Morning News Round-Up -- 5.18.10: Commie Gate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.27.10: Rainy Days and Tuesdays...

Scott Herhold does his best Harry Mavrogenes as he gets into the nitty-gritty about traffic patterns in and out of the HP Pavilion (and Cisco Field)...

You remember the shitty story about the two Santa Teresa High School students killed a classmate in his backyard... the two students pleaded not guilty yesterday.

In lesser crime news... the Apple Store in Los Gatos was robbed via smash and grab on Monday... "Everybody down... step away from the iPad..." Perhaps the thieves were in town for the Wine and Fashion Week in Los Gatos...

Mountain View will talk affordable housing developments in their downtown... we weren't there last night, but we expect the next story to be about NIMBYs...

El Camino Hospital is having a tough year in the budget department... they are $11 million short so far this year. Which makes it a great time to join the Board, which is what Patricia Einarson did by way of appointment this week...

Speaking of hospitals... a highly critical report was release this week of Valley Medical Center: "overstaffed," "high pay and benefits," "plagued with inefficiencies," etc., etc., etc. It must not be a good morning at 70 West Hedding...

It is political season in Morgan Hill. Two folks have declared their intention to run for Morgan Hill City Council in November: Michael Castelan and Rick Moreno. The seats they are running for are currently held by Greg Sellers' (who not be running again?) and Marby Lee (who hasn't decided to run yet or not)...

The protest letters to the Water District were due today, so if you are pissed about the ground-well fee, we hope you spoke up or will forever hold your peace...

You remember that there was "trouble in paradise" between the Los Altos School District and its teachers' union over contract issues... it was punted for a few weeks until something could be worked out that could pass the school board -- and now it seems to have passed the school board... barely. The best part of this story is that one of the board members used the phrase "hissy fit" in her comments before voting yes...

You remember the singing group from Mountain View High School that got stranded in Paris, right? Well, now they have to raise $50,000 to pay for their baguettes, escargot, and espresso...

Thanks to Politicon Valley, we know that Yoriko Kishimoto got the Sierra Club endorsement... adding to a long list of organizations?

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 -- 4.7.10: 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 -- 3.30.10: Rosen and Carr -- the saga continues...

We've said it before: When lawyers run against each other in politics, expect a litigious campaign -- especially when the folks are running for District Attorney. And the DA's race took another turn yesterday, and like most turns thus far, it doesn't turn in the incumbent's favor -- at least the way Watch Dog (and the Merc's headline editor) sees it. (Merc headline: DA challenger Rosen can keep flattering quotes in ballot statement. San Jose Inside had a different take: Carr v. Rosen split decision) Dolores Carr had sued to try to make Jeff Rosen change his ballot statement because it included quotes from the Mercury News and former DA George Kennedy and it compared the two candidates -- which is a no-no. The ruling: Rosen can keep in the quotes from the Merc and from former DA George Kennedy. He voluntarily changed the comparison part of the statement. Rosen's quote in the story sort of sums the whole thing up: "...Her ballot statement is about how she's a bureaucrat... My ballot statement is about how I'm a tough, ethical, experienced prosecutor who has prosecuted hundreds of cases and she has not." Anytime you do something that let's your opponent get that quote in the paper, you need to rethink your strategy.

The budget, the budget, the budget... San Jose is in trouble. The Merc Editorial Board is calling on employees to make concessions -- as it is the only way to get things more in line with reality...

More San Jose budget crap: If a city is a collection of neighborhoods and the neighborhoods are built around community centers, then San Jose is in even deeper shit... because "dozens of San Jose communiity centers" are about the get the axe. Expect a lot of folks to show up to speak at tonight's budget session, bring your No Doze.

Would you like to own a chunk of land in North San Jose? Well, if you are a government agency with extra cash on hand (and which government agency doesn't have a bunch of extra cash on hand) you could own the last bit of Agnews...

If you were looking forward to buying both the cause of hangovers (beer) and the cure (Advil) at Palo Alto Walgreens, you are going to have to wait longer. Neighbors filed complaints to the State Alcohol Beverage Control folks and things are on hold for a while.

Downtown Morgan Hill potential redevelopers have been narrowed to three: Barry Swenson Builders, City Ventures, and The Olson Company... and only one wears a hat all the time...

Christopher High School in the Gilroy Unified School District will get its aquatics center... but it will be two years later than expected.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.24.10: I heart lawyers... especially ones running against each other

Who doesn't love a great political fight? But the fight gets a little boring sometimes if it is between two lawyers, like Dolores Carr and Jeff Rosen. Dolores Carr is taking Jeff Rosen to court over his ballot statement. (Because voters love frivolous litigation?) Carr is claiming Rosen is using quotes from others and comparing himself to her in his ballot statement -- both apparent no-nos. Of course, the best part of this is the Carr has given quotes to others to use in their ballot statements in the past and has compared herself to her opponent in the past. Um, lawyers, everyone finds the law boring... no offense.

So it has come to this: paycuts for City of San Jose workers. Sort of. That was the discussion at yesterday's City Council meeting. The story in the Merc has some colorful language to describe what is happening in the City: "[The budget discussion] ...comes amid the heightened politics of an election year as the city careens toward a fiscal crisis that could force dramatic service reductions..." Careens? It looks like the City Council will eventually take smaller concessions from unions (maybe) and do a series of one-time, short-term fixes to get through next year. That sounds familiar, like every year for the past decade. Watch Dog isn't sure that pushing these big salary cuts off another year until the Mayor wins reelection and won't have to worry about anything politically is a great idea for the labor-majority on the Council, but whatever...

To figure out part of the budgetary problems that municipalities face with pay, benefits, and pensions, check out this story about a Palo Alto janitor that took home $156k in 2009 and will receive a full pension and lifelong healthcare coverage... if only we had a national healthcare policy.

For those NIMBYs that want High-Speed Rail to (inexplicably) end in San Jose to avoid big impacts to the Peninsula got some troubling news yesterday... even if that were the case, the impact to Caltrain would be as impactful as the impact of High-Speed Rail. That's because the transfer to a new train to make it the final 50 miles up the Peninsula would hurt Caltrain and would require new tracks, new construction, and new trains... Face it Peninsula, your just train-screwed.

And if the previous story doesn't give you your NIMBY fix, perhaps this will: a public comment session on the "Minton Project" last night in Mountain View. Let's just say that not everyone supports 203 new housing units...

In the midst of the Great Recession, garbage rates are going up in Morgan Hill.

Ending with some blog stuff...

Jessica Fromm at San Jose Inside looks through some fundraising reports in the San Jose City Council District 5 race and finds that Magdalena Carrasco outraised (Nora's brother) Xavier Campos this quarter and that Campos spent more money that he took in during the same period. One candidate is raising money, and one is spending it... hmmm. Perhaps the Supervisor Shirakawa needs to call an emergency staff meeting to straigten things out...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.16.10: Bracket Tuesday...

It is fill out your bracket Tuesday today... so forget work. Start researching Murray State!

It is pink slip week at School Districts in California. Need we write any more? Send complaints to Capitol Mall, Sacramento, California...

Over the past several months (ok, the entire past year and then some) The Case Against Dolores Carr has been built by challenger to the DA Jeff Rosen. Now, The Case Against Jeff Rosen has one small piece of evidence... Mr. Rosen needs to amend his ballot statement because he misquoted the Mercury News... sort of. He quoted the Mercury News correctly, but the quote came from Scott Herhold, not the Mercury News. He's changing the ballot statement, but needs a court order to do it...

And when the Chamber of Commerce made the case against Cindy Chavez in 2006, they ran afoul of the City of San Jose's campaign spending laws that were in place at the time. Well, 4 years later, the court ruled in their favor and now they are getting their legal fees back... unless the City of San Jose appeals further, which it sounds like they will not do. Here's something: Our insiders are telling us that the Chamber has been grilling candidates that have come before them about how they would vote in closed session on this issue... classy.

Perhaps more important than the ruling itself is the author of this story from the Merc... none other than Scott Herhold. This is the second time (at least that we've noticed) that Herhold has been columnist AND reporter. They do that type of thing at the San Mateo Daily Journal, but at the Mercury News? Weird. Although, our friends at Protect San Jose think that Sean Webby has been writing a column rather the news for a long, long time...

Here's irony: A Southern California Republican Assemblywoman is becoming the best friend of all the NIMBYs up and down the Peninsula who hate High Speed Rail. Diane Harkey is introducing a bill to stop the sale of High Speed Rail bonds... Perhaps they will throw her a ticker-tape parade up and down El Camino Real...

Perhaps in response (?) Quentin Kopp wrote a pro-High Speed Rail piece for the Merc. Surprised?

With all due respect to Palo Alto, but any city should do their best to avoid this headline: Local teens describe their stresses on 'Dr. Phil.' Perhaps Dr. Phil can get Oprah to bridge the relationship divide between Stanford and Palo Alto...

When the going gets tough (and the going is tough for the Morgan Hill Police Department) the tough get going (to the Feds for more money).

When the going gets tough (and the going is tough for the City of Gilroy) the tough get going (home early for the week).

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 -- 3.1.10: TTYL... Tom

It was a very Sid Sunday... but former Mayor Tom McEnery was at the game too. It was actually a Shark-infested game in Vancouver. (If you have no idea what Watch Dog is talking about, you should.) More important than all of that is we learn that Eric Johnson, the Editor of the Metro, text messages Tom McEnery. Raising the question: Isn't Mayor McEnery a little too old to be texting in public?

Another story about the San Jose Airport... and it is getting a little pathetic. You remember that the powers that be (the Airport Director and the Mayor) had Sully come in for an inspirational speech to Silicon Valley executives. While the execs were there, they heard from the Airport Director and the Mayor who asked (begged?) these companies to fund the grand opening celebration at the airport this summer and asked (begged?) these companies to start using the airport... Bill Sherry even suggested that companies call airlines and implore them to get more flights in and out of San Jose... which kind of sounds like Bill Sherry's job. This is all good and fun, but the airport owes a whole bunch of money on a bond debt which they seemingly have no way to pay...

The Case Against Dolores Carr gets strong and stronger. Actually, in Sunday's Internal Affairs column, it is her husband (a former SJPD Officer) that is in hot water. It all stems from the same case that got the DA into trouble: the Hosseini murder. You remember, as the DA was developing her case her husband was working for the victim's family as a 'security consultant.' This eventually led to the case being moved (taken) from the DA's office and will be prosecuted instead by the Attorney General's office. Well, the State Bureau of Security and Investigative Services is looking into John Carr to see if he was a practicing private eye without a proper license. The Rosen campaign couldn't type fast enough on a Sunday -- their email didn't get out to folks until the mid-afternoon. As Daryl Hall said, private eyes are watching you, watching you, watching you...

The Chronicle's Matier & Ross continue their anti-Santa Clara 49er's effort and write about some leaked polling numbers about the 49ers stadium deal saying that voters are evenly split in the election. The poll was done by Richard Lindholm of 200 voters... which has a seven percent margin of error. The funniest thing about this story is that Lindholm convinced Matier & Ross that the polling was part of some long-term research project on Santa Clara County attitudes. Really? A poll on "Santa Clara County attitudes" would poll 200 voters in the City of Santa Clara? It looks to Watch Dog like Lindholm is polling for some San Francisco interests...

County Assessor Larry Stone wrote a piece for the Mercury News on Sunday that is certain to cause a stir. He wrote about public sector pensions and the dire need for reform. Specifically, he talks about how the pension liability explosion is crippling state and local government. This will make him among the least welcome people at the Firefighters' barbecue...

While healthcare news has mostly been coming out of DC -- on the local healthcare seen, we saw a shake-up announced over the weekend. Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System chief Kim Roberts is getting her resume together for her next job... Scott Herhold at the Merc dives deep into the politics of the County and gives the insight that the new County Exec doesn't mess around.

On a more constructive healthcare note... the good folks that brought you the Healthy Children insurance program in the County are looking to bring healthcare coverage to employees of small business called Healthy Workers. Perhaps the DC folks should take note...

If you are under 13 years old (and you read this blog) take heart, a County Commission has recommended that you not be put in jail...

There was another murder this weekend in San Jose. A 19 year old was shot and killed on S. 24th Street and Williams Street. 5th homicide of the year in San Jose.

Palo Alto Utilities Department has had a rough few weeks. First the East Palo Alto plane crash took out their powerlines causing a big, day-long outage... then last night a downed powerline caused outages for several hours. But the weird part of the story is this: Substantial portions of Palo Alto suffered electrical power brownouts or blackouts tonight, but no city announcement was made as of 11:30 p.m. three hours into the power failure. Palo Alto Weekly toots its own horn in the story to say that residents stayed informed by using PaloAltoOnline.com's "Town Square." (If that sounds familiar, it is because of this from March 2009: "No city utilities officials were available Sunday afternoon or evening to provide information about what was happening."

Here's some news you've been waiting for, the Palo Alto Police have made "strides" in dealing with racial profiling. We guess Chief "Doo-Rag" Johnson's departure did usher in some good...

From North County to South County...

A duo of bad budget stories: Gilroy Unified is cutting $7 million from their budget (ouch) and the City of Morgan Hill faces nothing but "bad choices" to balance their budget... (Some would argue that Morgan Hill's "bad choices" are what got them into this mess...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.24.10: Bear Arms...

Because we love this visual we thought we'd start with this today... Some probation officers will be able to bear arms. (Think about it... bear arms.)

It's a good thing District Attorney Dolores Carr already received the endorsement of the San Jose Police Officers' Association, because she decided not to bring charges against Phuong Ho. (Ho was the San Jose State student that was beaten and Tasered by SJPD while being secretly taped last year.) The charges that the DA was considering included resisting arrest and brandishing a deadly weapon. Of course, the issue that is still burning is this: will the videotaped San Jose Police Officers face charges from the District Attorney. Based on how the SJPOA endorsement went, Watch Dog really, really, really doubts it... Oh, and this must be really, really big news, because the Chronicle picked it up too...

In other DA news...

State Senator Elaine Alquist announced her endorsement of Carr's challenger Jeff Rosen yesterday. Actually, Jeff Rosen announced the endorsement, but if you have an email address, you already knew that...

Hey recent (or soon-to-be) college grads, here's some good news. Some tech giants might be hiring locally. That's great news if you've studied the past four years instead of taking bong hits...

But one "company" that isn't going to be hiring is the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. Their budget passed yesterday amidst a long-ass discussion which ended with the five-year budget passing, with which no one seems really happy: the Convention Center people aren't really happy because they need to find some more money down the line, the County is certainly not happy because they are owed 52 million bucks, and basically everyone just held their noses. (San Jose Inside's favorite tid bit is in this story too: "...Pete Constant was absent because of a medical appointment..."

We love The Garage in Naglee Park, and so does everyone on the Food Network. Eat up folks, but expect it to be busy for the next little bit...

STOP. THE. PRESSES... Noreen Likens is going to retire. Noreen Likens is going to retire. If you know Noreen Likens name, then you are probably freaked out. (If you don't know her name, she is the Principal at Gunn High School in Palo Alto.) This "news" warranted a special email "breaking news" alert from the Palo Alto Weekly. This means that both high schools in Palo Alto need Principals, which means every high school Principal in the world is polishing his/her resume and trying to find Kevin Skelly's email address... look no further Principals, here is his email...

Development and growth issues in Morgan Hill are always fun to follow... The City Council there will be considering how the City's "southeast quadrant" will develop in the coming decade. Expect some vocal proponents and opponents...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.14.10: Nothing Snarky to Write Here...

The Oakland A's desire to move to San Jose continue to light up the sports/blog/news world. Here are a few samples... from the Tri-Valley Herald, and editorial about the NUMMI site as a possibility, pointing out this: "...Ironically, it was the NUMMI plant and Toyota that helped torpedo Fremont's last pitch to the A's for a new ballpark..." And a story from USA Today, includes this gem of a quote from A's owner Lew Wolff: "It is like we are bing held hostage... We tried to make it work in Oakland. We exhausted everything we could in our area. It can't work. For us to compete, we've got to have revenue, and for us to get revenue we have to move to San Jose. It's that simple."

Andrew King, the swim coach/molester, will face his victims in court...

Here's another heartwarming story... a San Jose woman's car was repossessed because she was late with her payments. Ok, that happens all the time. But her 2-year old son was in the car. Oops.

The Mercury News Editorial board comments (positively) on the Tom Campbell political switcheroo (from Guv's race to Senate race)... The Editorial board also chimes in (positively) on Google's pulling out of China. A very positive day on Ridder Park Drive...

Nothing is easy to build/upgrade/restore in Los Gatos, but (finally) plans to rebuild/restore the Los Gatos Public Library passed the Town Council on Monday. Kudos all around.

El Camino Real and Stanford Avenue, perhaps one of the worst intersections in Silicon Valley, is going to get redesigned... thank goodness. Maybe this is the one thing that everyone in Palo Alto can agree on... it got a 5-0 vote on the Planning and Transportation Commission.

Small town politics can be wacky... like in Morgan Hill. Years ago, a local attorney/Commissioner Bruce Tichinin hired a spy to keep tabs on the City Manager... the City Council condemned him and asked him to step down. Tichinin filed a lawsuit... yada, yada, yada... the California Supreme Court denied a legal petition by the City of Morgan Hill. Just be happy you aren't involved in Morgan Hill politics... sorry Larry Carr...

Gilroy is still obsessed with pot. We learn from today's Dispatch that there are at least 4 "quiet" dispensaries there... Watch Dog is fan of the loud dispensaries, rather than the quiet ones...

Most cities would love a downtown grocery store... heck, San Jose tried 30 years to get one and now has two. But the Mountain View City Council said no to two proposals for downtown grocery stores this week...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.13.10: Mayor of Almaden for Senate...

It is a big political news day locally...

The Mayor of Almaden Valley (not Jim Cunneen or Pat Dando) Tom Campbell is dropping out of the $uper rich race for Governor against Meg Whitman and $teve Poizner and turning his sites on the slightly less rich Carly Fiorina. Campbell will jump into the Republican primary for US Senate with Fiorina and the right winger from the Southern California (Chuck DeVore)... Continue to do Almaden proud Mr. Campbell.

The pro-Santa Clara 49ers stadium folks delivered 8,000 signatures for their ballot measure to Santa Clara City Hall yesterday. Begging the question: there are 8,000 people in Santa Clara? (Just kidding.) That is almost double what they need to qualify the measure. Expect an election in June. (And expect James Rowen to continue writing about it...)

Supervisor Ken Yeager is the new President of the Board of Supervisors, taking over for Liz Kniss at yesterday's meeting. Congrats President Yeager, and good luck with that budget...

And finally this political piece: the Palo Alto Unified School District will go for a parcel tax renewal and hike in May. They are looking to increase their current parcel tax ($493) by $96. Every other school district in the County is drooling at those numbers...

The much-discussed 'inclusionary housing' policy in San Jose passed yesterday, much to the chagrine of Councilmembers Pete Constant and Pierluigi Oliverio who were out-voted by a 9 to 2 margin. The policy doesn't go into affect until 2013 at the earliest...

Merc columnis Mike Cassidy continues his Mercury News boosterism by letting us all know that the Mercury News "focuses on offering unique local content" and that they do local better than anyone. Ok. Saying it doesn't make it so Mr. Cassidy. Perhaps covering a new President of the Board of Supervisors would be "unique local content" but it doesn't appear anywhere on the Merc's site...

A big Bay restoration project will break ground in Alviso today. This is a long time coming... like 80 years.

This should go over big... the Cupertino Union School District is increasing its teacher-to-student ratio in order to deal with budget shortfalls. Expect crowded meetings and upset parents...

The Third Street Promenade opened to traffic (cars and people) yesterday. Not the one in Santa Monica, but the one in Morgan Hill.

There will be no pot dispensaries in Gilroy. That's the vote of the City Council. It didn't pass by five votes, however, meaning that it won't go into affect immediately, but rather in February. (Note to those candidates running for the South County Supervisorial seat -- the vote at the Gilroy City Council was split. One of the candidates in your race is in favor of pot dispensaries...) San Jose Inside breaks the "sticky situation" down as well...

Protect San Jose, which has been complaining about the Mercury News for some time, is now fond of reposting things directly from their website. Yesterday they reposted some comments that have been published in response to Bobby Lopez's "Latinos have a drinking problem" piece. Because the comment section of the Mercury News is where enlightened dialogue thrives...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.6.10: Smoke 'em if you got 'em...

In case you missed it. Please check out Watch Dog's post yesterday pointing out how the San Francisco Giants are trying to meddle in San Jose politics... Survey Says!

Assemblymember Jim Beall is a patient man. Heck, anyone who can sit on the San Jose City Council, then the Board of Supervisors, and then the State Assembly must be willing to wait, and wait, and wait... and so Beall must wait some more regarding his plan to implement a per-alcoholic-drink fee to pay for some criminal justice and health costs in the State. Hang in there Assemblymember Beall... someday.

*A new technology could be making its way into California politics for signature gathering. The cleverly named "Verafirma" is co-founded by San Jose's own Jude Barry and will make it possible to collect signatures for ballot initiatives via smart phones. While technologists and political operatives may be drooling over the idea, some elections officials are not quite sure. Nonetheless, it seems some political organizations are signing up to use the technology.

Here's something the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce can promote: There's a place to smoke cigars in downtown Morgan Hill. One closed cigar shop has been replaced by another. Smoke 'em if you got 'em...

But this might be something the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce may not want to promote... the owners of the 65,000 acre Sargent Ranch just south of Gilroy filed for bankruptcy in San Diego. Expect interesting times in the future with the big piece of land which already has an interesting 'planning' history that includes Gilroy, the County, and the Amah Mutsun tribe. Gilroy A's anyone?

And to the blogs...

*Protect San Jose gives props to Scott Herhold and the Merc. Seriously...

Joseph DiSalvo sets forth his ideas about Charter Schools in Santa Clara County with his post on San Jose Inside...

*Mission City Lantern points readers to the Santa Clarans for Economic Progress (pro-49er's) website. James calls the SCEP site "smashing"...

* If you know why there is an asterisk next to these stories, email Watch Dog.

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.15.09: Big night for the San(ta Clara) Francisco 49ers...

The San(ta Clara) Francisco 49ers kicked some serious Cardinals' ass last night. Seven Cardinals' turnovers helped San(ta Clara) Francisco's cause as well... We're not here, to start no trouble, we're just here to do the Santa Clara shuffle... (Mission City Lantern doesn't miss a beat...)

Speaking of new stadiums... the Chronicle's man in Oakland, Chip Johnson, does his best to boost Oakland Mayor Ron Dellum's plans to keep the A's in Oakland -- and not with out some needling of San Jose. Like this: "...the chances that Wolff and San Jose city officials will prevail in their attempts to move the team are slim..." Really? I suppose Chip Johnson and Ron Dellums are closer to Major League Baseball owners than Lew Wolff (a Major League Baseball owner). Johnson's piece also states the obvious -- that is may be too little too late -- when he writes: "...It's a complete turnabout for Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums who in early 2007, shortly after taking office, dismissed any notions that the team would remain..." So perhaps Lew Wolff's non-embrace of Oakland is because it comes three years too late...

The Merc Editorial Board gives an atta-boy to Mayor Chuck Reed for punting San Jose's Redevelopment budget talks to February until things can be ironed out on several fronts: the State's money grab, perhaps the Teamsters' thingy, and some other stuff too.

Scott Herhold provides some perspective on the death of teenager Sarah Botill in Gilroy from a night of drinking. Herhold concludes that this is no ordinary story because, "...She was the daughter of a firefighter. She died after drinking at the home of an ex-councilman. And she had a few swallows of beer that night at the home of a cop..." More details about the case from the news side of the house at the Merc and the Dispatch as well...

The Merc's Mr. Roadshow describes some details about the proposed BART-to-Silicon Valley line and how some traffic delays can already be tied to BART's eventual construction...

Speaking of trains... more and less. Apparently High-Speed Rail tickets might be a little bit more expensive than originally planned (and sold to voters) and the ridership numbers may be a little less. Oops... Watch Dog would still pay a pretty steep price to not have to fly into LAX ever again. It might be a good place to get a haircut, but it is a bad place to fly in to. It is safe to assume that the higher fees and lower ridership are not what 200 folks in Mountain View were most concerned about when they attended a High-Speed Rail meeting...

This week the Merc called Steve Poizner's Gubernatorial campaign "anemic" and then late yesterday a story posted that went further into detail about what the rumor-mill in Sacramento is churning out. Poizner may not spend the $15 million he is putting in for some time and all the money that is being put into the race by Whitman and Poizner may mean that San Jose's Tom Campbell is backing out of the race, to which Campbell's press secretary says: "People can talk and conjecture all they want, but there's no change..." Of course, Campbell's press secretary did confirm that supporters are encouraging Campbell to run for Senate instead... because nothing could go wrong with a Campbell Senate bid... (36.6%)

More bad news for the Santa Clara Unified School District and Wilcox High School. Just as the Broom Closet Modeling Agency flap has died down, the Santa Clara Police are forwarding to the District Attorney their findings of their investigation into whether the Wilcox High Principal knew a teacher was known for having sex with students before he was arrested for (you guessed it) having sex with a student... now the District Attorney Dolores Carr needs to review the findings and decide if she wants to take on a high-profile rape case... where have we seen this before? We can only hope two things in this case: 1. that Jim McManis isn't the defense attorney for the Principal, and 2. that the DA's husband isn't working for the victim's (victims'?) families in some way...

To light or not to light... that is the question (at the Ann Sobrato high School football field in Morgan Hill). One complication -- the football field is actually in San Jose ... and within the City's greenbelt. San Jose Councilmember Ash Kalra, who represents the part of San Jose that would be impacted had this to say: "I'd certainly be open to discussing it. I don't want to close any doors to the interest the community may have to try to find a way to make it happen. But under the current zoning, it just won't work." Oh well... perhaps there is a high school in Dillon that will share their Friday Night Lights...

They are going to pave "paradise" (Palo Alto Bowl) and put up a "parking lot" (for a new hotel and townhomes)...

San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant joins Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio this week on San Jose Inside talking about the City budget. San Jose's new blogging duet...

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.8.09: A frosty Round-Up...

San Jose’s new affordable housing policy could get some tweaking before it even takes effect in 2013. City Planning staff will suggest ditching the rental property portion of the new rules, unless the state Supreme Court has something to say…

Gilroy’s City Council looked at loosening regulations for gambling and adult businesses. No word if medical marijuana joints would benefit from the (apparently) liberalization of Gilroy.

Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner is asking the City Council for doggie laws with “more teeth,” in an attempt to prevent dog maulings. Doggie laws... more teeth...

The sorry tale of Palo Alto’s JJ&F grocery is over, for now. In a(nother) contentious meeting, Palo Alto’s City Council said “yes” to rebuilding the grocery along with offices and housing. Hoping to prevent a bait-and-switch, Councilmembers tied the land to food, forever. The party-pooper in this shopping parade was Assemblymember wannabe/ Councilmember YorikoKishimoto .

A new tax (might be) on the horizon for the cash-strapped Morgan Hill? A gathering of the City Council minds seems to say yes. Apparently frustrated by discussions over pennies under discussion, Councilmember Larry Carr said “City Connections, meetings – those are all distractions…” (apparently) hoping to move talk to high dollar salaries…

Stevens Creek Trail assault perp John Detches was busted over the weekend. Mountain View Police spokesperson, Liz Wylie, reports Police “pretty much stumbled upon him…”

Perhaps hoping for a Psycho Donuts redux… Antonio’s Nut House patron Afshin Fouladpour got ripped and waved a gun around after being booted from the bar multiple times.

Gubernatorial wannabe/(former) eBay CEO Meg Whitman took the stand in a federal case saying eBay wanted “all of Craigslist” but they didn’t do anything naughty with information they had from owning a huge chunk... No word if the Poizner people were in the courtroom taking notes...

Protect San Jose blogger/(former) San Jose Council Chief/ (former/losing) Council candidate Chris Hemingway suggests community activists looking within (and taking the San Jose Police Department’s Citizens’ Academy) will allow citizens to “…address issues like the language barriers between Police and non-English-speaking immigrants, immigrant prejudice against police derived from their native country, an increase in drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, and gang-related crime, and the bad attitudes of youths when dealing with authority.”

Mission City Lantern is thoughtfully sending a little Cheez Whiz to friends at Santa Clara Plays Fair, and props to Watch Dog (again) for nominating Campbell Mayor Evan Low the coolest Mayor.

Morning News Round-Up – 11.10.09:

San Jose Redevelopment Agency chief Harry Mavrogenes took a beating Monday afternoon when County Executive Jeff Smith said the Agency is “so highly leveraged they cannot pay off their bills or even their operating expenses…” Smith was joined by Councilmember Sam Liccardo who hoped his cautionary tone might prove to be “off-key.” No doubt, Mavrogenes was thinking the same thing...

The Santa Clara Open Space Authority is breathing a sigh of relief, and keeping nearly $30 million from an “illegal assessment.” The agency now gets to figure out how to spend the ill-gotten gain, open some of that open space, hire a few rangers, build trails or purchase more parkland. Maybe Taxpayers Association Doug McNea could look somewhere more interesting next time...

Sporting a new t-shirt Morgan Hill resident/Medical Marijuana dispenser Batzi Kuburovich stands proudly next to Gilroy's shiny new medical marijuana dispensary. Councilmember Cat Tucker was pissed the dispensary opened in “blatant disregard” to the law and council decisions. We’re happy we now know where to go to get our doctors note for pot…

San Jose Insider/San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio was mighty pissed last week when colleagues ditched his idea to open labor negotiations for popcorn eating entertainment. Oliverio hopes to increase taxes on the city’s gambling joints and adding a pot tax for good measure.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold talked (government staff) layoffs with a friend over the weekend and offers a few ideas of his own for cost savings. Don’t let folks with skin in the game decide who pays their retirement shortfall (police and firefighter pension trustees – that would be you), don’t send San Jose economic geek Paul Krutko to Portugal – send him to Palo Alto, and, when you see your lawsuit going down in flames – stop throwing money at it (Santa Clara County’s “ludicrous” GIS battle).

Ooops. The Santa Clara Valley Water District is in a little hot water of its own. A trial began Monday that could have the district providing refunds to thousands of water drinking fans. Great Oaks Water Company hired forensic accountant Thomas O’Rourke to track the dollars collected and follow their flow.

If you love your Whole Foods you’ll be happy to hear construction is underway again in Almaden Valley. Sadly, if you live in San Jose’s Rose Garden, you have to wait for construction to resume – Blossom Hill has priority.

Mountain View High’s principal Keith Moody overcame tough odds and was a football star before his passion for education kicked in. Last month Moody was inducted into the Syracuse Hall of Fame.

Hoofers around Mountain View will be happy to hear MV wants to hear from you. Google maps are helping online walkers tell the city what works and what doesn’t.

Mission City Lantern sends a love note to Watch Dog with a reminder that Stanford trounced the Ducks. OSU Beavers bested the Cardinals. (Watch Dog (mistakenly) read the Mission City headline “Stanford Defeats Oregon…” with a giant beaver and was (apparently) too hung over to remember which wildlife was present.)

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 – 10.9.09: There are in fact two things...

Celebrating a Hippocratic Friday…

With a dramatic "off with his head," (not really) the crowd gathered to continue discussions for tree replacement on the drama imbued California Avenue in Palo Alto. Seems the new (again revised) plans for trees emphasizes diversity over uniformity and a tree-free zone until January. Resident Roswitha Remling is happy “I think diversity is a good thing.”

High-Speed Rail Authority boardmember Rod Diridon is breathing a sigh of relief. Judge Michael Kenny has offered a tentative ruling that work can move forward for the speedy connector running from San Francisco to Los Angeles. NIMBY peninsula neighbors attorney Stuart Flashman retains optimism but believes “the judge has made up his mind.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tom “I don’t know about science” Donohue complained it was the tree-huggers that strong armed Apple and PG&E into quitting in an attempt to discredit the chambers (anti) clean air stance. Silicon Valley’s iconic Apple shrugged saying it was the Chambers opposition to limiting greenhouse gasses. According to San Jose Inside, the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce may be the next to ditch the dinosaur like behavior…

Wrapped in silver under an inky morning sky, hundreds gathered at NASA Ames to watch as LCROSS smashed into the moon at more than 5,000 miles per hour. No dramatic shooting plumes. Gregory Schmidt of the Lunar Science Institute, is excited anyway as the lack of a plume might mean even more exciting news ahead.

The tragic death of cyclist Kristy Gough will mean a $1.2 million check from Santa Clara County to Gough’s Mom, Karen Clarkson, and an (as yet) unknown amount yet to be sent to Father Rip Gough. Clarkson said the process of sending personal treasures off for review by strangers was “almost like dying a second time.”

The family of Morgan Hill’s gang shooting victim Juan Arellano said he was a “loving kid” with a “good heart” and in the “wrong place.” The family disputes Arellano’s (supposed) gang involvement and says other aspects of the original story were wrong.

Santa Clara Unified School District is digging into details of teacher/perv Edward Slate’s relationship with a 17 year old student, and the possibility that they overlooked early warnings.

The Merc’s Sal Pizarro focuses on fun art this weekend including the Luna Park Chalk Art Festival with Aztec dance and chalk-art celebrities, classic movies in the classy Stanford Theatre on Palo Altos (un)tree-free University Avenue along with the kick off of Palo Alto’s annual Pumpkin Patch.

Seems fruit crazed cat burglars’ sneak in under the cover of darkness to strip persimmons from Mountain View neighbors. Resident Bruce Karney is pissed and once saw a fruit thief haul off stolen treats in a Mercedes heading for the “underground persimmon market.” Neighbor Eugene Cordero suggested calling Village Harvest to denude the trees ahead of thieves and donate the booty to food agencies.

Protect San Jose’s Beat Cop clarifies the difference between an emergency (911) and complaints about music or parking (311). Beat Cop also hands out the cell phone 911 equivalent for San Jose residents (408)277-8911.

San Jose Inside follows up on the mystery behind the Bay Area’s 2nd place Daily Beast ranking, right ahead of the (apparently) even dimmer Boston area– home to MIT and the lesser known (?) Harvard.