Morning News Round-Up -- 3.1.10: TTYL... Tom

It was a very Sid Sunday... but former Mayor Tom McEnery was at the game too. It was actually a Shark-infested game in Vancouver. (If you have no idea what Watch Dog is talking about, you should.) More important than all of that is we learn that Eric Johnson, the Editor of the Metro, text messages Tom McEnery. Raising the question: Isn't Mayor McEnery a little too old to be texting in public?

Another story about the San Jose Airport... and it is getting a little pathetic. You remember that the powers that be (the Airport Director and the Mayor) had Sully come in for an inspirational speech to Silicon Valley executives. While the execs were there, they heard from the Airport Director and the Mayor who asked (begged?) these companies to fund the grand opening celebration at the airport this summer and asked (begged?) these companies to start using the airport... Bill Sherry even suggested that companies call airlines and implore them to get more flights in and out of San Jose... which kind of sounds like Bill Sherry's job. This is all good and fun, but the airport owes a whole bunch of money on a bond debt which they seemingly have no way to pay...

The Case Against Dolores Carr gets strong and stronger. Actually, in Sunday's Internal Affairs column, it is her husband (a former SJPD Officer) that is in hot water. It all stems from the same case that got the DA into trouble: the Hosseini murder. You remember, as the DA was developing her case her husband was working for the victim's family as a 'security consultant.' This eventually led to the case being moved (taken) from the DA's office and will be prosecuted instead by the Attorney General's office. Well, the State Bureau of Security and Investigative Services is looking into John Carr to see if he was a practicing private eye without a proper license. The Rosen campaign couldn't type fast enough on a Sunday -- their email didn't get out to folks until the mid-afternoon. As Daryl Hall said, private eyes are watching you, watching you, watching you...

The Chronicle's Matier & Ross continue their anti-Santa Clara 49er's effort and write about some leaked polling numbers about the 49ers stadium deal saying that voters are evenly split in the election. The poll was done by Richard Lindholm of 200 voters... which has a seven percent margin of error. The funniest thing about this story is that Lindholm convinced Matier & Ross that the polling was part of some long-term research project on Santa Clara County attitudes. Really? A poll on "Santa Clara County attitudes" would poll 200 voters in the City of Santa Clara? It looks to Watch Dog like Lindholm is polling for some San Francisco interests...

County Assessor Larry Stone wrote a piece for the Mercury News on Sunday that is certain to cause a stir. He wrote about public sector pensions and the dire need for reform. Specifically, he talks about how the pension liability explosion is crippling state and local government. This will make him among the least welcome people at the Firefighters' barbecue...

While healthcare news has mostly been coming out of DC -- on the local healthcare seen, we saw a shake-up announced over the weekend. Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System chief Kim Roberts is getting her resume together for her next job... Scott Herhold at the Merc dives deep into the politics of the County and gives the insight that the new County Exec doesn't mess around.

On a more constructive healthcare note... the good folks that brought you the Healthy Children insurance program in the County are looking to bring healthcare coverage to employees of small business called Healthy Workers. Perhaps the DC folks should take note...

If you are under 13 years old (and you read this blog) take heart, a County Commission has recommended that you not be put in jail...

There was another murder this weekend in San Jose. A 19 year old was shot and killed on S. 24th Street and Williams Street. 5th homicide of the year in San Jose.

Palo Alto Utilities Department has had a rough few weeks. First the East Palo Alto plane crash took out their powerlines causing a big, day-long outage... then last night a downed powerline caused outages for several hours. But the weird part of the story is this: Substantial portions of Palo Alto suffered electrical power brownouts or blackouts tonight, but no city announcement was made as of 11:30 p.m. three hours into the power failure. Palo Alto Weekly toots its own horn in the story to say that residents stayed informed by using PaloAltoOnline.com's "Town Square." (If that sounds familiar, it is because of this from March 2009: "No city utilities officials were available Sunday afternoon or evening to provide information about what was happening."

Here's some news you've been waiting for, the Palo Alto Police have made "strides" in dealing with racial profiling. We guess Chief "Doo-Rag" Johnson's departure did usher in some good...

From North County to South County...

A duo of bad budget stories: Gilroy Unified is cutting $7 million from their budget (ouch) and the City of Morgan Hill faces nothing but "bad choices" to balance their budget... (Some would argue that Morgan Hill's "bad choices" are what got them into this mess...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.2.09: Groundhog Day Edition...

The most interesting story in a while was in the Merc. this weekend about Mayor Reed's friend/advisor/confidant Vic Ajlouny. Tax Assessor Larry Stone calls the relationship odd and says, "Vic's style is kind of slash and burn, and it is very peculiar that Chuck continues to rely on him for political advice." Among Ajlouny's exploits, a failed attempt to fill Reed’s City Council seat with (less-than-qualified) Hon Lien. The real question is, why is this story with a byline from Josh Molina coming out now? Molina has been gone for a long, long time...

The Merc’s Scott Herhold picks his top 10 powerbrokers in San Jose... Herhold’s unsurprising list includes Bob Brownstein, Pat Dando, Chuck Davidson, Carl Guardino, Zoe Lofgren, Bobby Lopez, Tom McEnery, Chuck Reed, Bert Robinson, and Barry Swenson. He also includes the next 15 folks and a group of folks under 40...Watch Dog will revisit this list later today or tomorrow with some additional analysis...

The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, not to be left out, is hosting a luncheon for 100 Women of Influence in March and is also seeking your thoughts on the top 40 Under 40...

They may not know how to party, but San Jose’s Drunk Task Force does know how to attack. While sending Councilmember Nora Campos to Sacramento to urge Speaker Karen Bass to change laws about drunk arrests, the Task Force urged a 6 month moratorium on the arrests in San Jose and put a host of options on the table. Latino Forum’s Pete Carrillo, a master of understatement, said "I believe there is a credibility and trust issue between the SJPD, the city administration and the city at large.''

The Tesla news keeps coming, Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad said the company couldn’t raise $100 million in venture funding to make the move to San Jose and that, "It's not exactly clear when, if ever, the headquarters will leave San Carlos." So, it’ll be interesting to see what sites the Mayor’s spokeswoman, Michelle McGurk, means when she says "Our team is working aggressively to find a site that meets these new priorities here in San Jose."

Santa Clara County’s head lawyer Ann Ravel is gunning for the County’s top dog seat... Acting County Executive Gary Graves was hoping to get “acting” removed from the title and may have been surprised to hear who the competition was to replace Pete Kutras. This will be an interesting play with the new Board of Supervisors...perhaps Supervisor Shirakawa would like the job to go to Eddie Garcia?

The Merc’s Editorial Board weighs in on the recent negotiations between San Jose City Council and the Police Officers Association. Lots of numbers get tossed around but the bottom line is, don’t hand out any raises for the next contract negotiation.

Last year, San Jose’s Councilmember Nancy Pyle wanted to make it easier to bring on volunteer crossing guards, her colleagues didn’t share her spirit of volunteerism. This year, colleagues Pete Constant, Pierluigi Oliverio, and Rose Herrera want to take funds supporting dozens of non-profits to hire more crossing guards. Pyle said, "I just really think we need to do a fair process here." What’s really surprising here is the switch by Herrera, last week supporting her labor-backed friends when discussing the competition policy and this week supporting Council contrarians Constant and Oliverio.

Los Gatos Mayor Mike Wasserman will give his State of the Town speech at tonight’s City Council meeting. On deck, a look back to his previous Mayoral incarnations and a look forward at belt tightening.

In Cupertino, Mayor Orrin Mahoney will give his State of the City at a lunch meeting Wednesday. Mahoney is proud of the City’s low crime rate and says, "Basically, things are stable or have decreased. The only area that has increased is auto burglary." Mahoney will be arguing a refrain heard around the Valley -- people and employers choose places that have something to offer...

Morning News Round-Up – 12.10.08: 20 years, 18 months, 5 hours...

20 years of waiting + 18 months of study + 5 hours of debate = a major push forward toward more affordable housing in San Jose...not to mention a win San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo. Inclusionary zoning comes to San Jose, beyond Redevelopment areas, that is. Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Shiloh Ballard told the City Council that employers have listed a lack of affordable housing as a serious problem in recruitment. Tax Assessor Larry Stone helped to bring inclusionary zoning to Sunnyvale and says, “It works and it’s been working for years.” The Ballard/Stone attack put the issue over the edge...that and 9 votes...

The “Peralta Action Plan” a.k.a. McEnery's Plan sailed through the San Jose City Council on Tuesday with Councilmembers trying to separate the business decision from concerns over (alleged) violations of the City’s Sunshine guidelines. Outgoing (soon to be Supervisor) Vice Mayor Dave Cortese says of the McEnery family, "As business people, they have been good neighbors and friends for three generations. We owe them enough trust on this deal to keep it moving forward." Mayor Reed, feeling a little snippy at the criticism, complained other downtown projects have not received the scrutiny of San Jose’s “Pike Place Market.” The Merc’s Scott Herhold summed it up best saying that while aspects of the “Peralta Action Plan” were about business, in the end it was all about Tom McEnery and the decision was personal.

Meanwhile on San Jose Inside Tom McEnery says the decline in San Jose’s safety rating means little and the objective is to build the city – an oblique reference to his success?

The County Board of Supervisors wants to join the Campos/Reed Drunk Task Force to study the San Jose problem. Lioness (Supervisor) Blanca Alvarado roared at San Jose Police for, "attempting to regain its status as the safest city at the expense of our people. If the police department is arresting people without proof of inebriation — if for no other reason than justice — we ought to stand up." Will Shirakawa be able to fill Alvarado's shoes...not literally, of course.

Assemblymember Paul “see the light” Fong’s seat on the Foothill-De Anza Community College Board has been given to Pearl Cheng, President of the Cupertino School board. Cheng needs to update her website as she’s now got “More Pearl News.”

Mission City Lantern opened with “This is a cranky blog, no question…” Rowen then launched salvos at one of his favorite targets, Santa Clara Councilmember Jamie McLeod. Thanks to Santa Clara’s efficiency you can judge for yourself here, the discussion begins about 4 minutes in. Councilmember Dominic Caserta recused himself and stepped off the dais, if Santa Clara retained old videos or keep specific votes this wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. On the upside, Rowen gave a nod to Watch Dog yesterday calling the Dog’s writing crisp.

San Jose State Journalism professors Michael Cheers and Bob Rucker hope to lead a team of multi-media savvy students on the road trip of a lifetime. They plan to explore the historic locations of the civil rights movement on their way to be part of the Obama inauguration. They need your help to make it so, contact Amy Freitag at (408) 924-3241.

Sal Pizzaro reports Tesla CEO Elon Musk had a little Oprah magic going on when he handed the keys to the 100th roadster to Oprah’s election night “shoulder to cry on” Sam Perry. Perry had been on the list for years but his recent publicity is likely the reason his car showed up.

Judge Steve Sanders dismissed DUI charges for Hollister police sergeant James Egan when it was revealed Egan had called the accident in himself and was at a hospital with a medication filled drip line in his arm. Defense attorney Greg LaForge called the attempt to figure out the blood alcohol level at the time of the accident “Voodoo science.”

Threats from a highly invasive mussel has local water officials ordering boat inspections. The quagga has shut down fishing lakes, wreaked havoc on water supplies, and caused millions of dollars of harm throughout the state. Water District Director Rosemary Kamei says of the inspections, “This is something we’re going to have to live with a very long time.” Not a boating friend, District Director Joe Judge would like to see a complete boat ban. Before you ban that boat, Watch Dog suggests a call to Brenna Callero for her “Quagga Goo.”