Archive for December, 2008

Morning News Round-Up – 12.31.08: It’s a wrap, were you there?

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

The end of the year is a good time to check out how well our elected officials are serving us, or whether they show up. For some of them showing up means getting paid, for the rest of us showing up, well, it’s why we elected them. Let’s get the ball rolling for a number of elected officials. Watch Dog wants to know, how do your elected officials stack up?

  • County Supervisors were around 92% of the time with Supervisor Ken Yeager turning in the worst attendance having missed 3 meetings

  • VTA boardmember (San Jose councilmember) Forest Williams had perfect attendance while Santa Clara councilmember Dominic Caserta had the worst record (for those not out on maternity leave) missing 4 meetings

  • Water District directors managed 95% attendance, Director Joe Judge missing 5 meetings

  • Morgan Hill council managed a 95% attendance record with 36 opportunities to meet, Councilman Mark Grzan missed 5 times

  • Gilroy city council has an overall attendance record of 95%, Dion Bracco and Cat Tucker missed two meetings each

  • Gilroy school trustees also has an overall 95% attendance record, Trustees Jaime Rosso and Javier Aguirre missed two meetings each

  • Morgan Hill school trustees managed only 88% with trustees Bart Fisher, Shelle Thomas and newly elected board president Don Moody each missing 4 of 22 meetings

San Jose PD is in the news again today, if it’s true that any press is good press then Chief Rob Davis is a happy guy. Watch Dog bets Davis isn’t buying, after all it was press letting us know SJPD officers do let friends drive drunk.

First, the ugly, Officer Julio Morales was arrested on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment after touching a woman and driving her around. The former SWAT team member is on leave and SJPD wants hear from you, call (408) 277-4102 with information.

On to the good news, San Jose gangs killed two fewer this year with gang violence dropping by 16%. Mayor Chuck Reed and his off, and on Gang Prevention Task Force buddy Councilmember Nora Campos are bound to be happy with the news. The cost for this decrease is a little over $5 million, no word as to what might be the cost of ignoring the problem. In Los Angeles, with nearly 200% more murders, cost of gang violence is $2 Billion annually.

Sunnyvale Police are in the spotlight as well. In 2007 Jose Francisco Canas was killed after officers rammed his car and shot him while his wife and children watched. Sunnyvale PD said Canas was involved in a gang murder, his family said he was on the way to work. The family filed a lawsuit earlier this year in Santa Clara courts withdrawing it when Sunnyvale complained it was vague. This week the family refilled in federal courts with Greg Fox, attorney for Sunnyvale, saying “They argue that he was not involved in gang activity — we respectfully disagree.”

The Merc Editorial Board weighs in on San Jose’s employee pension board fiasco, Watch Dog readers know it was revealed this week the pension fund suffered a $1 Billion loss this year. Mayor Chuck Reed is reportedly going to ask to replace the council representatives with financial advisors. San Diego (the only other city with councilmembers on their pension board) had it’s pension so badly bungled both the city manager and mayor resigned. And… c’mon back, more Watch Dog news to follow…

The Metro’s Fly gets their year end review posted early, and twice. Among the Watch Dog faves drunk Latino disaster, Little Saigon, Forest Williams musical, disappearing sunshine, and of course, Pete Constant at the painful end of a whip. Watch Dog note to Fly: the News does get worse – there were 82 homeless who died last year – 55 died on the street.

Watch Dog tipsters, let’s be careful out there … Watch Dog loves getting the buzz and doesn’t want to hear you got a texting ticket – as of tomorrow, no texting while driving. Thank you Senator Joe Simitian for getting those other drivers to stop the swerving. The Merc’s Bruce Newman wants to know – do you want to continue driving while under the influence of text?

Don’t look to your city for help during the holidays. The Merc reported last night that Saratoga would be closed until January 4, re-opening Monday January 5. The Saratoga website reports they actually closed December 23rd. Curious, the Dog snooped to discover extended closings include Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, San Jose, and Sunnyvale.

In a bit of year end cheer, not like the dog-beating, kitty-stomping stories reported by Watch Dog San Mateo.
Watch Dog salutes the efforts of a unknown pooch who, earlier this year, attempted to rescue a dog from freeway traffic. Watch Dog learned about the doggie hero from the Merc’s Linda Goldston who closes the year on a high note.

Posted in caserta, chief davis, Chuck Reed, forrest williams, gilroy, Morgan Hill, Nora Campos, PENSION, pete constant, simitian | No Comments »

What is the County Controller trying to hide?!

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Watch Dog got another email from the County of San Mateo Controller Huening’s office yesterday announcing the release of the ‘Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2008‘. Which (Watch Dog assumes) is different that last week’s ‘Comprehensive Annual Financial Report’…

Why should you care?

Well, last week Watch Dog pointed out that releasing important information between Christmas in New Year’s Eve is generally a tactic reserved for releasing bad news that government agencies — or County Controllers — want buried, ignored, and unnoticed. (We also noticed this story about Visa USA jetting from Foster City to San Francisco…)

So, the Controller doubled-down on this sneakiness by releasing the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report on Christmas Eve and the Popular Annual Financial Report on December 30th…

For all you Watch Dog’s out there…check out these reports and see if you can see why they were released as late as possible and buried as well as possible.

Posted in controller huening | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 12.31.08: Bon Ano…

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

A dead man was found floating in the Bay by an unsuspecting boater. The San Mateo County Sheriff ‘caught’ the case because of where the body was found. Watch Dog loves jurisdictional battles so much on Law and Order and perhaps we’ll see one here too…the investigation into continues…

Hey, another story about the Sheriff’s Office/jails in San Mateo County. (Remember these two recent stories: two kids escaped from the Log Cabin Juvenile Detention Facility and a man escaped last week from a Redwood City minimum security facility…) This one is about a cashier who was in charge of deposits of the folks the Sheriff was holding but took some personal withdrawals…

Another Mavericks story about the season starting late, diminished sponsorship, etc., etc., etc.

San Mateo Union High School District is getting with the program that college professors have been using for sometime to catch plagiarized papers. Watch out kids — it just got a lot more difficult to cheat, now you’ll actually have to read Of Mice and Men…

Posted in mavericks, san mateo union, Sheriff | No Comments »

(Craig) Mann is this an interesting story…

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Well, there is more to the East Side Union stuff reported here last week…

In that Watch Dog story, there was a very brief mention of (former Terry Gregory Chief of Staff/former East Side Union High School District Board Member/former San Jose City Council Candidate) County Board of Education Member Craig Mann. Well, that Mann-mention opened the floodgates…soon after the post, a flurry of tips came rushing into Watch Dog — so thank you. Mann seems to generate a lot of interest…

Thanks to one Watch Dog tipster we first learned that Craig Mann was elected as president of the Santa Clara County Board of Education (Anna Song was made vice-president.)

A separate tipster sent something a bit more Watch Doggie…

In Mann’s biography and in campaign information last year, he lists his job as a “teacher” in the (embattled) Ravenswood School District in East Palo Alto. But Mann doesn’t appear to be a full-fledged teacher in Ravenswood (or anywhere else for that matter)….

According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Mann has an “Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit“. (Click on the snippet at left to see a ‘screen capture’ of the Commission’s website with Mann’s credential status.)

With teacher credentialing an important issue affecting schools — Watch Dog finds it a bit ironic that Mann calls himself a “teacher” but doesn’t have a credential. In fact, the “Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit” doesn’t appear to allow him to teach in the same classroom more than 30 days in a given year…

Don’t get me wrong — I love substitute teachers — and teachers (often) love substitute teachers…but, substitute teachers calling themselves teachers usually doesn’t fly, especially when the substitute teacher calling himself a teacher is the new President of the Santa Clara County Board of Education…

And just for fun…this isn’t Mann’s first run-in with controversy…

(the image below is a cut-out from columnist Scott Herhold’s piece about local elections…click to see the entire anti-Mann mailer courtesy of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce)

Posted in county office of education, craig mann, East Side Union | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up – 12.30.08: Secret engagements, poopy fist fights and more breasts…

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Watch out Morgan Hill dog lovers, scoop your poop lest you fall prey to doggie doo battles. Max Hamlin was arrested after a doody dispute that turned to fisticuffs with a fellow dog lover – who happened to be an off-duty San Jose police officer.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold weighs in on the mommy versus Facebook fiasco. Herhold points out the silliness of the battle in which feeding babies is rated XXX. He also mentions the Merc has the same feeding-babies-are-obscene policy.

Thieves have brought Watch Dog San Mateo and Watch Dog Silicon Valley together. Two men hit Apple’s Palo Alto store for about $10k of techie toys then hit Apple in Los Gatos. Palo Alto police were careful to refer to headgear as “beanies.”

In a sad (un)neighborly tale, a woman was murdered in her home in South San Jose by a man who shot her at her front door with her children there. The next door neighbor, who couldn’t be bothered to investigate or call the police, said “It’s been a challenge living next to them these past months.” The woman’s home was frequently the site of domestic violence, her challenges are over.

Merc columnist Joe Rodriguez does a “Where Are They Now” reflection on stories for the past year. Rodriguez should have included himself, three Eastside/Westside columns in 2008?

In the wee hours Sunday morning Sophie Belknap was already on the road when she lost control of her car – by the time it came to a rest, two other cars had hit her and a young life was ended. The CHP reported Belknap, a college sophomore home on vacation, was not wearing her seatbelt.

Mike Cassidy advertises a book for former colleague, Leigh Weimers. Weimers partnered with historian John McLaughlin’s to update his book on the history of Silicon Valley, published in 1995 before the resurgence of Apple and a series of bubbles bursting. Watch Dog note: a book on the history of Silicon Valley is maybe a moving target?

SanJoseInside’s Single Gal is no longer. Single that is and apparently off to live the European lifestyle. Rumors abound as to her identity and include the former Mayor in a dress – never having seen his legs Watch Dog can only wonder.


Mr. Roadshow, Gary Richards, had his own “What were you thinking?” moment when he posed for a photoshoot ala Kiefer Sutherland in 24. Readers take the normally safety-first writer to task for posing with a gun.

In case you missed it, SanJoseRevealed wants to know who Mr. Roadshow was trying to kill. Revealed also celebrates Single Gal’s new found love.

On with the lists… The Morgan Hill Times year end list includes crime, housing, and lost jobs as its top three. Also on the list, and a lot more fun, cheerleaders.

Gilroy’s Top 10 starts with fire and ends with applause for Police Chief Denise Turner for managing, thus far, not to layoff any sworn officers, as opposed to the police staff getting the boot. Turner has her police increasing visibility on streets in an effort to stem gang warfare (and not a bad p.r. move either).

Morgan Hill City Manager Ed Tewes is recommending the layoff of 10 AFSCME union members along with 3 police offers and a reduction in hours and no raises. The Police Officers Association offered a plan that would cut costs and keep police jobs – the POA isn’t sharing until its members and the city council have seen the plan. No doubt it means letting other (un)noticiables slip, Mayor Tate maybe you’d like to decrease gang abatement or stop responding to emergency calls?

Staying in Morgan Hill… the Redevelopment Agency wants to give Third Street a facelift, approval for a mixed use design was given in July (pre-meltdown). In December the agency met in closed session to talk about purchasing property (site of Jesus Restaurant) – one teeny problem – no one thought to ask the owner.

Posted in FACEBOOK, gary richards, gilroy, joe rodriguez, mcenery, mike cassidy, Morgan Hill, palo alto police, pete constant, SCOTT HERHOLD | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 12.30.08: More buried news…

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

On Christmas Eve, Watch Dog went into great detail about folks trying to bury bad news during holiday weeks. Add this to that file. Visa USA Inc. will be moving to 595 Market Street in San Francisco from its current home in Foster City — and announced it the week of Christmas seemingly in an effort to avoid public scrutiny about the move. (Crazily) officials from Foster City aren’t that concerned…

The second (ugly) office tower on San Bruno Mountain is facing financial ‘leasing problems’ and the completion of the building is on hold. In other words, nobody is signing up to move into the building and the developers (Myers Development Company) would rather have a project incomplete than empty…

The guy who escaped from the Redwood City minimum-security prison only to turn himself in last week was officially charged with felony escape…Watch Dog can only assume that felony escape convicts end up serving time somewhere difficult to leave…

A Bond Oversight Committee for the Millbrae Elementary School District is seeking participants. A Watch Dog Group is seeking Watch Dogs…(and Watch Dog is writing about it.) Hopefully this process won’t be as fixed as the San Mateo County Supervisors selection…

Michelle Durand in the Daily Journal is back talking about hidden talents of our public officials.

Watch Dog posted about this yesterday, but the woman who was in the crashed ambulance in Palo Alto died yesterday. Remember that the driver of the ambulance says that he didn’t remember the accident at all — even though some news stories are now attributing the accident to rain and wet leaves…

Posted in ambulance crash, durand, foster city, millbrae elementary, redwood city, san bruno mountain, watch dog san mateo | No Comments »

Palo Alto ambulance crash victim…a turn for the worse…

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

The ambulance crash last week has taken another tragic turn today.

The woman that was being transported to a medical appointment at Stanford via ambulance when the vehicle crashed, died today according to this story.

Today’s story seems to suggest that the rain, wet road conditions, and leaves on the road contributed to the accident — which may be true. But remember this tidbit from a previous Watch Dog posting about the story:

“…the driver in the crash “does not recall the incident and could not provide any information as to the cause” — according to Palo Alto Police Detective Brian Phillips…”

To be continued…

Posted in ambulance crash, palo alto, stanford | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up – 12.29.08: Slow news, more drunks, boys gone bad…

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Reporters like to take vacations too… hence the year end lists — all of which could have been written in the past month and a half… Scott Herhold focuses on the sensational from murder to mayhem (Little Saigon) to surprise wins and includes stories of Bellarmine boys gone bad… Internal Affairs sticks to the political, always juicy, with month by month reminders of who’s (not) running and who’s spatting. Internal Affairs Year in Quotes…

The Merc’s Mr. Roadshow, Gary Richards, contributes to the list making with his ‘Dirty Dozen’ traffic hotspots. The Merc wants to know what traffic hotspots make you growl.

San Jose city retiree’s won’t be happy to hear that their employee pension fund suffered a loss of nearly $1 Billion this year, worse than similar funds. Councilmember (and pension overseer) Pete Constant, watching the decline, said “We’ve got a problem and we need to face it,”. Constant also said he would happily relinquish his seat on the board to anyone brighter than himself. (Watch Dog fans will be amused to hear this was so easy WD let it go) Retirement Director Russell Crosby said the oversight structure of the funds, with so many non-experts has probably contributed to the bad performance. pssst, there’s more Watch Dog news to come…

Kids in court might be getting a little help in the coming year. The Mercury News special investigation “Broken families, broken courts” led state officials to push for changes including a new courthouse (the abandoned garment factory is out). The legal beagles working for families have a new name but the same old folks. And, kid’s will no longer be represented by District Attorney Dolores Carr’s office.

The Morgan Hill Times reports that 528 people were arrested for DUI since December 12th. Morgan Hill police arrested 17 and Gilroy police arrested 12 of the (suspected) drunk drivers, no word if the remaining 499 were drunk Latinos in San Jose. Maybe that data will be released when the
Drunk Task Force wraps in April.

It seems our friend Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, you know, the Fry’s executive that embezzled/gambled away Fry’s money? It seems the Vegas DA’s knew him too…why? Because Siddiqui was kiting checks all over Las Vegas, for years and millions… The Merc appears to love Siddiqui as well – they ran 6 stories about his brazen multi-year, baccarat driven fraud and deception stealing millions over the past 3 days.

Sally Lieber (can’t spell Lieber without the ‘lie’) is in a bit of hot water for having a fundraiser on City of Mt. View property, a no-no for public officials. She didn’t respond by saying, “But I used to be a State Assemblymember…I can do whatever I want…”

Apparently breastfeeding mommies are a no-no on Facebook. No word if co-founders, Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, or Peter Thiel (or their moms/wives/girlfriends) have noticed the uproar. The mommies are fighting back with a Facebook group whose membership spiked to over 75,000 in days. Facebook billionaires shouldn’t worry, no doubt San Jose’s Pete Constant and Larry Pegram will slap a filter on the mommies.

San Jose State University artist Robert Graham passed away Saturday in Santa Monica with his wife Anjelica Houston at his side. Locally, Graham may be best known for the sculpture of the Aztec Feathered-Serpent Quetzalcoatl. Watch Dog note: Graham’s Quetzalcoatl is the result of art by committee and conservative Christians.

Posted in DOLORES CARR, DRUNK, FACEBOOK, INTERNAL AFFAIRS, larry pegram, LIEBER, little saigon, Morgan Hill, MR. ROADSHOW, PENSION, pete constant, QUETZALCOATL, SCOTT HERHOLD, SIDDIQUI | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 12.29.08: A Crab-less Drunk Driving Season…

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Rest easy…the escaped inmate from last week has turned himself in…hopefully they won’t put him back in the minimum-security facility in Redwood City this time…

Belmont is about to get some help tracking down tax scofflaws — by using Notre Dame de Namur University students. Next up, Carlmont High students driving SamTrans buses…

What holiday week would be complete with idiots all over the road…Prior to Chistmas, not a newspaper or television station went without giving an update about how the police would be “out in force” cracking down on drunk drivers…but…

A drunk driver hit a San Mateo fire truck on Chistmas Day. At least they were close to help the man live…he brought the mountain to Muhammed, so to speak…and…

Three very lucky (and stupid) teenagers drove off the road on Highway 1 in Pacifica near Devil’s Slide on Sunday and rolled 135 feet down a cliff. According to the story, it was a few rocks that held them up from falling into the ocean. They all lived…hence the luck…the driver appeared to be drunk/stoned…hence the stupid.

In other cheery holiday news, a home robbery near Half Moon Bay netted the thief guns (and Christmas presents…)

Our psychic friend in San Mateo lost her business, according to her landlord at the Laurelwood Shopping Center…to use the same joke again (and again) — she should have seen this eviction coming…

Dungeness Crab season is usually such a happy time for the crab-loving Watch Dog…but this season is a big bummer for fishermen.

One of the big issues in Foster City is the 15-acre Mirabella project — at least that’s what all the folks in Foster City say. In a Environmental Impact report that will make NIMBYs smile, that development will add noise and traffic to the area. Duh.

Speaking of NIMBYs…the third-rail of County development is coming back again. The idea of developing a part of the unincorporated hillsides in San Mateo are back — after two decades or so. Perhaps Unelected Supervisor Carol Groom will be a powerful voice for her former (and current) constituents on this?

Posted in belmont, devils slide, drunk drivers, foster city, half moon bay, redwood city | No Comments »

(More) Morning News Update — 12.26.08: For those that did not get enough…

Friday, December 26th, 2008

Los Altos police showed up at Kevin Marcyes San Jose home with a search warrant thinking they’d find food stolen from Trader Joe’s. Imagine their surprise in finding 10 sticks of 20 year old dynamite. Detective John Korges said about the aging dynamite, “When it’s older the stability of the material becomes extremely at risk. Our suspect could have blown himself up.” Yikes…

When Los Altos Hills residents Pat and Bob Kirkpatrick moved into their hillside home 35 years ago, they didn’t anticipate their view being disrupted by a mansion just down the hillside. Planning Commissioner Ray Collins was the lone opposition vote when plans were presented for the 11,000 sq ft home. Collins said that the home being built by the Shashi Corporation of Cupertino conforms to the City’s building codes and an attempt to move the building would have pushed it closer to another neighbor and prevented either the pool, stable, or tennis court from being built. Let the NIMBY fights continue…

More than 200 Los Altos residents protested sewer fees that now are as high as $1,500 for the year. Engineering Services Manager Jim Gustafson says the high fees are helping to identify water leaks that can be repaired, but for an unlucky few the problem is bigger. Some homes in Los Altos are still using septic systems, oops.

Sunnyvale resident Tom Gage has watched the slow transition to electric vehicles from his job as the CEO of AC Propulsion – a company that makes batteries and powertrains for electric vehicles. BMW has just signed on to convert 450 Mini Coopers to electric – the Mini E. Watch Dog is hopeful about the electric car but since the Mini E is to be leased, not sold, and only in New York or Los Angeles, the Dog wonders if the Mini E will suffer the same fate as the Toyota RAV4EV.

The ubiquitous day laborer is hard hit by the economic crisis. Francisco Castillo showed up at the St. Joseph the Worker Center and is waiting with a hundred other workers to get to the top of the list for the few jobs that are available. Maria Marroquin, President of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Director of the Mountain View Day Worker Center said the crisis is national in scope, she’s worried and “I believe in praying.”

The Merc’s Patty Fisher reflects on the aftermath of the Christmas overload in this year of economic disaster.

Hope, a red-tailed hawk shot while flying. The bird is making a comeback at the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center in Morgan Hill. Sue Howell, executive director of the center, reminds Watch Dog that the bird of prey keeps the rodent population down – oh, and that it’s against federal law to shoot them.

Cupertino awarded $190,000 to Pacific Water Art to get the Civic Center Plaza fountains back into working order. The fountains were shut down due to concerns about parasites commonly found in public fountains and needs to be killed with ultraviolet light. (Watch Dog hopes the embarassing spelling error in the story gets fixed before anyone gets red-faced…)

More than 6 large fire engines descended upon a Los Gatos hillside home near the La Rinconada Country Club when the attic caught fire. A firefighter was injured in the Christmas night fire that was quickly brought under control. Los Gatos Observer Editor Alastair Dallas has a series of terrific photos to accompany the story.

Posted in dynamite, los altos hills, Morgan Hill, nimby, the town | No Comments »

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