Morning News Round-Up -- 5.4.10: Buy your Corona today...

The County of Santa Clara has a big, gigantic $200,000,000+ deficit that they need to bridge. How? Like everyone else does: use reserves, cut jobs, "streamline services," and banning toys at fast food joints... But leave it up to a realist (non-politician) to shed some light on things. Patricia Gardner of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits adds, "...it is great that [County Executive] Smith is preserving so much of our servcies at a time when our community is having so much hardship...[but] we need to be mindful that this budget does not take into account any of the state cuts..." May revise next week... hold on to your hats...

The folks in South County are not too pleased (apparently) with the new redistricting lines drawn by the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board... that's because one of the two seats puts Gilroy with Palo Alto... can't we all just get along? Or at least get it right?

Joe Rodriguez in the Merc tries to get back into the political realm and breaks down the similarities between the San Jose City Council re-election races of Pete Constant in District 1 and Sam Liccardo in District 3. Two popular incumbents, also-rans running against them, etc., etc.

A San Jose Police Officer that is due to be laid off saved the life of a cyclist this week. Chief Davis jumped at the chance to praise the officer after getting bashed by Protect San Jose last week...

This is weird, and seems a little out of line. Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio writes an open letter to San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis on San Jose Inside pushing for the promotion of Captain Gary Kirby... Watch Dog has to wonder whose water PO is carrying with this....

Another tough day for the South Bay Labor Council in the Mercury News. This time from the Editorial page regarding the San Jose (barely) International Airport and recommendations from the Airport head honcho that should be re-looked at to cut costs at the airport to make it even a little bit competitive with SFO and OAK. They include: "...contracting out services and paying living wages..." That will be a fun Rules Committee meeting on Wednesday...

While we are on it... we bring you this from the Chronicle: "San Francisco and its largest union have reached a long-delayed tentative agreement on a giveback plan, helping the city trim its projected $483 million budget deficit."

While we are on SFGate.com...

The Chronicle gets in on the action, obviously. The newspaper is so worried that they will lose the 49ers and that their beloved Giants will somehow get hurt if a team moves 30 miles further away, that they are now writing Editorials criticizing the A's for cracking down on their banner policy in the stadium. (We'd LOVE to see someone try to put up a banner anywhere in SBC, errr AT&T Park...) Actually, the Editorial isn't that bad and tells the Oakland City Attorney to back the f... up.

You have got to love California. In November, we will have a ballot measure, funded by oil companies, that looks to make AB 32 (the big anti-global warming bill) obsolete and a ballot measure to make recreational pot legal. Ironically, you will need to smoke pot to make all the November election commercials bearable...

This will make some people really happy... and some people not so much... metering lights in San Jose on 280. Thank you Mr. Roadshow for the heads up.

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

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

Speaking of the DA...

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

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

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

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

In other political news...

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

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

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

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

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

Morning News Round-Up -- 11.30.09: Tryptophan Hang-Over Edition...

Grab a chair, this Round-Up is long and include some things that the powers-that-be probably wanted you to miss last week...

Over the long weekend we learned that San Jose Police have a written policy requiring a specially trained officer to be on the scene for “known or suspected” calls involving the mentally ill. Assistant Police Chief Daniel Katz dismissed the policy saying “a (trained) officer wouldn’t have made a difference" in the police shooting of Daniel Pham. Last week Police trainer Teresa Jeglum told reporters a “staffing shortage” kept specially trained officers away and no automatic trigger existed to send such officers. This was a good story to get out over the long weekend...

And here is a story that the newspaper buried over the weekend: San Jose Police Officer Steven Payne Tasered not only San Jose State student Phuong Ho but (apparently) Officer Payne’s Taser was busy zapping 3 others over a 10 week period. Use of force expert Mark Harrison says Payne’s zap-happiness “boils down to poor leadership.” Which brings us to this piece from Malcolm Gladwell about how a very few bad apples can affect a Police Department's stature in the community and account for a big number of use of force incidents. His example is LA and worth a read...

The Merc’s Editorial Board says police and community groups could be missing an opportunity to talk about how to do things differently the next time a mentally ill person stands in front of a loaded gun.

Also on the minds of the Merc’s Editorial Board -- sending kudos to San Jose Police for capturing the gang members shooting children on Halloween. The Editorial Board remembers gang violence runs in cycles and the meetings between Police and community groups is a good first step.

The Chronicle's Matier and Ross love writing stories about the 49ers and the A's moving to the South Bay... and the past few days have been no different. They got this piece about how there is "No O in A's"... And then this in today's paper: Senator Boxer and her (politically ambitious) son Doug are lobbying Major League Baseball to keep the A's in Oakland. Perhaps this would be a good time for Senate Candidate Fiorina to chime in on San Jose's behalf?...

Another story you may have missed over the long week: San Jose City Councilmember Pete Constant misses many, many, many meetings. More than Councilmember Nora Campos (who had a baby) and Vice Mayor Judy Chirco (who had cancer treatment)... For you Councilmember Constant:























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Owners of million (plus) dollar homes in San Jose’s Evergreen are pissed about plans for more neighbors. Count on Sateesh Lele to show up at San Jose’s City Council meeting this week to argue more neighbors will “degrade” the “investment (they) made in (their) quality of life.” Right, because there is currently no traffic in Evergreen that could possibly degrade anyone's quality of life...

It was 1998 when Congress approved millions to buy land for a new Federal courthouse in San Jose. The Feds will reportedly make a decision from the short list next year. San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo suggests the empty/new Sobrato building would keep the Feds happy by keeping the courthouse downtown. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel was (apparently) feeling snippy when he said “we want a courthouse and want to get this done.” The problem there is after selection, they need another $100 million from the Feds. Perhaps Mayor Reed's plea for stimulus money could include another $100 million?

The Merc’s Scott Herhold was amused to find San Jose Councilmember/ outsourcing champion/ tech geek Pierluigi Oliverio voting against a tech tool San Jose Libraries have been using (courtesy of a State grant). Head Librarian Jane Light offers “we know we have a need (for tutoring), and the use is quite high.” Herhold completes the thought with “…teaching kids might come to the top of the (spending) list.”

Thanksgiving weekends are all about the sports… Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese is spending time on the road convincing local City Councils to support the San Jose A’s. Former Santa Clara City Councilmember Lisa Gillmor hired political heavyweights Ed McGovern and Jude Barry to win voters over to the 49ers team...

Perhaps the 49ers political folks would like to know this: Willie Brown was lunching at a very fancy San Francisco establishment with Jed York, the 49ers President... hmmm...

GOP gubernatorial wannabe’s Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman are trading a lot more than barbs. Seems Poizner’s (former) consultant joined the Whitman team. Pissed off Poizner-ites leaked memos are hoping to discredit the consultant by showing off his calls for Poizner to learn Spanish, win over the right and bring on the policy wonks.

Keeping an eye on local government meetings will be easy this week, thanks to the Merc...

• The Campbell Union School District Measure H Oversight Committee will double check expenditures and construction.


• The Los Gatos Union School District gets an update on property tax revenues.


• Sunnyvale’s City Council hears about the possibility of using City funds to help combat graffiti on private property.


• In Monte Sereno, the City Council will consider joining the CaliforniaFIRST “clean energy” financing effort.