the wrong day to slack off yesterday... there were several fun, reoccurring stories that updated yesterday. Where to start?...

A Mercury News poll finds that 62 percent of San Jose voters would approve a baseball stadium for the A's. That's good news for Lew Wolff... But when will MLB make their decision? That's what the Merc Editorial Board would like to know... Word on the street is that the news is forthcoming...

A federal court ruled that San Jose Police Officers did not use excessive force during Mardi Gras 2006 against three San Jose State students... A ray of light in a dark, dark PR year for the San Jose Police Officers...

Club Wet is reopened, but without the fun. No alcohol for 60 days because the State ABC thinks they are running "...a disorderly premise..." Y'think? The City of San Jose figured that out a long time ago. So did the people who were stabbed on the dance floor... Too bad Club Wet's lobbyists don't contribute to the campaigns of ABC members...

$35 million could be generated by a hotel tax in Santa Clara for the 49ers new stadium... hotel owners will have to vote on it first, but this is a slam dunk. (Sorry to mix a basketball metaphor into a football story...)

While we are in Santa Clara... the Merc gives a little ink to the 49ers opponents in today's paper (is it ironic that the story ran on April 1st?)... this has James at Mission City Lantern all worked up and ready to barf...

And while Santa Clara is going to finance part of their stadium with a hotel tax, San Jose is considering funding part of its budget debt with taxes on pot clubs... maybe. They will reconsider the issue in June and perhaps place a pot tax on the November ballot. (Surprising absolutely no one at City Hall, there were only 10 Councilmembers at the meeting when the vote on the pot club was taken... guess which Councilmember wasn't there...)

Folks still love the Jude Barry blacklisted story... seventeen (ok, 5) Watch Doggers forwarded this blog post from Fox & Hound. Most were of the "Cindy Chavez is behind this" camp, while a few were of the "Jude Barry is a snake" camp. The blog post is very much in the "organized labor are thugs" camp and asks the question: "Perhaps Jerry Brown could be added to the “Do Not Patronize” list. It makes more sense to ban him than it does to ban Jude Barry." (Because Jerry Brown wants to limit government, cut workers, etc., etc., etc.) Only 3 Watch Doggers forwarded this posting on CalBuzz.com...

Steve Poizner is having a lot of trouble these days. His run for Governor is stalled... and his book (book?) is pissing people off. Remember, Poizner taught at Mount Pleasant High School after he made a cool billion... now his book bashes Mount Pleasant, much to the chagrin of the folks in the East Side Union High School District.

The Merc Editorial Board says you should vote yes on Proposition 15 -- as it would run a pilot project with public campaign financing for the Secretary of State's race in 2014 and 2018... that is, if the state has any money in 2014...

Scott Herhold at the Merc talks about saving an icon at Moffett... and he isn't talking about Hangar 1, he is talking about the throwing field that you can see from 101...

So you know, Watch Dog has not stopped reading Protect San Jose. It is just a little obvious these days. The City needs to make cuts... Police Officers and Fire Fighters are the largest budget items... they want to avoid cuts... news at 11... If they used their blog to propose something new, that would be one thing, but to harp on "if you cut police officers, bandits will roam the streets" is a little stale... sorry.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.29.10: Jude versus Cindy?

If you are involved at all in politics in Silicon Valley, Friday was a busy day. Local political guru Jude Barry was put on the "do not patronize" list of the California Labor Federation because he co-founded a company that allows folks to gather signatures for ballot initiatives via iPhone. Internal Affairs had a run-down, so did San Jose Inside. If you want the full story, including a quote from Cindy Chavez who (probably) coordinated the entire thing -- read the IA version of things. The labor folks are "unhappy" because the signature-gathering software -- Verafirma -- is being used for an anti-labor signature-gathering effort. Of course, it is also being used by a group aiming to repeal Prop 8 and another group trying to legalize marijuana. So, Watch Dog has to wonder, who is next on the California Labor Federation's blacklist: perhaps the "paycheck protection" folks are using HP computers, Apple iPhones, and Cisco routers... We wonder when Marc Hurd, Steve Jobs, and John Chambers will get their black-list notice...

So what does this all mean? We'll see. We know what it means for Teresa Alvarado, a Barry client. She didn't get the South Bay Labor Council endorsement but Forrest Williams did. The Labor Council must have been impressed with Williams' depth of knowledge, command of issues, and charisma... The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce endorsed Mike Wasserman. No doubt that they were impressed by the "R" after his name...

If you would like to see some Jude Barry's work, check out the 49ers new tv ad. Ironically, you know who could have used a campaign television ad this good? Cindy Chavez...

James at Mission City Lantern also has something to say about Jude... we aren't sure what he means all the time, but in this case, we think he means that he likes Jude and he likes Cindy Chavez, but that Jude is right in this case and Cindy is wrong.

San Jose, the self-touted "green capital," is putting two football fields' worth of solar on the new airport parking garage, but it seems that the two football fields' worth of solar will be Canadian football fields... because local companies didn't really bid on the project...

If you love public visioning processes, you were probably at the one this weekend for the Diridon Station area of downtown. If that stuff doesn't put you to sleep, try Ambien...

"Dude, let's go to the San Jose City Council on Tuesday to let them know about how much we love pot... err, cannabis, clubs." You have got to love a City that is going to the ballot to increase the number of poker tables, but may vote to shut down pot clubs.

From pot to prostitution: 5 folks were arrested in Gilroy for prostitution. But the best is the flowery language that the police officers used in their press release tooting their own horns about the arrests:

"They are in conflict with our philosophy of maintaining a city in which our residents and law-abiding visitors can enjoy a safe place to live, work and play... The disposition of our Department is that we will take whatever steps are necessary to dissuade those who choose to engage in illegal activities within our city from doing so."

Wow! The police have both a philosophy and a disposition on prostitution. Disposition is a 64 point word in Scrabble and prostitution is a 73 point word...(without double letters or double word scores)... kudos Gilroy PD.

Finally, perhaps the most far-reaching thing in today's Round-Up, besides the Barry/Chavez feud:

Mozart isn't just the name of a composer, it is also the name of a father/son development team. Both father and son are suing Palo Alto separately because they are claiming the 10 percent affordable set-aside for housing projects is an unfair tax. All housing eyes will be watching these lawsuits...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.23.10: Candidate Barragan in the Merc?

In extremely concise (harsh?) Editorial, the Merc says this about Mayor Reed's 10 percent pay cut plan: the plan "...must be ratified by the full council. Otherwise, union members -- particularly police and fire -- will not take it seriously..." Too bad the "union members" don't have the local blogosphere support they used to... But the Police Officers Association has a blog, but their post (as of 8 a.m.) was from Chris Block and Michele Lew -- neither of which are speaking for the POA...

Let the cries of "Nanny State" begin now: County Supervisors want to ban restaurants from offering toys to kids as an incentive to eat a double quarter pounder with triple cheese and a extra large fry with a big ass Coke.

There is a very weird part of the toy-free County story, the "woman on the street" interviewed as part of the story, and the one buying her kid disgusting food, is named Susan Barragan. Which is the name of the woman running against Mayor Chuck Reed. What are the odds? Is Merc columnist Joe Rodriguez trying to give Susan Barragan some press?

Speaking of campaigns... Campaign reports were due yesterday representing fundraising and expenses from the beginning of the year through March 17th. The 49ers put in $1.4 million in money and personnel to their campaign.

Speaking of the 49ers, the move to Santa Clara isn't the only really smart thing they are doing. They got rid of their General Manager yesterday.

Scott Herhold at the Merc has taken a few days off on the Dolores Carr/Jeff Rosen front, and has taken on an even more controversial issue -- neighbors versus schools versus traffic in Los Altos.

On a sad note, the church on Delmas near Park Avenue burned down this morning.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.10.10: Welcome to LAS, I mean SJC

Well, the City of San Jose is officially selling itself to the devil. Literally. They voted to put a measure on the June ballot to expand gambling in San Jose in order to help bolster their bottom line. It reminds Watch Dog of schools that allowed Coke and Pepsi into their cafeterias because there was money in it for the schools. Sort of, "we'll deal with the evil because we need the money"... It doesn't make it a good idea just because there is money attached to it. Five (FIVE!) Councilmembers opposed it: Councilmembers Ash Kalra, Nora Campos, Madison Nguyen, Kansen Chu, and Sam Liccardo. Nothing about it on the Values Advocacy Council website yet...

One person who may not have to deal with the results of more gambling (which we can only imagine he is very much against) is San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis. That's because Davis seems to be in the running for the top job in Dallas. The cheers from the ACLU and DeBug's offices were audible from the street when this news came out yesterday afternoon...

And then there is the daily story about the airport... this time the Merc Editorial Board took their turn. They say no to lifting the curfew totally, but maybe some tinkering with it might make sense... but it really is about jobs and wages, both of which may need to be discussed to keep SJC on track with paying its debt obligations and its doors open... Perhaps the City should consider putting a card room in Terminal 1...

And the daily 49ers story... the Santa Clara City Council voted on mitigations to the stadium plan last night. But you weren't there, you were home watching Crystal Bowersox...

There is an interesting write-in campaign is going on with the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Because a judge ruled they had been collecting a groundwater fee illegally, they may have to stop collecting it if more than half of the customers will well-water write a letter saying they want to stop paying.. A weird exercise in democracy, to say the least...

What is it about Palo Alto Utilities? They can't seem to keep the lights on. In the past month they have had some problems... as outlined here. And they should probably get a new spokesperson. Dean Batchelor had this to say about yesterday's incident: "No one was injured, thank god." Thank god? You're the guy in charge and you need to have faith to make sure no one gets hurt? Later in the story he had this to say about the three outages this morning: "This is not a good month for us right now..." Y'think?

Not only that, but a big company is leaving Palo Alto because the electricity is unreliable... oops. Not a good month indeed...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.9.10: More bad news for SJC...

It has been a month of stories about SJC. We learned that they don't really fly to the East Coast except once a day. We learned that Frontier Airlines is pulling out. We learned they are asking (begging?) companies to pick up the tab for their grand opening. And then yesterday's Study Session at the San Jose City Council. Bill Sherry, the Airport Director, told the City Council that SJC might fail unless some things change... like living wage, or privatizing custodial services, or lifting the curfew. Why? Well, there is $32 million of debt service due soon and the airport can't pay it. Um, this isn't getting any better, just more and more pathetic.

On San Jose Inside, San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio let's us know that absolutely does NOT want to lift SJC's curfew... neither do any of his neighbors.

From one very expensive project that is failing, to another that will (hopefully) succeed. The mitigations fo the environmental impacts of the 49ers stadium will be dealt with and voted on today. If you love nitty gritty of land-use, head to the Santa Clara City Council meeting tonight. If you're normal, American Idol is on tonight...

A list came out of the lowest performing (failing) schools came out yesterday. It is a list that nobody wanted to be on... but here is who is on the list:

• Hoover Middle and Burnett Middle (San Jose Unified)
• Cesar Chavez Elementary, Ocala Middle, Joseph George Middle (Alum Rock) Escuela Popular Charter (East Side Union High School District)
• August Boeger Middle School (Mount Pleasant Elementary School District)

Libraries are under the knife (potentially) in San Jose. An OpEd in today's Merc makes the case why they shouldn't be cut... like the obvious, it is where many people look for jobs and many people don't have jobs right now.

The Merc's Scott Herhold looks at what government officials drive and on whose dime... Here's what we learn about government-funded rides: Supervisor Don Gage drives a very expensive, environment-be-damned GMC Yukon because he's a "big guy"... DA Dolores Carr goes for a foreign, luxury car -- an Acura TL... Sheriff Laurie Smith, a hybrid Camry. But the best part of the column is this tease by Scott Herhold: "...District Attorney Dolores Carr, who drives a $36,900 Acura TL (2007) with a power moon roof, a navigation system and heated front seats. That purchase required approval by the county executive's office — which I'll explain in an upcoming column..." Yay! More Carr columns coming...

Big props to Morgan Hill Police for arresting two of their "Most Wanted"...

Hangar One clean up and revamp will fall on NASA, not the Navy. That's not great news...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.2.10: Another "reliable" poll?

Yesterday's (unreliable, 7-point margin of error) poll about the 49ers in Santa Clara that was leaked to the Chronicle's Matier & Ross (and made fun of by Watch Dog), is in the news again: This time, showing support for the A's to San Jose move. If one part of the poll is unreliable, then can we trust the other parts of the poll? Oregon-based Rick Lindholm did the poll of 200 folks in each city about each stadium issue, and is now on the defensive. He claims that the poll wasn't paid for by anyone, rather that it is his own poll that he uses in an ongoing way to help with other clients. Here is Lindholm's reasoning for doing the poll in today's story: "Lindholm said he was not hired by anyone to conduct either survey. He said he does polling on a variety of issues in the Bay Area, using the results to help him build a database for his other polling work for private clients." But last June, when he did another "unpaid" poll talking about baseball in San Jose, said this: "Lindholm told the Mercury News on Tuesday that he had conducted the polls for free and that no one had hired him to do them." This guy is either loves doing polls for free or loves to see his name in the paper... or both. It is becoming more and more clear that this guy is working for one or more San Francisco interests that would like to kill one or both stadium measures in Santa Clara County.

The County is considering giving defendants some rights when they are charged with misdemeanors by having a defense attorney from the public defenders office show up. How progressive... for 1930. The cost is a million buck for the next two years.

Note to Michelle McGurk: Make sure you don't include this in today's City Hall clippings. We don't want anyone to freak out about this headline: Tesla kicks tires on new Palo Alto headquarters. While Tesla kick the tires, Paul Krutko kicks himself...

The power outage on Sunday in Palo Alto is causing a (seemingly) growing headache for the Utilities Department in Palo Alto. The Department wasn't giving residents and businesses any information about the outage, when the lights would come back on, or what the cause was. The Utilities Department's official response: "We're very sorry for the inconvience... We failed... I'm sorry..."

The Mayor of Palo Alto, Pat Burt, gave his State of the City yesterday and talked about improving infrastructure, installing red-light cameras, how he wants to improve relations with Stanford (yeah, right), and of course High-Speed Rail. He didn't mention that he wanted to improve the communications efforts of the Palo Alto Utilities Department...

Steve Poizner is getting ready to launch a statewide ad campaign... hopefully in the ad he will describe his thinking of why it took so long to start his statewide ad campaign... "I waited so long to start this ad campaign because I love coming from 20 points down and I've been busy bidding on stuff on eBay. I'm Steve Poizner, and I approved this message."

Poizner's announcement about this ad campaign couldn't come on a shittier day, and not because of the weather. But Jerry Brown is slated to announce that he is officially "official" in the race too...

Morgan Hill has strong, limited development rules in place and has for a long, long time. They seem to be working, according to a recent study.

Finally, we take a look at San Jose Inside where Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio gets all academic on our asses. He goes into parking theories and how free parking is a bad idea. Watch Dog actually agrees... so Councilmember Oliverio, how about proposing that the Mayor and Council have to pay for parking everyday in the City Hall garage. Symbolic, yes. But powerful. Email us if you are interested in proposing that idea here. (We won't tell anyone we gave you the idea...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.25.10: Dolores Carr... again again

Another day, another story featuring District Attorney Dolores Carr...sort of. Part A of this story is that a judge found a man that had been charged (but then uncharged) of murder "factually innocent." Part B of the story is that the judge finding the dude "factually innocent" stood up for the judge that is being boycotted by the DA's office for "standing up for her convictions." Part C is that the judge questioned why the District Attorney's office was fighting the "factually innocent" ruling... A response from the DA's office is expected today, apparently. Watch Dog anxiously awaits...

Speaking of the DA...

The Merc's Scott Herhold looks into the future about "How the Phuong Ho case will unfold"... He agrees with Watch Dog (read this) that the Police Officers in the video beating will not face charges from the District Attorney's office, but doesn't think it has much to do with the endorsement of the Police Officers' Association of the District Attorney... Herhold concluded with this about the Ho case: Put succinctly, Phuong Ho was beaten and shocked with a Taser without adequate reason. If there had not been a cell phone video, he would have been found guilty like dozens of others. It's the way our system works. Not the most reassuring few sentences in the paper this morning...

Picking up where Herhold left off, the Merc Editorial Board looks to the Police Chief to actually take some disciplinary action against the Officers involved in the beating/ Tasering of Ho and to make that action public. About the Officers' actions, the Ed Board concludes: "It may have been legal, but that doesn't make it right"... (Watch Dog predicts no action from the Police Chief.)

This was in yesterday's Chronicle, sorry we missed it: The folks that run Oakland Coliseum -- a.k.a. Alameda County -- are planning to build another stadium that will house two football teams, the Raiders and the 49ers. (Of course, the 49ers don't want to be there, but that's another story.) County Supervisor Scott Haggerty said: "There is only going to be one stadium in the Bay Area, and it's not going to be in Santa Clara... We have a better location, a better infrastructure and better access to roads and mass transit." Unfortunately, Oakland's ability to do anything is seriously in question -- just ask Lew Wolff.

We learn from San Jose Inside that most/all Mayor Chuck Reed's political people are working to get Sheriff Laurie Smith unelected... Mayor Reed isn't involved in the race... yet. The Mayor's political brain trust (?) is all behind former SJ Police Captain Richard Calderon...

In other political news...

Politicon Valley announced Vice Mayor Judy Chirco's endorsement of Supervisorial candidate Teresa Alvarado...

And the race to replace Judy Chirco on the City Council is heating up... and Larry Pegram seems to be in (with Jim Cogan and Don Rocha). There is also a Santa Clara University student in the race... because we all know what great decisions college kids make.

In case you were living inside a Bloom Box, you know that a thingy called a Bloom Box is being touted as the new, new thing in the clean tech world... We'll see. But certainly their PR agency is energized. 60 Minutes. NPR. Every TV station in the world. The Merc's front page. The Chronicle. etc. etc. etc.

A ban on pot in Mountain View... but they have all those yummy restaurants on Castro Street...

The lawsuit filed against San Mateo County's elections office is moving forward. This is about electronic signatures captured via iPhone being used to sign State elections petitions and is being brought by Verafirma, a Silicon Valley start-up. San Mateo County Elections' chief Warren Slocum rejected the signatures because he couldn't figure out a way to verify the signatures under California law. (This is a start-up that involves Silicon Valley man-behind-the-curtain Jude Barry...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.16.10: Lobbying Sacramento finally pays off for San Jose...

It has been a very long weekend... but we'll try to remember what the news was on Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Here we go. Let us know what we missed -- which you usually do anyway...

Well, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmembers Pete Constant, Ash Kalra, Nancy Pyle, and Judy Chirco's lobbying Assemblymembers Paul Fong and Joe Coto paid off... Fong and Coto are pulling their request for a State audit into the San Jose Police Department. With that success rate, we wonder if Reed/ Constant/ Kalra/ Chirco/ Pyle should head back to lobby for school funding. (San Jose Inside had the scoop first, then the Merc... for those of you keeping score at home.)

Speaking of folks who don't like others looking over their shoulders...

Diversity in Silicon Valley companies was all over the news this weekend. Some folks (Google, Yahoo, Apple, Oracle, and Applied Materials) don't really like to share their diversity data with folks... folks like the Mercury News. Don't be evil... ahem...

The San Jose Police Officers Association has been working overtime... with the Mayor's very public and very strongly worded letter to Assemblymembers Fong and Coto to call off the audit dogs in Sacramento. Followed by the aforementioned lobbying trip to Sacramento by the Mayor and four Councilmembers. Then, in Sunday's paper, the POA got former Mayor Tom McEnery to chime in against the newspaper and activists. But Watch Dog's favorite line was this:

But questions long avoided by the media must be asked. How do a few politically connected mega-nightclubs, with their hand-picked lobbyists, put thousands of alcohol-infused young men on a collision course with our police? And why let clubs that generate hundreds of calls for service each year, stripping the city's neighborhoods of cops, be subsidized by everyone else?

Watch Dog has asked those questions Mayor McEnery, we really, really, really have...

The Merc chimes in on the City of San Jose budget -- and they think employees need to step it up, cut their salaries, or expect to lose their jobs... There is a study session today in San Jose to talk about the budget. That should be fun...

There was a revised report about baseball in downtown San Jose that re-did the numbers on noise and traffic. If you start from no noise and no traffic, like in downtown San Jose, of course there will be more if you add something fun to do... No doubt NIMBYs are meeting at the Peet's on the Alameda today to discuss what to do next...

And while San Jose looks for a MLB stadium and Santa Clara looks for an NFL stadium, the good folks in Morgan Hill are just hoping for a proper football stadium at Sobrato High School... but unlike in San Jose and Santa Clara, the charge is being led by high school seniors in Morgan Hill... One small problem, the stadium would actually be in San Jose's 'greenbelt' and Councilmember Ash Kalra isn't having any of it.

Tom Campbell switched races... and raised some money too!

The good folks at Internal Affairs in the Merc must be getting inundated with campaign stuff... because their column was very, very full this weekend:

• Larry Pegram of censorship fame is considering a run for San Jose City Council District 9... didn't Watch Dog hint at that recently?
• Madison Nguyen's re-election campaign is full of challengers... and one of them is Andy Diaz. Are you surprised?
• The San Jose Police Officers' Association gets an airing and IA runs down their questionnaire and the "correct" (or pandering) answers.
• Whitman didn't push Tom Campbell out of the Governor's race... money did
• And it became very clear that IA reads our sister blog, Watch Dog San Mateo, because they go into Watch Dog-esque detail about San Mateo County's big name departures from the political scene, including Warren Slocum...

Not only was IA on their political game... the Merc's Scott Herhold was also on the political beat and wrote an incredibly long breakdown of local races. He touched the big ones (Governor, US Senate), the medium ones (Sheriff, DA, Supervisor District 1), and the little ones (San Jose City Council Districts 5, 7, and 9).

Finally...

Raj at DeBug, this headline is made for your snickering: Normal police presence planned for Mardi Gras... We guess that is open to interpreting the word "normal"...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.10.10: And the ballot language is... drum-roll...

As you may have heard, the 49ers would like to build a stadium in Santa Clara. They need to go to the ballot first, however. That ballot measure is slated for this June. Earlier in the week, we learned there was some disagreement of how the actual ballot language should read in June. The Santa Clara City Staff had one recommendation for how the ballot measure should read, and the Santa Clarans for Economic Progress (the 49er's side of things) had another way. Watch Dog predicted that the 49er's version would take the day... and it did. But not before a 4 to 3 vote on the Santa Clara City Council. Here's the ballot language Santa Clara voters will see:

Shall the City of Santa Clara adopt Ordinance 17.20 leasing City property for a professional football stadium and other events; no use of City General or Enterprise funds for construction; no new taxes for residents for stadium; Redevelopment Agency funds capped for construction; private party pays all construction cost overruns; no city/agency obligation for stadium operating/maintenance; private party payment of projected fair market rent; and additional funds for senior/youth/library/recreation to City's General fund?

Just as Dolores Carr can't go two days without being in the paper, so too the San Jose Police Department. Today's SJPD story is about a man who was first beaten severely with a baseball bat by two other men -- but then died after being Tasered by San Jose PD. The murder trial of the two men who beat the victim opened yesterday and re-opens up the 'use of force' storyline again. It also gives Raj Jayadev, of POA video fame, another chance to be quoted in the paper for the next few weeks... and presumably gives the POA another chance to make fun of him...

The San Jose City Council District 5 Council seat will be a real hum-dinger of a race in June. Xavier Campos (Nora's brother) will square off against Manueal Herrera, Aaron Resendez, and new-to-the-race Magdalena Carrasco. Before that, however, there will many times that these four appear on the same stage -- the first of which is slated for this week...

The County Building has become a lot more interesting to watch lately. Earlier in the week, Scott Herhold pointed out the Larry Stone vs. George Shirakawa battle over the appointment of former Sunnyvale Councilmember John Howe to an assessment appeals board and then we learn today that "controversial developer" John Vidovich was nominated to the County's Planning Commission. Both Howe and Vidovich got approved by the Board of Supervisors yesterday for their respective Commissions.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District has a new Board member -- although you probably didn't see anything in the Mercury News about it. Thankfully, Watch Dog trolls the South County papers sometimes and the Morgan Hill Times lets us know that Sahib "Cy" Mann will be the newest Water Board member. He is rancher and realtor from Morgan Hill...

There was yet another public meeting about High Speed Rail through the Peninsula yesterday. This time, the options for tracks were discussed... again: elevated, tunneled, stacked, hybrid, etc., etc., etc. At the same time, Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design are fixing to file another lawsuit...

Palo Alto Unified students (and vocal parents) may see increased class sizes in the School District because of budget cuts next year... we are sure that will go over really, really well.

There is yet another chapter in the story of the Gilroy teenager who died after a night of drinking. The Coronoer said the cause of death is still a mystery...

Apparently Campbell is the new hot spot in Silicon Valley? We know Evan Low is cool, but the new hot spot?

Finally, Mission City Lantern seems to be critical of what we write these days, and we aren't sure why. Nor do we really understand what he is writing. Nonetheless, we love you James, keep up the good work.