Tesla Chronicles Continue... Tesla nailed a loan from the Feds to the tune of $465 million and has plans to announce where in the Bay Area a battery production plant will land. San Jose’s Nanci Klein is thrilled and confident San Jose will land the electric fish gushing “Tesla’s success is our success.” Really? Even though they left San Jose at the alter previously? Let's hope that the on-again/off-again San Jose/Tesla romance continues for a while. Or at least until they burn through taxpayers' $465 mill...
San Jose’s City Council moves closer to reforms for the beleaguered Employee Pension Funds. Consultant Cortex Applied Research said the existing Boards lack expertise and have little incentive to save taxpayer money. Perhaps that, coupled with the economic melt-down, explains the billion (plus) dollar losses...
San Jose’s Planning Commission landed in hot water last month with accusations of a Brown Act open government violation. City Attorney Rick Doyle lowered the temperature and is requiring a re-vote in the election of a new Commission Chair. Watch Dog prediction: one of the four alleged co-conspirators Xavier Campos, Chris Platten, Hope Cahan, or Thang Do lands in the center chair.
Santa Clara County Open Space Authority mails notices to hundreds of thousands of property owners fessing up to an illegal tax and offering a refund. Sierra Club’s Melissa Hippard suggests refusing, others suggest taking the $130 and donating it back (read tax deduction). The Open Space Authority loses $51 million for their screw-up. The winner is Tony Tanke, a Davis attorney, who walks away with $7.4 million in legal fees.
Former Los Altos Police Chief Bob Lacey may be “crude” and “inappropriate” but the Judge says porn on a flash drive, fat jokes for a pregnant lady, discussions of testicles, and photos of a naked transgender person did not make for a hostile workplace.
The Merc’s Scott Herhold likens the ongoing squabble between NASA and the Navy over who is responsible for Moffett’s Hangar One to an officious clerk making your life miserable. Herhold says it’s time to cut through the nonsense and call in White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Congressmember Anna Eshoo agreed it was “absolutely absurd” for the Navy to move forward without an end game but wasn’t so sure about calling Emanuel. (Watch Dog doesn't blame Eshoo... here's why.)
While the rest of the Valley is grilling and hanging out for the fireworks, three Monte Sereno Councilmembers have local fireworks to deal with. The recall effort over the (very badly timed) Council salary decision heads into high gear on the 4th of July. Recall proponent Fred Hawkes doesn’t want his Councilmembers wasting their time or money on Countywide groups like the Association of Bay Area Governments or the Santa Clara Cities Association.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is all over the news. He’ll get his dream mansion, Woodside keeps parts of an historic home, and Jobs ill health was confirmed when a Tennessee hospital confirmed Jobs’ liver transplant. We guess is that he'd rather be in the news discussing the latest and greatest iPod...
Saratoga Planning Commissioners approved plans to relocate a San Jose business (Demetri's the Hair People) onto Saratoga’s main drag. Commissioner David Reis was impressed with plans to update the exterior. Also approved, enlarging outdoor seating for Cinnabar Winery. Expensive hair cuts and expensive wine... perfect for Saratoga.
Sunnyvale’s newest City Manager, Gary Luebbers, says patience is his biggest challenge. Mayor Anthony Spitaleri likes that Luebbers isn’t “analyzing to death” and is hopeful this bodes well for Sunnyvale’s (Albatross) Town Center project.
What do Halle Berry, Paris, New York, Monte Carlo, and Palo Alto have in common? Doris Payne and It Takes a Thief, of course.
Busy times in South County: Gilroy had more gang problems, an “elaborate” car theft, and big robbery last week. Trustees for Gilroy Unified hired a new principal for Gilroy High and three new administrators to see them through tough times ahead.
Upscale Los Gatos hopes you’ll join them for Jazz on the Plazz but doesn’t want your crummy turf damaging blanket and has a slew of rules for those lawn chairs. Welcome to Los Gatos, don't leave a mark...
San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo weighs in on class size reduction standing firmly on the fence. DiSalvo also continues his push for increased teacher salaries. Thank you (?) Joe.
Bucking the trend towards cheap, Cisco Systems handed out $1.26 million in grants including to 53 local non-profits.
Showing posts with label cisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cisco. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Morning News Round-Up -- 6.9.09: Video Gate, Day 7
Video Gate is not over yet. Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra sent a letter to Police Officers Association chief Bobby Lopez yesterday about the video and the Merc Editorial Board chimed in as well. The Editorial Board didn't pull many punches. If you don't want to read the actual Editorial, here are a few choice words they used to describe the video (and the POA): "juvenile" "thin-skinned" ""inflammatory" "intimidating"... The POA certainly got its money's worth from the PR firm that put the video out. Oh yeah, Boby Lopez promises to take down the video from YouTube and from ProtectSanJose.com... but it isn't gone yet (as of 8:15 a.m.).
All this talk about Raj Jayadev got us thinking, what does this guy write about on Silicon Valley
De-Bug? Here's his latest: The Death of Vietnamese Man Calls Out to a Vietnamese Woman, and the City Policies that May Have Failed Them Both. Consider Jayadev's criticism of the San Jose Police with this organization's logo... or this organization's tag-line, "Promoting technology to protect the innocent from Police brutality." In other big cities, Watch Dog thinks Jayadev would be considered a pretty mellow critic.
On the flip side of things, Kathleen commented on Watch Dog yesterday, and yes, we have the courage to post comments... Here is the information about her Vigil tonight at City Hall.
Moving right along... The San Jose City Council is thinking about taking a pay cut. But Councilmember Chu is still standing in the way... We guess Watch Dog's notes and Herhold's column haven't made their way to Councilmember Chu's desk yet...
Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio's budget survey is done. It is so scientific it hurts. The responses are here... but all you really need to do is figure out what Oliverio would cut or keep -- because (amazingly) they match up with the results. In Watch Dog's survey, we found that 90 percent of the people love Watch Dog "a lot." And 4 out of 5 dentists surveyed recommended sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.
The 49ers apparently aren't going to sign the convicted dog-fighting-ring-leader Michael Vick to their squad. In an related note, the political people trying to get a ballot measure passed in Santa Clara next March exhaled loudly.
On the fourth day of Christmas... four Red Ruffed lemurs... and some falcons at City Hall...
The County is not going to take the State's cuts lying down... well, mostly they are going to take the State's cuts lying down. But they might try to do something about the (proposed) closing of Henry Coe State Park.
The Merc's Scott Herhold reviews the De Anza rape case (again) following a 20/20 story this week. Take a look and decide for yourself what you think about the column, but one line stands out: "...this case will always haunt Carr politically..." (Not M.L. or Larry but Dolores.)
It's been a good week for Silicon Valley businesses: yesterday Cisco joined other blue chip companies on the Dow Jones index and later in the day Apple previewed a new iPhone (and announced that the old one will only be $99)... Watch Dog is saving iPennies for the old iPhone.
If you live in Mountain View, your rates on most utilities are going up. Water, sewer, garbage, recycling, etc., etc., etc. Oh, and just to be nice, they are giving you a few weeks to prepare -- the hikes go into affect July 1. Water and sewer is going up 5% and garbage/recycling is going up 7%. Thank you Mountain View...
City Unions in Palo Alto are fighting back, and packing the City Council Chambers. Last night was public Round 1, Watch Dog expects this to be a long fight...
That fight in Palo Alto shouldn't be confused with this one. Two teenagers wielding pipes fought police. Police eventually won.
Mission City Lantern throws props Watch Dog's way, sort of...
We would include updates from San Jose Revealed, but they must be sleeping in late or taking a long weekend or both...
All this talk about Raj Jayadev got us thinking, what does this guy write about on Silicon Valley
De-Bug? Here's his latest: The Death of Vietnamese Man Calls Out to a Vietnamese Woman, and the City Policies that May Have Failed Them Both. Consider Jayadev's criticism of the San Jose Police with this organization's logo... or this organization's tag-line, "Promoting technology to protect the innocent from Police brutality." In other big cities, Watch Dog thinks Jayadev would be considered a pretty mellow critic.On the flip side of things, Kathleen commented on Watch Dog yesterday, and yes, we have the courage to post comments... Here is the information about her Vigil tonight at City Hall.
Moving right along... The San Jose City Council is thinking about taking a pay cut. But Councilmember Chu is still standing in the way... We guess Watch Dog's notes and Herhold's column haven't made their way to Councilmember Chu's desk yet...
Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio's budget survey is done. It is so scientific it hurts. The responses are here... but all you really need to do is figure out what Oliverio would cut or keep -- because (amazingly) they match up with the results. In Watch Dog's survey, we found that 90 percent of the people love Watch Dog "a lot." And 4 out of 5 dentists surveyed recommended sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.
The 49ers apparently aren't going to sign the convicted dog-fighting-ring-leader Michael Vick to their squad. In an related note, the political people trying to get a ballot measure passed in Santa Clara next March exhaled loudly.
On the fourth day of Christmas... four Red Ruffed lemurs... and some falcons at City Hall...
The County is not going to take the State's cuts lying down... well, mostly they are going to take the State's cuts lying down. But they might try to do something about the (proposed) closing of Henry Coe State Park.
The Merc's Scott Herhold reviews the De Anza rape case (again) following a 20/20 story this week. Take a look and decide for yourself what you think about the column, but one line stands out: "...this case will always haunt Carr politically..." (Not M.L. or Larry but Dolores.)
It's been a good week for Silicon Valley businesses: yesterday Cisco joined other blue chip companies on the Dow Jones index and later in the day Apple previewed a new iPhone (and announced that the old one will only be $99)... Watch Dog is saving iPennies for the old iPhone.
If you live in Mountain View, your rates on most utilities are going up. Water, sewer, garbage, recycling, etc., etc., etc. Oh, and just to be nice, they are giving you a few weeks to prepare -- the hikes go into affect July 1. Water and sewer is going up 5% and garbage/recycling is going up 7%. Thank you Mountain View...
City Unions in Palo Alto are fighting back, and packing the City Council Chambers. Last night was public Round 1, Watch Dog expects this to be a long fight...
That fight in Palo Alto shouldn't be confused with this one. Two teenagers wielding pipes fought police. Police eventually won.
Mission City Lantern throws props Watch Dog's way, sort of...
We would include updates from San Jose Revealed, but they must be sleeping in late or taking a long weekend or both...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Morning News Round-Up -- 6.8.09: Watch Dog in the news...again
Well, well, well... Watch Dog actually made it into (another) Scott Herhold article in the Merc. This time because we were observant enough in the San Jose City Council discussion about a pay cut to point out that San Jose City Councilmember calling himself a "recent" immigrant may not have been completely accurate and for linking folks with some public finance information that shows that Chu is probably better off financially than many of his colleagues. Thanks for the hat tip Scott. (Herhold's column is all about the political spin coming out of San Jose City Hall. Aside from Chu's spin, Herhold points to DA Dolores Carr's spin about the highly-guarded 9-1-1 tapes, VTA's spin about a recent Civil Grand Jury report, and San Jose Pension Board member David Bacigalupi's insistence on taking junkets...)
In another late-Friday-afternoon press event, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed released a new budget proposal that protects most "core services" like police officers and police stations, fire fighters and fire stations, and parks and libraries. To do this, the Mayor is banking on increased property tax assessments (wishful thinking?), reserves, employee pay freezes, and presumably spending cuts elsewhere in the City budget. Watch Dog expects that this plan will get wide support on the Council. This plan seems reasonable, but what happens when the State steals even more money from San Jose?
One local government has declared a "fiscal emergency" in an attempt to thwart the State's raids...
The Merc's Internal Affairs recaps Video Gate (the POA/Anti-De-Bug video and its response). (Watch Dog did that already...)
But it seems the POA is freaked out by De-Bug...
Because an interesting outcome of Video Gate is that the POA launched its own blog, complete with a first post from POA Chief Bobby Lopez. But even more interesting that that is that Protect San Jose is a place where the POA are going to "defend themselves" against the 'attacks' they have been facing. Two folks that will be coming to POA's defense are Ed Rast and Kathleen Flynn. Kathleen Flynn? Is this the same 'Kathleen' of prolific blogging fame (check out some of Kathleen's greatest hits)?
In other Internal Affairs news, the political folks at the Merc. delve into the 2-faced-ness (if that's a word) of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's pitch to Santa Clara voters in the 49ers deal, a County car audit that was wrong, and San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio getting booed/heckled off-stage at an Organized Labor rally at City Hall. Councilmember Oliverio, what did you think was going to happen?
The Chronicle's version of Internal Affairs, Matier and Ross (actually, it is the other way around) also has a piece about Newsom and the 49ers. The 49ers had some serious concerns with the stadium deal in San Francisco, specifically the lack of highway access and Newsom's insistence that the stadium be LEED certified, have solar panels to power the stadium, and have showers for folks who bike-commute to the game... Watch Dog would have to agree about fans showering, but actually AT the game?
Also getting in on the Santa Clara/49ers action is the Chronicle's (most angry/spurned lover) sports columnist Ray Ratto... he has some advice for the City of Santa Clara.
And...
Willie Brown chimes in too, suggesting that if Mayor Newsom is really pissed about the 49ers move, he will funnel campaign cash to the Santa Clara-based opponents of the 49ers. Watch Dog thinks that probably won't help his chances of becoming Governor much.
Shifting gears to some crime/police stuff:
A busy week around local governments this week as most agencies begin to wind down their work for June for a July break...
In another late-Friday-afternoon press event, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed released a new budget proposal that protects most "core services" like police officers and police stations, fire fighters and fire stations, and parks and libraries. To do this, the Mayor is banking on increased property tax assessments (wishful thinking?), reserves, employee pay freezes, and presumably spending cuts elsewhere in the City budget. Watch Dog expects that this plan will get wide support on the Council. This plan seems reasonable, but what happens when the State steals even more money from San Jose?
One local government has declared a "fiscal emergency" in an attempt to thwart the State's raids...
The Merc's Internal Affairs recaps Video Gate (the POA/Anti-De-Bug video and its response). (Watch Dog did that already...)
But it seems the POA is freaked out by De-Bug...
Because an interesting outcome of Video Gate is that the POA launched its own blog, complete with a first post from POA Chief Bobby Lopez. But even more interesting that that is that Protect San Jose is a place where the POA are going to "defend themselves" against the 'attacks' they have been facing. Two folks that will be coming to POA's defense are Ed Rast and Kathleen Flynn. Kathleen Flynn? Is this the same 'Kathleen' of prolific blogging fame (check out some of Kathleen's greatest hits)?
In other Internal Affairs news, the political folks at the Merc. delve into the 2-faced-ness (if that's a word) of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's pitch to Santa Clara voters in the 49ers deal, a County car audit that was wrong, and San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio getting booed/heckled off-stage at an Organized Labor rally at City Hall. Councilmember Oliverio, what did you think was going to happen?
The Chronicle's version of Internal Affairs, Matier and Ross (actually, it is the other way around) also has a piece about Newsom and the 49ers. The 49ers had some serious concerns with the stadium deal in San Francisco, specifically the lack of highway access and Newsom's insistence that the stadium be LEED certified, have solar panels to power the stadium, and have showers for folks who bike-commute to the game... Watch Dog would have to agree about fans showering, but actually AT the game?
Also getting in on the Santa Clara/49ers action is the Chronicle's (most angry/spurned lover) sports columnist Ray Ratto... he has some advice for the City of Santa Clara.
And...
Willie Brown chimes in too, suggesting that if Mayor Newsom is really pissed about the 49ers move, he will funnel campaign cash to the Santa Clara-based opponents of the 49ers. Watch Dog thinks that probably won't help his chances of becoming Governor much.
Shifting gears to some crime/police stuff:
- A local swim coach is accused of molesting young girls for 30 years. A steady string of victims seem to be coming forward in this case...
- Palo Alto Police and San Mateo County Sheriffs are beefing up their patrols of Caltrain tracks, which have been the scene of two teen suicides and one attempted suicide in the past month alone.
- No doubt you heard about a 15-year-old girl who was "abducted" from over the weekend... well, she actually ran away.
A busy week around local governments this week as most agencies begin to wind down their work for June for a July break...
- The County Board of Supervisors will look at development recommendations at the County Fairgrounds. Again?
- The Cupertino Union School District will look at the 2009-2010 budget, which should be a lot easier now that they passed a parcel tax...
- The Los Gatos Union School District will hear an update on the State budget... that ought to be fun.
- Ah, and never a slow week in San Jose: The City Council will once again look decreasing their pay. (We'll see how Councilmember Chu votes... and the City Council will also look at approving concessions in some union contracts.
- But the real work in San Jose City Hall will be in the Elections Commission... they'll talk about independent expenditures and changing the limits of campaign contributions.
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