Archive for May, 2010

Morning News Round-Up — 5.28.10: Drive safe…

Friday, May 28th, 2010

This is a Friday before a long weekend, so you must, must, must read the newspaper tomorrow. Late today is a great time to release horrible news if you are a government agency, elected official, corporation, or candidate. So, Watch Dog will be watching, but you should be too…
The Mercury News is taking its news tips from Matier and Ross apparently. They get into how much money the 49ers are spending in Santa Clara. Of course it is going to “shatter local spending records” — the most important thing folks in Santa Clara have voted on the past was if RJD2 deserved a second term as City Clerk…
Campaign filings are in other races too… In the past few months Jeff Rosen has been a fundraising machine while Dolores Carr has not. Chuck Reed raised a lot of money, his opponents did not. Madison Nguyen raised a ton and two of her opponents put a bunch of their own money ($50k and $80k) into their own campaigns… what does all this mean? Expect the airwaves (television and radio) and your mailboxes to be full in the week and a half…
The Merc finally came around to support the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District parcel tax: Measure I. The third editorial is the charm, apparently…
Robert Cortese, cousin of famous Supervisor Dave, has a true political flare. He has made it into the Metro’s Fly more than almost anyone else. This time wanting to unban fireworks and supporting same sex marriage because of George Takei a.k.a. Sulu.
San Jose Family Camp isn’t getting spared, but some San Jose pools might be… On the bright side of things, the pools are much closer than Yosemite.
Tesla is spending $42 million for the NUMMI plant. Which Watch Dog put together in a simple formula:
$42,000,000 for NUMMI/$100,000 per car = 420 cars for a manufacturing plant…
In a story that may get overlooked today, but will have lasting implications, Caltrain got an important “waiver” from the Federal government to move forward with electrification. Yes, it sounds boring, but it seems really important.
What’s old is new again at San Jose State. Former San Jose State President Don Kassing is coming back to lead State in an interim capacity next year while the school looks (again) for a new President… Welcome back Don…
The (alleged) Palo Alto/ Santa Clara kidnapper-rapist has been caught. DA Carr, do you think you can get this entire trial done before election day? It might help. Here’s some more advice: Make sure all the forensic evidence gets tested before you decide to not pursue the case…
A “hit list” on a bathroom wall at Willow Glen Middle School early in the week and an Airsoft gun at Gunn High School. Ironic, we know… Don’t take your guns to town… or to Gunn…
Here’s something juicy, maybe. It looks like the Palo Alto Downtown Business and Professional Association kicked out its President and Executive Director. Why? Well, it seems Sherry Bijan never had a “deep interest” in doing big events in downtown Palo Alto… Of course, nobody in Palo Alto is interested in having people from outside Palo Alto come to downtown Palo Alto either, so perhaps Sherry Bijan was doing a perfect job…

Posted in Alum Rock, Caltrain, carr, city of palo alto, gunn high, jeff rosen, nummi, sjsu, tesla | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.28.10: Drive safe…

Friday, May 28th, 2010

This is a Friday before a long weekend, so you must, must, must read the newspaper tomorrow. Late today is a great time to release horrible news if you are a government agency, elected official, corporation, or candidate. So, Watch Dog will be watching, but you should be too…
In a story that may get overlooked today, but will have lasting implications, Caltrain got an important “waiver” from the Federal government to move forward with electrification. Yes, it sounds boring, but it seems really important.
Speaking of lasting implications… there is oil spilling out of a sunken boat off of Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay. Authorities are trying to contain the spill — which seems small potatoes compared to the Gulf Coast. But there is no such thing as small potatoes when you are talking about oil washing up on shore…
Campaign finance filings were due this week. And the Daily Journal chronicles the contributions for the Coroner’s race… Can you imagine the fundraising pitch from someone running for Coroner?
You’ll remember a while back that there is a new plan for Menlo Park’s “downtown”… well, it seems some of the businesses and property owners (like 100 of them) don’t really like the new plan all that much… This could get interesting.
Lots of property reassessments are happening these days, according to a story in the Daily Journal. That might be good for lowering property tax bills, but it is a tough thing for a lot of school districts who rely on the higher property tax bills… hence the flood of parcel taxes on the ballot in May, June, and probably November…
The Burlingame drive-in may become a mixed-use development… which is not nearly as cool as a drive-in… The Burlingame Voice has some perspective…
The Daily Journal chimes in on local measures and state propositions:
You got that?
Watch Dog has less and less patience these days. This is not a news story: Bay Area families packing up and leaving for Memorial Day. Right, like every year since it was called Decoration Day following the Civil War…

Posted in burlingame voice, Caltrain, coroner, daily journal, hmb, memorial day, mp, pillar point | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.27.10: Five Twenty-Seven

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Ah, the Civil Grand Jury, that upstanding tattle-tale. They came out with a report that stated the obvious: Cities Must Rein in Unsustainable Employee Costs. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed was quick on the draw with a response agreeing that cities must rein in unsustainable employee costs…

With all the fun happening in San Jose’s City Council District 5 race, it is easy to forget that there is another tight race on the other side of town for the San Jose City Council District 9 (Judy Chirco’s seat)… Jim Cogan is very, very upset (apparently) with the way he is being treated by the newspapers in town and wrote about it on Protect San Jose. He even gets a little Sara Palin folksy on us by using the phrase “darn right” three times in one paragraph…

There a few challenges swirling about the baseball stadium EIR approved by the San Jose Planning Commission last week. The naysayers include the San Jose Sharks (jerks), Stand for San Jose a.k.a. the San Francisco Giants (bigger jerks), and a nearby resident (probably not a jerk)…

You may have heard/ read/ seen/ been in traffic yesterday because of a certain head of state that was in Fremont visiting your $535 million investment (loan guarantee) in Solyndra…

Breath a deep sigh of relief San Jose/Evergreen Community College District fans… they have a new chancellor and a new opportunity to right the ship, hopefully… Note to new chancellor: Let’s try to keep the expensive oversees travel in check…

The Mercury News isn’t done yet with their June 8th recommendations, and today’s isn’t going to make the local folks (or the close-to-local folks) very pleased. They endorsed State Senator Gloria Romero for State Superintendent over Assemblymember Tom Torlakson and former Franklin-McKinley Superintendent Larry Aceves.

The Santa Clara County Housing Authority seems to have lost much of its electronic data because of a computer glitch. The cost to replace that information = $600,000 and probably a string of bad stories about poor oversight, etc. And perhaps a story or two about what the Housing Authority actually does might be nice…

Posted in Chuck Reed, civil grand jury, gloria romero, housing authority, jim cogan, san jose a's, sj/evergreen | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.27.10: San Mateo is the new Ohio…

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

The Menlo Park City Council had a nice conversation about the Bohannon “Menlo Gateway” project on Tuesday night. (Admit it, you were there…) But two Councilmembers, Kelly Fergusson and Andy Cohen, are not buying what Menlo Gateway is selling and it is making Councilmember Heyward Robinson “uncomfortable” that the two aren’t supporting it. He’s probably uncomfortable because Menlo Gateway is huge, and in the future if the project is hated, Robinson will be the one who voted for it… except he hedged his bets and abstained last night.

The Civil Grand Jury says that consolidation of fire fighting services could save money for local communities. Thanks Civil Grand Jury, everyone is already on the case (San Mateo/ Foster City, Coastside, etc., etc.)

Which leads us to our daily dose of pointing out the screw ups of others… the San Mateo/ Foster City fire merger is so important that it has to appear on the homepage of the County Times twice…

100+ layoffs coming to a school district near you — that is, if you live in the Redwood City School District…

Friends and farmers celebrated Jack Olsen’s life yesterday at his funeral.

Fresh off the Mercury News endorsement this week, Rich Gordon gets the Will Oremus treatment…

Steve Poizner will be holding a town hall meeting today at noon at the Hiller Aviation Museum. Don’t all jump for joy at once… try to contain your excitement. Whitman is in town tomorrow at Graniterock in Redwood City. Apparently San Mateo County is now Ohio.

Posted in bohannon, civil grand jury, oremus, poizner, rcsd, rich gordon, whitman | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.26.10: not very CSI-like…

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Ah, the news about how shabbily handled the De Anza rape case was just keeps coming. Today’s news: “…nearly 24 hours elapsed between when the semi-conscious girl was brought to a hospital and the first sheriff’s officers knocked on the door of the house where the incident occurred…” That doesn’t seem very CSI-like. Expect the Merc’s Sean Webby to get another award around his coverage of this story… and expect the Sheriff, the DA, and nearly every other law enforcement official and organization to continue to hate Sean Webby. Which is a pretty good indication that he is doing his job…

Fresh off banning toys at fast food joints, the Board of Supervisors is about to get into the parcel tax game on the November ballot. The tax will go to “preserve health insurance for low-income kids“… this seems pretty ground-breaking to Watch Dog and we wish the Supervisors luck in November. We are pretty sure that there are about a dozen or so school districts out there that were eyeing November for a parcel tax as well. They might not wish the Supervisors much luck because they have to ask themselves: How many new parcel taxes are people willing to support?

The Las Vegas-ification of San Jose gets a deep dive in the Merc today. It doesn’t sound like that many people have confidence in the plan for a major hotel near the new San Jose “Strip on First,” but Garden City Casino is certainly moving and they are getting more tables (and increasing the City’s rake) when they do…

There is at least a conceptual plan, even if not a fully-baked financial one, to make the Mexican Heritage Plaza an arts and culture school. Maybe the increased rake at the card clubs could help finance the place…

And what would a day be without a little news from the San Jose City Council District 5 race? Yesterday all the candidates attended an “ethics workshop” at Santa Clara University and they all signed a pledge to run ethical campaigns. A little late, perhaps? One candidate has already been called a communist and a gang-banger…

If you are planning on getting a fat loan from San Jose as part of your compensation for being hired to a high-level management job, it just got a little less fat… Of course, judging from some of the salaries highlighted in the Merc’s Public Employee Pay Database thingy, why would someone need a loan anyway?

San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon gets the Merc Editorial Board nod for the 21st Assembly District… for a Board that questions the status quo up in Sacramento, it seems a strange choice, no?

As a companion piece up the Peninsula, it was Yoriko Kishimoto’s turn for a Will Oremus profile…

While we are in Palo Alto… the Palo Alto Finance Committee voted to start charging kids/families to act in the Children’s Theatre… that should go over big.

Here’s something: Mountain View Police will “forgo pay raises for a year“…

We mentioned earlier this week that we can’t resist pointing out imperfections with the online Merc… we are clearly wildly immature. We wouldn’t argue agains that…

Finally, where have you gone Politicon Valley? We miss you…

Posted in baseball san jose, city of palo alto, county supervisors, de anza, district 5, mexican heritage plaza, mt. view, politicon, rich gordong, yoriko | 1 Comment »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.26.10: 4,500 homes, 10,000 cars…

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

4,500 new homes in Brisbane? That’s part of Universal Paragon Corporation’s plans for the Brisbane Baylands unveiled last night to the Brisbane City Council. That should be great for traffic on 101…

Speaking of great for traffic… Check out this Almanac (hysterical) headline: Stanford medical facilities expansion could bring 10,000 more vehicle trips per day to the area. If they are that worried about car traffic, shouldn’t they support High-Speed Rail? We’re just saying…

It takes a special kind of asshole to “ransack” a school… but it happened again at James Flood Magnet School in East Palo Alto for the second time in a year.

It looks like Burlingame School District may buy, renovate, and eventually reopen the long-closed (former Buddhist center) Hoover Elementary School on Summit drive.

While we’re there: the Burlingame Voice has a little perspective on the red-light cameras in Burlingame…

This should surprise absolutely nobody… the City of Belmont needs to dip into reserves to balance the budget next year. So does Watch Dog…

Jon Mays at the Daily Journal hearts the idea of a San Mateo/Foster City Fire Department…

A bit of really good news today: a bigger, better Ron Robinson Senior Care Center at the San Mateo Medical Center will reopen today…

Today is Yoriko Kishimoto’s turn for a Will Oremus profile… Unfortunately for her, the Mercury News endorsed Rich Gordon today…

We mentioned earlier this week that we can’t resist pointing out imperfections with the online Merc… we are clearly wildly immature. We wouldn’t argue agains that… (There is a story linked here too…)

Posted in almanac, brisbane, burlingame, coroner, EPA, rich gordon, san mateo medical, san mateo-foster city, Yoriko Kishimoto | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.25.10: 2-40-2 Head line Bold herej head line bold goes here and here’s more headling bold jyg

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

The Bay Area News Group is very proud of itself today as it unveils a (growing) database of public employee salaries for much of the Bay Area. Expect lots of folks on the 18th Floor to be search the database today… and if you have time, you can see how much more many of these folks make than you.

Speaking of public employees…

Not a day can go by without some news coming out of the San Jose City Council District 5 race. Yesterday it was Aaron Resendez who was making public a conversation that he had with Councilmember Nora Campos’ Chief of Staff Ryan Ford. (Nora Campos is candidate Xavier Campos’ brother.) It wasn’t a conversation as much as it was a dressing down of Resendez by Ford, according to Resendez. He has called on Councilmember Nora Campos for a public apology, which sounds like he deserves… even Kathleen says so. Ryan Ford should expect a congratulatory call from Cindy Chavez and Neil Struthers today, “Our little boy is all grown up…”
Also, our call for campaign mailers yielded some fruit, and since we are in District 5 already, here is a glimpse of how nasty the race has become… With all due respect to Pat Dando, do voters in District 5 know her name still? Do voters in District 10?

Scott Herhold can not resist apparently. He takes yet another shot, albeit from a different angle, at District Attorney Dolores Carr. This time, Herhold isn’t talking about her fancy car or her lack of ethics, although these things find their way into the piece (ok, not the car stuff). He profiles a Deputy DA who wants her boss to lose… she joins 40 other Deputy DA’s in wanting the same thing. 40 DA’s and one columnist…

Speaking of issues of crime and justice, the Merc Editorial Board continues to review its sample ballot and come up with judicial nominations in todays paper. They choose JoAnne McCracken, Vanessa Zecher, and Julia Alloggiamento but absolutely positively do not want you to vote for Thomas Spielbauer. They went so far as to write: Don’t vote for Thomas Spielbauer. Wow. Perhaps Speilbauer and District Attorney Dolores Carr could commisserate about being treated like shit from the same newspaper…

Willow Glen Middle School was at the center of the world yesterday. (Some would say that Lincoln and Minnesota are always the center of the world…) A student apprently wrote a “hit list” on a bathroom wall that sent everyone into high alert.

Matier and Ross at the Chronicle (and the entire Chronicle, come to think about it) loves writing negative stories about the 49ers wishes to move to Santa Clara… yesterday’s story was about how much money the 49ers are spending on their campaign. Another way to look at it is they are spending all that money to get the hell out of San Francisco…

Violent crime is on a downswing, according to statistics in San Jose. Of course, if you read Protect San Jose, we are headed down the road of Oakland…

Mountain View is buying up land faster than a South Bay city trying to land a Major League Baseball team…

Assembly candidate Josh Becker gets a long write-up by Daily News Group reporter Will Oremus… and the story (obviously) includes a stop at University Cafe in Palo Alto… a.k.a. Becker’s headquarters.

Admit it Palo Alto readers, you were at the City Council meeting last night when the Council was discussing the Stanford University hospitals’ expansion plans… that must have been so much NIMBY fun… so much fun, in fact, that the Palo Alto City Council put more demands, euphemistically called “community benefits” on the growing list of things Stanford should do to make their project acceptable to Palo Alto… like a “revenue guarantee“…

It has been a while since we made fun of Palo Alto Weekly’s Editor Jay Thorwaldson for his “blogging” — but his recent chime-in on High-Speed Rail re-sparked our snarkiness. He has posted twice in 2010. Perhaps he is getting into this new-fangled technology thingy…

We put this towards the end because really, who cares: Newt Gingrich endorsed Meg Whitman. One has to believe that Whitman sold her 2012 Presidential endorsement down the river for this endorsement…

Finally, does pointing out the Merc’s technical difficulties ever get old? Watch Dog doesn’t think so… this was a headline for a breaking news story last night:

Posted in 49ers, alloggiamento, becker, carr, carrasco, chavez, city of palo alto, mccracken, mt. view, Neil Struthers, pat dando, stanford, whitman, zecher | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.25.10: 2-40-2 Head line Bold herej head line bold goes here and here’s more headling bold jyg

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

San Mateo County loves LOVES trying to consolidate things… trash, water, sewer, police, fire… and now the San Mateo Fire Chief Dan Belville is also going to be the Fire Chief in Foster City. Why pay two dudes when you can pay half a salary? That seems to be the thinking… and it may just be tip of the San Mateo/Foster City Fire Department iceberg…

The former Hillsdale High student who planned to pipe bomb the school last year was indicted by a grand jury Friday. Alex Youshock now awaits psychiatric evaluations about whether he is fit to stand trial…

Caltrain’s spokesman Mark Simon writes a piece for the Daily Journal today about electrification… and he uses the word “diminishment,” which looks funny.

Yesterday there was a story about how Belmont just launched their red-light cameras, and today there is a story about how Burlingame is abandoning theirs. Does Belmont not pay attention?

A two-pronged bond approach will be hitting voters in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District this November. One for the elementary schools and one for Ralston Middle.

Some of you were probably at the big Stanford Hospital/ Palo Alto public meeting last night at the Palo Alto City Council… well, it is a busy week for the NIMBY set because tonight there is a big public meeting on the Bohannon “Menlo Gateway” project…

Finally, does pointing out the Merc’s technical difficulties ever get old? (Remember the re-launched County Times?) Watch Dog doesn’t think so… this was a headline for a breaking news story last night:

Posted in belmont-redwood shores, bohannon, Caltrain, city of san mateo, county times, foster city, hillsdale high school, mark simon, merc, palo alto, stanford | No Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.24.10: 4 losses/4 games = Shark’s tee times

Monday, May 24th, 2010

On Friday night the Sharks lost in overtime. Sunday they gave up a two goal lead to lose by two goals. For those of you counting at home, that’s 4 losses in 4 games against the Chicago Blackhawks. And 4 losses in 4 games means tee-times all around today…
We finally have all the Mercury News Editorial Board’s recommendations for San Jose City Council… Previously they came out in favor of Magdalena Carrasco over Xavier Campos et al and Don Rocha over Jim Cogan, Larry Pegram et al. Today we get the incumbents, Pete Constant, Sam Liccardo, and Madison Nguyen — Nguyen being the only one with a real race this time.
It took a few days and seven pages, but Deb Figone, the San Jose City Manager, responded to the City’s unions’ plans to fix the budget… they aren’t enough, too many one-timers, leave me alone at Flame’s, etc., etc.
Deb Figone’s ongoing battle with the City’s unions won’t (apparently) prevent San Jose’s pools from closing for the summer, which was the original plan. The City is going to contract with some private companies to run the pools for the summer, which is great news… if it ever stops raining. Too bad the same deal couldn’t be worked out for Family Camp.
Increasing the VLF. Remember when it used to be considered a political hot potato? That seems quaint now, right? Gray Davis did it and it cost him his job. Governor Schwarzenegger undid, and it cost his budget-balancing billions. San Mateo County (SamTrans) is now considering a local VLF and so is Santa Clara County (VTA) to help with their projects. According to polling, 59 percent of County voters support VTA’s VLF $10/ car fee.
Well, the long-awaited investigation into the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District’s Chancellor’s travel, spending, and general sloppiness has concluded… the results: “We are taking responsibility for not seeing that all policies and procedures were enforced. It will help us doing a better job going forward” — that according to Ron Lind, who serves on the Community College District Board. Of course, unelecting the Board who is supposed to pay attention to such things would also work.
Dude, that is so uncool… a medical marijuana dispensary was robbed at gun point in San Jose on Thursday. The robbers took the weed and the money off the patients who were in the dispensary at the time. Now the Medical Cannabis Collectives Coalition — the pot club lobby, if you will — would like the City of San Jose to hurry the hell up to write an ordinance that would set some security guidelines for clubs…
Steve Johnson at the Merc asked the question that nobody was asking last week when Toyota and Tesla announced their plans for NUMMI: Will Tesla and Toyota create as many jobs as hoped? Well, if you ask San Jose, who was promised jobs from Tesla, they’ll probably say OHN…
This must hurt Paul Krutko’s ego more than the Tesla thing… the Merc had a story over the weekend about how all the (cool, high-paying) Web 2.0 jobs are going to San Francisco…
Vic Ajouny, the Mayor Chuck Reed’s campaign guru (?) is in the Merc’s Internal Affairs this weekend about a questionable mail piece he put out for Richard Calderon who is running a quixotic campaign to try to unseat Sheriff Laurie Smith… Are you surprised that people would question Ajlouny’s mailers?
In other Internal Affairs news… Pete Constant isn’t pedaling stories about his challengers’ police records (and if you believe that…) and John Weis, the San Jose Redevelopment Agency’s number 2 is leaving town… weird, considering he is the one in charge of putting together the MLB plan for downtown San Jose. Apparently Weis couldn’t wait for Bud Selig any longer…
Scott Herhold’s column on Sunday gives a glimpse into the legal system about the long-forgotten case of Avo Makdessian/City of San Jose versus Dennis Fong (Tropicana) and a silly (libelous) email that Makdessian sent from City Hall…
A woman driving her SUV on early Saturday morning in Palo Alto was kidnapped, driven to Santa Clara, and sexually assaulted… scary.
You may remember last week when the folks at the Gilroy Unified School District were considering finishing the beautiful new Christopher High School with portables as opposed to a new school wing that was promised when the school bond was passed in 2008… well 100+ folks showed up at a special meeting last week to protest the portables…
Finally, if you have any campaign stuff that you would like to share, we’re here for you. Especially copies of mailers that may be interesting for folks to see. We have collected some, but we’d like more: email us.

Posted in 420, ajlouny, Chuck Reed, constant, deb figone, gilory unified, IA, nummi, sharks, sj/evergreen, tesla | 2 Comments »

Morning News Round-Up — 5.24.10: May Two-Four

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Redwood City will start the environmental review process for the Cargill Saltworks development… this will take years everyone, so we are sure there will be plenty of public meetings to show up and complain…
DMB (the Saltworks’ would-be developers) probably wasn’t happy when the Mercury News hit their electronic doorsteps on Sunday morning… the Editorial Board wrote: Redwood City salt ponds not the right place for massive development…
DMB won’t find this much fun either: There will be a pro/con discussion in Atherton on the project this week on Thursday night hosted by the League of Women Voters. Have fun in the NIMBY capital of the Peninsula DMB…
East Palo Alto is looking for a new City Manager (and soon, we’d bet, a new Police Chief)… there are 8 finalists…
Here’s a sign of the times: the San Carlos Arts Commission may be disbanded because the city budget is costing the Arts Commission staffers their jobs…
Monday + Daily Journal = Sue Lempert + Tax Collector/Treasurer
This is very strange: Just as some cities are shying away from red-light cameras (SSF, San Carlos) one is just launching them (Belmont). So make sure you slam on your brakes when you are driving in front of me in Belmont.

Posted in belmont, Cargill Saltworks site, city of san carlos, dmb, EPA, lempert, red-light cameras, ssf | No Comments »

« Older Entries