Archive for February, 2010

Morning News Round-Up — 2.26.10: SJC Bake Sale?

Friday, February 26th, 2010

The news just keeps getting worse (and more embarassing) for the San Jose (International) Airport. First, a coast-to-coast snow storm impacted absolutely every airport in the country, execept SJC… Then, Frontier Airlines decides it is going to leave town… And then, a report about High-Speed Rail released yesterday says that the train will hurt airports in the Bay Area, especially SJC… Now, the airport is begging local businesses to pick up the tag of their grand opening. And they are using superhero Captain Sully to do it. Look for the SJC Bake Sale announcement soon… While funding the grand opening is one issue, larger issues remain, like the fact that the airport can’t really afford its debt service… stay tuned.
Councilmember Nora Campos proposed expanding and increasing the number of ‘no gang zones’ in San Jose. It sounds like a great idea — especially in an election year… It probably would have sounded just as good any of the other 8 years she has served on the City Council…
Team San Jose, Teamsters, the San Jose Convention Center… another story. It turns out the local Teamsters might get the work at the Convention Center after all — and this time, it may not cost the Convention Center all of its business…
A team from a local newspaper finally (finally!) got to sit down with Atherton’s Meg Whitman. The Merc grilled her and she seemed to respond pretty well. Of course, if you dodged the media for a year, you might be able to prepare yourself well too… Watch Dog’s conversation with Whitman is slated for next week.
Another turn in the story of Sarah Botill, the 15 year old Gilroy girl who died after a night of drinking. The 18 year old (Kayla Dunigan) who brought the booze will face misdemeanor charges for providing the alcohol.
Perhaps Mountain View restaurants will be getting business from all the good folks with munchies after all. The Mountain View City Council banned pot clubs for a year, but they are draft regulations to (maybe) allow them after that.
Finally, our friend at Mission City Lantern takes aim at Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty for taking aim at the 49ers…

Posted in 420, atherton, gilroy, Lantern, mountain view, Nora Campos, sjc, team san jose, whitman | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.26.10: The Anti-Cargill Development Team Starting Line-Up Announced…

Friday, February 26th, 2010

About 100 current and former lawmakers in the Bay Area signed on to a letter opposing the Cargill development plans in Redwood City. In response, the developers re-announced the support they have from their business-friendly folks… Redwood City looks like it will go ahead with the EIR anyway. This is going to be fun… again…
The “voluntary transfer” program at the Ravenswood City School District is coming under scrutiny. As with any issue related to schools and race, this is a touchy one…
Recession Repercussion time:
Burlingamer Ted Crocker responds to Quentin Kopp’s piece in the Daily Journal this week. Ted doesn’t like High-Speed Rail one bit…
Finally, a team from a local newspaper got to sit down with Atherton’s Meg Whitman. The Merc grilled her and she seems to respond well. Of course, if you dodged the media for a year, you might be able to prepare yourself well too… Watch Dog’s conversation with Whitman is slated for next week.

Posted in atherton, cargill, great recession, hsr, ravenswood, redwood city, whitman | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.25.10: Dolores Carr… again again

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Another day, another story featuring District Attorney Dolores Carr…sort of. Part A of this story is that a judge found a man that had been charged (but then uncharged) of murder “factually innocent.” Part B of the story is that the judge finding the dude “factually innocent” stood up for the judge that is being boycotted by the DA’s office for “standing up for her convictions.” Part C is that the judge questioned why the District Attorney’s office was fighting the “factually innocent” ruling… A response from the DA’s office is expected today, apparently. Watch Dog anxiously awaits…
Speaking of the DA…
The Merc’s Scott Herhold looks into the future about “How the Phuong Ho case will unfold“… He agrees with Watch Dog (read this) that the Police Officers in the video beating will not face charges from the District Attorney’s office, but doesn’t think it has much to do with the endorsement of the Police Officers’ Association of the District Attorney… Herhold concluded with this about the Ho case: Put succinctly, Phuong Ho was beaten and shocked with a Taser without adequate reason. If there had not been a cell phone video, he would have been found guilty like dozens of others. It’s the way our system works. Not the most reassuring few sentences in the paper this morning…
Picking up where Herhold left off, the Merc Editorial Board looks to the Police Chief to actually take some disciplinary action against the Officers involved in the beating/ Tasering of Ho and to make that action public. About the Officers’ actions, the Ed Board concludes: “It may have been legal, but that doesn’t make it right“… (Watch Dog predicts no action from the Police Chief.)
This was in yesterday’s Chronicle, sorry we missed it: The folks that run Oakland Coliseum — a.k.a. Alameda County — are planning to build another stadium that will house two football teams, the Raiders and the 49ers. (Of course, the 49ers don’t want to be there, but that’s another story.) County Supervisor Scott Haggerty said: “There is only going to be one stadium in the Bay Area, and it’s not going to be in Santa Clara… We have a better location, a better infrastructure and better access to roads and mass transit.” Unfortunately, Oakland’s ability to do anything is seriously in question — just ask Lew Wolff.
We learn from San Jose Inside that most/all Mayor Chuck Reed’s political people are working to get Sheriff Laurie Smith unelected… Mayor Reed isn’t involved in the race… yet. The Mayor’s political brain trust (?) is all behind former SJ Police Captain Richard Calderon…
In other political news…

And the race to replace Judy Chirco on the City Council is heating up… and Larry Pegram seems to be in (with Jim Cogan and Don Rocha). There is also a Santa Clara University student in the race… because we all know what great decisions college kids make.
In case you were living inside a Bloom Box, you know that a thingy called a Bloom Box is being touted as the new, new thing in the clean tech world… We’ll see. But certainly their PR agency is energized. 60 Minutes. NPR. Every TV station in the world. The Merc’s front page. The Chronicle. etc. etc. etc.
A ban on pot in Mountain View… but they have all those yummy restaurants on Castro Street…
The lawsuit filed against San Mateo County’s elections office is moving forward. This is about electronic signatures captured via iPhone being used to sign State elections petitions and is being brought by Verafirma, a Silicon Valley start-up. San Mateo County Elections’ chief Warren Slocum rejected the signatures because he couldn’t figure out a way to verify the signatures under California law. (This is a start-up that involves Silicon Valley man-behind-the-curtain Jude Barry…)

Posted in 49ers, bloom, calderon, chirco, chronicle, DOLORES CARR, herhold, inside, jude barry, mayor reed, mt. view, raiders, Teresa Alvarado | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.25.10: Post-Debate Spin…

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Politics leads the day: The 21st Assembly Democratic candidates faced off for the first time yesterday in Redwood City. Rich Gordon, Yoriko Kishimoto, and Josh Becker were there and answering questions. And their respective camps have clearly found and saved Watch Dog’s email address… thanks for the updates/spin everyone. We can tell you this: one camp thought it was ‘corny’ that Josh Becker brought his kid’s Thomas the Train to the debate. At least everyone is focusing on the big issues…
One issue that was discussed (a lot, apparently) was High-Speed Rail. And Quentin Kopp chimes in too in today’s Daily Journal.
Local budgets (cities and school districts) got lots of time at yesterday’s debate too…
The lawsuit filed against San Mateo County’s elections office is moving forward. This is about electronic signatures captured via iPhone being used to sign State elections petitions and is being brought by Verafirma, a Silicon Valley start-up. San Mateo County Elections’ chief Warren Slocum rejected the signatures because he couldn’t figure out a way to verify the signatures under California law.
Amgen Tour of California will go Coastside… Rogue waves stay away…

Posted in belmont, hsr, josh becker, mpcsd, Quentin Kopp, rich gordon, san mateo-foster city, slocum, tour of california, verfirma, Yoriko Kishimoto | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.24.10: Bear Arms…

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Because we love this visual we thought we’d start with this today… Some probation officers will be able to bear arms. (Think about it… bear arms.)
It’s a good thing District Attorney Dolores Carr already received the endorsement of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, because she decided not to bring charges against Phuong Ho. (Ho was the San Jose State student that was beaten and Tasered by SJPD while being secretly taped last year.) The charges that the DA was considering included resisting arrest and brandishing a deadly weapon. Of course, the issue that is still burning is this: will the videotaped San Jose Police Officers face charges from the District Attorney. Based on how the SJPOA endorsement went, Watch Dog really, really, really doubts it… Oh, and this must be really, really big news, because the Chronicle picked it up too…
In other DA news…
State Senator Elaine Alquist announced her endorsement of Carr’s challenger Jeff Rosen yesterday. Actually, Jeff Rosen announced the endorsement, but if you have an email address, you already knew that…
Hey recent (or soon-to-be) college grads, here’s some good news. Some tech giants might be hiring locally. That’s great news if you’ve studied the past four years instead of taking bong hits…
But one “company” that isn’t going to be hiring is the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. Their budget passed yesterday amidst a long-ass discussion which ended with the five-year budget passing, with which no one seems really happy: the Convention Center people aren’t really happy because they need to find some more money down the line, the County is certainly not happy because they are owed 52 million bucks, and basically everyone just held their noses. (San Jose Inside’s favorite tid bit is in this story too: “…Pete Constant was absent because of a medical appointment…”
We love The Garage in Naglee Park, and so does everyone on the Food Network. Eat up folks, but expect it to be busy for the next little bit…
STOP. THE. PRESSES… Noreen Likens is going to retire. Noreen Likens is going to retire. If you know Noreen Likens name, then you are probably freaked out. (If you don’t know her name, she is the Principal at Gunn High School in Palo Alto.) This “news” warranted a special email “breaking news” alert from the Palo Alto Weekly. This means that both high schools in Palo Alto need Principals, which means every high school Principal in the world is polishing his/her resume and trying to find Kevin Skelly’s email address… look no further Principals, here is his email…
Development and growth issues in Morgan Hill are always fun to follow… The City Council there will be considering how the City’s “southeast quadrant” will develop in the coming decade. Expect some vocal proponents and opponents…

Posted in 2nd amendment, DOLORES CARR, gunn high, jeff rosen, Morgan Hill, naglee park, pausd, rda, sjpoa | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.24.10: What do Gilligan and Jerry Hill have in common?

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Just sit right back…
Nothing is more fun than a conversation about High Speed Rail and the Peninsula… so Jon Mays in the Daily Journal fills us in on a three hour tour Assemblymember Jerry Hill provided to Curt Pringle the Chair of the California High Speed Rail Authority…
Expect High Speed Rail to be a topic of conversation tonight as the Redwood City Woodside Democratic Club hosts a debate among the three candidates for Ira Ruskin’s seat in the State Assembly…
Many, many local, Countywide elections are on the horizon (Slocum, Buffington, the Coroner…) And the County Superintendent’s race. Anne Campbell, the Superintedent at the Portola Valley School District threw her hat in the ring yesterday… no other hats have been thrown in yet. Perhaps Ira Ruskin has a hat he’d like to throw in?
The ballots are being tallied in the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District parcel tax election… and things seem to be going well, but it is as close as it could possibly get… 66.7. This will help make recent pink slips null and void…
If you absolutely love smoking and love Foster City parks… you better find a new place to light up. The City of Foster City is considering a smoking ban in its parks. Imagine you live in an apartment in Belmont and love hanging out in Foster City parks and you love to smoke? You’d be screwed…
A long, long time ago, (last May) the Belmont Chamber of Commerce Board President was arrested and charged with molestation of his ex-girlfriend’s daughter. He has pleaded not guilty and the trial (jury selection actually) has begun…
But pink slips are coming to San Bruno… 10 slips to be exact.
San Carlos may make it mandatory for businesses to recycle… and the Chamber of Commerce supports it.
The massive Bohannon Project in Menlo Park has hit a City Council delay… instead of this week, the Council will discuss it in April, giving NIMBYs plenty of time to organize…

Posted in belmont chamber, bohannon, city of san carlos, county superintendent, foster city, hsr, jon mays, mp, redwood city democrats, san bruno, san mateo-foster city | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.23.10: How to fix California? Eat lots of steak…

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Fresh off his State of the City, Mayor Reed welcome some CEOs and other “Big City” Mayors to the San Jose to talk about how to fix California… Sending strong messages about frugality, being in touch with Everyman, and open government, they met behind closed-doors at Morton’s in downtown San Jose…
Over at Protect San Jose, Jim Unland, the VP of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, seems to be hedging the organization’s political bets. While they have endorsed incumbent District Attorney Dolores Carr in this year’s race, they are also saying really, really, nice things about challenger Jeff Rosen. The only thing they say about Rosen that is negative is this: “…within the DA’s office, he has limited supervisorial experience…” But Unland also has this to say about Rosen: “…Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rosen has also earned broad support and respect as a prosecutor from within the law enforcement community. Many of our officers speak highly of him. He has successfully prosecuted some very difficult and high-profile cases…” So they win if Carr wins, but don’t really lose if Rosen wins. With “friends” like the POA, Dolores Carr is in for a long campaign season…
More recycled water could be finding its way to your tap… if the Santa Clara Valley Water District has anything to say about it. And they do. (Remember Mayor Reed drank some recycled water?)
How many preschools one street are too many preschools on one street? That is the question folks in Mountain View will be considering. The real question, obviously, is how many SUVs can fit on one street during drop-off/pick-up times?
At one time, Palo Alto had grand visions of a City-run fiber optic high-speed Internet network. That was a while ago and the vision has gone away… but then Google came calling, and now Palo Alto’s high-speed Internet eggs are in the Google basket. This probably puts Councilmember Sid Espinosa in a weird spot. Espinosa works for Google’s arch enemy: Microsoft…

Posted in carr, Chuck Reed, city of palo alto, google, jeff rosen, mountain view, poa, protect, water district | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.23.10: Mavericks passing the buck?

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Today’s top story (in Watch Dog’s eyes) comes from the Half Moon Bay Review and the County Times: Agencies meet to ‘debrief’ over Mavericks. Perhaps that would have been a good group to get together to pre-brief before folks got washed off the beach…
High-Speed Rail a.k.a. Enemy Number One is always on the mind of San Mateo County train-track cities. Belmont is especially concerned and is (probably) setting aside some money for some lobbyists… it seems like a good use of public funds to fight something a majority of Belmontians voted for.
The good folks at the Service Employees International Union and the City of Menlo Park have reach an “impasse” in their contract talks. Next stop, a State mediator and some Extra Strength Excedrin…
Speaking of employees and government agencies…
There are layoffs coming to Millbrae Elementary School District because of a $2.2 million budget shortfall…
Don’t fret though, sometimes cuts don’t always pan out… in the Redwood City Elementary School District, four previously axed positions may be reinstated.
You may remember that Atherton had a community meeting last night with the City Manager and the Police Chief to hear from the community. Well, 60 folks apparently showed up (which is a lot in Atherton) and the City Manager and the Police Chief heard from a bunch of folks… After hearing from the “community” we would bet that the City Manager and the Police Chief would like to never, ever do this again…

Posted in atherton, coastsider, hsr, Maverick, millbrae elementary, redwood city elementary, san mateo community college district | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.22.10: What if you built an airport, and no airlines showed up?

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

You remember the controversy whereby the folks that run the Convention Center in San Jose — Team San Jose — signed an exclusive contract with Teamsters that made convention promoters head for the hills? Well, Team San Jose rescinded the deal with the Teamsters and perhaps some folks will think about coming back to the Convention Center. Perhaps…
Of course, if conventioners do come back, they won’t be coming here on Frontier Airlines… that’s because Frontier Airlines is leaving SJC. Last week we wrote about how sad it was that a storm blanketed most of the country, crippling air traffic everywhere… except SJC. Perhaps a new road and new parking coming online at SJC will convince other airlines not to jump ship…
Just when you thought you would never see the word “Little” and “Saigon” right next to each other in the Mercury News, a story came out late on Friday that noted that the group that sued the City of San Jose about Little Saigon and open government violations lost in court… good thing, because Madison Nguyen is up for re-election…
Another “little” story from this weekend: San Jose is getting closer to having a Little Italy… of course, Little Italy hasn’t yet started a recall effort, so it isn’t nearly as interesting. But in San Jose, anything new and cool might run into some bureaucracy at City Hall, and the banners for Little Italy are no different, we learned in Internal Affairs on Sunday…
San Jose Inside is the only publication covering the continuing story over in the East Side Union High School District. Inside was there when fired Superintendent scolded the Board after the County Office of Education audit cleared his name… and Inside was there last Thursday night when County Superintendent said this, “The district now has two studies and one extraordinary audit, over a nearly 10 year period, and all three have reveled a weakness in your internal control structure. I just want to pause on that. Same problem, for over a decade.” Thank youInside for covering this issue… and let us now forget that the President of the Board at East Side Union High School District has never, ever been elected to the Board, but appointed twice. Maybe voters have a pretty good intuition on these things…
While covering a story that no one else is covering is great, San Jose Inside is still apparently in love with really dry content (Oliverio, DiSilva…) because they reprinted Mayor Reed’s State of the City speech. As we noted last week, a quick span of the speech will not turn up the famous words, “The State of the City is…” But we remember when that sentence garnered great attention and a blog post on San Jose Inside…
Another thing not mentioned in the speech…
Expect some disappointed San Jose kids and parents this summer because San Jose Family Camp will not open this year. They need to repair a roof and figure out what to do about getting clean water to the Yosemite resort. The State of San Jose Family Camp is sad…
Also sad…
The San Jose City Council will discuss the San Jose Redevelopment Agency budget this week. Trimmed-down would be an understatement. Major projects are still on the books, but scaled back a bit… or a lot.
San Jose is getting a Children’s Zone modeled after a Harlem Children’s Zone around the troubled Santee Elementary School, “from cradle to college to community-building…” Amen.
Everyone is writing about San Jose parks these days…
Internal Affairs fills us in on the news that running for office in San Jose is still inexpensive, unless of course you want voters to know what you stand for… and if you want your 200 word ballot statement to appear in the ballot guide voters get in the mail, then that will cost you nearly $10,000 if you are running for Mayor, or $2,000 if you are running for City Council… Bill Chew, the White Skating Knight of San Jose, is not pleased.

Posted in chew, Chuck Reed, eddie garcia, family camp, herhold, IA, liccardo, little italy, rda, santee, sjc, team san jose | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 2.22.10: A Very Luge Monday…

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

As one local plan crash continues to be investigated… another plane crash with local ties hits the news. This one left from San Carlos and ended in a crash outside of Yosemite. Albert Halluin, a Silicon Valley super lawyer and his fiance died during Friday night’s flight.
Onto a lot less serious stuff…
Monday = Sue Lempert in the Daily Journal: Supervisor Mark Church’s decision to run for Warren Slocum’s soon-to-vacated office means that Church’s seat will be open (if Church wins) and folks are lining up — Dave Pine (San Mateo Union High School District Board), Marc Hershman (former Millbrae Mayor), Gina Papan (Millbrae Council), Ann Keighan (Burlingame Council), etc., etc., etc. Watch Dog is starting the Sue Lempert for Supervisor rumor right here, even though she denies it in her column…
Even though the financing for the Mirabella project in Foster City seems to be slipping away, the Foster City (City) Council seems to be hanging on to the idea and the project… Meanwhile, we can only imagine the good folks at the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District are getting excited about the prospects of the land for a new school…
Here’s something new for Atherton… the City Manager and Police Chief are actually meeting with the public on Monday evening. Public outreach? Listening to the public? Being open about how thing run in town? Perhaps there won’t be anymore hidden, expensive settlements or illegal fees given back to developers. Perhaps, but not likely…
The County Times wrote on Saturday about a “surprise deficit” that will force cuts in Belmont… how can such a thing be a surprise? Hasn’t anyone noticed the global recession in Belmont? Perhaps not…
Not a surprise deficit, but not exactly great either, the County will eliminate 64 unfilled positions. If your resume is in the County hopper, forget about it…
Just as one local School District (Sequoia Union High School District) prepares to say goodbye to their Superintendent (Pat Gemma) another (San Carlos School District) signed their Superintendent (Craig Baker) on through 2012-13…
Instead of hiring employees to do code enforcement work, Redwood City is looking for volunteer snitches… seriously.
Here’s a predictable headline from the County Times: High-Speed rail meeting in Menlo Park gets heated. Y’think?
For those of you waiting anxiously for the Half Moon Bay “Rock the Block” party in 2010… you might have to wait until 2011, or never. The 2010 Rock the Block celebration got canceled due to lack of sponsors…

Posted in church, city of san carlos, hmb, hsr, keighan, lempert, mp, papa, pine, redwood city, san mateo county, scsd, suhsd | No Comments »

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