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 -- 4.12.10: 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 -- 4.9.10: Chuck and Larry getting hitched?

It will cost four or five times as much to have High-Speed Rail to go underground... that's the official word. Which means you HSR-NIMBYs should start bombarding the High-Speed Rail Authority now... Oh, and the train won't sit on "berms" in Palo Alto or Mountain View, in case you were concerned about that too...

The sale of the two parking lots in downtown San Jose (for $20 million to Sobrato) adds to the kitty being assembled to bring baseball to San Jose. There are more land sales pending for the baseball stadium, but apparently one of the parcels of land where the infield will be isn't for sale. An AT&T spokesperson, who speaks for the infield land-owners, said the land is not for sale. But when the infield does go on sale, the Redevelopment Agency should have the money now... thanks to the Sobratos.

Remember the Tapestry in Arts Festival in San Jose? You know, the Labor Day weekend celebration of local arts... well, you may have to remember it, because it might be going away. And by "might" we mean "probably is"... No fireworks on July 4th, no fancy car race in the summer, no Tapestry in Arts. The only thing that could save downtown San Jose in the summer is the Boys of Summer...

Say you had a job (which about 12% of you don't)... and your employer offered you a 4 percent pay hike and a $3,000 bonus, you'd probably take it right now, right? Well, not if you are a nurse at Stanford... you'd strike. We have nothing against nurses, in fact, we love you all -- but...

The Tech decided it was time to end the $200k/ year contract with the museum president's wife. Of course, that would have been the right decision before the contract even started...

In the blogosphere, San Jose Inside called Mayor Reed "Nuts" earlier in the week for endorsing Richard Calderon for Sheriff, and then yesterday they hint that the Mayor might be getting ready to endorse Larry Pegram... Watch Dog bets it will be today, as getting news like this out on a Friday helps sufficiently bury it for a while... Inside made the awesome reference to Chuck and Larry, which is ironic, as the film was about gay marriage... we will now use this reference whenever we refer to Mayor Reed and Larry Pegram together:

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 -- 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 -- 10.29.09: Need a space of my own (san jose downtown)

Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr is finding herself in hot water (again). This time, DA Carr persuaded one of her staff to reduce the charges for one of her big donor's clients. District Attorneys across California are publicly disagreeing with DA Carr’s suggestion that she was doing “what public servants do.” DA wannabe/ Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rosen suggested “there can’t be two systems of justice… Ms. Carr’s integrity and ethics … have harmed the reputation of the District Attorney’s office." District Attorney Carr, here is a number Watch Dog wants you to keep on speed-dial: 1-800-238-4427.

Here is another story of ethics in government, sort of. The Merc’s Editorial Board calls for the (temporary for now) ouster of Wilcox High Principal Tab Taber following the recent spate of bad news: a teacher (allegedly) having sex with a student/students and a janitor running a teen modeling agency out of the school's broom closet. In the Merc's view, “it's time to rebuild the culture at Wilcox High.” It sounds like they might be on to something...

And ethical issues are front-and-center in another school district this week: East Side Union High School District Trustees meet this week to decide the fate of Superintendent Bob Nunez, currently on paid leave while Trustees investigate (alleged) conflict of interest and (questionable) credit card use.

Oops, that pesky little problem holding up the Environmental Impact Report for San Jose’s plans for a Major League Baseball stadium turns out to be Hexagon Transportation Consultants’ mistake. Seems fewer baseball fans translated into more traffic for Hexagon. Acting Transportation Director Hans Larsen is busily doing the apology dance after blaming VTA for the screw-up.

“Rules are made for people who don’t have common sense,” according to San Jose resident/City Council Chief of Staff Edesa Bitbadal arguing in favor of stronger leash laws. City Councilmember Nancy Pyle said her office has been inundated with email and phone calls following the death of Beverly Head and “we are not in the business of coming up with a million rules.”

The ongoing saga of Summerhill Apartments code violations and blue-tarped roof continues in Mountain View as the City Council said no to owner Sal Teresi’s re-roofing request. City Attorney Michael Martello pointed to workers camping in the parking lot and (apparent) attempts to set up residency in an “uninhabitable building.”

That isn't funny business in Mountain View, but this is... really funny business... the Superintendent from the Mountain View-Whisman School District has a "romantic relationship" with a Principal -- which is a no-no.

Gang violence struck (again) in Gilroy. A 17 year old (alleged) Sureño was shot by (alleged) Norteño’s in his car with other (alleged) gang members. Police said (however) there’s no evidence this is retaliation for a gang murder earlier this month in Morgan Hill.

Morgan Hill’s Christian bookstore owner/perv Richard Dresser pleaded guilty to sexual battery and lewd conduct and will be registering as a sex offender following his 6 months in jail.

Meanwhile, Palo Alto High School students engaging in the annual “Egg War” used frozen eggs instead of the traditional raw to pelt each other. Students were stopped from using their normal field of battle after the Police beat them to their Stanford stomping grounds. (Please don't read into that sentence too much. The Palo Alto Police didn't actually beat them -- we mean that the Police got to Stanford first. It is Palo Alto, not San Jose...) Assistant Principal Todd Feinberg is hoping students rat each other out in exchange for a shorter suspension.

Googlers hosted U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu when he announced big federal dollars for green in Silicon Valley.

Mountain View neighbor Los Altos is worried plans to remodel the San Antonio Center might take shopping dollars out of Los Altos while adding children to the Los Altos School District. City officials will meet over a negotiation table to talk turkey. Los Altos Councilmember/(former) Mountain View Vice Mayor Ron Packard offered “it’s a wonderful development for Mountain View, I wish it were happening in Los Altos.” Please use this time to shed a tear for Los Altos...

If you’re hoping for your anti-swineish shot, get in line. Santa Clara County got short changed in the dosage department and is (im)patiently waiting. The Merc notes all the other (much smaller) counties in the Bay Area received (a lot) more shots to hand out. State Health Department spokesperson Mike Sicilia blamed the computers... good excuse.

We end today on a political note about 2010. There is a new face downtown San Jose political circuit... that is, of course, if you consider Morgan Hill part of downtown San Jose. Let us explain...

Anxious to get an office job after 4 years of medical retirement, Morgan Hill resident/ (former) security guard/ bartender/ bouncer Tim Hennessey has his heart set on San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo’s seat. Hennessey complains he doesn’t want to wait until he’s 50 or 60 to run, he wants to “act now.” Hennessey’s biggest supporter, night club owner Ray Shafazand, is eager to engage in a “dirty…big war” to oust Liccardo for his night club-backed candidate, according to San Jose Insider Jessica Fromm. Oh, Hennessey is also a Republican. We found this listing on Craigslist... Could it be Hennessey is close to landing his new downtown apartment?:
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$700 Need a space of my own (san jose downtown)

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Date: 2009-10-28, 1:00PM PDT
Reply to: hous-rdn3y-1441756047@craigslist.org

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Hi, I need a place of my own. I don't want a room in someone's house . I like to have guests and not feel that I'm invading someone else's home. I like to come and go as I please without worrying about waking my roomates if it's late when I get back. I'm looking for anything from a studio to a one bedroom, but am having a hard time finding one in my price range. $700 is is over a third of my monthly income so it's the most I can afford. Please let me know if you can help me. Thanks

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.8.09: San Jose A's...the first pitch

“Play Ball!” erupted from the usually very mellow Mayor Chuck Reed as discussion began for baseball’s migration to San Jose. Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino calmly ran the numbers reflecting support from local large business. Joining Guardino in support of baseball were local luminaries, former Mayor Janet Gray Hayes, former Mayor Susan Hammer, County Assessor Larry Stone, and Pro Baseball San Jose’s co-founder Michael Mulcahy. Plus a bunch of ballpark neighbors in support, and far fewer in opposition. Lew Wolff must be smiling widely today. San Jose's stadium moving forward (seemingly) and the A's big bats showed up yesterday.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors unanimously supported a letter drafted by freshman Supervisor Dave Cortese to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. The letter reads, in part “When the Giants obtained its territorial rights to San Jose in 1992, it was based upon the assumption that the Giants were going to move from one wealthy enclave to another; namely from San Francisco County to Santa Clara County.”

San Jose’s financial woes are mounting…First finding out that the City's deficit could reach $78 million within the year and now the devastated pension funds (remember, they lost $1 billion). City Manager Debra Figone had to present the bad news -- the pension fund could force an additional $50 million out of the cash strapped City. Mayor Chuck Reed said the City is head towards “major layoffs.” Councilmember Sam Liccardo called it delusional to ask taxpayers to keep up with current funding levels.

Metro/San Jose Insider Erin Sherbert muses Chief Davis might not survive the current Drunk Task Force/Arresting Latinos everywhere crisis. The ever-quotable Police Officers Association President Bobby Lopez says “[Chief Davis] is adamantly in the hot seat right now… Issues are cascading. And at the bottom of them is the signature ‘Robert L. Davis’” Lopez and Sherbert aren't wrong, in Watch Dog's view. Davis is getting hit from all sides right now -- and the City Council's support seems to be cracking...

Mountain View also faces serious budget problems. City Manager Kevin Duggan’s proposal of a “hybrid” strategy that included use of rainy day funds had Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga saying “it’s pouring.” Mountain View Councilmembers are asking residents to get involved early reviewing proposals leading up to decisions later this year.

The Veterans are leaving the Valley. Senator Barbara Boxer’s office says Vets must travel farther to find an open base and is one reason for leaving. Another is the naturally declining population. But the largest reason seems to be a migration of war Vets abandoning the city to head to the country.

The Merc’s Editorial Board sends a message to high school and college graduates facing a grim job future – consider domestic service with AmeriCorps. As President Obama prepares to sign the Serve America Act of 2009 thousands of two year positions will open up with programs like City Year San Jose.

Programs that train high school students and career changing adults could see their funds disappear altogether after the State budget gave flexibility to local districts on using the money. Schools face terrible decisions and program loyalists clamoring to keep their programs running. Nora Ho, Principal of San Jose’s Ruskin Elementary worries bright children will lose the special programs that keep them motivated.

In a sign of the times Kip Berdiansky and Jordan Zewigoron are capitalizing on the Valley’s need to laugh in hard times. The partners took their strange sense of humor and added the American sugar laden treat – the doughnut – to come up with Psycho Donuts. The Merc’s Patty Fisher wasn’t impressed with the tasteless trappings and thinks minor tweaks will remove the offense while keeping the funny.

Things aren’t easy on Mountain View’s Easy Street – some residents arrived home to find they’d been burgled. The cops set off looking for the teens who’d been hanging around earlier and found them with jewelry and a game console stuffed in their pants.

San Jose Revealed muses that it might not be in San Jose’s best interest to subsidize a newsletter featuring politicized commentary bashing Revealed’s friends at Labor. Revealed says the Chamber of Commerce’s six figure subsidy might be an area to look for budget cuts. Revealed has also been prowling survey’s from the Pew Research Center – this time the (un) surprising news that “Latinos have substantially lower confidence in the police” than others. Revealed offers Chief Davis the link to the report, in case he’s interested.