Captain Sullenberger flies an airplane and Superintendent Skelly leads a school district, both potentially perilous professions. Captain Sully became a hero and Superintendent Skelly became a goat.  What is the difference that led to these two men being characterized so differently by the media?

State Sen. Abel Maldonado, who is playing the lead role in this week’s chapter of the California budget fiasco, laid out a four-item “wish list” Monday, as the governor and Democratic leaders courted his vote.

Last week at the Rules committee, there was a standing- room-only crowd to support our request to use $1.9 million to fund the citywide school crossing guard program on a temporary basis (three fiscal years) out of the $9 million the City receives from the tobacco settlement monies.

It’s rants vs. raves in this week’s episode of San Jose Inside’s open forum. All opinions on any issue are welcome.

The Transport Politic blog reports today that California’s High Speed Rail project will get a huge boost from the federal stimulus bill. According to the story, HSR is in line to receive $8 billion, “the largest single expenditure on rail in United States history.”

By Watch Dog Silicon Valley

Sam Liccardo’s downtown compromise; Valley Medical’s day off; and raves for both the federal stimulus package and the state budget.

During the Feb. 5 edition of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” the host offered the following: “[Dick Cheney] has caused far more terror in this country in the last seven years than any terrorist.”

After introducing Gavin Newsom to an adoring crowd last night, Chuck Reed split early. He had a date in DC, where he will join Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaragosa and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders in an effort to bring some federal money to California. Newsom skipped the trip, choosing to raise some campaign money for his gubernatorial bid while his colleagues are doing the state’s business.

Chuck Reed could be the first San Jose mayor in two decades to face a serious reelection challenge if Assemblyman Joe Coto decides to run for the city’s top post. Team Coto has been putting out feelers to see if there’s enough interest in their man, who will be termed out of representing the 23rd Assembly District in 2010. Officially, Coto’s not interested in taking on Reed. He established an officeholder account in November for a state Senate run. Question is, would genial Joe undertake a bruising battle to shorten his commute?

If city council staffers can’t bring Playboy to their offices in City Hall, then firefighters shouldn’t be able to browse pornographic magazines while on duty at the firehouse. That seems to be the reasoning behind Fire Chief Darryl Von Raesfeld’s recent decision to ban porn from the city’s fire stations, which tend to become a second home for firefighters who work 24-hour-plus shifts.

Coming before the Rules Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 2 PM in Room 118 is a memo regarding the 64 year-old crossing guard program. In a nutshell, the memo asks that the City of San Jose use $1.9 million from the $9 million tobacco settlement monies (which the City receives every fiscal year from the tobacco industry and will receive for the next 25 years) to fund the crossing guard program on a temporary basis (for three fiscal years) to ensure that the program stays intact despite our massive $65 million deficit. After three years, our economy ideally should improve and the funding for the crossing guard program can be re-evaluated

The weekly open forum for discussion of any and all issues of concern to SJI’s regular bloggers and casual users is hereby called to order.

The still-slumping economy appears to be giving Dean Singleton a free pass to continue slicing away at his newspapers. As if employees in his already decimeted newsrooms aren’t scraping by as is, Singleton’s MediaNews is now requiring all of its non-union workers to take a one-week furlough starting this month.

Last week, the Council spent two and half hours talking about making changes to a 1997 “competition policy.” At the prior Council meeting we spent two-plus hours talking about the same topic.  That policy is already burdensome and makes it difficult for businesses and/or non-profits to jump through all the hoops to do business with the city. I don’t own a business or manage a non-profit, so don’t ask me, ask the only two businesses that tried to utilize the policy during the past 12 years, but to no avail.

This is San Jose Inside’s open forum—open for discussion of a recent news event, local issue, or any other concern.