Morning News Round-Up -- 4.10.09: Fiber Optic Vandal Edition...

In case you missed this week's San Jose Police Department news, check out our post from mid-day yesterday: "A Consortium and Task Force walk into a bar..."

You may have realized the phone craziness yesterday. Tens of thousands of folks had their phone lines screwed up all day. AT&T blamed the problem on vandals who cut fiber optic lines. The episode caused emergency response and public safety officials to declare a state of emergency because 911 lines were messed up.

The Merc’s Editorial Board has declared the arrival of detente for the City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara. Crediting Mayor Reed and Supervisor Don Gage for starting the effort 2 years ago and former Councilmembers/Supervisors Dave Cortese and Ken Yeager, the breakthrough comes in the form of a plan for sharing Redevelopment monies.

San Jose’s financial woes seem to mount daily. Compared to San Diego, San Jose’s employee disability claims are triple that of San Diego. Mayor Chuck Reed says he’s disappointed the problem isn’t under control and perhaps San Jose should “subcontract all this out to Santa Clara County.” Disabled/Councilmember Pete Constant disagrees with proposed changes to make it harder to go out on disability saying in his experience the City waits too long to send employees out on disability. (If you are interested in Councilmember Constant's history of disability with the City, here is a little bit, it came up earlier this year...) On the plus side, at least this isn't another story about the Police Chief.

It’s not funny, really, but it does sound a lot more like Animal House than Stanford…Palo Alto’s downtown was the scene of a wet-noodle assault...

Mountain View Councilmembers saw a dizzying array of budget cutting ideas this week but weren’t sure they understood the trade-offs involved. Several Councilmembers admitted they didn’t understand the budget. Councilmembers Laura Macias and Ronit Bryant were frustrated by the process, Bryant said budget decisions in the past have been a very passive process but the current crisis requires Councilmembers to step it up. Y'think?

Los Altos managed to get their Standard & Poor’s credit rating headed up, unlike many of their Silicon Valley neighbors. City Finance Director Russell Morreale credits their “pay-as-you-go” attitude.

One year of dropouts from San Jose high schools lose hundreds of millions in potential earnings, are likely to be the source of over 500 violent crimes, and cost the State bundles. People Acting in Concert Together (PACT) is pissed off about that and managed to get a pledge out of two of East Side Union High School Trustees to reduce the dropout rate. Study director Russell Rumberger pointed to San Jose Unified as exemplary in fighting the dropout problem.

The Merc’s Editorial Board hopes voters in the Moreland School District read the news that dropouts can be prevented during the early years – and vote yes on Moreland’s Measure A parcel tax measure.

Students at Santa Clara’s Wilcox and New Valley High Schools staged a mock funeral at the end of two days of the grim reminders of drunk driving. Santa Clara Police Chief Steve Lodge hopes the training will help students think before driving after getting sloshed. Or, maybe he hopes they’ll hold off on getting sloshed until out of high school…

They’re not NIMBYs they’re YUMBYs say High-Speed Rail opponents on the Peninsula who banded together as a consortium and skipped right past the local meetings to meet with Assemblymember Ira Ruskin. Ruskin is glad they did and pulled the High-Speed Rail Authority officials into the office for a chat. They are still NIMBYs...

Los Gatos’ residents lost their emergency room at 1:00 this morning as Community Hospital closed its doors. New owners, El Camino Hospital, hope to re-open in July. Until then Good Samaritan hopes to serve your emergency needs.

Saratoga’s Chamber of Commerce, still reeling from revelations that Executive Director Elizabeth Borbolla made off with Chamber funds, is working furiously to keep the doors open. Van Nelson, Chamber President, voiced disappointment in his protege saying “she was rising to the challenge. She was teaching herself the skills she needed to do the job. And we could afford her.” And she was stealing your money...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.6.09: City, can you spare $600K?

The San Jose City Council will be hosting a bake sale any day now. City Manager Debra Figone said the worsening economy is leading to a budget deficit of $62.5 million for the next fiscal year. Ironically, Mayor Chuck Reed will release a scary budget message Friday the 13th...

Speaking of the City of San Jose spending money...

San Jose's (four-letter-word) developers ROEM and CORE are putting their hands out for more than $600,000 for a project not due to break ground until 2013. The developers need an advance on money the City's Housing Department has promised. This (semi)bailout would usually sail through the City Council no problem as the money had been promised and the developers just want an advance. Given the economy, that seems to make sense. But, this bailout isn't sitting too well with some of the neighbors of the Fiesta Lanes project on San Carlos Avenue. That's probably because ROEM/CORE have been seen as neighborhood bullies since the project started. Backyard neighbors to the project were told a year ago that part of their yards were actually on the project's property. These neighbors got a nasty note from ROEM/CORE telling them that their fences were to be removed...which was not very neighborly. One such neighbor, Terri Belandra of the Fiesta Lanes Action Group, is fighting back and seems to have the ear of the City Council because she got the bailout package delayed a week and got Councilmember Oliverio all riled up too. Another pissed-off neighbor is Rod Sayfie, the owner of Meineke Muffler, whose lease on the property slated to be part of the development isn't up until 2013. Sayfie doesn't want to leave early and doesn't like the way ROEM and CORE have treated him up to now either.

(Watch Dog readers should know that ROEM/CORE are likely to get the bailout they want from the City Council. RObert EMami (get it? ROEM) is perhaps the most generous political contributor to causes close to some City Councilmembers. Watch Dog bets that the Councilmembers who speak up loudest for the bailout are also the folks that are the beneficiaries of ROEM's largess.)

Speaking of active neighbors...Los Gatans pissed about a proposed cul-de-sac and development were successful in delaying project decisions too. Resident Stephanie Lynatt is concerned the orchards are disappearing and Planning Commission Vice Chair John Bourgeois complained the architect didn’t implement the level of changes the Commission asked for.

Santa Clara County is offering a Pharmaceutical Drop-Off Program for folks to go dump their unused med’s in a plastic box and not down the toilet. Pill-snatching, pharm-partying teenagers are not big fans of this new County program...

Three Silicon Valley blackmailers are heading to the County brig. Superior Court Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett generously gave them less than a year in County lock-up for luring men into a sex tryst – with cameras turned on. James Spader did not speak on behalf of the accused...

In a much different kind of scam (we hope) -- a group of scam artists pretending to be with the City of San Jose Senior Centers is hoping to separate older folks from their hard earned cash. Watch out...

Perhaps the number of desperate scammers is about to increase...the unemployment rate in the Silicon Valley jumped to 9.4% in January. The Silicon Valley Leadership Group's Carl Guardino is predicting a worse news in February and March...and he is usually such an upbeat guy...

Hao D. Lam was murdered outside a home in San Jose’s Alum Rock neighborhood Tuesday night. The Police are reticent to share details and are hoping you’ll call with information: (408) 808-4500.

Some Mountain View pre-school parents are pissed off and the Mountain View-Whisman School Board heard all about it. The pre-school currently rents unused District facilities. Now, the District needs that facility back as Mountain View-Whisman School District expands. The District and parents agreed to meet again and the District (and the City) are trying to help the pre-school relocate.

San Jose Revealed lets loose with more Quick Notes – or as Revealed calls them – notes for the temporally frugal…they hit Mayor Reed’s junket to D.C. to dine with SJSU officials. They also get a shot in on a GOP boss' salary...(which Watch Dog San Mateo wrote about yesterday)...

East Side Union High School District...the Shirakawa/Garcia shenanigans continue...

Imagine for a moment that the Governor of NY is appointing someone to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat. (Shouldn't be hard to imagine...) Then imagine the appointed person, say Caroline Kennedy, has to run for office in 2 years (2010). Again, not too hard to imagine. But imagine that she (sadly) loses that election.

Following me so far? Stay with me...I have a point:

In the same hypothetical election where Kennedy failed to defend her appointed seat, imagine that the OTHER Senator from NY moves onto a different office (or dies) and the OTHER Senate seat becomes vacant.

Do you think that the Governor of NY would re-appoint Kennedy who just failed to defend a seat that was given to her? No way...

And yet, this is exactly what the East Side Union High School District Board of Directors is likely to do in January if voices of reason (like ours) don't make a stink. (See, there is a point...)

Watch Dog has covered the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) before, so let's review a bit for newcomers...

• When Craig Mann was elected in 2006 to the County Board of Education, his ESUHSD Board seat became vacant...and was filled by Eddie Garcia (with strong support from Board Member George Shirakawa, Jr.) who was appointed to this vacant seat...
• This November 4th, ESUHSD Board Member George Shirakawa, Jr. was elected to the Board of Supervisors... (even though he jokingly referred to himself a "corrupt lobbyist"...)
• On that same fateful Tuesday in November, appointed ESUHSD Board Member Eddie Garcia failed to convince voters that he is worthy of the seat to which he was appointed... Garcia came in third place in a four-person race (for two open seats). Garcia received 14,000 votes fewer than the second place finisher...Eddie Garcia lost his bid to return to the Board.
• At the first opportunity in November, Shirakawa (winding down his reign/service on the ESUHSD Board) tried to get Garcia appointed as his replacement rather than opening up the process fully to applicants as defined by Board guidelines...and as followed by every other elected body. (Even this decidedly undemocratic body went through a public process...)
  
• Relatedly, on December 5th, Supervisor-elect Shirakawa's staffing decisions became public through a variety of news sources, including San Jose Revealed. (Watch Dog pointed out the inherent conflicts of interest for both Xavier Campos and Eddie Garcia -- who will both be collecting government checks thanks to Shirakawa's new title.)
• After finally agreeing to accept applications, the Board convened a Community Advisory Committee to interview and narrow the field from 14 to 3, 4, or 5. The Community Advisory Committee met last week to hold private discussions (in apparent violation of State law) and came up with a short list of possible appointees: Eddie Garcia (gee, really?), Barbara Boone, and William (not Wayne) Gretsky.

Now the good stuff...

Eddie Garcia is trying to make the case publicly that he deserves the seat, even though the voters have spoken...

Garcia sent this email last week to supporters...Remember, Eddie was appointed to this position already, lost an election to this position by 14,000 votes, and is looking to get reappointed to the same position.

(Recall that we started this post with this analogy: Caroline Kennedy losing a Senate election after being appointed to the Senate, only to be appointed a second time to post that she (obviously) cannot defend...)

Just as it wouldn't happen in NY, or California, or anywhere...it shouldn't happen in San Jose...even if George Shirakawa, Jr. wants it too...

On to Eddie's (unedited) email. (Note that there is no mention that he will be going to work for Shirakawa in a few weeks and that there is a typo/misspelling in the last sentence...)

----

December 20, 2009

Dear Friends and Supporters,

With your encouragement and support, I entered the appointment process to replace George Shirakawa on the the East Side Union High School District Board of Trustees. I was one of 14 candidates who applied for the appointment.

On Thursday, a Community Advisory Committee of 14 community members appointed by the Board of Trustees completed two days of candidate interviews and voted to recommend three finalists to the Board of Trustees. I'm proud and honored to share with you that 13 of the 14 committee members voted to recommend me to the Board. No other candidate received a majority of the committee's support. The two other finalists combined didn't receive as many votes. This further validates your support and the over 45,000 voters who supported our campaign on Election Day.

Of the three finalists, I'm the only candidate who has: (1) served on the Board, (2) made a full commitment to the students of the district by running for election, (3) earned the support and trust of a broad and diverse coalition of community leaders and over 45,000 district voters, (4) been associated with the district as a student, employee, AND board member, (5) broad experience as corporate executive, educational employee, AND community leader.

With my broad set of experiences and from the results of the Community Advisory process, it is clear that I'm the most qualified candidate among the finalists. As we enter the political phase of the process - public interviews with the Board of Trustees - I will share my values, ideas, and vision for the district: focusing on the student achievement gap, providing students, teachers, and employees with the tools for success, and demanding fiscal and governing integrity and accountability for the district.

As I also hope to continue demonstrating strong community support, I need your help with two efforts: (1) please continue sending e-mails to each Board member expressing support for my appointment, and (2) show your support by attending the January 8 public interviews - the meeting begins at 6:00 PM and it is the only item on the agenda. The Board will make the appointment that evening.

Thanks again for everything. We're almost there! Despite the challenging budget crisis, with your help and support, I truly believe that the East Side Union High District's best days are stil to come.

With Gratitude,

Eddie

Morning News Round-Up – 12.16.08: Animal cruelty...the issue of the week in Northern California...

Santa Clara County is looking at an animal cruelty ordinance which some say targets Mexican rodeos while other say it doesn’t go far enough in preventing animal abuse. Toby De La Torre, president of the Federation of Charros, says steer tailing allows the rodeos to carry, “on the traditions and the sport that our ancestors have taught us." This animal cruelty story is not to be confused with a slew of them in San Mateo County that Watch Dog San Mateo has followed – they include a cat stomping and a dog killing…

The Board of Supervisors will hear a pitch from Probation Chief Shelia Mitchell to add beds at the juvenile ranch for boys. In her final meeting, Supervisor Alvarado is not likely to support the Probation Chief's request, noting that an expansion made a decade ago increased the number of youth in jail without rehabilitation.

Watch Dog readers will remember the fracas about how to deal with the drunk arrests in Downtown San Jose...Councilmember Liccardo wanted action over another Task Force, while Councilmember Campos and Mayor Reed wanted a Task Force over action. While the Task Force seems to be moving forward, albeit at Task Force pace...the San Jose Police Department is implementing one of Liccardo's ideas in advance of being asked to...they are going to administer a breathalyzer test to drunk arrestees. Without public announcement San Jose Police began offering breathalyzers two weeks ago. While some (like DUI attorneys) believe there is evidence that breathalyzers are not 100% accurate, it’s a safe bet they are more accurate than an Officer's hunch. The (fired) Independent Police Auditor Barbara Attard said “…it’s long overdue.”

Campbell has a new Police Chief. 21 year Campbell police veteran Captain Greg Finch will take the helm as Chief Dave Gullo retires. City Manager Dan Rich said they didn’t need to conduct an expensive national search as the “best person was already here.”

In Los Gatos the Police will be moving into the former Verizon building two years after purchasing the building and following a $4 million remodel approved last night by the City Council. The ever-eloquent Mayor Mike Wasserman celebrating with a cheer, “Yay! Congratulations!” "This is probably the most efficient act of government that I have witnessed in ten years on the council," Councilmember Joe Pirzynski observed. Really?

The Gilroy City Council voted last night to layoff 2 firefighters and a police employee while restoring on police officer in the face of ongoing gang violence. Councilmembers Dion Bracco, Perry Woodward, Craig Gartman, and Bob Dillon voted to restore the officer. Councilmember Peter Arellano dissented saying, "Some people here may think they're more in tune with the police department, but I think that's what we hired the chief to do."

Who ever thought building in a creek bed was a good idea? Apparently a lot of people. The State has ordered Willow Glen apartment owner Paul ten Doesschate to protect a creek with a new retaining wall and to repair an existing one. San Jose City Planners are waiting for state agencies to make clear the difficult project before allowing ten Doesschate to move forward – with a little luck this will happen before rains cause the building (and Lincoln Avenue) to slide into the creek.

I think the Bush Administration smelt too...the affects of the Bush administration will linger long after Obama settles into the Oval Office. The canary-in-the-coal-mine Delta Smelt is a predictor of the health of the Delta. The Bush Administration violated the Endangered Species Act with increased pumping and now Fish and Wildlife has cut back the amount of water available to the Silicon Valley. Santa Clara Water District spokeswoman Susan Siravo said, “It feels like a double whammy. We've had two dry years and we've had reduced imported water from the delta."

Before she had a chance to sit through her first board meeting, newly elected Luther Burbank School Board member Doreen Hassan resigned. Perhaps her only goal was to prevent the firing of Superintendent Richard Rodriguez? (Oops, that happened before she was seated) Or perhaps she watched the antics of Alum Rock and East Side Union and thought better of being on a school board...or maybe she forgot to check with her employer – whatever the reason, the tiny district now faces the option of an expensive special election or appointing someone. Watch Dog word of advice, don’t attempt the Shirakawa-Garcia Cuba-like appointment process.

Hello, is anyone there? Willow Glen Resident Matt Baxter wants to volunteer for the VTA, he’s called three times, apparently the VTA can’t afford to check their voicemail. Here’s a Watch Dog call to new Board President Dolly Sandoval, San Jose representatives Nora Campos, Sam Liccardo, Nancy Pyle, Mayor Reed or Forest Williams – c’mon help the guy out. All he wants is a litter stick and a bag to clean.

Cupertino City Council unanimously elected Orrin Mahoney as (rotating) Mayor with Kris Wang (Mayor in 2007) as Vice Mayor.

This Week Around Watch Dogs...

An eventful week on Bay Area Watch Dogs -- San Mateo, Silicon Valley, East Bay, North Bay.

• Watch Dog unearthed the fact that Legislators around the Bay rip off San Mateo/Santa Clara County State Senator Joe Simitian...and we believe there oughta be a law against ripping him off that bad...
• A school district in Marin debates naming a school after President-elect Barack Obama -- as opposed to using the current name Dr. Martin Luther King Academy. (Un)Surprisingly, there are some folks that aren't that psyched about the possible name change.
• The Tesla Chronicles continue as Tesla gets nothing (so far) from the Big Three bailout. Apparently Tesla's 100 cars that have rolled off the lot don't qualify as "big." Watch Dog Silicon Valley predicts Tesla will not make it to their San Jose plant set to open in 2010...make that 2011...or never...
  
• Not to seem self important, but Watch Dog San Mateo called out Palo Alto Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson for his blog...or lack thereof. You see, Mr. Thorwaldson has a blog, but has only posted 8 times in 2 years. That's why Watch Dog San Mateo asked if this was a real blog or an afterthought for the Editor. Watch Dog predicted that after the public shaming, Thorwaldson would post within in a week...well, it took less than 24 hours for Thorwaldson to post. Watch Dog success...
• The garbage saga continued in San Mateo County, and this time it may be serious. The Civil Grand Jury is taking a look at one of Watch Dog's favorite topics in San Mateo...trash..
• Watch Dog Silicon Valley uncovered the (blogo)sphere of influence between a local blog, San Jose Revealed, and San Jose City Councilmember Nora Campos. The blog recommended a strategy at the beginning of the day that Campos implemented at the end of the day. Watch Dog was there to point it out...

Thanks for visiting your local Watch Dog -- and come back again next week...