Morning News Round-Up -- 10.19.09: Mayor Reed doesn't feel much like dancing...

The (apparent) Word of the Week in San Jose is Sunshine. And Mayor Chuck Reed is apparently joining in with Jonathan Edwards in singing, "Sunshine go away today, I don't feel much like dancing..." San Jose’s Sunshine Reform Task Force, created by Mayor Chuck Reed as a call for open government, saw its final recommendation for open Police records (apparently) squashed by the Mayor’s Rules Committee. Sunshine Chair/ Protect San Jose’s Ed Rast seemed unable to use his statistical prowess to convince his blogging-buddies that Sunshine was good. The Merc’s Editorial Board calls the Tuesday meeting a “major test of San Jose’s commitment to open government…” The Mayor's antagonists (unsurprisingly) on this issue are Councilmembers Ash Kalra, Nora Campos, and Kansen Chu, which Councilmember Sam Liccardo also coming down closer to the side opposite the Mayor. This should be interesting...

And if limiting Sunshine sounds like something Mayor Chuck Reed would be against (but seems to be for), then safeguarding gambling would certainly be something Mayor Reed would be against... right? Wrong. It's funny how $14 million a year to the General Fund can sway a Mayor's position...

A passionate San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen is what the Merc’s Scott Herhold misses in the tragic Police shooting of mentally ill Daniel Pham. Nguyen told Herhold she didn’t cede leadership to colleague Kansen Chu because she owes San Jose Police, but rather because the shooting happened in Chu's District. Hmmmm....

Keeping up with local elections, the Merc’s Editorial Board sends props to Cupertino Council candidates Mayor Orrin Mahoney, Housing Commissioner Mahesh Nihalani, and Recreation Commissioner Darcy Paul.

And while there are politics happening this month, the much more interesting stuff will happen next year... the Merc’s Internal Affairs calls Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rosen “the real McCoy” in Rosen’s efforts to oust District Attorney Dolores Carr after Rosen hired political consultant Leo Briones. IA also reports Supervisorial wannabe/ Mayor Mike Wasserman landed in (a little) hot water after posting photos of people not endorsing him.

Before the San Jose Flea Market closes the doors permanently, a festive 50th anniversary is planned according to the Merc’s Sal Pizarro. Also celebrating a golden anniversary the American GI Forum with Damian Trujillo, dinner, and dancing. Perhaps even dancing WITH Damian Trujillo...

For all your governmental Watch Dog pleasure, the week to come…

• San Jose’s City Council keeps busy with discussions of outsourcing city employee jobs, more on campaign finance, gambling, and limiting (or expanding) Sunshine.
• The Santa Clara County Office of Education School Board considers charter schools and test results.
• The East Side Union High School District also focuses on sunshine with a solar project.
• The Cupertino High School plan is on the table for the Cupertino High School District.
• San Jose Unified School District gets the lowdown on (swine) flu shots and budget transfers.

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.