Morning News Round-Up -- 5.28.10: Drive safe...

This is a Friday before a long weekend, so you must, must, must read the newspaper tomorrow. Late today is a great time to release horrible news if you are a government agency, elected official, corporation, or candidate. So, Watch Dog will be watching, but you should be too...

The Mercury News is taking its news tips from Matier and Ross apparently. They get into how much money the 49ers are spending in Santa Clara. Of course it is going to "shatter local spending records" -- the most important thing folks in Santa Clara have voted on the past was if RJD2 deserved a second term as City Clerk...

Campaign filings are in other races too... In the past few months Jeff Rosen has been a fundraising machine while Dolores Carr has not. Chuck Reed raised a lot of money, his opponents did not. Madison Nguyen raised a ton and two of her opponents put a bunch of their own money ($50k and $80k) into their own campaigns... what does all this mean? Expect the airwaves (television and radio) and your mailboxes to be full in the week and a half...

The Merc finally came around to support the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District parcel tax: Measure I. The third editorial is the charm, apparently...

Robert Cortese, cousin of famous Supervisor Dave, has a true political flare. He has made it into the Metro's Fly more than almost anyone else. This time wanting to unban fireworks and supporting same sex marriage because of George Takei a.k.a. Sulu.

San Jose Family Camp isn't getting spared, but some San Jose pools might be... On the bright side of things, the pools are much closer than Yosemite.

Tesla is spending $42 million for the NUMMI plant. Which Watch Dog put together in a simple formula:

$42,000,000 for NUMMI/$100,000 per car = 420 cars for a manufacturing plant...

Not too shabby. Of course, when you are Tesla and you've only sold 900 cars total, 420 is pretty expensive...

In a story that may get overlooked today, but will have lasting implications, Caltrain got an important "waiver" from the Federal government to move forward with electrification. Yes, it sounds boring, but it seems really important.

What's old is new again at San Jose State. Former San Jose State President Don Kassing is coming back to lead State in an interim capacity next year while the school looks (again) for a new President... Welcome back Don...

The (alleged) Palo Alto/ Santa Clara kidnapper-rapist has been caught. DA Carr, do you think you can get this entire trial done before election day? It might help. Here's some more advice: Make sure all the forensic evidence gets tested before you decide to not pursue the case...

A "hit list" on a bathroom wall at Willow Glen Middle School early in the week and an Airsoft gun at Gunn High School. Ironic, we know... Don't take your guns to town... or to Gunn...

Here's something juicy, maybe. It looks like the Palo Alto Downtown Business and Professional Association kicked out its President and Executive Director. Why? Well, it seems Sherry Bijan never had a "deep interest" in doing big events in downtown Palo Alto... Of course, nobody in Palo Alto is interested in having people from outside Palo Alto come to downtown Palo Alto either, so perhaps Sherry Bijan was doing a perfect job...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.24.10: 4 losses/4 games = Shark's tee times

On Friday night the Sharks lost in overtime. Sunday they gave up a two goal lead to lose by two goals. For those of you counting at home, that's 4 losses in 4 games against the Chicago Blackhawks. And 4 losses in 4 games means tee-times all around today...

We finally have all the Mercury News Editorial Board's recommendations for San Jose City Council... Previously they came out in favor of Magdalena Carrasco over Xavier Campos et al and Don Rocha over Jim Cogan, Larry Pegram et al. Today we get the incumbents, Pete Constant, Sam Liccardo, and Madison Nguyen -- Nguyen being the only one with a real race this time.

It took a few days and seven pages, but Deb Figone, the San Jose City Manager, responded to the City's unions' plans to fix the budget... they aren't enough, too many one-timers, leave me alone at Flame's, etc., etc.

Deb Figone's ongoing battle with the City's unions won't (apparently) prevent San Jose's pools from closing for the summer, which was the original plan. The City is going to contract with some private companies to run the pools for the summer, which is great news... if it ever stops raining. Too bad the same deal couldn't be worked out for Family Camp.

Increasing the VLF. Remember when it used to be considered a political hot potato? That seems quaint now, right? Gray Davis did it and it cost him his job. Governor Schwarzenegger undid, and it cost his budget-balancing billions. San Mateo County (SamTrans) is now considering a local VLF and so is Santa Clara County (VTA) to help with their projects. According to polling, 59 percent of County voters support VTA's VLF $10/ car fee.

Well, the long-awaited investigation into the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District's Chancellor's travel, spending, and general sloppiness has concluded... the results: "We are taking responsibility for not seeing that all policies and procedures were enforced. It will help us doing a better job going forward" -- that according to Ron Lind, who serves on the Community College District Board. Of course, unelecting the Board who is supposed to pay attention to such things would also work.

Dude, that is so uncool... a medical marijuana dispensary was robbed at gun point in San Jose on Thursday. The robbers took the weed and the money off the patients who were in the dispensary at the time. Now the Medical Cannabis Collectives Coalition -- the pot club lobby, if you will -- would like the City of San Jose to hurry the hell up to write an ordinance that would set some security guidelines for clubs...

Steve Johnson at the Merc asked the question that nobody was asking last week when Toyota and Tesla announced their plans for NUMMI: Will Tesla and Toyota create as many jobs as hoped? Well, if you ask San Jose, who was promised jobs from Tesla, they'll probably say OHN...

This must hurt Paul Krutko's ego more than the Tesla thing... the Merc had a story over the weekend about how all the (cool, high-paying) Web 2.0 jobs are going to San Francisco...

Vic Ajouny, the Mayor Chuck Reed's campaign guru (?) is in the Merc's Internal Affairs this weekend about a questionable mail piece he put out for Richard Calderon who is running a quixotic campaign to try to unseat Sheriff Laurie Smith... Are you surprised that people would question Ajlouny's mailers?

In other Internal Affairs news... Pete Constant isn't pedaling stories about his challengers' police records (and if you believe that...) and John Weis, the San Jose Redevelopment Agency's number 2 is leaving town... weird, considering he is the one in charge of putting together the MLB plan for downtown San Jose. Apparently Weis couldn't wait for Bud Selig any longer...

Scott Herhold's column on Sunday gives a glimpse into the legal system about the long-forgotten case of Avo Makdessian/City of San Jose versus Dennis Fong (Tropicana) and a silly (libelous) email that Makdessian sent from City Hall...

A woman driving her SUV on early Saturday morning in Palo Alto was kidnapped, driven to Santa Clara, and sexually assaulted... scary.

You may remember last week when the folks at the Gilroy Unified School District were considering finishing the beautiful new Christopher High School with portables as opposed to a new school wing that was promised when the school bond was passed in 2008... well 100+ folks showed up at a special meeting last week to protest the portables...

Finally, if you have any campaign stuff that you would like to share, we're here for you. Especially copies of mailers that may be interesting for folks to see. We have collected some, but we'd like more: email us.

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.21.10: "NUMMI A's" no more...

Go Sharks! (Please win... pretty please?)

Well, we guess the Oakland A's won't be going to the former NUMMI plant after all... that's because Tesla and Toyota will move in to build electric cars. Of course, Tesla track record of sticking to its word is someone less-than-desirable, just ask San Jose, but we wish Fremont, Tesla, and Toyota well. (Here is a full run-down of the Tesla Chronicles...)

As a reminder, Watch Dog predicted the NUMMI/A's effort last August...

"...Fremont’s Nummi plant is packing the bags and heading to Texas leaving nearly 5,000 newly unemployed in its wake. Perhaps a Fremont ballpark can actually happen now?...

Maybe now Bud Selig can make a decision?...

The Mercury News Editorial Board continued to look at their ballots... and today they have made the 18th floor a very exciting place to be. They endorsed Don Rocha for San Jose City Council District 9 to replace Vice Mayor Judy Chirco. They say he has "...the potential to continue in the tradition of Chirco..." They also give some ink to Jim Cogan (too close to public safety unions) and Larry Pegram (too close to Jerry Falwell)...

The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce put out a reward for clues leading to catching the culprits behind the hit pieces sent against Magdalena Carrasco... ironically, the place to call with your tip is Crime Stoppers -- whose President is the aforementioned Jim Cogan, running for City Council in a different District. Hypothetically, what if someone called with a tip that identified a Cogan supporter as the culprit? Just asking... (Mission City Lantern is on the fake-mailer case too...)

While we're in District 5, ProtectSanJose.com brought us a message from Xavier Campos...

A San Josean will head to the Senate... no, not Tom Campbell (yet)... but County Superior Court Judge Edward Davila has been tapped for the federal bench by the Obama administration...

This will be bad news piled on top of bad news... property assessments are down... way down... boooooooo...

Dear Gilroy Unified Voters... thank you for passing the school bond in 2008... we are over budget... so Christopher High School will have portables instead of a great new facility... will you trust again with your vote and your cash? Love, the Gilroy Unified School District.

Sunnyvale may lose its seat on VTA, and Sunnyvale Councilmember Chris Moylan is pissed about it: "...Based on population, the one city other than San Jose that should have a permanent seat on the board is Sunnyvale..." No word on dweeb.org yet on the issue...

Some folks in Silicon Valley will be voting on June 8th and June 22nd... the 22nd being the date that the Special Election to replace Senator-turned-Lt. Gov Abel Maldonado's seat will be voted on... and if no one gets 50 percent plus, a run-off will happen on August 17th. Expect an influx of Sam Blakeslee and John Laird visits in the coming weeks...

The Lame (Duck) Governor was at Google yesterday... no doubt in an effort to shift attention from Google's bad European news this week...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.11.10: NAACP vs SJPOA (still)

In case you don't read Watch Dog on the weekend, and we can't imagine there is anyone out there that doesn't... you missed, or should we say mist, some spelling mistakes from the right side of the political spectrum. First we chronicled, or kronikled, Pete Constant's re-election site and then an advertisement from the Chamber of Commerce, or Commerse.


Watch Dog had to be the first to mention this: the NUMMI site in Fremont is being repackaged as the perfect site for the A's according to a story in Saturday's Merc. On August 17, 2009, Watch Dog wrote this:

"...Fremont’s Nummi plant is packing the bags and heading to Texas leaving nearly 5,000 newly unemployed in its wake. Perhaps a Fremont ballpark can actually happen now?...

The head of the local NAACP may not board the Freedom Train on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day because the San Jose Police Officers' Association is a sponsor this year. In his words in the Merc, "After years and months of abusing the community, the San Jose Police Department has the nerve to show up under the banner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..." Well, yes.


But don't worry, it is clear that the SJPOA hears the concerns of the community and is taking steps to repair its reputation... right? Well, not so much... Bobby Lopez, on his way out the door as head of the SJPOA, wrote a piece for the Merc titled: In San Jose Latino arrests, the problem is Latino drinking -- not police practices. Lopez's thinking goes like this: If Latinos would just stop drinking so much, the Police wouldn't have to arrest them so often... Protect San Jose has a reprint of Lopez's OpEd, in case you don't want to give the Merc your "business"...


Taking on the big (sign) issues, San Jose's City Council is going to review changes to the sign ordinance... too big? not big enough? too graphic? too electric? Tuesday is the big day to find out.


"Nobody wants to have any more City bailouts..." That's the sentiment of Chris Esparza who is on the committee (responsible for) making the Mexican Heritage Plaza financially sustainable. He favors a school for the arts while the other major idea is a cultural and entertainment center. The Committee will discuss the ideas publicly Tuesday night...


Scott Herhold provides a picture of how the Sargeant Ranch development (now on hold because owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy) involved Congressman Mike Honda, former Congressman Vic Fazio, and the Amah Mutsun tribe as part of the Ranch owner's bid to circumvent the planning regulations of the County.


The Merc delves a little deeper into the crisis facing Bay Area transit agencies, including the VTA -- but more importantly, brings us a new feature whereby they provide video of reporter Mike Rosenberg talking about the challenges of transit agencies... "New" technology being integrated into the Merc's website? Say it ain't so... That VTA story was on Sunday. Today, the Merc has a piece about how VTA has ambitious plans for the coming years, even though the agency is cash-strapped. Sort of like a newspaper implementing new technology, even though it is cash-strapped...


Speaking of cash-strapped... Team San Jose's Dan Fenton is on his way to Dallas to rescue San Jose's convention business. Team San Jose's labor contracts have pissed off just about everyone in the convention business, and the Convention Center in downtown San Jose is at risk of losing megabucks. The Business Journal (and San Jose Inside) chronicles Fenton's efforts to fix the screw up...


It is car show week in San Jose for all of you folks in the market for high-end automobiles... all three of you.


The race to replace Councilmember Nora Campos on the San Jose City Council got a little more crowded this week, and a little more complicated for sibling Campos (Xavier) who would like to walk right into his sister's seat. Neighborhood leader Aaron Resendez is signing up to run. And in a weird use of City employee time and energy, Councilmember Campos' Chief of Staff takes on the duty of criticizing a political opponent of Xavier Campos...


Moving north... Apple plans to open a "flagship" store in downtown Palo Alto... and yes, there is already an Apple store in downtown Palo Alto -- but this one is going to be a "flagship" store -- so when it opens we'll all have to go see the difference.

Morning News Round-Up -- 8.28.09: The Detroit of the Bay Area?

It’s official, Toyota walks away from Fremont after 25 years. That is a heck of a year for Fremont, losing a professional baseball team AND a massive automobile manufacturing plant. We'd call them the Detroit of the Bay Area, but Detroit has a baseball team. Perhaps casinos would be a nice addition...

Things took a turn towards ugly at meetings for San Jose’s pension systems this week. Current and future retiree’s attacked the Canadian consultant’s proposal to create an independent board while non-governmental folks attacked worker pensions. “Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic...” was the accusation of tech retiree Jerry Mungai. Oddly, the pissing match at the actual meetings sounded a lot nastier than the joint post from the Police Officers and Firefighter union heads this week on Protect San Jose where Bobby Lopez and Randy Sekany offered this: "We’re always open to listening and talking about ways to improve things."

We hope the anti-High Speed Rail/ NIMBY celebrants are enjoying their party. One downside the court's ruling this week questioning the EIR of High-Speed Rail, which the NIMBY's love, is that Caltrain electrification could be delayed or defuned... buzz kill, man.

The Civil Grand Jury took a swipe at San Jose in June for cost increases at the Los Lagos Golf Course. San Jose responded this week saying an unexpected increase in construction costs was the problem.

Wanna catch up with the Merc’s Sal Pizarro? Sounds like he’ll be at the grand (re)opening of San Jose’s 101 year old Carnegie Library following the $9 million overhaul.

Speaking of openings... the Merc’s Scott Herhold munched on shrimp and sipped champagne while San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo channeled Will Rogers at the opening of San Jose’s newest downtown attraction: a grocery store in a downtown high-rise condo building.

Don’t be dumping your garbage in San Jose’s Hoffman Via Monte neighborhood. The neighbors voted to keep their no-warning-big-fine penalty in place for the idiots tossing beds on sidewalks.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stopped by San Jose to see those federal stimulus dollars start trickling in this week for the Lower Silver Creek flood control project.

It’s Barry Swenson Friday… First up, pissed off Cupertinites found the ad-hoc parking lot for as many as 50 construction vehicles offensive... A few calls to Cupertino City officials later, Swenson was in hot water. Next, the Watch Dog formula of the day:

• Prime Development Land + High Housing Prices = Goodbye Palo Alto Bowl

Was Mountain View pissed they weren’t called kid friendly and San Jose was? Maybe. This week the City bulldozed a 20 year old make-shift BMX park called “Creek Trails” by local dirt bikers. City Attorney Michael Martello (the biggest downer of them all) ‘fessed up it was his idea saying it was “…one of the times where you hate to be an adult...” but it was a lawsuit that caused San Jose’s $8 million got the bull-dozers rolling.

Palo Alto Mayor Peter Drekmeier will host a forum organized by the faith community and Penny Barrett to help grown-ups figure out how to help fix the teen suicide problem. The Merc’s Editorial Board adds their voice supporting the County’s call for more work.

Mountain View Councilmembers agree with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and McKelvey Park is headed for a flood protection/ baseball field of dreams. Councilmember Laura Macias stayed out of the conversation as colleagues called it a win-win.

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.23.09: The NUMMI A's?

There is an update today on the Councilmember Madison Nguyen recall election. The story focused primarily on Nguyen and her efforts to stay in office -- raising lots of money, walking precincts, making phone calls, putting up signs, etc., etc., etc. One thing worries Watch Dog: she has underestimated the pro-Recall folks a number of times during this long nightmare. She underestimated how strongly people felt about Little Saigon initially. She didn't think the Little Saigon folks would get enough signatures on the ballot for a recall. In a recent Metro article, she admitted as much, saying, "I never thought it would get to this point..." In today's story, she may be making the same mistake saying, "I don't see anyone walking precincts for the other side...I don't see signs." Please, please, please Madison -- don't think that no signs and no precinct walkers on the other side mean you are going to skate through this. The Recall Madison folks have raised over $100,000. That is a huge sum of money and they are waiting to spend it...

Meanwhile, San Jose Revealed takes a shot at the folks who are building Vietnam Town and provide some context to those developers and Madison's recall...

The airport is building a cool new facility...but that's just about the only good news coming out the place. Airlines are cutting back...and apparently the airport wants to join in the fun by cutting staff. That means that when the new place opens up, there may be no planes and dirty bathrooms...

A serial bank robber struck in Saratoga on Inauguration Day. The robber is suspected of robbing 8 other banks in the Bay Area...he is described as a white guy, 5'9" to 6', 200 pounds, with gray hair -- which narrows down the search to just about every dude in Saratoga...

Oh no. Fremont's NUMMI manufacturing plant will stop giving tours in February. The actual manufacturing at NUMMI has already slowed down...but could the halting of public tours signal the beginning of the end for NUMMI? And if that is the case, are the A's licking their chops at that enormous piece of land?

State Senator Joe Simitian thinks the State budget crisis might be close to an end...according to his interview with the Palo Alto Weekly...don't bet on it...have you ever known the folks in Sacramento to do something on a timeline that is predictable?

We know that the Community Hospital of Los Gatos is closing in April as Tenet hastily leaves town. What we didn't know, until now, is when the new folks, El Camino Hospital of Mountain View, were going to re-open. It looks like it may be a while, perhaps until Fall, to get things up and running again.

Pete Campbell at San Jose Inside has a closer look at the Convention Center expansion idea. His best line about the expansion plans: "...the City of San Jose places itself in the tenuous position of placing a big, three-layered bet that the economy will recover, trade and convention shows will continue at healthy pace, and the bookings lost during 2009-2012 will return to San Jose..."

The Morgan Hill City Council will meet this weekend to discuss 2009 goals and review 2008 accomplishments. They will also meet in a joint session with the Gilroy City Council. If you think this sounds like garlic-infused fun, they head out Saturday morning to the El Toro Room at the Community and Cultural Center on Monterey Road. Please be sure to bring your own ideas and your own ephedrine, because Watch Dog will not share...