Culture
Progressives, Conservatives Form Tense Partnership to Defeat Chavez
May 1, 2013 by The Fly Politics, Culture, The Fly Comments (8)
Teresa Alvarado, left, has a a broad coalition of supporters who have come together to defeat Cindy Chavez.
Cindy Chavez is a people-uniter. How else could one explain why so many incongruous political actors of varying stripes are singing Kumbaya as they work to defeat her in the county supervisor race to replace George Shirakawa Jr. Progressives and conservatives in Silicon Valley are teaming up to battle the Chavistas, and it’s causing some friction for top opponent Teresa Alvarado as she stitches together a coalition.
School Voucher System Could Come to California
Apr 30, 2013 by Joseph DiSalvo Politics, Culture Comments (14)
Drastic changes could be coming to California’s public school education model, as more parents demand choices over the schools their children attend.
The school “choice” movement was originally embraced by the right side of the political aisle; today, for the most part, it is bipartisan. The public and California’s teachers unions should carefully pay attention to what is transpiring in Alabama and other states. With one watershed election, all things and calculations can be thrown on their proverbial head.
Independent Police Auditor Report Goes before City Council
Apr 29, 2013 by Jennifer Wadsworth Politics, Business, Culture Comments (13)
Independent Police Auditor LaDoris Cordell will present her annual report to the City Council on Tuesday.
Despite an uptick in crime and a top brass changing of the guard, fewer people logged complaints against the San Jose Police Department in 2012 compared to previous years. There was a 7-percent drop in citizen complaints last year, according to an annual report by the Independent Police Auditor’s office, which is on the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Other items on the agenda include additional expenses for the Environmental Innovation Center project.
Historic Faber’s Cyclery Building Burns as Writer Predicted
Apr 26, 2013 by Josh Koehn Business, Culture Comments (2)
A fire gutted the historic Faber’s Cyclery building in downtown San Jose on Thursday night.
Once known as the “mecca for vintage bike enthusiasts,” the historic Faber’s Cyclery building is no more. The 129-year-old building on South First Street was the site of a three-alarm fire Thursday night, leaving the structure with heavy damage and a slight lean to one side. One writer predicted this would happen almost five years ago to the day.
Supervisor Ken Yeager Snubs Mayor Chuck Reed over Marriage Equality
Apr 25, 2013 by Josh Koehn Politics, Culture Comments (16)
County Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager declined to meet with his former council colleague, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, due to the latter’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
Ever since Chuck Reed was elected mayor of San Jose in 2006, he has held quarterly meetings with the president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. The goal of these meetings is to allow city and county officials to discuss legal disputes without lawyers present. But that all changed last week, when current Board president Ken Yeager snubbed Reed’s request for a meeting.
Guadalupe Trail is a Giant Step Forward
Apr 25, 2013 by James P. Reber Politics, Business, Culture Comments (8)
This landmark marks the newly established Guadalupe River Trail, which now connects downtown to North San Jose.
Last Saturday, a modest group of runners, bicyclists and community leaders gathered on a trail near San Jose’s airport for a quietly auspicious occasion—the completion of the Guadalupe River Trail from San Jose to Alviso.
Taking Back Saint James Park
Apr 25, 2013 by Omar Torres Politics, Culture Comments (12)
A new pilot project by the city of San Jose and Santa Clara County hopes to revitalize the historic Saint James Park in downtown San Jose.
It is time downtown San Jose residents took back Saint James Park. Unlike the glory days of almost a century ago, when presidents and unions held massive rallies in the square, neighbors and downtown workers now describe the park as an unfortunate eyesore.
Clothing Recyclers Oppose Box Ordinance
Apr 24, 2013 by Jennifer Wadsworth Politics, Business, Culture Comments (4)
The city says it has received enough complaints about trash and graffiti near clothing donation boxes that it will consider a new ordinance regulating the drop-off containers.
Enough people have complained to the city about drop-off containers for used clothing, mostly in grocery story parking lots, as being magnets for graffiti and trash, that San Jose’s Planning Commission agreed earlier this year to do something. But some people suspect this is part of a larger strategy by Goodwill Industries, Inc. to put up a little more red tape for companies that own the scattered-about donation boxes. A proposed ordinance is criticized in a letter submitted to the public record for Wednesday’s Rules and Open Government Committee.
Nevada Hospital’s ‘Patient Dumping’ Extends to San Jose, Report Says
Apr 23, 2013 by Jennifer Wadsworth Politics, Culture Comments (4)
The Sacramento Bee reported this month that a hospital in Nevada has been putting psychiatric patients on Greyhound buses going out of state, leaving former patients homeless and lacking medication. At least five of these patients reportedly had tickets to San Jose. (Photo by loop_oh, via Flickr)
At least five mentally ill patients from a Nevada psychiatric hospital took a one-way ticket to San Jose, arriving homeless and un-medicated at the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown. That’s according to a series of disturbing reports this week by the Sacramento Bee, which investigated Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital’s apparent practice of “patient dumping.” The state-run mental health hospital in Nevada reportedly bused out more than 1,500 patients to various major cities across the country during the past five years, according to records of Greyhound bus ticket purchases reviewed by the newspaper.
Conflict Creates Better Education Results?
Apr 23, 2013 by Joseph DiSalvo Politics, Culture Comments (0)
Diane Ravitch objects to the infusion of outside, “entrepreneurial” dollars in public education, but local results show competition has had a positive effect.
The fierce battle for our nation’s schoolchildren is entering a new stage of conflict, and the National School Board Association (NSBA) is reforming itself to take up the fight. Diane Ravitich, a nationally renowned author and keynote speaker at the NSBA’s recent conference in San Diego, delivered a blistering attack against federal education policies and “entrepreneurs” that hurt public education.
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