Morning News Round-Up -- 4.22.10: Opposed versus Opposing...

The San Jose Police Officers' Association has opposed the gambling measure on the San Jose ballot in June since it was put on the ballot a few months ago. Of course, they didn't oppose it enough to actually write an "argument against Measure K" for the ballot guide. Instead, they blogged about. So I guess we can say the POA are "opposed" but they aren't really "opposing."

But inside the story in today's Merc there are even more interesting details, if you read between the lines:

• Cindy Chavez still isn't talking to the Merc, but answered a question on Measure K through her spokesperson with a "no comment" -- thus violating Rule 1 of press relations.
• Even more interesting in the story is this: Ed McGovern pushing a yes on Measure K campaign on behalf of the card clubs and Jude Barry is a political consultant for the Police Officers' Association, which is opposed to the measure. This is interesting because Ed McGovern and Jude Barry are working together in Santa Clara on the 49ers' stadium campaign. Politics makes strange bedfellows... (No Councilmember Oliverio, we don't mean that kind of bedfellow...)

Here we go again... again. Senator Maldonado is gunning for Lieutenant Governor. Can't we all just get along?

While we are in Sacramento... Mr. Smith (well, Mr. Guardino actually) went to Sacramento, and got a piece written in the Merc about their trip... which we are sure will make the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce less than pleased because they went to Sacramento this week and got nothing written...

Speaking of Mr. Guardino, he comes to the defense of Cindy Chavez with a Letter to the Editor in today's Merc. He makes no mention, however, of why she has been in the paper lately: heavy-handed political tactics. But Cindy should send Carl flowers today...

Wouldn't it be great to buy alcohol and Advil in the same place? That way, you can get the cause and the cure for a hangover in one space... Well, the Campbell City Council doesn't think it is such a good idea and denied Walgreens' the proper permits...

The City of Palo Alto hired a consulting firm to see how it might be able to see how to trim costs from the fire department... of course, they forgot to find out if the consulting firm had every actually recommended reducing staffing levels of fire departments ever. The answer? No. Never. Not once. Well, that was money well spent by the City of Palo Alto...

A woman was violently attacked and robbed at the Gilroy outlets on Wednesday in the bathroom. Scary.

What a buzz kill... and during the week of 420: Mountain View Police busted a grow house with $100,000 of pot plants...

On the blogs...

San Jose Inside lets us all know about Sam Liccardo's birthday cake at his campaign kick-off, and that Zoe Lofgren was there. We also learn that candidate Tim Hennessey has "friends" on Facebook that are mad at him...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.15.10: Beware the ides of March, San Jose incumbents...

The Merc's City Hall reporter does his best to untangle where the political powers that be in San Jose come down on the gambling expansion intitiative headed for the June 2010 ballot in San Jose. Reed and Chavez/Labor - for the measure. Chavez/Labor-backed folks on the City Council - against. Police Chief and the Police Officers' Association - against (but at least they agree on something). Former Police Officer/ Councilmember Pete Constant for it. Former Police Office/Council Candidate Larry Pegram against it -- but we learn his so-called Values Advocacy Council must not think that gambling is that bad because they won't make a big issue out of it (more on this below). Pat Dando now neutral as is David Pandori... although in Pat's case, it is hard to tell if this is her position, or just the Chamber not playing a role in City Hall... Desparate times call for desparate measures apparently...

Everyone is filed for office... Larry Pegram is in for District 9, which means that Watch Dog will have something to write/ rant about for the next several months... Some folks up for re-election in San Jose have some challengers -- obviously Madison Nguyen has a few folks running against her, the Mayor has two (including Bill Chew), Pete Constant has one, Sam Liccardo has one... of all the challengers, it seems only one has a web site up... well, sort of!!:

It is a crappy time to be making budget decisions in San Jose, but perhaps it wouldn't be so crappy if City Councils-past hadn't built the Mexican Heritage Plaza and/or taken over the Hayes Mansion? The Merc's Scott Herhold dives even deeper about the dire shape of San Jose's budget... and goes a bit into the why as well...

Maybe this will help the City of San Jose budget woes... an "innovation center" was opened downtown by Ireland. At least someone is investing in downtown O'San Jose.

A brewing controversy over at the County Building where an citizens election oversight committee was formed in 2008 and met exactly zero times since then. One member who was appointed to the committee said this: "...The Supervisors need to get off their duffs..." Yup.

Morning News Round-Up -- 11.6.09: State Senator Dando?

State Senator Abel Maldonado appears headed to fill the Lt. Governor's seat recently vacated by (now) Congressman John Garamendi. Most Republican insiders are reported to be anxious to boot Maldo from their caucus midst and happy to see him heading to the Guvernator's side. A special election for Maldo’s seat could be just what the Dem’s are hoping for in the South Bay. But Watch Dog spies tell us that Chamber head-honcho, Republican, former San Jose Vice Mayor, and former Gov-staffer Pat Dando's hat is firmly in the ring for that seat...

Just as Watch Dog was making plans to go clubbing in downtown San Jose tonight this news: Vault Ultra Lounge (whatever an "ultra lounge" is) was shut down by the State Alcoholic Beverage Control. Something about minors hanging in the bar and ignoring the State’s labor regulations. Vault’s owners weren’t dishing to the press -- shocker... What will Vault's lobbyists do when they can't blame the Police and the City for screwing up their client's business... perhaps Tim Hennessey will come to the rescue?

Three kids and an 18 year old, confessed to Police they shot and stabbed trick-or-treating children on Halloween. District Attorney Dolores Carr and Mayor Chuck Reed look forward to trying the teenagers as adults. San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos is pissed as gang violence continues to rise in her Council District. The irony of this story:

• We know about the confessions because the Police released their Police reports... which is exactly what was being asked of them a few weeks ago and they fought. Just to be clear on the new policy: Good news for Police = Reports get released. Bad news for Police = Reports don't get released...

The Merc’s Editorial Board sends props to San Jose Police for their rapid arrests in the Halloween gang violence then reminds us that busting minorities is an area where San Jose Police excel -- and it is hurting their ability to do their job in the long run.

Not to be left out of the reform-the-police debate, the President of San Jose Downtown Association calls on San Jose leaders to set a Civilian Review Board off to oversee accusations of police misconduct.

City staff and taxpayers need to share the burden of San Jose’s 9 consecutive years of red ink -- that's the plan the City Council passed (without Councilmember PO). Slightly less painful than Mayor Reed’s initial proposal, a blended proposal calls for a 5% reduction in employee costs, efficiencies, and taxes... how fun...

Also getting in on the San Jose budget fun... San Jose Inside read reports of Council decisions on sharing the pain and asks “after nine years of budget deficits, are city operations still inefficient to the tune of $32 million?” SJI also wants to know how it is police and firefighter salary and benfits “shot up 78 percent” while the rest of the world saw 18% increases.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff who ran over cyclists has now cost the County $4.6 million with another lawsuit in the works.

Mountain View seeks to out-do San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s passion for green. Setting an aggressive goal of greenhouse gas reduction puts Mountain View among the first of cities across the nation.

Just in time for your Saturday lawn mowing pleasure: Residents of Santa Clara Valley didn’t reach their water savings goal. The pretty green lawn-keepers missed the 15% reduction mark, and used more water than their Peninsula and East Bay cousins. Don’t worry your pretty little roses over it, there’s no teeth in the Water Districts regulations.

The Merc’s Sean Webby better hope he never gets pulled over by San Jose’s finest. Protect San Jose’s James Gonzales suggests the sale of newspapers is behind the Merc’s investigation into allegations of excessive force... (If the Merc didn't need to sell papers, I guess we can assume that the paper wouldn't cover videos of baton-wielding Police Officers busting college students or the lack of transparency from the Police Department...) The Protect blog seems to be taking a page from Sarah Palin's playbook: blame the media.

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