Morning News Round-Up -- 4.15.09: Post Marked (by midnight) Edition...

San Jose’s City Council learned their deficit is growing and the stock market meltdown requires San Jose officials to cough up an additional $50 million (or more) to recover the over $1 billion lost in the employee pension fund. The bad news led Councilmembers to quibble over details of the disaster. Councilmember Nancy Pyle urged not to plan the next 5 years based on bad news, Councilmember Sam Liccardo pointed out that even “great stock market returns…doesn’t get us out of the hole.”

Unless you live under a rock, you know San Jose Police are under the microscope for
their Drunk Latino arrests. Now it seems Santa Clara County arrests far more juveniles than almost anywhere else in California. The (not-so) lucky officials in San Jose arrest the highest percentage of the youth. Police Chief Rob Davis says, “We firmly believe other alternatives are more effective in helping these youth.” The hits just keep on coming for the Police Chief...

and, just in time…

San Jose’s City Council has (finally) found a new Independent Police Auditor. Senior City Auditor Chris Constantin steps into former Independent Police Auditor Barbara Attard's shoes (and her salary) with support from Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev. The appointment was questioned by ACLU Director Skyler Porras.

The demise of traditional newspapers is all the rage, San Jose Revealed jumps into the act advocating for the survival of hyper-local news. Yeah, kinda like what Watch Dog Silicon Valley does but without the snark. EveryBlock San Jose has cool charts showing the number of police calls -- 25,000 in the past month.

If you put off filing those taxes, you’re not alone. San Jose’s H&R Block office was open until 11pm Monday and the post office is open to midnight. One (anonymous) taxpayer still coughing up money for back taxes from a failed business is pissed he’s not getting any reduction while AIG walks with $100 billion. Looking on the bright side, Claudia Hill with TaxMam in Cupertino said with the reduced incomes (layoffs) more people are getting refunds this year.

San Jose icon Hicklebee’s hits 30 with a big party Saturday and an award from Senator Joe Simitian for being the small business of the year. Being the small business of the year in this economy is no small feat...

Pissed off Mountain View NIMBYs have asked the anti-immigrant Judicial Watch to help shut down a Day Worker center. The D.C. based bigots are “helping” around the country to shut down “sanctuary” cities. They didn’t do their homework well, Mountain View is not a “sanctuary” city, but this might encourage them to become one.

This is big news, especially if you are Stanford or the City of Palo Alto. Stanford dropped its plans to expand its Mall with new shops and a hotel. Stanford says it is because that expansion has been a distraction from their hospital and other expansion plans on campus. (Perhaps the economy has something to do with it too...) Former Palo Alto City Councilmember Bern Beecham had a different take. He is blaming the much talked-about "Palo Alto Process" for the demise of the Mall plan and said, "To me, this is a real black eye for the city process..." Tell us how you really feel Bern.

Los Altos City Council is ready to launch “Shop Los Altos” to separate you from your dwindling dollars. Julie Rose with the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce said it sends the message that Los Altos loves its business community.

The cratering economy is hitting local non-profits hard. Santa Clara County’s Healthy Kid’s wants to take care of 12 uninsured Morgan Hill children, they asked Morgan Hill for the dollars to make it so. Councilmember Larry Carr wants to help and asked the Community Health Foundation to cover the costs, after all, he said, we gave you a half million…

While we're in Morgan Hill...

Morgan Hill is laying people off and giving others raises. This has some Councilmembers scratching their heads. Councilmember Marby Lee wants to talk about the incongruity of firing people and paying the remain folks more. City Manager Ed Tewes said the failing property tax revenues means another $1 million out of City coffers.

San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Ed Trustee Joseph DiSalvo sends us back a few days and showing the report card to the parents. DiSalvo makes his case for doing away with grades and focusing on learning.

Keep your iPod at home is the word from Mountain View Police. Petty thieves are increasingly breaking car windows to steal everything from your smelly gym bag to iPods – so keep your stuff in your home, if that hasn't been taken away yet...

How did we miss this? Tesla CEO Elon Musk was pissed local gossip blog was getting the dish from insiders and set a trap by sending everyone their own personalized memo. Small problem, General Counsel Craig Harding sent everyone his “fingerprint” edition. Some smart aleck figured out the Musk idea and promptly sent the Harding memo to Valley Wag. (Tesla Chronicles here...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.26.09: Revealed revealed...

First things first...yesterday, Revealed revealed that Watch Dog was written by Jude Barry. Today, Watch Dog reveals that Revealed revealed wrong...(Revealed also revealed some really old news...)

Parents hoping the kid is heading to college better shoot for local schools. For the first time in San Jose State’s long history, students from outside Santa Clara County are being turned away. CSU Chancellor Charles Reed (ha!) said all campuses will be capping enrollment due to the State budget crisis.

"Shovel ready” projects around Silicon Valley are lining up to get their share of $1.1 billion in Federal stimulus dollars. If your job is road repair, you’re in luck.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold shares the lowdown on salaries for heads of non-profits. No surprises here: non-profits have to pay a hefty price to run multi-million dollar agencies. Winning the award for thrift, Charles Geschke takes no salary for running the foundation he and his wife Nancy set up after he (won the lottery) founded Adobe Systems.

It must be really boring for Police Officers in Cupertino. A very drunk Bradley Dexter took the tip jar from the bar where he was slugging back Long Island Ice Tea’s. Naturally, Officers showed up with 6 police units and a helicopter to rescue the glass jar with less than $10.

Silicon Valley’s chief geeks made their way to D.C. to meet with the new Administration and Congressional Representatives. TechNet exec’s, including Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly and Cisco’s John Chambers were there to ask for more support for education, science, and a boost to green tech.

The Merc’s Editorial Board is calling for watch dogs to keep sniffing around the Agnews Developmental Center closing. Citing the sale of valuable land and cheaper care the Merc worries that money, not care, might be the prime motivator for the closure.

Mountain View community leaders are working with Police and City officials to stop hate crime violence. Documentary filmmaker Patrice O’Neill will be following the efforts started by former Human Relations Commissioners Alicia Crank and Chris Burley to turn Mountain View into a “model city.”

San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Ed Trustee Joseph DiSalvo hopes the Obama’s will use their popularity and television face time to stop bullying at school. DiSalvo should hook up with Mountain View’s anti-hate crime team to bring the message home.

Don’t know how we missed this one yesterday…San Jose’s Drunk Task Force members Raj Jayadev and Raul Colunga teamed up in a joint statement to Mayor Reed and Councilmember Nora Campos saying: you should have brought the Consortium in before the Task Force or not at all. They suggest a name change to “Task Force of the Humored.” Funny.

Los Gatos resident/Attorney John Hopkins is being inducted into the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame. A who’s who of Silicon Valley luminaries will be there for the honor, including former US Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta and Sharks CEO Greg Jamison.

Congressman Mike Honda will deliver a hand made flag that includes 1,000 red, white, and blue paper cranes from St. Joseph’s of Cupertino students to President Obama. The kids, and Honda, had to do a mountain of paperwork to get the flag to D.C. but they’re thrilled to know their work will take up residence at the White House.

Pete Campbell, San Jose Inside blogger, jumps in on the action to question San Jose’s automatic pay raises.

Speaking of pay raises...

Gilroy’s City Council stepped in to stop Gilroy’s automatic pay raises. Councilmember Bob Dillon said they didn’t want to freeze wages and the upside was folks still had jobs at City Hall. City Administrator Tom Haglund also gets to keep his job, he complained was just keeping up with normal practice but pinky-swears to talk to Council ahead of time on political challenges.

Los Gatos Town Council meets tonight at a retreat to talk about The Town’s Boards and Commissions and where they’re heading. In the past, the retreat met at the Toll House Restaurant to chew over the future of The Town with a good glass of wine. This year they’ll meet in Council Chambers a.k.a. The Dungeon – clearly not as much fun.

Cheap condos are on the market in Los Altos...now is the time for low income buyers to move to toney Los Altos. With fewer than 10 condos available you’d better move quickly, however.

Mountain View’s City Council voiced unanimous support for converting industrial land to housing for as many as 1,120 homes. The VTA complained the project wasn’t dense enough next to the Whisman Light Rail stop. (Apparently) Mountain View hasn’t figured out what “transit oriented development” means.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.20.09: Is there any good news out there?

Wednesday’s Palo Alto shooting has the police trying to ease resident fears about a possible incursion of gangs. Police Agent Dan Ryan says Daniel Gil-Fernandez was a wannabe gansta’. Yep, Ryan says, Gil-Fernandez and friends wore red, talked about being Nortenos, sported gang tattoos, and had been involved in violent and drug related crime but… Ryan says “They're intimidating other kids in their mostly white junior high or high school, but if they were to go to Mountain View they could get murdered." Take that, Mountain View.

Also exhibiting ostrich-like behavior… Vandals (wannabe Nazis’?) attacked Evergreen Valley High School leaving a giant 20’ swastika etched into the lawn and chopping down 13 tiny trees. In a potentially related note, envelopes with a (harmless) white powder were mailed to the school office. Principal Cari Vaeth says she hasn’t organized discussions with the students because race relations are just fine, thank you very much. (Really?) East Side Union High School District Associate Superintendent Alan Garafolo seems to disagree and says once an arrest is made the District will push for hate-crime charges.

It wasn’t bad enough that muralist Frank Torres’ work was attacked by San Jose wannabe Surenos who tossed blue paint everywhere. Former gang member/Veteran/ex felon/ex-dealer Torres was profiled by the Merc’s Joe Rodriguez following the damage to his mural this week, the next day he was back on the job when eight wannabe’s showed up to beat the crap out of him in East San Jose. Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev is collecting donations while Marcos Gutierrez with the San Jose State University Foundation has offered Torres a job teaching and is organizing a fundraiser.

Los Altans need never be far from the latest happenings in town, the Town Crier is now offering breaking news flashes to your cell phone.

If you’d had your mobile news service you’d have known the Los Altos Hills' City Council was slapping some property owners for illegal sewer hook-ups to the tune of nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Mayor Jean Mordo is trying to be nice and says there’s a sewer amnesty program – pay up in two months and you’ll get a discount.

Mobile updates no doubt included this too: Los Altos sold its sewer land for $6.5 million and Mayor Megan Satterlee wants to use it after the sewer master plan is ready for action next year while Councilmember Ron Packard urges holding off until the current financial crisis is over. Maybe Los Altos can just sneak a hook-up to the Los Altos Hills sewer system.

Former eBay Chief/Gubernatorial wannabe Meg Whitman’s Fortune magazine cover has the blogosphere buzzing about the comparisons with former Governor/President Ron Reagan. The Merc’s Tech Notebook pulls other details out of the story like… Whitman hasn’t purchased a suit in 11 years, her friends are helping her shop at Stanford, and she’s planning to drop $50 million of her own fortune to be the next Governator.

You remember this story…Somehow an unnoticed clerical screw-up left taxes for Gilroy Unified off last years property tax bill. Not bad if you’re one of those knuckleheads who pretends not to notice your bill doesn’t match the stuff in your bag, but if you’re a School District losing $6 million it’s a big problem. The School Board decided this week not to re-send the tax bill and is hoping to hold County Supervisor Don Gage to his word: "They’re going to be made whole one way or another.” Deputy Superintendent Enrique Palacios has the dubious distinction of juggling the County’s clerical screw-ups and the “… moral issue…” of MACSA’s theft from teachers…

Speaking of the MACSA (Mexican American Community Services Agency)… More than 100 students, parents, teachers, and administrators crowded the Gilroy Unified School District Board meeting to ask the Board not to punish students for MACSA’s embezzlement. Tearful students spoke about grades going from F’s to A’s and B’s, seemingly overnight. Trustee Denise Apuzzo wondered how, with grades shooting up dramatically, students were still failing State tests.

Gilroy Councilmember Bob Dhillon wants to stop the bleeding and says the public is truly pissed. Gilroy’s City Administrator Tom Haglund is (apparently) begging the City Council to wallow in Gilroy’s daily operations and figure out who gets raises and who does not. Councilmembers (and residents) are pissed off that Haglund has been handing out raises to some while others lose their jobs. Councilmember Cat Tucker took a 25% pay cut in her day job and wants to see City Staff cut back as well. The Gilroy Dispatch Editorial Board gets in on the act calling it one of those “you-couldn't-make-this-stuff-up" situations.

Give a little, get a lot…City staff unions in Morgan Hill have figured out a way to keep jobs: they voluntarily reduced raises by 3% to 4% for as long as 5 years. Don’t worry about employees, the starting point was a 9.5% raise. Councilmember Larry Carr praised the leadership of the unions in meeting the challenge while offering a mild slap to other communities (Gilroy?).

What’s the loss of a little green belt if it makes the Pope happy? The Diocese of San Jose is hoping to buy up another 20 acres of agricultural land in Morgan Hill to add to the 20 acres they bought last year. The land is part of Morgan Hill’s last remaining “green belt” to be chopped up into developable portions. There’s still that pesky Environmental Impact Report, rezoning, and the obscure "LAFCO review," so don’t count on ground breaking before 2011.

San Jose Insider Eric Johnson calls the cries of impending doom for the Chronicle premature and is predicting a new paper in town, the MerChronicle. The Chronicle did that once before when they became the ExOnicle/ChronAminer following a merger with the Examiner. Lot of good that did either of those papers.

Morning News Round-Up – 3.5.09: Santa Clara County Raiders?

Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa, Jr. continues his “quixotic quest" to toss the County’s plans for housing at the fairgrounds in order to bring pro football to San Jose. The Supervisor, referred to by the Merc. as “burly” (and by Watch Dog as Grand Poobah), met with Raiders Chief Executive Amy Trask and Finance Director Mark Badain. Rumors that Shirakawa has abandoned his Supervisorial post to negotiate a coaching job for Eddie Garcia are unfounded.

The failed recall effort against San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen is over...save the spin. The Merc. digs in with local wonk/SJSU political science Professor Larry Gerston and spinmeister/failed campaign manager Andre Charles. The Editorial Board offers up an opinion that it is time to move on and hopes Nguyen does indeed reach out to her opponents. San Jose Revealed also assesses the results and declares there was never any doubt about the outcome.

So much for the Smoke Police. Over 175 Santa Clara County residents complained about winter fires on Spare the Air days. Fewer than 35 firebugs received warnings. No one was slapped with a fine. Bay Area Air Quality Management District rep Kristine Roeselius said fines weren’t the focus, the goal is air quality improvement. The number of people wanting Spare the Air days email alerts doubled between September and November to 100,000.

Los Altos School District Trustees have proposed cutting their budget $2.3 million in response to the draconian budget from the State Legislature. They’ll be waving goodbye to 18 teachers and 28 support staffers.

Los Altans will be happy to know a second suspect has been arrested for the brazen November robbery of Harold’s Jewelry. The two suspects were both already in jail at the Elmwood Correctional Complex. Police warn there are other suspects still at large and hopes for a dramatic Hollywood style car chase remain.

Mountain View NIMBY’s have coughed up $346 to appeal placement of the Day Worker Center nearby. Opponents to the center include Brad Kellar who wrote "Please protect our neighborhood property values!" Appellant Vince Racifi worries the center will distract police from the growing gang problem.

There is (apparently) a big-time power outage in Palo Alto this morning. Crews are "scrambling" to get folks back online...this is the type of problem that the Utilities Department should be handling, rather than this type of problem with Federal law enforcement agents...(thank you Watch Dog San Mateo...)

Looks like the American Chemistry Association/plastic bag lover Manny Diaz has successfully convinced the Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission to ignore plastic bags. The Commission had proposed charging consumers for “single-use” bags. According to Commission member/Mountain View Councilmember Ronit Bryant they’re hoping education will drag consumers away from plastics. Really?

California Lottery officials took over as undercover cops to ferret out local retailers separating lottery winners from their tickets. Owners (or employees) from Jerry’s Market on Main in Milpitas along with Mercado y Carneceria Moreno, 4th Street Bowl, and Guru’s on N. 13th have lost their lottery contracts and could head to prison. Alex Traverso with the California Lottery wants to send a message to would be scammers “…we’re coming after you...”

Sal Pizzaro, the Merc’s man about town, fills us in on San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s dinner plans in Washington, D.C. where he met with SJSU President Jon Whitmore and former San Jose Mayor/Congressman/U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta. Pizzaro muses over the selection of a bi-coastal chain restaurant for the dining luminaries.

The Merc’s Mr. Roadshow, Gary Richards, has received loads of queries asking whether BART does know the way to San Jose. Math and farm animals collide in questions about counting unhatched chickens and the weak tax projections.

The suicide death of SJSU/Sigma Chi’s Gregory Marcel Johnson, Jr. has grief stricken parents calling for a deeper investigation. The Metro’s Jessica Fromm covers all sides of the story. Mission City Lantern sends props to Metro for their coverage.

Metro/San Jose Inside’s Fly digs a little deeper into Saratoga/San Jose/Santa Maria Senator Abel Maldonado’s (conceited) demands in exchange for his support to pass the budget. Apparently the “outrageous” proposal to spend $1 million on office furniture by Controller John Chiang was just a tad less outrageous than Maldo wants us to believe. Maldonado dramatically tosses darts at former Assemblymember Fred Keely and waves his arms.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.2.09: A Nickname is Born...

The final days leading up to the biggest day San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen’s career are filled with precinct walking and calloused dialing fingers. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., one way or another, papers will be recycled, old coffee cups thrown away, and sleep will come in more than a few hours at a time. San Jose has seen 5 recall elections before now, only one was successful. "We were hopeful that she would understand the Vietnamese community better," volunteer My Phuong Le said in between (Yes) calling voters Sunday, "because that's her background." We will be blogging live on Tuesday night as the results come in...whatever the results, Andre Charles is putting his new resume together...

As Nguyen's date with the recall nears, it looks like Silicon Valley/Santa Maria State Senator Abel Maldonado will avoid a recall. Former Congressman/Former Assemblymember Ernie Konnyu is choosing not to harass Abel Maldonado via recall. (Konnyu is fond of other kinds of harassment, though.) But as Konnyu eases up, GOP leaders aren't going to. The State Republican Party has decided that they are going to withhold campaign dollars from Maldonado and the other five Republicans who voted for the budget package. Maldonado said his party “…is down in the dumpsters, and it's wrong to do this." Truer words have rarely been said...

The Merc’s Internal Affairs continues to muse over San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos’ ambitious goals for higher office. (They are still writing that story?) Campos aims to expand her meet and greets outside Assemblymember Joe Coto’s Assembly District to include the entire City – covering her bases for his seat and Mayor Reed’s.

In other Internal Affairs news, Supervisor Liz Kniss opted for the title President over Chair saying she could have chosen Grand Poobah. Supervisor George Shirakawa did not say, "She really couldn't have chosen Grand Poobah, because I'm the Grand Poobah...I even have the hat..." And with this story, a new nickname is born for the County's newest Supervisor...

As scrutiny increased on the San Jose Police Department, the questionable arrest rates curiously plunged in December and January. ACLU's local Director Skyler Porras said it was, "an alarming confirmation of the sheer number of wrongful arrests" that were occurring. Police Chief Rob Davis had a different spin saying he was pleased the "changes we have made" were having a "positive impact." That is quite a different tune than Chief Davis was singing last year...

Speaking of fun drunken times…Internal Affairs ferreted out four downtown clubs that offer the biggest challenges to San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis: WET, Miami Beach Club, Vivid, and Motif...if anyone reading this blog has ever gone to one of these places, hit me up so we can roll together...

And the Drunk Task Force is still talking drunks in San Jose…City Manager Debra Figone ordered Police Chief Rob Davis to release 200 police reports to the Drunk Task Force for review. "We consider access to the information to actually identify the problem as a fundamental piece of our charge," said ACLU’s (always quotable) Sklyer Porras. "There is no point in sitting at the table to combat symptoms without getting at the disease."

Someone on the Merc’s Editorial Board was feeling particularly sassy this weekend when they wrote, “The great crossing guard panic of San Jose.” The Merc. Ed Board is critical of Councilmembers Pierluigi Oliverio and Pete Constant for frightening parents and education leaders when they claimed the crossing guard budget was being cut. Just as entertaining was the Rules Committee meeting where they feigned ignorance over the furor they helped create.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted to give Santa Clara County $90 million of the $490 million in Federal money. The funding is a relief because the State has cut funding said VTA spokesperson Jennie Hwang Loft adding, "Losing a few million dollars is one thing. When you start getting into double digits, that's a whole other scenario."

Los Altos Planners are mulling over the results of polling data in order to narrow the scope of a bond measure for their new Civic Center. In November, voters head to the polls to decide how much they are willing to tax themselves for a City Hall. Assistant City Manager James Walgren is confident sufficient funds are available for one facility and plans to survey voters again in the summer. Any chance Los Altos wants to relocate their City Hall to 801 N. First Street in San Jose? We hear there is an empty building there...

Watch Dog congratulation Mountain View for joining Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and San Jose on the Bicycle Friendly Community list of California’s bike friendly cities.

Mountain View Police arrested community leader/soccer coach Pedro Carbajal for sexually assaulting female relatives under the age of 14. Police spokesperson Liz Wylie said they are “not looking for victims” among the Amigo League teams he coached.

And while we are on the topic...

Gilroy High math teacher (Morgan Hill resident) Alberto Gomez Vicuna, Jr. heads to court in San Jose this week. According to Deputy DA Ray Mendoza Vicuna, Jr. is a very, very bad man and faces up to 10 years in prison for having sex with a 14 year old San Jose girl he met on the social networking site Tagged.com. Vicuna had over 100 female friends on the site. Mendoza is concerned there may be more victims. Pissed off parent Jeannie White said, "If they have a pedophile on school grounds, I want to know if they're not doing a good enough background check."

Gang members in Gilroy High started an oatmeal fight which escalated to a battle that included 30 police officers in riot gear and shotgun wielding CHP officers and the arrest of 7 students. While the students were entertained, Principal James Maxwell was not because he was hosting reviewers from the California School Recognition Program for a possible award. (Was it an award for the most gang members at lunch?) Maxwell sighed, "Every couple of years you get a riot like this, and a lot of kids think this is a big joke, but it's not..."

Breaking news this morning in San Jose: A body was found on the 680/McKee off-ramp early this morning. Officer Jermaine Thomas said, "This was an apparent hit-and-run, and the pedestrian was dragged after the collision.'' Yikes...

It’s going to be a race now as to who is more pissed off: the Spansion employees who got rudely ditched last week (while the bosses got raises) or the ones who learned Sunday that their employer was filing for bankruptcy. Former Chief Exec Bertrand Cambou pledged Friday to return his $403,000 severance check because “my heart is broken” seeing his old team let go without severance. Current Chief Exec John Kispert said Chapter 11 made sense because it provides the company “the most effective means to preserve our market position and to maintain customer confidence."

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.13.09: JasonJasonJason Edition...

San Jose’s Councilmembers Sam Liccardo, Rose Herrera, and Ash Kalra have banded together to propose a way of covering Police costs downtown while not causing bars and clubs to leave downtown. (Although, that might make the Police Chief a little happier if the clubs left downtown...) San Jose Downtown Association’s Deputy Director (and powerbroker) Blage Zelalich, said “We advocate a model that will keep downtown safe, but encourage a thriving and eclectic nightlife." The Police Chief didn't respond by saying, "We plan on arresting everyone downtown no matter what..."

The bad news keeps on coming for the Palo Alto Utilities Department. Earlier this week Federal officials from the Department of Transportation raided their headquarters and took out 7 boxes of stuff looking for forged documents? fraudulent hiring practices? who knows...Whatever it was in those boxes, the Feds are certainly looking for items above and beyond an internal investigation that happened last year.

San Jose Revealed asked readers to identify San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Pat Dando’s policy wins and today updates us on the results – according to Revealed it’s not a happy track record. Which mirrors what the Metro wrote weeks ago... Revealed and the Metro, friends at last...

Largely because of the taxes it brings in, every city would seemingly like to have a (bland) upscale Santana Row-like development in their community. But Mountain View won’t be getting their own Santana Row if developer Fred Thoits has anything to say about it. According to Thoits (talking about Mountain View's wishes), "If [Santana Row] is their vision we just can board up the stores and look at vacant property with no revenue and no sales tax." He sounds angry.

The Los Altos School District Board voted against placing a parcel tax on a upcoming ballot. Survey consultant (pollster) Connell Lindh warned the District would need to raise funds and that the spring and winter breaks would cause two weeks of lost campaign time. The proposed $168/parcel was deemed too risky to ask of District voters. The move means the District will be cutting programs and services and will likely be laying off employees. I guess the recession is even hitting Los Altos...

Local businesses stand to benefit from D.C.’s stimulus package with a push towards green technology and internet infrastructure. Cisco’s Director of Technology, Jeff Campbell, said "It was all about physical infrastructure in the past...” Julie Blunden with San Jose’s SunPower added the infusion of funding will help expand manufacturing and accelerate growth.

From the Fed's stimulus deal to the State's budget deal:

Silicon Valley Leadership Group (cycling) CEO Carl Guardino is delighted with the tax breaks offered to the high tech industry in the State deal and said, "This potentially is a huge win..." (If $.12/gallon tax increase is a huge win, we'd hate to see a huge loss...) But the word "potentially" in Guardino's quote may prove important. The deal isn't done yet and Jon Coupal, the anti-tax guru from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said, "I'll believe it when I see it...I would be stunned to see Republican votes sufficient to pass this thing."

Hope you weren’t in need of an emergency room Thursday. Valley Medical Center, one of Santa Clara County’s three trauma centers and the busiest in the Valley, was closed most of Thursday after an unidentified young man arrived bringing with him a noxious odor. Regional and O’Connor (and patients) apparently bore the brunt of the closure. VMC is open today.

Deputy DA Ben Fields gets to keep his job while he tries to clear his name from the charges that he made stuff up while prosecuting cases. Good thing he gets to keep his day job, since the County’s legal top dog, Ann Ravel has “…declined to support [Field's defense attorney Allen Ruby’s] request for additional funds...” Ruby, having already received $50,000, asked for an additional $250,000 in (non-existent) County funds to appeal the charges.

Santa Clara Police Officers approached a man reportedly planning on shooting a cyclist. When he ignored Officers and pointed his gun at them -- the Officers shot him. Names have been withheld for both the Officers and the other guy who is in the hospital in critical condition. SCPD wants you to call the Santa Clara Police Department Investigations Division with information, 408-615-4800.

The Morgan Hill Unified School District is in a state of “near fiscal disaster.” This year, they will avoid mid-year lay-offs. Next year lay-offs are a given. Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini is looking to her higher power for help and says, "We are just praying that the State gives us flexibility…We are trying to survive." There is a 100% chance that prayer will not be answered...

Gilroy is losing a 6 decade business and 26 jobs when Gilroy Pontiac Buick GMC closes its doors. Neighboring auto dealers all said “we’re fine” when asked if they were also getting ready to shutter the doors. What about the $13+ billion GMC received in bailout money? “…didn't trickle down to us. It stayed up there somewhere, but I don't know where it went. They forgot about the little people..." according to Joe Lopez, former Pontiac General Manager.