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.
  

Morning News Round-Up -- 10.8.09: A Governor from San Jose?

District Attorney Dolores Carr received (mostly) good news when Judge Andrea Brown said defense attorneys in the child molestation videotape scandal couldn’t prove conspiracy. Defense attorney Al Lopez is keeping his fingers crossed the Judge will overturn his client’s conviction. Perhaps next week there will be a day without Dolores Carr in the news... there is still that pesky ethics issue and the "make the Grand Jury public" issue from yesterday...

Turns out gubernatorial wannabe Meg Whitman was registered to vote earlier than the Sacramento Bee (and others reported). After hours snooping through old paper records and microfiche Registrar of Voters offices in Ohio, San Mateo, and Santa Clara County dug up dusty registration records. More interesting now is, during the tough economic climate when County officials are slashing budgets, who pays for the tedious snooping to help the gubernatorial candidate? The Merc’s Scott Herhold weighs in on the drama musing – is this really the most important question in the Governors race? Probably not, but it is fun...

Speaking of the Governor's race... there is a new poll out. Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman score big -- no surprises there. But the big surprise is that Tom Campbell seems tied at the top with Whitman on the Republican side with Steve Poizner falling bad. Perhaps the next Governor will be from San Jose?

Santa Clara County has been ordered to pay $500,000 to a watchdog group for “stiffing the public on records requests.” Acting County Counsel Miguel Marquez expressed doubt that the half-million dollar settlement would hurt during these tough times “I don’t think $500,000 in and of itself is going to impact programs.” Really?

Mountain View’s City Council tinkers “around the edges” on finding places for new housing according to consultant Simon Alejandrino. Tops on the list, ditch those old “soft story” apartment buildings to find another 2,000 homes. Councilmember Ronit Bryant hopes for more mixed use while colleague Laura Macias is looking for affordability.

The Merc’s Editorial Board weighs in on local elections:

According to the Ed Board -- Sunnyvale residents should say yes to Mayor Tony Spitaleri, Councilmember Chris Moylan, and newcomer Jim Griffith.

and...

The Merc recommends a yes vote on parcel taxes for Fremont Union High School’s Measure G and Santa Clara Unified’s Measure C.

Looking at next year’s elections – Los Gatos Union School District ponders a bond measure to raise (around) $24 million for a new Lexington School along with other school projects.

The Mountain View–Whisman School District is heading for big changes. Trustee Ellen Wheeler says sticking to home schools might not be best for students “we know that low-income Hispanic and low-income African-American students” do better when they go to a “different school.”

Morgan Hill Police haven’t found the shooter for last week's gang related killing of Juan Arellano and Morgan Hill is rocking from the violence. Police are holding a community meeting to talk turkey on gang violence.

Not wanting to be left out of the gang action... Gilroy Police are dealing with (suspected) gang violence that landed a hearing and speech impaired man in the hospital.

Pissed off Gilroy developers asked the City Council to talk dancing. They are complaining that a police officer is a real party pooper and won’t let club customers dance the night away. Developer Gary Walton called dancing one of the “oldest forms of human expression.” The straw breaking this camel’s back was the (non) dance at Gilroy’s Gaslight Theatre where police busted vandals and broke up fights. Sounds like Club Wet...

San Jose Insider Jessica Fromm chats with candidates in next years County Supervisor race to succeed Don Gage pointing to Rosemary Kamei and Teresa Alvarado as the candidates to watch. Perhaps these candidates should start talking gang intervention in Gilroy and Morgan Hill...

Protect San Jose’s numbers geek, Ed Rast, launches a multi-part series hoping to get you to give San Jose’s City Hall an earful about budget priorities.

Morning News Round-Up -- 9.18.09: There's a new Chief in town...

For those long-time Watch Dog readers, you remember the turmoil the last Palo Alto Police Chief brought on to herself. Well, Palo Alto is appointing the taking the "Interim" off of Interim Police Chief Dennis Burns. Here's hoping that Burns doesn't follow in Lynne Johnson's PR footsteps...

A "suspicious" fire hit Citti's flower shop in Santa Clara. Sad. Watch Dog always loved Citti's and we hope they get that building back soon.

That gas you were smelling in Japantown in San Jose yesterday was caused by a construction crew that hit a gas line.

Unsurprisingly, the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union School District Board disagrees with what the Civil Grand Jury says about the District's pay packages and legal fees. One day, there will be a government agency that actually agrees with a Civil Grand Jury report -- that would be newsworthy.

Just down the street in Saratoga, an audit showed that as many as 1,740 businesses may not be paying the City's business license fee. Raising the obvious question: there are 1,740 businesses in Saratoga?

Library wars are brewing in Palo Alto. Mostly because Palo Alto just loves books so much. In fact, the Library Commission heard from pissed off readers who demanded a redesign to accommodate more books. Palo Alto’s City Council also had some (detailed) suggestions about the new library. One mad Library Commission Chair Susie Thom resigned saying “in 2 hours the council was able to discount 4 years of work.”

Morgan Hill tow truck operators are angry about a City proposal for a City-owned impound lot. They fought in court claiming it violated State law (the judge disagreed). According to tow lawyer Bruce Tichinin the City’s impound lot would “put my tax-paying clients out of business.” Tow operator/ Gilroy City Councilmember Dion Bracco adds jurisdictions in SoCal don’t make as much money as Morgan Hill hopes will roll on in.

Morgan Hill's State Senator, Abel Maldonado, was a no-show when it came to voting on a bill that could have helped Morgan Hill. The bill failed and Morgan Hill is out $2 million. Maldo said he hopes to get a do-over if the bill shows up in special session and promised Mayor Steve Tate “I’ll keep an eye on this bill.”

Oops. California didn’t post Gilroy High’s score on the eagerly anticipated Academic Performance Index. Superintendent Deborah Flores suspected it was “something to do with participation.” In fact, not enough students put those old #2’s to paper for Gilroy to qualify.

Mission City Lantern gives some props to Watch Dog and renames a local lobbying outfit...

Morning News Round-Up -- 9.01.09: Don't all plug your Teslas in at once... please

It is football season in Sacramento, sort of. State Senator Elaine Alquist lends her support to the 49ers request for picking their stadium builder. Alquist penned a piece for the Merc. complimenting Santa Clara’s City Council and touting the benefits of SB43 as it winds its way through Sacramento.

San Jose Councilmember/San Jose Insider Pierluigi Oliverio provides a blow by blow of last week’s retirement board governance meetings, for the 99.95% of San Jose who didn’t go. Peace Officers Research Association Director/ Protect San Jose’s Pete Pomerleau joined Oliverio and dished his own opinion noting “…Councilmembers Ash Kalra and Rose Herrera sat through both community meetings…” Must not have notice Oliverio taking prodigious notes.

Like they say, almost only counts in horseshoes and… Monte Sereno recall backers failed in their attempts to gather the necessary 602 signatures to take out Mayor Curtis Wright, Vice Mayor Don Perry, and Councilmember Lana Malloy for voting themselves a $300 monthly salary. Recall-meister Lon Allen promises/ threatens this isn’t his last foray into politics. Perhaps it should be...

The economic disaster has hit home for Silicon Valley’s small banks. Focus Bank (celebrating one year in the trenches) looks at a $1.5 million loss. The good news is local banks point out they are “well capitalized” and should “weather the storm.”

Put on your hiking shoes… Fans of the great outdoors will be happy to hear the Stevens Creek Trail is gaining momentum. Mountain View accepted funds to complete a section. Sunnyvale had a “breakthrough” when fears of crime proved unfounded according to Mayor Christopher Moylan. Los Altos Councilmember Val Carpenter is hopeful Sunnyvale’s breakthrough gets more options on the table.

Palo Alto’s greenies are abuzz over Tesla’s impending arrival. Palo Alto Utilities Electrical Engineering Manager Patrick Valath want you to know if everybody plugs in their car at the same time “it could have an impact.” A vision of all of Palo Alto plugging in simultaneously has the words “hot app” for smart meters falling like water.

Being a parent is tough. The Merc’s Scott Herhold provides some insight into the nostalgia and sadness that comes with watching the youngest walk out the door and into adulthood. Or, whatever adulthood means for a college freshman.

The Merc’s Sal Pizarro dishes the news that Wyatt Earp, ok, it’s really Hugh O’Brian, is riding into town.

The Los Gatos Union School District was still doing the math when they learned their numbers were down. “Math is more developmentally challenging” as you grow up, explained curriculum director Dr. Bitsey Stark when looking at Los Gatos sinking STAR numbers.

Mission City Lantern sings a love song for Santa Clara Mayor Patricia Mahan...

Morning News Round-Up – 7.2.09: Let the pre-holiday fireworks begin...

Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr won’t be putting away her dance shoes just yet. (now) Judge/(former) prosecutor Joyce Allegro is accused of withholding evidence that might have kept a defendant off death row…

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed took Santa Clara County Sheriff Lt. Jose Salcido out of the running for Sheriff (maybe). Reed pulled Salcido inside city hall to bridge the divide between police and the rest of the world. Mission City Lantern is also curious about the newly created position. San Jose Inside points out Salcido's buddy is SJPOA leader Bobby Lopez. Could Salcido be angling for another new gig…

Palo Alto’s plans for a new library are “woefully inadequate” according to Friends of Palo Alto Libraries. Library Advisory Commissioner Rajesh Mashruwala said downtowns unique demographic (seniors, daytime workers, homeless) causes special challenges. Right, because those folks don’t want books or computers in their libraries…

Los Altos police are on the look out for a San Jose crew of vandals/imbeciles who scratched graffiti on business windows.

It isn’t enough to get the County out of debt but Tax Assessor Larry Stone reported a (slight) increase in property values.

Mountain View’s City Council is ready to do battle with the Feds over Hangar One… Mountain View will (probably) look to Palo Alto and Sunnyvale to join the party.

Cupertino has an eye on the Fed’s stimulus money to find energy savings. For $526,000 Watch Dog has a few energy saving ideas available…

Los Gatos Union School District is likely to be out $1.5 million because of the State’s budget disaster. District CFO Leslie Paulides said it shouldn’t have a huge effect on the kids because they’ll draw on rainy day funds. Not like San Jose Unified which faces a $19 million shortfall and is increasing class sizes.

The Saratoga Planning Commission sympathized with neighbors worried about the “high density” proposal but bravely waded through terrified complaints to allow the proposal from Adel and Maria Khouja. The end result, two homes on a (newly) subdivided 50,000 square foot lot. Gives a whole new meaning to density…

The dish from San Jose inside, another victim of the economic downturn… San Jose landmark A.P. Stumps is packing those ginzo knives and pouring the last shaken, not stirred next week. Get your reservations in early for the week long farewell.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.23.09:

Odd couple Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmember Nora Campos are itching to move a few Redevelopment dollars away from traditional tasks of repairing dilapidated buildings and code enforcement into the City’s general fund. Not everyone agrees, (ever the contrarian) Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio calls it “not fiscally prudent.” He didn't say that he would like to move all Redevelopment funds to fund crossing-guards, however.

Speaking of Code Enforcement...San Jose’s East Side has taken a battering from gangs, crime, and neglect. For a while it looked like the riches of the Silicon Valley were starting to help. But the economic crisis and the housing crash have made the East Side the epicenter of San Jose home foreclosures. Code Enforcement Division Manager/Santa Clara Councilmember Jamie Matthews spends his days picking through bullet riddled houses tossing out teenage lovers and squatters.

Sunnyvale’s grand plans for downtown are being battered by the economy. Sand Hill Property is asking for more loans and trying to figure out what to cut or delay. Looks like Sunnyvale gets a Target but the high end hotel might have to wait until the recession is over.

The rumor about Wal-Mart violence pops up every few years. This year the urban myth merged with the violence at Evergreen Valley High and kept students home Friday. Parent William D. Brockmeyer III kept his daughter home and is pissed that principal Cari Vaeth and the Board of Trustees haven’t offered counseling or shut the school down. Trustee/President Patricia Martinez-Roach says it’s up to the public to be more alert, and principal Vaeth (apparently) prefers to ignore the whole thing.

San Jose’s former Mayor Susan Hammer has partnered with Councilmember Nora Campos and the Executive Director of People Acting in Concert Together’s (PACT) Matt Hammer to bring a new charter school to the embattled Alum Rock School District. Hammer (son Matt not Mayor/Mother/Baseball fan Susan) said 70% of Alum Rock’s children cannot read well or do math when they leave 8th grade and he wants to change that. (Luckily the plans don’t call for MACSA to manage the finances for the new school.)

San Jose’s unions have to be watching the public beating Gilroy’s administration is taking for automatic raises and wondering: will they get their raises in light of San Jose’s growing deficit? Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio seems to be sending a lightly veiled threat – skip the raise or lose jobs…

The Merc’s Scott Herhold isn’t happy some of his City Council seem to take off just when the going gets tough. Herhold calls out Councilmembers Kansen Chu, Pete Constant, Ash Kalra, Rose Herrera, and Madison Nguyen (and Liccardo and City Manager Deb Figone) for missing out on painful Council meetings.

Some of Merc columnist Joe Rodriguez’s neighbors live on top of a toxic sludge left behind by a turn-of-the-century San Jose city dump. Parents and homeowners are pissed about what they say was partial and vague information relating to clean-up while San Jose faces another legal challenge. City attorney Rick Doyle (unsurprisingly) says the City has done it’s job properly while Councilmember Sam Liccardo says he hopes to rebuild trust before the mediation starts.

The Merc’s Internal Affairs muses over a possible Silicon Valley (wonky) brain drain as the new administration in D.C. taps area wonks. IA doesn’t seem to know whether San Jose should be flattered or pissed off by the loss of staff. San Jose’s battered employee pension fund was honored by Money Management Letter – of course if they hadn’t lost a Billion dollars the award might not have been as a mid-size plan…Failed Santa Clara Council candidate Ciaran O’Donnell forgot to check his mail or read the reg’s – he got dinged by the city for fouling up the last of his campaign paperwork.

It’s all about the Merc’s Editorial pages…

• On loan, Tere Barbella could be the next casualty in East Side Union’s budget cutting. The teacher had the chutzpah to call the District Administration and Board of Trustees out for poor leadership and bad decisions.


• Editors send props to San Jose Assemblymember Joe Coto for his attempts to get the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board to adopt reforms including term limits.


• and… the Merc calls for an open mind from San Jose’s Drunk Task Force following the City’s partnership with the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity. Seems the Merc doesn’t agree with Watch Dog that Task Force founders Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmember Nora Campos are tossing their baby under a bus. We’re almost looking forward to the eventual blow up…

From Charter schools to sun power there’s a lot to digest this week with your elected officials…

• Tonight the Los Altos School District will cut jobs and review a Bullis Charter School proposal...


• The Supervisors will figure out if the sun will power their future...


• San Jose’s City Council will review $4.5 million in overruns for a South San Jose Police Substation, approve the Mayor’s budget, honor Cesar Chavez with a walkway, and argue over outsourcing City jobs...


• The Santa Clara Valley Water District will decide if we’re really in a drought, and (finally) decide whether to let voters choose term limits or not. Sorry Sig, Watch Dog sides with the Merc and Assemblymember Joe Coto on this one...


• San Jose Unified School District meets Thursday to (also) talk Charter Schools.

Morning News Round-Up – 1.2.09: Eddie Garcia as a County Supervisor?

Not everyone is happy with the (backroom deal) way in which Sunnyvale Councilmember/Naval Officer Otto Lee’s seat was filled while he left for Iraq. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Dean Chu was appointed to fill Lee's seat while Lee serves in Iraq. Chu, however, failed in 2007 to get reelected to his seat on the Sunnyvale City Council. Lucky for him, his former Council colleagues still like him. Lee, on the other hand, is using his deployment as a fundraising vehicle to help retire campaign debt from his failed bid for the Board of Supervisors. Which raises the obvious questions:

• What if Lee had won his race for Supervisor but was not able to serve?
• What would have the Board of Supervisors have done then?

Perhaps George Shirakawa could have tried to get Eddie Garcia appointed...("Appointment Shenanigans" are now a theme across the Watch Dog world: East Side Union High School District has their issues and so does San Mateo County.)

Cupertino Union School District is holding meetings to fill everyone in on the budget disaster that looms. Superintendent Phil Quon will be presenting the idea of a parcel tax saying, "This parcel tax is not for extra cash; this is about survival. It's about sustaining what we have."

Trustee and Superintendent. Lafayette resident Richard Whitmore pulls double education duty. At night he is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Acalanes Union High School District ranked #1 in California. During the day as Superintendent for Los Gatos Union School District, ranked #36 in the State. One can assume that the commute between his District job and his District Board seat could make him a candidate to replace John Wailin, the Super Commuter...