Tesla Chronicles Continue... Tesla nailed a loan from the Feds to the tune of $465 million and has plans to announce where in the Bay Area a battery production plant will land. San Jose’s Nanci Klein is thrilled and confident San Jose will land the electric fish gushing “Tesla’s success is our success.” Really? Even though they left San Jose at the alter previously? Let's hope that the on-again/off-again San Jose/Tesla romance continues for a while. Or at least until they burn through taxpayers' $465 mill...
San Jose’s City Council moves closer to reforms for the beleaguered Employee Pension Funds. Consultant Cortex Applied Research said the existing Boards lack expertise and have little incentive to save taxpayer money. Perhaps that, coupled with the economic melt-down, explains the billion (plus) dollar losses...
San Jose’s Planning Commission landed in hot water last month with accusations of a Brown Act open government violation. City Attorney Rick Doyle lowered the temperature and is requiring a re-vote in the election of a new Commission Chair. Watch Dog prediction: one of the four alleged co-conspirators Xavier Campos, Chris Platten, Hope Cahan, or Thang Do lands in the center chair.
Santa Clara County Open Space Authority mails notices to hundreds of thousands of property owners fessing up to an illegal tax and offering a refund. Sierra Club’s Melissa Hippard suggests refusing, others suggest taking the $130 and donating it back (read tax deduction). The Open Space Authority loses $51 million for their screw-up. The winner is Tony Tanke, a Davis attorney, who walks away with $7.4 million in legal fees.
Former Los Altos Police Chief Bob Lacey may be “crude” and “inappropriate” but the Judge says porn on a flash drive, fat jokes for a pregnant lady, discussions of testicles, and photos of a naked transgender person did not make for a hostile workplace.
The Merc’s Scott Herhold likens the ongoing squabble between NASA and the Navy over who is responsible for Moffett’s Hangar One to an officious clerk making your life miserable. Herhold says it’s time to cut through the nonsense and call in White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Congressmember Anna Eshoo agreed it was “absolutely absurd” for the Navy to move forward without an end game but wasn’t so sure about calling Emanuel. (Watch Dog doesn't blame Eshoo... here's why.)
While the rest of the Valley is grilling and hanging out for the fireworks, three Monte Sereno Councilmembers have local fireworks to deal with. The recall effort over the (very badly timed) Council salary decision heads into high gear on the 4th of July. Recall proponent Fred Hawkes doesn’t want his Councilmembers wasting their time or money on Countywide groups like the Association of Bay Area Governments or the Santa Clara Cities Association.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is all over the news. He’ll get his dream mansion, Woodside keeps parts of an historic home, and Jobs ill health was confirmed when a Tennessee hospital confirmed Jobs’ liver transplant. We guess is that he'd rather be in the news discussing the latest and greatest iPod...
Saratoga Planning Commissioners approved plans to relocate a San Jose business (Demetri's the Hair People) onto Saratoga’s main drag. Commissioner David Reis was impressed with plans to update the exterior. Also approved, enlarging outdoor seating for Cinnabar Winery. Expensive hair cuts and expensive wine... perfect for Saratoga.
Sunnyvale’s newest City Manager, Gary Luebbers, says patience is his biggest challenge. Mayor Anthony Spitaleri likes that Luebbers isn’t “analyzing to death” and is hopeful this bodes well for Sunnyvale’s (Albatross) Town Center project.
What do Halle Berry, Paris, New York, Monte Carlo, and Palo Alto have in common? Doris Payne and It Takes a Thief, of course.
Busy times in South County: Gilroy had more gang problems, an “elaborate” car theft, and big robbery last week. Trustees for Gilroy Unified hired a new principal for Gilroy High and three new administrators to see them through tough times ahead.
Upscale Los Gatos hopes you’ll join them for Jazz on the Plazz but doesn’t want your crummy turf damaging blanket and has a slew of rules for those lawn chairs. Welcome to Los Gatos, don't leave a mark...
San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo weighs in on class size reduction standing firmly on the fence. DiSalvo also continues his push for increased teacher salaries. Thank you (?) Joe.
Bucking the trend towards cheap, Cisco Systems handed out $1.26 million in grants including to 53 local non-profits.
Showing posts with label steve jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steve jobs. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Morning News Round-Up -- 4.30.09: Candidate Campos Gets a Challenger...
Hot off the presses, Roy Avila KICU’s Community Affairs Representative, has tossed his hat in the ring to replace outgoing Assemblymember Joe Coto. Avila will be hosting a campaign kickoff meeting on Cinco de Mayo at the very un-Cinco de Mayo 180 Restaurant and Fondue Lounge in Los Gatos. Avila's first political mistake is having his kickoff event in Los Gatos, outside the Assembly District -- especially at a place like the 180 Lounge... this will be one party not to miss... No word yet from Councilmember Nora Campos... but perhaps she'll swivel her sites from bashing Mayor Reed to bashing Avila.
Unless you live under a rock, you know Swine Flu mania has hit the world. Santa Clara County’s Dr. Sara Cody declared a local state of emergency but is not ready to cancel the large May Day immigration march or shut down all schools. Health officials point out that while 150 people have died in Mexico and 1 in the US, the plain old flu kills 36,000 Americans annually. Santa Clara County now has 4 confirmed cases. Morgan Hill Councilmember Perry Woodward took off for Cabo San Lucas with his family before the CDC issued travel precautions, he reports Cabo remains a party scene. (An elected official admitting he is part of a "party scene" sounds pretty dumb...)
San Jose Insider Pete Campbell demands all San Jose’s Councilmembers dish on the closed door proceedings surrounding Chris Constantin’s brotherly love. Campbell receives support from another Insider, Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev who posts a letter sent to City Attorney Rick Doyle asking for public records related to the Independent Police Auditor fiasco. Mayor Reed has to be happy the Swine Flu arrived.
The Merc’s Sal Pizzaro dishes that neither the economy nor the Swine Flu are stopping this weekend’s big festivals. The GI Forum’s Letetia Rodriquez said it’s the Forum’s duty to step up and host the 27th annual Cinco de Mayo festival at Discovery Meadow. This time without controversial City funds. Over at San Jose History Park the annual Greek Spring Festival Elliniki Protomayia will have you sipping ouzo and kicking up your heels.
San Jose’s Mayor Chuck Reed couldn’t have been happy to read the biotech firm AnaSpec was ditching San Jose to set up new, bigger, digs in Fremont. Anita Hong, AnaSpec’s President, called the new digs “functionally and aesthetically light-years beyond our San Jose facility.”
Santa Clara is the first in the County to say no to big box retail (yes, Wal-Mart, that means you). Vice Mayor Jamie Matthews called it a “moral imperative” and Rev. John Sullivan said “superstores make a race for the bottom.” The Building and Construction Trades Council’s Neil Struthers supported the ban saying big box stores were “predatory” retailers. Mayor Patricia Mahan and Councilmember Will Kennedy opposed the measure worried the ban would affect the City’s ability to draw new retailers.
Steve Jobs will have to wait to demolish the historic 14-bedroom home in Woodside. The Woodside Town Council (or COWncil) delayed their action on Tuesday night. The meeting was running late, and folks in Woodside need to get to bed early. Mark your calendars for May 13th...
The Palo Alto Planning Commission said no to a $50 million project on El Camino last night, even after the developers promised to save JJ&F Market.
The Merc’s Editorial Board declares the anonymous complaint filed against former Mayor/lobbyist Tom McEnery an abuse of power and a vendetta against a friend of current Mayor Chuck Reed. The Merc calls for changes to rules designed to protect whistle blowers declaring anyone rich enough to hire attorney James McManis free of fear of retaliation from McEnery. This will send Revealed to the moon...
The Merc and Los Altos Town Crier send recommendations for the May 19 special election... a lot of yeses and one no...
Dude… that pot was $10 million down the tubes. Santa Clara County Sheriff’s were destroying a “marijuana garden” when they stumbled across San Jose resident Othoniel Rivas Buelna. Buelna sits in the pokey on $1 million bail.
The Los Altos City Council held a last minute special meeting to approve a revised plan for housing. The revisions helped make sure Los Altos complied with State law, always a good thing. Though Councilmembers were wary about increasing height limits, City Manager James Walgreen clarified they only had to “consider” height limits – not actually do anything about them.
Campbell’s Planning Commission put off a “contentious” decision for a 24 hour service station mini-mart, again. Commissioner Bob Alderete urged colleagues to make sure they had all the details when the issue returns for a third time.
If you’ve been wondering what the heck road was being built over 280, let the wonderment cease. Mr. Roadshow shares the news that the iconic white flyway is for pedestrians and cyclists with the hope that as many as 265,000 will wave at the carbon spewing vehicles below annually. John Brazil, head of San Jose’s pedestrian program calls it a landmark and Cupertino’s public works director, Ralph Qualls, calls it spectacular.
It could have been your worst nightmare, school lunch ladies from 4 different school districts gathered to cook – and assigned a “mystery” ingredient to make the dish more intriguing. This was no nightmare, this was the Iron Chef cookoff for the women who put food on your kids plates – and not a man to be seen behind the stove. Franklin-McKinley’s Elvia Ho and her team took home the grand prize for a little N’Olean’s gumbo.
Santa Clara High is struggling with mixed feelings. School nurse Eileen Bowden saved the life of Coach John Rahbar after he collapsed during practice, then she collapsed and died before arriving at the Valley Medical Center.
NASA Ames has offered over 400 employees cash to ditch their jobs by the end of June. Can Watch Dog get in line...
San Jose Revealed landed safely in Los Angeles to take a potshot at Republican Steve Mullen who took the reins of the local GOP last year. Revealed pokes fun of Mullen’s credentials, a failed attempt at school board and volunteer treasurer for the failed assembly race of Virginia Chang Kiraly before pointing out his party counterpart received an award from the Dalai Lama.
Unless you live under a rock, you know Swine Flu mania has hit the world. Santa Clara County’s Dr. Sara Cody declared a local state of emergency but is not ready to cancel the large May Day immigration march or shut down all schools. Health officials point out that while 150 people have died in Mexico and 1 in the US, the plain old flu kills 36,000 Americans annually. Santa Clara County now has 4 confirmed cases. Morgan Hill Councilmember Perry Woodward took off for Cabo San Lucas with his family before the CDC issued travel precautions, he reports Cabo remains a party scene. (An elected official admitting he is part of a "party scene" sounds pretty dumb...)
San Jose Insider Pete Campbell demands all San Jose’s Councilmembers dish on the closed door proceedings surrounding Chris Constantin’s brotherly love. Campbell receives support from another Insider, Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev who posts a letter sent to City Attorney Rick Doyle asking for public records related to the Independent Police Auditor fiasco. Mayor Reed has to be happy the Swine Flu arrived.
The Merc’s Sal Pizzaro dishes that neither the economy nor the Swine Flu are stopping this weekend’s big festivals. The GI Forum’s Letetia Rodriquez said it’s the Forum’s duty to step up and host the 27th annual Cinco de Mayo festival at Discovery Meadow. This time without controversial City funds. Over at San Jose History Park the annual Greek Spring Festival Elliniki Protomayia will have you sipping ouzo and kicking up your heels.
San Jose’s Mayor Chuck Reed couldn’t have been happy to read the biotech firm AnaSpec was ditching San Jose to set up new, bigger, digs in Fremont. Anita Hong, AnaSpec’s President, called the new digs “functionally and aesthetically light-years beyond our San Jose facility.”
Santa Clara is the first in the County to say no to big box retail (yes, Wal-Mart, that means you). Vice Mayor Jamie Matthews called it a “moral imperative” and Rev. John Sullivan said “superstores make a race for the bottom.” The Building and Construction Trades Council’s Neil Struthers supported the ban saying big box stores were “predatory” retailers. Mayor Patricia Mahan and Councilmember Will Kennedy opposed the measure worried the ban would affect the City’s ability to draw new retailers.
Steve Jobs will have to wait to demolish the historic 14-bedroom home in Woodside. The Woodside Town Council (or COWncil) delayed their action on Tuesday night. The meeting was running late, and folks in Woodside need to get to bed early. Mark your calendars for May 13th...
The Palo Alto Planning Commission said no to a $50 million project on El Camino last night, even after the developers promised to save JJ&F Market.
The Merc’s Editorial Board declares the anonymous complaint filed against former Mayor/lobbyist Tom McEnery an abuse of power and a vendetta against a friend of current Mayor Chuck Reed. The Merc calls for changes to rules designed to protect whistle blowers declaring anyone rich enough to hire attorney James McManis free of fear of retaliation from McEnery. This will send Revealed to the moon...
The Merc and Los Altos Town Crier send recommendations for the May 19 special election... a lot of yeses and one no...
Dude… that pot was $10 million down the tubes. Santa Clara County Sheriff’s were destroying a “marijuana garden” when they stumbled across San Jose resident Othoniel Rivas Buelna. Buelna sits in the pokey on $1 million bail.
The Los Altos City Council held a last minute special meeting to approve a revised plan for housing. The revisions helped make sure Los Altos complied with State law, always a good thing. Though Councilmembers were wary about increasing height limits, City Manager James Walgreen clarified they only had to “consider” height limits – not actually do anything about them.
Campbell’s Planning Commission put off a “contentious” decision for a 24 hour service station mini-mart, again. Commissioner Bob Alderete urged colleagues to make sure they had all the details when the issue returns for a third time.
If you’ve been wondering what the heck road was being built over 280, let the wonderment cease. Mr. Roadshow shares the news that the iconic white flyway is for pedestrians and cyclists with the hope that as many as 265,000 will wave at the carbon spewing vehicles below annually. John Brazil, head of San Jose’s pedestrian program calls it a landmark and Cupertino’s public works director, Ralph Qualls, calls it spectacular.
It could have been your worst nightmare, school lunch ladies from 4 different school districts gathered to cook – and assigned a “mystery” ingredient to make the dish more intriguing. This was no nightmare, this was the Iron Chef cookoff for the women who put food on your kids plates – and not a man to be seen behind the stove. Franklin-McKinley’s Elvia Ho and her team took home the grand prize for a little N’Olean’s gumbo.
Santa Clara High is struggling with mixed feelings. School nurse Eileen Bowden saved the life of Coach John Rahbar after he collapsed during practice, then she collapsed and died before arriving at the Valley Medical Center.
NASA Ames has offered over 400 employees cash to ditch their jobs by the end of June. Can Watch Dog get in line...
San Jose Revealed landed safely in Los Angeles to take a potshot at Republican Steve Mullen who took the reins of the local GOP last year. Revealed pokes fun of Mullen’s credentials, a failed attempt at school board and volunteer treasurer for the failed assembly race of Virginia Chang Kiraly before pointing out his party counterpart received an award from the Dalai Lama.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Morning News Round-Up – 1.6.09: An all eBay election?
‘Putting the Strip in Strip Mall’ the Gilroy Dispatch and Morgan Hill Times kick off competition for the best headline of the year. Saratoga resident Ante Bilic, who Sunnyvale residents remember for running an alleged prostitution ring out of a local club, is hoping to open a topless bar in Gilroy. Bilic didn't say, "Husbands need something to do while their wives shop..."
Santa Clara County has filed new legal challenges to Prop. 8. Santa Clara County Counsel, Ann Ravel, said "One of the courts' central roles is to enforce the equality principle of our Constitution, and to ensure that vulnerable minorities are treated fairly by political majorities." Prop. 8 supporters insist that the will of the majority should supercede.
There was some good news this holiday season: Drunk driving arrests were down 7% in Santa Clara County. The bad news: deaths due to drunk drivers were up. Unsurprisingly, San Jose had 23% of the DUI arrests while the CHP came in a distant second with 17% of DUI’s. Watch Dog has been following closely San Jose’s penchant for finding those hidden drunks and hauling them off to jail, here, here, here and here.
Is Silicon Valley ground zero for Republicans to launch their next candidate for Governor? Meg Whitman inches her way towards making formal declaration by resigning from corporate boards, insiders say a formal announcement is coming in 4 to 6 weeks. The other elephants include State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (Los Gatos) and former Congressman/former State Senator/former Haas Dean/former Budget Guru Tom Campbell (San Jose). (And don't forget the race for Governor must go through Atherton first...check out Watch Dog San Mateo -- 1 town, 1 company, 2 candidates, 2 parties)
Morgan Hill City Manager Ed Tewes is nonplussed by a report that the Anderson Dam could send a 35’ wall of water into Morgan Hill and said his community has known for years it was living in the shadow of a 240’ dam. Santa Clara Valley Water District spokeswoman Susan Siravo said, "We want to be open and transparent with the public. And we want to proceed with a comprehensive study to ensure the safety of the dam for generations to come."
Watch Dog has been faithfully covering the goings on in Sunnyvale where former Mayor Otto Lee was tapped to join the troops in Iraq. Tonight’s the big night for former Sunnyvale Councilmember Dean Chu as he gets appointed Chief Seat Warmer (CSW) for Iraq-bound Otto Lee. Lee will be phoning it in tonight from a San Diego Naval base in his last official act before heading to boot camp.
Through Chris Vongsarath, the Campbell Reporter (another local paper whose online edition seems designed to ensure a complete lack of readership - thank you Silicon Valley Community Newspapers/Mercury News), does a nice summary of the year in Campbell. From the sad demise of former Mayor Rusty Hammer to the shuffling of day workers from one spot to another to the conversion of standard public schools into charter schools.
Doctors are speculating Steve Jobs has problems with ‘malabsorption.’ The guess is he should start gaining weight this year, ending rumors he’s a contestant on Paris Hilton’s My New BFF and ensuring Apple stock does not continue its slide.
Santa Clara County has filed new legal challenges to Prop. 8. Santa Clara County Counsel, Ann Ravel, said "One of the courts' central roles is to enforce the equality principle of our Constitution, and to ensure that vulnerable minorities are treated fairly by political majorities." Prop. 8 supporters insist that the will of the majority should supercede.
There was some good news this holiday season: Drunk driving arrests were down 7% in Santa Clara County. The bad news: deaths due to drunk drivers were up. Unsurprisingly, San Jose had 23% of the DUI arrests while the CHP came in a distant second with 17% of DUI’s. Watch Dog has been following closely San Jose’s penchant for finding those hidden drunks and hauling them off to jail, here, here, here and here.
Is Silicon Valley ground zero for Republicans to launch their next candidate for Governor? Meg Whitman inches her way towards making formal declaration by resigning from corporate boards, insiders say a formal announcement is coming in 4 to 6 weeks. The other elephants include State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (Los Gatos) and former Congressman/former State Senator/former Haas Dean/former Budget Guru Tom Campbell (San Jose). (And don't forget the race for Governor must go through Atherton first...check out Watch Dog San Mateo -- 1 town, 1 company, 2 candidates, 2 parties)
Morgan Hill City Manager Ed Tewes is nonplussed by a report that the Anderson Dam could send a 35’ wall of water into Morgan Hill and said his community has known for years it was living in the shadow of a 240’ dam. Santa Clara Valley Water District spokeswoman Susan Siravo said, "We want to be open and transparent with the public. And we want to proceed with a comprehensive study to ensure the safety of the dam for generations to come."
Watch Dog has been faithfully covering the goings on in Sunnyvale where former Mayor Otto Lee was tapped to join the troops in Iraq. Tonight’s the big night for former Sunnyvale Councilmember Dean Chu as he gets appointed Chief Seat Warmer (CSW) for Iraq-bound Otto Lee. Lee will be phoning it in tonight from a San Diego Naval base in his last official act before heading to boot camp.
Through Chris Vongsarath, the Campbell Reporter (another local paper whose online edition seems designed to ensure a complete lack of readership - thank you Silicon Valley Community Newspapers/Mercury News), does a nice summary of the year in Campbell. From the sad demise of former Mayor Rusty Hammer to the shuffling of day workers from one spot to another to the conversion of standard public schools into charter schools.
Doctors are speculating Steve Jobs has problems with ‘malabsorption.’ The guess is he should start gaining weight this year, ending rumors he’s a contestant on Paris Hilton’s My New BFF and ensuring Apple stock does not continue its slide.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Morning News Round-Up – 1.5.09: Famous last words "...we don't forecast anything that dramatic..."
When elected officials take off for the holidays, it usually means that they want to hit the ground running in the New Year. Watch Dog suspects it is because they want folks to think that they work hard. The weird part is the City of San Jose doesn't have a Council meeting this week. I guess they work so hard in San Jose that they deserve to take an extra week off ;)...so the New Year begins with lots and lots of meetings (except the San Jose City Council)...here is a snap-shot...
San Jose’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, which contributes millions to San Jose’s financial health, is projecting little impact due to the economic meltdown. Dan Fenton, the CEO of both the ConVis Bureau and Team San Jose that runs the convention center, says "It's still too early but we don't forecast anything that dramatic at all. I think we're positioned much better than we were to be more resilient." Really Mr. Fenton? San Jose's convention business is immune to the economic downturn?
We love The Town: Los Gatos Observer Editor Alastair Dallas looks forward to the new police headquarters, as well as Smokey Market. Mayor Mike Wasserman has the honor of first shovel at the groundbreaking for a new library and Los Gatos Economic Vitality Manager Danielle Surdin has hightailed it to Santa Rosa, her seat to be replaced with a Community Development Director.
Watch Dog was going to launch into San Jose Revealed today about a weird bias in a post about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Not long after writing this anti-Revealed piece, Revealed disappeared...which caused some consternation on San Jose Inside but nothing compared to Mr. Rowen's consternation at Mission City Lantern. Watch Dog knows that it isn't Blogger's fault that Revealed is down because we run Blogger too...
...
This affects a lot of folks locally, so I'll include it today. If you own Apple stock (and who doesn't) hold on to your hats. Steve Jobs announced that he has a "hormone imbalance" -- and not reoccurring cancer. Perhaps not since Fidel Castro has the world been so eagerly anticipated someone's health news. This will not end speculation about Jobs' health and stock jitters that come with it -- especially after Apple backed out of MacWorld.
- The Sunnyvale City Council will meet Tuesday to choose an interim Council member as bench warmer for Otto Lee, elect a Vice Mayor, and figure out how to make the budget work.
- In Mountain View, the City Council will elect their new Mayor on Tuesday.
- The Milpitas City Council will talk about land deals with the County for a new park.
- Monte Sereno residents will air their grievances about garbage and weeds in front of the Council on Tuesday.
- On Wednesday, San Jose’s Rules Committee will decide how much sunshine they want on meetings with McEnery et al about the new San Pedro Square Market.
- The Santa Clara Unified School District meets on Thursday to see how their schools did in 2008.
San Jose’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, which contributes millions to San Jose’s financial health, is projecting little impact due to the economic meltdown. Dan Fenton, the CEO of both the ConVis Bureau and Team San Jose that runs the convention center, says "It's still too early but we don't forecast anything that dramatic at all. I think we're positioned much better than we were to be more resilient." Really Mr. Fenton? San Jose's convention business is immune to the economic downturn?
We love The Town: Los Gatos Observer Editor Alastair Dallas looks forward to the new police headquarters, as well as Smokey Market. Mayor Mike Wasserman has the honor of first shovel at the groundbreaking for a new library and Los Gatos Economic Vitality Manager Danielle Surdin has hightailed it to Santa Rosa, her seat to be replaced with a Community Development Director.
Watch Dog was going to launch into San Jose Revealed today about a weird bias in a post about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Not long after writing this anti-Revealed piece, Revealed disappeared...which caused some consternation on San Jose Inside but nothing compared to Mr. Rowen's consternation at Mission City Lantern. Watch Dog knows that it isn't Blogger's fault that Revealed is down because we run Blogger too...
...
This affects a lot of folks locally, so I'll include it today. If you own Apple stock (and who doesn't) hold on to your hats. Steve Jobs announced that he has a "hormone imbalance" -- and not reoccurring cancer. Perhaps not since Fidel Castro has the world been so eagerly anticipated someone's health news. This will not end speculation about Jobs' health and stock jitters that come with it -- especially after Apple backed out of MacWorld.
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