Morning News Round-Up -- 2.11.10: Reed, Constant, Kalra, Chirco, and Pyle agree on something...

Earlier this week, Protect San Jose posted a letter Mayor Reed wrote to Assemblymembers Paul Fong and Joe Coto essentially telling them to back off their request for a State audit of the San Jose Police Department... yesterday, Mayor Reed (and the POA?) convinced some of his colleagues to make the trek to Sacramento to do the same thing. Pete Constant, Ash Kalra, Judy Chirco, and Nancy Pyle all met with Fong and Coto and asked them to hold off on their State audit. (Watch Dog is impressed that Constant, Kalra, Chirco, and Pyle all agree on anything... We would bet they didn't carpool up there.) All of this prompted the local ACLU chief Skyler Porras to respond with this witty alliteration, calling Mayor Reed's actions: "...petulant political posturing..."

We don't know the saddest part of this story and delays, or lack thereof, at SJC... so we'll just lay out the sad parts.

• Sad Point 1: There is a massive storm blanketing much of the Midwest and a separate, week-long storm from the Mid-Atlantic northward... and those storms have virtually no impact on San Jose Airport travel.
• Sad Point 2: There is only one, daily, non-stop flight to the East Coast.
• Sad Point 3: This quote from the airport guy, "Most of our flights from San Jose are in the western United States."

For those of you out there who can stay awake long enough to sit through all the States of the (Fill in the Blank) that happen this time of year probably already heard everything that Supervisor Ken Yeager said in his speech a while back... the Merc Editorial pages were nice enough to run an excerpt today...

Santa Clara Unified hasn't been in the paper lately -- mostly because the Broom Closet Modeling Agency flap has died down... and the news about the Principal who once dated a recent graduate at a previous job has died down... but the story about the teacher who had sex with a student is back on the front burner. That's because the former Wilcox High School teacher pleaded guilty yesterday and has already begun to serve his sentence of 2 years and 8 months...

High Speed Rail NIMBYs might have to take a chill pill after Jeff Barker of the High Speed Rail Authority announced that there was a typo in a report they issued about ridership numbers. NIMBYs were hanging on to that typo as proof that the High Speed Rail Authority was full of shit...

Mission City Lantern explains his thoughts a little bit better today about why he thinks Watch Dog was wrong on who wrote the new ballot language for the 49er's measure... thank you James. We heart you too... all the way from Hawaii...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.29.10: Coto vs Reed?

For a Friday, there is some pretty big news...

Good morning San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis (and the SJPOA)... Assemblymembers Joe Coto and Paul Fong have something to tell you... they are asking the Joint Legislative Audit Committee launch an investigation into the SJPD to see if officers are trained properly and look into citizen complaints about use of force properly. But the intrigue doesn't end there... Mayor Reed criticized Coto and Fong, saying: "I see Joe Coto and Paul Fong all the time, and I'm surprised they haven't asked me about this." Stay tuned... Remember when there was talk of Coto running against Mayor Reed this June? Hmmmm...

The Merc's sport columnist Mark Purdy gives us an update about what the heck is happening with MLB in San Jose. The bottomline? MLB (and Bud Selig) are dragging their feet and San Jose needs to get on with it...

The City of San Jose, sensing a public sentiment shift under their own feet, is considering a new tax or fee to pay for tree maintenance... Which will make folks in the City who are uber-protective of their salary, benefits, and pensions pretty happy. You see, if there is a tax (or fee) for trees, then that money doesn't have to come from the general fund -- which means everyone's salary, benefits, and pensions are safe... for now.

You probably remember Broom Closet Modelling at Wilcox High in Santa Clara... the janitor who was running at teen modelling agency. But before there was the broom closet, there was a teacher arrested at Wilcox High School on the first day of school for allegedly having sex with a student... and that may have been a pattern that perhaps the principal knew about. Well, we have some more information today, thanks to the Merc: the Principal at the school will not face criminal "failure to report" charges... Not that it means anything, but... the principal's attorney is Steve Manchester, who seemingly endorsed the District Attorney when she ran the first time...

While we are talking about the DA's office, there is an Op Ed in the Merc by former Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell who calls for a mutany in the DA's office. She urges prosecutors to ignore their boss's decree to boycott one judge... and she calls out Jeff Rosen on the issue too...

High-Speed Rail could be moving faster than planned (pun intended) with a new influx of Federal cash... $2.25 billion, with a "b"... NIMBYs with an "n" better get their act together...

The backyard hockey rink in Palo Alto at the home of Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy needs to go through Palo Alto's planning process if he wants to keep it... What is weirder: Having a backyard hockey rink or Palo Alto's planning process?

Morning News Round-Up – 12.24.09: More news from the broom closet...

Mistrust and low morale mark the relationship between the city of Palo Alto and its largest union. Accusations from the largest union include use of funds to fix the city’s $4.8 million budget screw-up. Not a big deal, except union leader Lynn King wonders where those funds were during negotiations. City Administrative Services Director Lalo Perez says it’s all untrue.

Thanks to a Watch Dog spy we go back to the troubles at Wilcox High. Seems principal Tab Taber is accused of his own Lolita who referred to her 3 ½ years with Taber as “very good.” Any more skeletons bouncing out of this (broom) closet?

Understatement of the year, “this hasn’t been a good year for us,” said Tasha Bartholomew following the latest train vs. pedestrian death. This year 17 people have died along the Caltrain tracks.

Palo Alto assistant City Attorney Don Larkin says the affordable housing regulations are not “invalid and we have no plans to end or significantly revamp” the rules following a second developer lawsuit.

San Jose High football’s Matt Blea was sprung from the hospital following visits from Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and three Raiderettes. Blea’s doctor, Lisa Lombard, joked Blea’s “eyes popped out of his head” adding “that’s not usually one of the techniques we use.”

San Jose Inside/Metro report Sarah Palin might be coming to town for a sit down with the Chamber of Commerce. San Jose Insider Pete Campbell seems confused why Caribou Barbie’s (possible) visit stirs emotions.

Before Watch Dog heads out for the long holiday weekend, advice from the locals.

• Stay out of the drunk tank.
• Get your Yule Log on screen. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is sending sniffers to your neighborhood in search of illegal wood fires.

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.15.09: Big night for the San(ta Clara) Francisco 49ers...

The San(ta Clara) Francisco 49ers kicked some serious Cardinals' ass last night. Seven Cardinals' turnovers helped San(ta Clara) Francisco's cause as well... We're not here, to start no trouble, we're just here to do the Santa Clara shuffle... (Mission City Lantern doesn't miss a beat...)

Speaking of new stadiums... the Chronicle's man in Oakland, Chip Johnson, does his best to boost Oakland Mayor Ron Dellum's plans to keep the A's in Oakland -- and not with out some needling of San Jose. Like this: "...the chances that Wolff and San Jose city officials will prevail in their attempts to move the team are slim..." Really? I suppose Chip Johnson and Ron Dellums are closer to Major League Baseball owners than Lew Wolff (a Major League Baseball owner). Johnson's piece also states the obvious -- that is may be too little too late -- when he writes: "...It's a complete turnabout for Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums who in early 2007, shortly after taking office, dismissed any notions that the team would remain..." So perhaps Lew Wolff's non-embrace of Oakland is because it comes three years too late...

The Merc Editorial Board gives an atta-boy to Mayor Chuck Reed for punting San Jose's Redevelopment budget talks to February until things can be ironed out on several fronts: the State's money grab, perhaps the Teamsters' thingy, and some other stuff too.

Scott Herhold provides some perspective on the death of teenager Sarah Botill in Gilroy from a night of drinking. Herhold concludes that this is no ordinary story because, "...She was the daughter of a firefighter. She died after drinking at the home of an ex-councilman. And she had a few swallows of beer that night at the home of a cop..." More details about the case from the news side of the house at the Merc and the Dispatch as well...

The Merc's Mr. Roadshow describes some details about the proposed BART-to-Silicon Valley line and how some traffic delays can already be tied to BART's eventual construction...

Speaking of trains... more and less. Apparently High-Speed Rail tickets might be a little bit more expensive than originally planned (and sold to voters) and the ridership numbers may be a little less. Oops... Watch Dog would still pay a pretty steep price to not have to fly into LAX ever again. It might be a good place to get a haircut, but it is a bad place to fly in to. It is safe to assume that the higher fees and lower ridership are not what 200 folks in Mountain View were most concerned about when they attended a High-Speed Rail meeting...

This week the Merc called Steve Poizner's Gubernatorial campaign "anemic" and then late yesterday a story posted that went further into detail about what the rumor-mill in Sacramento is churning out. Poizner may not spend the $15 million he is putting in for some time and all the money that is being put into the race by Whitman and Poizner may mean that San Jose's Tom Campbell is backing out of the race, to which Campbell's press secretary says: "People can talk and conjecture all they want, but there's no change..." Of course, Campbell's press secretary did confirm that supporters are encouraging Campbell to run for Senate instead... because nothing could go wrong with a Campbell Senate bid... (36.6%)

More bad news for the Santa Clara Unified School District and Wilcox High School. Just as the Broom Closet Modeling Agency flap has died down, the Santa Clara Police are forwarding to the District Attorney their findings of their investigation into whether the Wilcox High Principal knew a teacher was known for having sex with students before he was arrested for (you guessed it) having sex with a student... now the District Attorney Dolores Carr needs to review the findings and decide if she wants to take on a high-profile rape case... where have we seen this before? We can only hope two things in this case: 1. that Jim McManis isn't the defense attorney for the Principal, and 2. that the DA's husband isn't working for the victim's (victims'?) families in some way...

To light or not to light... that is the question (at the Ann Sobrato high School football field in Morgan Hill). One complication -- the football field is actually in San Jose ... and within the City's greenbelt. San Jose Councilmember Ash Kalra, who represents the part of San Jose that would be impacted had this to say: "I'd certainly be open to discussing it. I don't want to close any doors to the interest the community may have to try to find a way to make it happen. But under the current zoning, it just won't work." Oh well... perhaps there is a high school in Dillon that will share their Friday Night Lights...

They are going to pave "paradise" (Palo Alto Bowl) and put up a "parking lot" (for a new hotel and townhomes)...

San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant joins Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio this week on San Jose Inside talking about the City budget. San Jose's new blogging duet...

Morning News Round-Up -- 11.19.09: Enhanced Edition...

A few updates on some previously covered stories start off this sunny Thursday:

The Police Video: The Mercury News hired a forensic audio/visual person to enhance the video of the Police beating/Tasing of San Jose State's Phuong Ho. Because we don't like being accused of being a shill for Sean Webby, we encourage every single person to click through to the video, watch it, and then remember that there are (apparently) two sides to every story... This (and a review board looking at police force in San Jose) prompted another Editorial in the Mercury News calling a review of SJPD's use of force a good first step. (Enter your Palin-esque anti-media comments below... you know who you are.)

Wilcox High's "Broom Closet Modeling Agency" CEO: We know you remember the story of the janitor at Wilcox High School getting fired because he was running a modeling agency made up of Wilcox High School girls. Well, the School District apparently puts a lot of stock in Facebook fan pages because they rehired the guy to work on the grounds crew. Don't worry though, he won't be at Wilcox High -- unless of course the grass needs to be cut. The absolute best quote in this story is this, from Joe Miller the Broom Closet Modeling Agency: "I'm looking forward to my new job within the school district and practicing and producing the art of vintage through my Rockabilly Model agency outside the district..." Well, at least he learned his lesson...

South Bay 49ers: The 49er's stadium plan went to the Santa Clara Planning Commission yesterday and the meeting went late into the night... we know one thing for sure, the stadium plans are bike-friendly...

Total buzz kill... Mayor Reed wants to remind everyone that pot clubs are illegal in the City. Really? Mayor Reed would be so much more fun if he visited one of these clubs once and a while... How is Mayor Reed's position consistent with San Jose's "Green Vision"?

Downtown Palo Alto -- you know, the place with all the high-tech men in blue button-downs and khakis and all the students in flip-flops... well, it has been tough going for the area -- but a recovery may be on the horizon...

One of the several Silicon Valley, high-tech egos running for Statewide office next year was in DC chatting up the DC press corps. According to the Merc's story, Fiorina "...suggested that the science surrounding global warming is less than conclusive..." That is pretty much all you need to know about the pandering nature her campaign to come. Expect a supportive visit from Sarah Palin and James Inhofe soon...

Just to check in with how things were going, we took a gander over to our blogosphere neighbors at PoliticonValley... but the last posting was put up there on November 2nd... keep up the good work.

Morning News Round-Up -- 11.2.09: Change of Culture Edition...

Well, Sunday's paper had some more bad news for the embattled San Jose Police Department. Let's review: first it was drunk arrests, then it was attitude arrests, then it was a shooting of a mentally-ill man and the corresponding non-release of the 911 tapes, then it was the beating/ Tasing of the San Jose State student. All of this has kept the Merc's Sean Webby extremely busy. Sunday's expose on the San Jose Police Department was thorough -- and while we await Protest San Jose's response, you should read the story. In a nutshell, the San Jose Police Department uses force a lot in resisting-arrest cases, which comes as no surprise to some, but may surprise a few folks on the City Council...

The Sunday Merc also had some pretty shocking examples of use of force during fairly innocuous stuff... followed by today's paper with another story about a female San Jose State student who was roughed up during the evening of the 2006 Mardi Gras. (It isn't all bad news for San Jose PD however, a rookie Officer saved a toddler from choking on candy this weekend.)

And, of course, the corresponding Merc Editorial calling for a "culture change" for San Jose Police.

Ironically, it is the second call for a change in culture in the Merc Editorial pages this week. The first was for Wilcox High School after Teacher/Sex Gate and the Broom Closet Modeling Agency was uncovered...

And if that all wasn't enough news about the need for a change of culture, another one bites the dust in the East Side Union High School District. Superintendent Bob Nunez was finally sacked after 12 hours of hearings and lots and lots of expensive Starbucks coffees... (read that story, that is a pun...) Perhaps this is an an elaborate effort to get the seat warm again for Joe Coto when his stint in Sacramento is over...

You may have heard that these are tough economic times... well, VTA is feeling the tough economic times as hard, or harder, than anyone else. They have an operating deficit of $98 million over the next 2 years. That should be fun to deal with...

And if it is Monday, that means we read Internal Affairs this weekend. IA goes in depth about the Forbe's Magazine safe cities rankings... ironic, given what else was the in paper on Sunday (see top story above)... the Santa Clara Valley Water District passed The Dick Santos Project in Alviso, much to the delight of the opposition researchers in the Supervisor's race next year... and Deputy District Attorney is officially looking to remove the word Deputy from his name and is taking on embattled DA Dolores Carr.

Gilroy Unified has a new high school and by the accounts in the story in the Dispatch, it is one cool high school.

And could it be that the same golf course that gave headaches (both golf and political) to former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales could host a PGA Tour event? The Morgan Hill Times asks and answers the questions...

Morning News Round-Up -- 10.30.09: Respecting Girls Edition...

According to (former) prosecutor/ ABC 7 legal analyst Dean Johnson, the Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr crossed an ethical line by (seemingly) cutting a plea deal for a campaign contributor's client. Deputy District Attorney/ DA wannabe Jeff Rosen offered his opinion the DA cast doubt the equity of treatment from the Carr. Rosen is no doubt delighted his boss is tripping over her own pointy-toed shoes.

The Merc’s Patty Fisher takes on the tragic gang rape in Richmond, attempting to use it as a teaching moment. Fisher points back to the DeAnza gang rape and asks why, in both cases, it was young women who bravely stepped forward to stop their male friends from torturing young women and call the cops. Fisher suggests a societal problem – we do not respect girls. (Note to Dolores Carr, please read Patty Fisher today...)

Speaking of respecting girls... (or perhaps 'respecting' them a little too much for a school employee)...

Wilcox High students pissed over the turmoil janitor Joe Miller finds himself in launched the Silicon Valley solution – a Facebook page filled with comments from adoring fans. Following a five month investigation into Miller's use of students for his modeling agency and complaints about “provocative” photos, it seems the School Board is ready to unload the questionable broom-closet modeling agency. (To all of you who are about comment on this blog about this case -- bring it on. Just because someone is a great guy and is "Mr. Wilcox" does not make what he did right. Stick to your guns School Board.)

The Mountain View Los Altos High School District is hoping to go green – and have the voters say yes. If your phone rings it could be the pollsters deciding whether to move forward with greening the classes.

A Cupertino family is struggling with the loss of their 5 year old son after one of his teachers from the Elite Chinese School accidentally drove over him.

San Jose’s Pamela Root and 2 year old Adam were surprised to find the fun loving skies of Southwest Airlines wouldn’t include them. Seems Adam was doing his terrible 2’s best when flight attendants decided they’d had enough – the plane returned to the gate in Texas and left the Root’s stranded on the tarmac. The flight attendant told Root “we just can’t tolerate that for 2 hours.” Ironic, since that's what most folks say about flying Southwest, "we just can't tolerate that for 2 hours..."

Morning News Round-Up -- 10..28.09: Homeroom Modeling Agency...

San Jose’s City Hall was the scene of another protest by Vietnamese-Americans, civil liberties, and civil rights groups calling for an open grand jury and release of 911 tapes following the beating and arrest of SJSU math student Phuong Ho. Joining the growing chorus was City Councilmember Sam Liccardo and Vietnamese-American elected officials from across the state. The Merc’s Editorial Board says Police Chief Rob Davis is wrong if he thinks people in minority communities would report problems with the Police and that the incident with Phuong Ho highlights the need for Sunshine. Obviously, the Editorial Board doesn't realize that Chief Davis is never wrong... well, maybe not never. Remember when he got the drunk arrest statistics wrong?

Ooops, someone at the City of San Jose's Planning Department is blushing after a screw-up was found in the Environmental Impact Report regarding traffic related to the proposed new MLB stadium in San Jose. It turns out traffic won’t be as bad as predicted... or maybe it will be worse?

And we move to Santa Clara for two other big stories of the day...

Santa Clara’s City Council said of course the 49ers could pick their builder without using a competitive bid process. Councilmember Kevin Moore said it’s about “doing something for Santa Clara.” A relieved 49ers spokesperson Lisa Lang called the vote a “significant step” in moving the coin toss to Santa Clara.

Wilcox High is back in the news… In August, we learned that a teacher was arrested for (allegedly) sleeping with female students. Last week, we learned that the same teacher may have been sending creepy emails to female students for years with the (alleged) knowledge of the school's Principal. Today we learn that a janitor in the same school, Joe Miller, is being bounced for taking “sexually suggestive photos” of students for his modeling agency -- Rockabilly Models. Maybe a better name would have been "Homeroom Modeling"... If you are interested in seeing the fine, artistic, and creepy work of Mr. Miller, check out this video... then ask yourself, should a guy working in a school be hiring teenage models?:




(Related Note: If you are a Santa Clara Councilmember and you are a "friend" of Rockabilly Models on Facebook, perhaps you should log-in this morning and remove yourself...)

Continuing to scrounge for pennies lost in the sofa cushions, San Jose is going after pet owners who didn’t license Fluffy or Spot. The Merc notes that San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant missed the critter talk, along with City Manager Debra Figone’s grim proposal to cut employee costs and spending $2 million to purchase a (soon to be former) drug rehabilitation center.

Los Altos Hills’ Jim and Becky Morgan have set their sites on saving 100,000 acres near Lake Tahoe. Former County Supervisor/ State Senator Becky Morgan says the goal is to “get ahead of the building wave.”

New poppa Sal Pizarro uses his Merc space to share the words of wisdom given to him from Silicon Valley Dads. Pizarro and wife Amy are taking a few weeks off to get to know Mia Elizabeth Pizarro… Congratulations, Sal and Amy! We guess Silicon Valley will shut down during Sal's leave...