Quality not Quantity

Posted by Pierluigi Oliverio on September 08, 2008

City Hall Diary

San Jose’s population has grown by leaps and bounds and the city has provided more housing—including both market rate and affordable housing—in Santa Clara County and the Bay Area than any other municipality. Once a city filled with orchards, San Jose is now a sprawling suburb and still growing. Although you may see open space in the city, much of it was zoned for housing 2-20 years ago and just hasn’t been built on yet. 

CONTINUE READING . . . (0 Comments)

Rants and Raves

Posted by The Editor on September 06, 2008

This is the weekly open forum where anything goes. What’s on the slab this week?

CONTINUE READING . . . (23 Comments)

BART Braces for Start of Football Season

Posted by John McEnery IV on September 05, 2008

Operable Pissing Windows Fitted on Raider Route

Are you ready for some Football?! At the dawn of the start of another NFL season, with the prospect of Raider Nation flocking to and from McAfee Stadium, BART sure is.

CONTINUE READING . . . (2 Comments)

Ornery Ennui

Posted by Gary Singh on September 04, 2008

Silicon Alleys

WE OFTEN HEAR examples of inferiority hang-ups when people from San Jose visit a more celebrated city. It’s the “Why can’t we have this in San Jose?” complex. You hear this all the time. People usually say or think such things whenever they come back from having a good day on the town in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel or La Honda. Whenever they visit a distinctive world-renowned place, they come back frustrated and depressed because their hometown will never be as awesome as those other locales. 

CONTINUE READING . . . (14 Comments)

The Citizen Oversight Solution

Posted by Jack Van Zandt on September 04, 2008

Food for Thought

A few years ago, I was in China on business and read in the English language newspaper there about a man who had embezzled the equivalent of $50,000 from some government agency. He was found guilty in court and immediately taken out the back of the courthouse and executed by firing squad. The crime of embezzlement of any amount is punishable by death in China and there is no appeal process. It’s no wonder that this crime is rare in that country. Now I am not holding up the Chinese system of justice as an example of anything to emulate and I certainly do not advocate the death penalty for embezzlement. However, it provides a stark contrast to how we treat “misappropriaters” of public funds in the USA.

CONTINUE READING . . . (10 Comments)

Not So Fast

Posted by The Fly on September 03, 2008

Put down that McNugget and step away from the honey mustard sauce—the ban is back! Though her proposal to ixnay fast food restaurants temporarily in San Jose failed at the committee level recently, Councilwoman Nora Campos has directed her staff to charge ahead on the issue while she’s on maternity leave. Those staffers say they plan to reintroduce the proposal before the entire council within the next few weeks. 

CONTINUE READING . . . (7 Comments)