Archive for May, 2009

Morning News Round-Up – 5.29.09: Vegas, Fries, Sewage… Happy Friday

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Mayor Mike Wasserman is not a happy camper saying it “fries” him to learn the Governator may take almost $1 million as punishment for failure of the May 19 election.

The Great Recession is the pain that keeps on aching. San Jose’s city council was visited by janitors who got ditched by Cisco. Janitorial rep Guadalupe Antolin hopes the city council will throw its weight around at Cisco and get them back to work. Watch Dog is (pretty) sure Antolin didn’t mean …

Sunnyvale School Superintendent Ben Picard is joining the ranks of Silicon Valley school districts heading to the ballot box. Paraphrasing a little Vegas ditty, Picard says what’s raised here, stays here. First step, a poll…

Sunnyvale residents, nice job cutting back on water, as appreciation, and in the spirit of the booming economy – your rates are going up!

Silicon Valley is ready to launch the next big tourist attraction… the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant hopes the $1 billion overhaul will turn it into the next California Academy of Sciences.

It’s the feel-good cop story San Jose police have been waiting for. Police officers Luan Nguyen and Manny Vasquez were winging their way home from a much needed vacation in Vietnam when mile high circumstances required their expert police skills.

The Merc’s Barbara Marshman kept the conversation going at a Silicon Valley Leadership Group panel with local green experts. Read all the gory details.

The Merc’s Editorial Board joins Sierra Club’s Melissa Hippard to call on Silicon Valley homeowners to ditch the offer of a $130 refund. Let the Santa Clara Open Space Authority keep the ill-gotten gain, unless you’re among the pink slip proud or hate the great outdoors.

The Merc’s Joe Rodriguez sat with a very lucky man to learn how failed assassinations brought Mexico’s rising political star, David Figueroa, to San Jose. Now safe with his family, Now the Mexican Consul General, Figueroa sees the crease of a bullet each time he looks in the mirror.

It’s the Silicon Valley Dream… Judy Dugan and Julia Murphy began a hike as friends and ended it as entrepreneurs for Jumping Cracker Beans greeting cards. Within a year they were shipping underwear elastic, making lemonade and winning the Louie…

Mr. Roadshow, aka Gary Richards, asks the knuckleheads from Stanford not to use Highway 280 as a vehicle for protest…

A Morgan Hill police officer’s Glock was stolen from his home. There’s a $1,000 in it for you to help get the gun back. Call Morgan Hill police at 408.779.2101 or the anonymous tip line at 408-947-STOP (7867).

The Metro dishes on kids and porn. From “sexting” to surfing, kids seem to have a grip on new technology. An anonymous “Jane” reports mobile computing is the preferred source for education and maybe a little test cheating. Watch Dog can hear the howls from the BFF’s…

Los Gatans are asked to chime in on land use next week, if you dig figuring out what to do now that Los Gatos car dealerships are out, this is for you…

Posted in bff, metro, open space, pete constant, sunnyvale, wasserman | No Comments »

Round-Up delayed is Round-Up denied… (temporarily)

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Watch Dog will be delayed this morning due to technical (Internet connection) challenges. Watch Dog is allergic to dial-up, so we will either post when the T1 gets back up and running or when we get here.

View Larger Map

Posted in kinkos, watchdog san mateo | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up – 5.28.09: Please, Sir, may I have some more…

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

The aftermath of the May 19 special election is starting to hit home. Will Lightbourne, Santa Clara county social services director, said the Guvernator’s proposed cuts were Dickensian and would remove a safety net for children that “every first-world nation has.” San Jose Assemblymember Jim Beall said the CalWORKS demise would result in “a lot of little kids begging on the streets.”

Foothill-De Anza will cut 65 positions, 34 people and 31 empty gigs are gone. D.C. bound Chancellor Martha Kanter said the aftermath of the May 19 election is “devastating news for all of education.”

San Jose is moving forward on freezing salaries for the Operating Engineers after failed contract negotiations. Union representative Bill Pope said medical co-pay and how long the freeze would last were stumbling blocks, and the city was too rigid.

Speaking of frozen salaries…

San Jose Revealed dug through City Hall archives to bring new quotable moments, and another nickname, for Councilmember Pete Constant. Revealed is all over the councilmember’s new found determination to “lead by example.” Watch Dog is flattered Revealed is a loyal reader…

The screw-up could cost the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority $57 million, but they’re hoping you won’t ask for your $130. Sierra Club director, Melissa Hippard, calls turning down the dough “a no brainer.” Really?

Teen blogger/artist Katy Hughes and her Mother Elizabeth won’t be getting any money from the Open Space, they are looking for permanent housing, again. The story is a familiar one to Jennifer Van Every of EHC LifeBuilders, “it’s reflective of the economic crisis.”

Seven and a half years after San Jose police officer Jeffrey Fontana was killed in Almaden Valley, DeShawn Campbell was convicted of his murder. Judge Diane Northway called the jurors “shining stars,” while Police Chief Rob Davis and District Attorney Dolores Carr sent props to prosecutor Lane Liroff.

Swim coach Andrew King was on his way to court for charges related to “inappropriate relations with a child” when he was busted by the San Leandro police for the same thing. King had swim meets as far as Canada so expect more fallout.

There’s another perv on the loose in Gilroy. Police are looking for a man in a white SUV who circled around sisters 5 times before taking off.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold has a couple of choice words for San Jose police after withholding the 911 tapes. Pompous and manure. San Jose Insider/De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev reflects on teaching moments lost in time…

Mountain View residents can expect a call from pollsters for the school district. Mountain View Whisman trustee Ellen Wheeler calls the poll necessary saying even she doesn’t know where she stands on the proposed bond. Gene Bergman & Assoc and political consultants Tramutola are happy as well…

The Los Altos Planning Commission is recommending the city council approve expansion of the Pilgrim Haven retirement community following a stream of Los Altans worried about traffic and time. Commissioner John Baer encouraged opponents to take “another shot” saying “council likes to hear from all the residents,” as he laughed.

Los Gatos town manager Greg Larson is celebrating the efforts of employees who used pedal power to get to work earlier this month. Town attorney Orry Korb rode his bike from Santa Cruz. Also using pedal power Mayor Mike Wasserman, police Capt. Alana Forrest, town finance director Steve Conway . Watch Dog hopes Larson provided them showers before the cocktails…

Some of you wish you’d been on your bike last weekend… Santa Clara County police officers busted 115 drivers for drinking, or drugging, and driving.

Caltrain riders worried about fare increases and decreasing service affecting riders from Gilroy to San Francisco were joined by Chamber of Commerce officials. There’s always the bike, just ask Orry.

If you tweet much you were probably already at Mountain View’s Computer History Museum when Twitter’s Anamitra Banerji denied the making of a Twitter TV show.

Posted in beall, de-bug, DOLORES CARR, kanter, lane liroff, mountain view, open space, pete constant, Revealed, rob davis, Twitter, wasserman | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.28.09: A new Coastside hero?

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

The Coastside Family Medical Center, which closed earlier in the year and subsequently filed for bankruptcy, may reopen under a new plan by put forth by former Sheriff, current Sequioa Healthcare District Board member, and soon-to-be Coastside hero Don Horsley. We’ll see what happens, but this is the first good news the former patients of Coastside Family Medical Center in a long, long time.

Bad budget news follows… if you don’t want to read it, skip ahead…

The Bearded One/Assemblymember Jerry Hill speaks (writes) in his own words today in the Daily Journal. The OpEd blends the College of San Mateo graduation with Japanese American’s internment.

The Almanac asks an important question about shifting funds from Atherton’s flush Library Fund to the not-so-flush City Hall Fund. Like everything else in Atherton, expect a fight. Especially because Councilmember Charles Marsala is leading the charge. The anti-Marsala wing of the Atherton Town Council will put up a fight just because… (at least that’s Watch Dog’s experience since we’ve been writing…)

Posted in atherton, Caltrain, charles marsala, city of san carlos, coastside family, horsley, jerry hill, san mateo county | No Comments »

Monring News Round-Up — 5.27.09: Post Supreme (Courts) Edition…

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

The day after Supreme (Courts) Tuesday (Prop 8 upheld/Sotomayor)… Watch Dog stays local…

Following the firefighters lead, Palo Alto Police Officers have given themselves a pay freeze, saving Palo Alto $800,000. Vice Mayor Jack Morton, last month calling police and firefighters “extremely wealthy and overpaid,” tried to make amends by saying he’d never doubted the police would “step up.”

Which goes hand-in-hand with this story…

San Jose Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant asked their colleagues to take a pay cut and ditch the $600/month (?) car allowance as the Council asks everyone else to take a hit too. Councilmember Nora Campos wants to see double-dipper (disability/salary) Pete Constant take a bigger cut saying “anything less would be hypocritical.” Ouch. To check San Jose City employee salaries, check this out.

The Envision San Jose 2040 Task Force sent a hands off message to developers eagerly anticipating development in Coyote Valley. Task Force Co-Chair/Councilmember Sam Liccardo said the next Task Force could revisit the need for build out, but for now, there was “no surge of need.”

Two “plucky” San Jose teens have been awarded Horatio Alger California State Scholarships. A big Watch Dog bark-out to Vicky D. Nguyen of Lincoln High and Abel Lujan of Independence High, both in San Jose for making the grade. Perhaps they can put their brains toward solving the State’s budget mess?

Deputy District Attorney James Leonard was on fire during closing arguments in the trial of Todd Burpee for the vicious attack on a young Jane Doe. Leonard used fetishist images from Burpee’s computer along with DNA and other circumstantial evidence to lay the foundation for conviction – he hopes.

The Merc’s business writer, Chris O’Brien, takes the Craigslist killer tragedy and turns it into a discussion about the world’s oldest profession. This should make San Jose Revealed happy… or not.

Speaking of the world’s oldest profession…

Morgan Hill’s City Council is poised for a temporary moratorium on massage parlors while they figure out the impact of a new State law. Police Chief Bruce Cumming reports two local parlors are alleged to provide sex acts. The City also shut one down last year.

Someone screwed up at a Gilroy Girl Scouts’ e-waste collection this past weekend. Perhaps they were high… you see, when the dropped off a microwave they forgot to take their pot out. It is not true that the Gilroy Girl Scouts will be selling pot brownies next cookie season…

Mountain View’s City Council was pissed to learn they were being asked to cough up more dollars than any other Silicon Valley city for the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County. In the end, Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga abstained, Councilmembers Jac Siegel and Laura Macias voted no, and the Trust walked out with half the expected dollars.

Guerilla/Gorilla Artist Harry P. Rymate met up with the Merc’s Patty Fisher in the back yard of a suburban tract home, far from New York’s avant garde SoHo district. Geography aside, the mysterious artist sprinkles his creations around San Jose’s Coyote Valley for viewing before art lover/thieves take the work home.

Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino and wife, Leslee, went about adopting a new baby with a Silicon Valley twist. The Merc’s Sal Pizarro covers the techie search for baby Sienna while sharing the news that NBC11’s Brent Cannon and Laura Garcia-Cannon along with 1stAct Silicon Valley’s Tamara Alvarado and Julian Peeples also brought new babies to Silicon Valley. In a whole family theme, Pizarro rounds out the story with news KPIX-TV’s Len Ramierez was awarded the Ruben Salazar Journalism Award.

Silicon Valley Newsroom/San Jose Inside follows the story of San Jose police shooting Daniel Pham with police not releasing the 911 recording. More interesting, and scary, are the comments decrying the Merc and Metro for creating controversy. Creating controversy? Really?

San Jose Revealed weighs in on a multitude of issues… but most interesting they pick a new nickname for Councilmember Pete Constant…

Posted in constant, fisher, gilroy, inside, liccardo, mt. view, palo alto police, pizzaro, Revealed, san jose, svlg | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.27.09: The Supreme (Courts) Day After

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

The day after Supreme (Courts) Tuesday (Prop 8 upheld/Sotomayor)… Watch Dog stays local…

The Burlingame Trolley has been saved… thank you Burlingame businesses that ponied up. (Remember when one of the hotels that foot the bill dropped out?)

The Belmont vote to make current parks permanent (by requiring a vote of the people to change the parks) was pushed off by Councilmember Warren Lieberman. A couple of weird things are happening around this issue. First, Lieberman wants the vote pushed off. Then, several folks are recusing themselves from the vote (Mayor Braunstein and Vice Mayor Wozniak) because live near parks. Next, a member of the Sierra Club got in a back-and-forth with Lieberman. So, the decision comes down to a Mayor and Vice Mayor-less Council that includes Lieberman, Coralin Feierbach (whose idea this is), and Bill Dickenson and they can’t seem to agree if the idea is strong enough or not to protect parks. We can’t wait until July 9th when it is set to be heard again…

The Grand Jury had good things to say about something yesterday (drug disposal)… but we still wait (anxiously) for the Grand Daddy of Grand Jury Reports (garbage).

Jon Mays (Daily Journal Editor) predicts a revolution in California because the State keeps stealing local tax dollars even though we all voted in 2004 to stop the theft. Good stuff.

The Star Light Lounge on El Camino in Millbrae always seemed like such a nice place… (unless, of course, you read about it on Yelp.) That was, of course, until the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control shut it down. Don’t worry neighbors, they are transferring the liquor license…

In a sure sign things are bad, Palo Alto Police Officers have deferred $800,000 in raises until 2011. Watch Dog has to wonder: will other public safety officials follow suit?

The Portola Valley Town Picnic is Saturday, June 6th. The best thing going is the pie bake-off. (For all you wise guys out there, this is not the same as your fraternity’s “bake-off“…)

Posted in belmont, burlingame, civil grand jury, millbrae, palo alto, portola valley, prop 8, trolley | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.26.09: A Supreme Tuesday Edition…

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

As we come back from a long weekend, the news today will be dominated by Supreme legal stuff… California Supreme Court’s decision on Proposition 8 and Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court.

But Watch Dog must ask that you don’t forget the local stuff… luckily, the Merc’s Internal Affairs never forgets the local stuff…

  • Supervisor/President Liz Kniss is fighting with Supervisor Dave Cortese over foster kids. (No, this isn’t a custody battle…)
  • San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos has a friend in the White House, Adolfo Carrion. Unfortunately, Carrion is accused of taking bribes while a New York Bronx borough president and might not be there long enough to help. (Which is ironic, since Campos’ mentor was also written about in the Merc this weekend… we’ll get to this later.)
  • San Jose’s normally genteel Councilmember Nancy Pyle got testy over accusations she met more than once with bail bonds lobbyists Tom Saggau and Dustin DeRollo and snapped at members of the public. Saggau said if he’s riding the elevator “with someone who’s reportable, and I just mention Bad Boys Bail Bonds” he reports the contact.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is facing off (again) with labor leader/former Mayoral opponent Cindy Chavez. This time it’s a 34 page set of recommendations on how to handle the City’s budget crisis. Reed did not say this, however.

San Jose Police are refusing to release 911 tapes from the fatal Mother’s Day shooting of mentally ill Daniel Pham. Santa Clara Police Lt. Phil Cooke crossed the Blue Line and sounded less convinced about the need for San Jose Police Department’s secrecy saying, “Police departments live on public trust. You take that away and you have nothing.” Unfortunately, Watch Dog thinks the public trust in the San Jose Police Department may have been bruised well before this incident… (See: Drunk Task Force and IPA selection.)

The Merc Editorial Board sends kudos to the City of San Jose for helping to add Rancho San Vicente to Silicon Valley’s open spaces. The Merc credits San Jose Planners with resisting pressure from developers and lobbyists wanting to build luxury estates. (A much more contentious issue dealing with developers, open space, and lobbyists is brewing in Redwood City, for those of you interested in things north of the Santa Clara/San Mateo County line…)

It was a violent weekend in San Jose…

On a less violent crime note… Lincoln High School’s Jeremy Talamantes saw himself as an artist with all the walls of San Jose as his canvas. San Jose Police, and residents, didn’t agree. Talamantes was yanked out of art class when busted as a member of the Toon Goons.

Morgan Hill’s sparkling new courthouse is headed for its own courtroom battle. In a finger pointing drama, County Supervisor Don Gage says the builder blew it while Paul Thompson with West Bay Builders points at County staff for errors. At issue is $20 million which the County says it doesn’t owe the builder — and the builder kindly disagrees.

An (apparent) joyrider stole a Mountain View Police car during a Shoreline concert. Police later found the car ditched in an apartment complex parking garage. (The Officer left the keys in the car… oops!)

A Monte Sereno “good neighbor” fence was anything but neighborly for Darla Padget who says City Manager Brian Loventhal sent threatening letters. The 10 year old “fence” trial heads to the jury this week.

Here for your Watch Doggers pleasure… the week around Silicon Valley government, with mad props to the Merc’s Government Watch (on-again/off-again) crew…

  • The City of San Jose Rules Committee talks pay cuts for Councilmembers and management as well as the growing maintenance backlog.
  • The Cupertino Union School District studies the Governor’s revised/slashed education budget.
  • Franklin-McKinley School District reviews (horrible) financial projections.
  • Palo Alto Unified has a full plate with talks of enrollment, boundary changes, Mandarin immersion, and a delayed reopening Garland Elementary. Oh, and the (crappy) budget.

San Jose’s Oak Grove students who come from 13 countries, speak 9 languages, and have to work while in high school, need your help. Dig deep people, send the Valley’s smart kids to D.C. to compete. Donations for the “Eaglebots” can be sent to Oak Grove High School, Attn: Jeanie Romanoff, 285 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose, CA 95123.

If you were anywhere near San Jose’s downtown you couldn’t miss Fanime’s costumed conventioneers. If you missed it, you really missed it…

Posted in Chuck Reed, cindy chavez, cortese, coto, don gage, kniss, monte sereno, Morgan Hill, mt. view, Nora Campos, prop 8, pyle | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.26.09: A Supreme Tuesday Edition…

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

As we come back from a long weekend, the news today will be dominated by Supreme legal stuff… California Supreme Court’s decision on Proposition 8 and Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court.

But Watch Dog must ask that you don’t forget the local stuff…

Good news. The San Carlos man/Olympian/Alzheimer’s sufferer who wandered away from his home was found in Oakland. He is ok and his family is relieved, as you can probably imagine.

The Sequoia Union High School District battle with Everest Charter School took another turn. We know Everest is taking their battle with the School District to court, but they are also getting a vacant office space ready for school in the fall, while the School District is getting the proposed site for Everest, a vacant lot in East Palo Alto, ready. This is all getting pretty confusing (and costly), but expect the situation to get worse before it gets worse…

Take THAT State. San Carlos is (probably) going to declare themselves in “severe fiscal hardship” in an attempt to limit the amount of money that State can pilfer from its local coffers. No word yet as to what the “severe fiscal hardship” designation will do for San Carlos’ bond rating… To alleviate some of that “severe financial hardship” it may cost a lot more money to do stuff in San Carlos… like park illegally, receive a permit, or get a copy of a police report…

Speaking of fiscal hardship, that’s what San Carlos School District parents may feel if their kids need summer school. That’s because the School District just axed its summer school plans to save money.

It looks like South San Francisco will have a contested City Council race this November. Three seats are open, two incumbents have announced their intention to run again, one is on the fence, and two challengers are lining up to run. Expect a busy Labor Day-to-Election Day sprint…

Belmont wants to make sure that land now designated a park will stay a park forever. The Belmont City Council doesn’t seem to trust the wisdom of future City Councils and would like to permanently make parks parks.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier placed an OpEd in the Daily Journal in honor of Memorial Day.

(Not wanting to be left out, San Mateo City Council candidate David Lim blogged about Memorial Day.)

First, Belmont banned smoking in apartment complexes, now an apartment complex wants to ban smoking in their own apartment complex. This time in San Mateo. This renter-driven initiative may be part of a trend, or maybe their is just smoking-ban-envy on the Peninsula…

Speaking of people taking action on their own… 8,000 homes in San Mateo are voting on a whether or not they want to pay an annual assessment to pay for flood protection. Three weeks from now we’ll know the result of the vote.

There is a public battle (re)brewing in Redwood City. The DMB plans for development are back on the drawing board, causing a Redwood City resident to ask, “Folks, can’t we all just get a long?” in today’s Daily Journal OpEd. Those words didn’t really work for Rodney King, and Watch Dog bets they aren’t going to work in Redwood City either…

Posted in belmont, city of san mateo, david lim, dmb, everest, prop 8, redwood city, san carlos school district, sequoia union, speier, ssf | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up – 5.22.09: There’s a new Sheriff in town?

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Swine Flu alert, swine flu alert! Santa Clara County health officials reported 14 more people have the porcine peril. Before you panic, health officials want you to remember that, while new and scary, the swine flu is less dangerous than the annual fall flu.

The first San Jose union to heed Mayor Chuck Reed’s call for a wage freeze was the Association of Building, Mechanical and Electrical Inspectors. Building Inspectors union president Tom Brim said it was easy “if you care about the people you work with, you’ve got to step up.” Reed, hoping the other unions care, announced he’d spare libraries, community centers, fire stations and park rangers in the face of a $78 million shortfall and the State’s threats .

San Jose Fire Captain/pension trustee/(former) union VP Mark Skeen will be joining the ever growing ranks of the pink slip proud. Skeen is pissed, city manager Debra Figone isn’t talking and San Jose’s controversy ridden pension fund stays in the news.

San Jose Inside’s Fly reports San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant has a hankering to be Sheriff. Constant isn’t ready to make up his mind, saying “I have about two years before I have to make a decision,” on whether to run for Sheriff, Mayor, assembly or dogcatcher in 2010. Assuming Constant decides to stick with his council gig (and wins) he’ll have plenty of time to campaign as a (part-time) councilmember.

Sometimes you do your homework, sometimes you cross your fingers and pray. City attorney Michael Martello told Mountain View’s city council missing paperwork prevented them from approving developer Wayne Aozasa’s senior housing project. Councilmember Jac Siegel said $700,000 was hardly affordable senior housing. Aozasa left wondering if there’s more to it than prayer…

Also in Mountain View, Councilmembers will use federal stimulus dollars to give energy saving tools to local homeowners.

Morgan Hill teachers settled a year long battle, Federation president Donna Ruebusch expressed relief with the union contract ratification. In the end, no teacher furloughs but less teacher training.

Morgan Hill teachers can use the breathing room, now the contract is settled it’s back to the books. Morgan Hill schools showed slight improvement in the annual (dreaded) Academic Performance Index tests. The Morgan Hill Charter School dropped the most, signaling big problems to fix. School Board president Don Moody said “there’s a lot of work ahead.”

Signaling a lack of faith in promises from the Mexican American Service Agency, Gilroy Unified School District Trustees took the first step towards closing Gilroy’s only charter school, El Portal. Trustees pointed to embezzlement, possible illegalities and a lack of a balanced budget as reasons to close MACSA’s Gilroy school. Board president, Javier Aguirre, held up the school’s charter saying “MACSA has not met those goals laid out in the charter.”

Gilroy Councilmember Perry Woodward accused Gilroy’s labor lawyer Charles Sakai of misleading the city council on the complexities of binding arbitration, he wants a do-over. Woodward will be asking his council colleagues to put binding arbitration on the ballot and let the voters decide…

San Jose Insider Stett Holbrook let his passion for beer shine with two Inside brew pub tips. Rumors are flowing that the Tied House could be leaving downtown San Jose, hot on the heels of the rumor Holbrook follows with confirmation – Tied House out, The Hermitage is in. Yup, former Tied House brewmaster Peter Licht is opening a Belgian brewery in San Jose’s SoFA district.

Speaking of altered minds….

Silicon Valley has a new home grown, family business and it’s all about the green, money and dope not energy savings… Commander Bob Nishiyama, with the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, said Josey Shun, Phat Nguyen and Randy Gip had a pot farm in Ukiah with HQ in San Jose and Santa Clara. The rumor Mayor’s Chuck Reed and Patricia Mahan will be cheering this small business is untrue.

The Environmental Protection Agency agency has given the initial go-ahead on the Navy’s plans for Moffett’s toxic Hangar One. The EPA asked the Navy to work up a “comprehensive work plan” including prevention of toxic spread. Lenny Siegel, member of the Moffett Field Restoration Advisory board, said there’s agreement on skeletal cover-up, and “no one wants to pay for it.”

Proving it’s not all about knocking heads, by day he’s a tough San Jose police officer, by night he (sometimes) grooves the brass funk with Tower of Power or Journey. Robert Payne dreams of the day when he can ditch the gun for a full time trumpet, Mic Gillette, a Tower original, said of Payne, “he delivers, man.”

Posted in gilroy, macsa, mayor reed, Morgan Hill, mountain view, pete constant, swine flu | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.22.09: Early long weekend get-away (especially for SBWMA staff?)

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

The Belmont Chamber of Commerce is in full crisis communications mode. Their Board President/Beau Monde Flooring owner Michael Kazarian was arrested on multiple counts of child molestation. Chamber Board VP Lenore Griffin came forward with a by-the-PR-textbook statement, “…The alleged victim and Mr. Kazarian should both be allowed to rely upon the justice system…” Watch Dog is projecting that Mr. Kazarian will step down from this post “temporarily to focus on his legal issues and his business.” (Hint to the Belmont Chamber: remove Mr. Kazarian’s personal email address from your website. He might start getting some pretty nasty emails…)

The dreaded/beloved Academic Performance Index scores came out yesterday grading our schools. No surprise to anyone that some San Mateo County schools score incredibly high… and some not so much. The San Mateo County Times generously calls this “mixed results“…

Speaking of the County Times, there are new plans for their old building. Intracorp (which sounds like a made up name for a big corporation in a movie) has plans for a partly residential, partly office building development that will go to the San Mateo Planning Commission on Tuesday. (58 townhomes, 9 duplexes, a single family home, and a partridge in a pear tree.)

Robert Jeangerard, a 75 year old San Carlos resident and former Olympic Gold Medalist in basketball (1956), walked away from his home earlier in the week and is missing. If you have seen the 6’4″ man, let the San Carlos Police know. (650) 802-4277.

The Daily Journal (finally) gets on the Half Moon Bay NOT filing for bankruptcy story… others had the story earlier in the week.

Lucky for everyone else, Michelle Durand read the Civil Grand Jury report on San Mateo Medical Center’s drug administration system. The first page put Watch Dog to bed… so thank you Michelle for the run down.

We are still waiting for the grand daddy of Civil Grand Jury reports about the Garbage Saga. If it comes out today (which Watch Dog projects) expect the SBWMA brass to have left on an early long weekend… On the other hand, expect Assemblymember Jerry Hill to be available for comment…

The San Mateo County Harbor District is looking to sell 6 acres of the “Burnham Strip” in El Granada across Highway 1 from Surfers Beach. The sale is going to be to the Granada Sanitary District for “wet storage”… which may be something really gross…

The failure of Measure D in Pacifica leaves some pretty bad budget cuts to make. On May 28th you can attend a budget session to have your voice heard…

Ron Kroichick, the golf columnist at the Chronicle, chimes in on Sharp Park. (Hat tip: Riptide) He advocates for a “middle ground.” Way to stick your neck out Kroichick. I guess even writing about something controversial is big for a golf columnist…

The COWs of Woodside write up the idea to have green building standards in Woodside…

Posted in api, belmont chamber, city of san carlos, county times, daily journal, granada sanitary, Grand Jury, harbor, hmb, pacifica, riptide, sbwma, sharp park, woodside | No Comments »

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