Great Day for Bad Fiction

Posted by The Fly on July 03, 2009

San Jose State University recently announced the results of its annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. The contest is named for Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, fondly remembered for a bastardization of the opening words of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford: “It was a dark and stormy night.”

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A.P. Stumps is Closing

Posted by Silicon Valley Newsroom on July 01, 2009

The landmark downtown restaurant, A.P. Stumps, has announced that it will close its doors on July 10. The restaurant opened more than a decade ago, during the summer of 1998, during the dotcom heydey and quickly established itself as one of the city’s leading restaurants.

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Reed Names Law Enforcement Advisor

Posted by Silicon Valley Newsroom on July 01, 2009

Lt. Jose Salcido is apparently out of the Sheriff’s Race


Lt. Jose Salcido will be leaving the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office after more than three decades to become a senior policy advisor to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. Salcido is currently the sheriff’s liaison to the county Department of Corrections and has taken out papers to run for sheriff.
The mayor, who has known Salcido for 12 years, says the new appointee will be doing “community outreach’ on “community issues” and will advise him on law enforcement policy issues. Salcido has a close relationship with Reed advisor Victor Ajlouny, who was a paid consultant to the Deputy Sheriff’s Association during Salcido’s leadership of the union group. Salcido also is an ally of SJPOA leader Bobby Lopez, a vocal critic of San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis.
“When I meet with the chief, which I do regularly, Jose will sit in on the meetings,” Reed told Silicon Valley Newsroom.

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Live From First Street

Posted by The Fly on July 01, 2009

Over the years, San Jose Stage Company’s annual political-theater event, Monday Night Live, has gotten less vicious in its political satire while amping up sex humor and punctuating skits with F-bombs. Last year, library porn filter champion Pete Constant achieved notoriety by donning a kinky S&M ball-gag. Constant bravely returned to the scene of the crime on Monday with another, slightly less risque, dominatrix-themed skit. But his aide, Jim Cogan, a council candidate himself, showed the lengths to which aspiring officeholders will go for public attention.

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Education, Money, and the Grand Jury

Posted by Joseph DiSalvo on June 30, 2009

What a week it was, and I am not just talking about Michael Jackson’s tragic and sad death…A newly released Civil Grand Jury Report titled, “Who Really Benefits from Educational Dollars?” (Hint: It’s not the students), and the calculated demise of the 117-year-old school/district known as Montebello, were discussion points at weekend gatherings. 

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Consent Calendar

Posted by Pierluigi Oliverio on June 29, 2009

The consent calendar on the city council agenda comes after the City’s ceremonial items are completed. The difference between “consent” items and the rest of the agenda is that the consent items are suppose to be composed of “rubber stamp” issues like excused absences for councilmembers, final adoption of ordinances that were already voted on at previous council meetings, etc. As a result, all the consent items are voted on at once.  However, any councilmember or member of the public has the right to “pull” an item from the consent calendar which requires that the item be voted on separately than the rest. 

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