This is it—the last best chance for SJI reader/writers to rant and/or rave together in 2008. Suggested theme—a time-honored end-of-year tribute: 2008: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It’s the time of year when we’re all in a very good mood. The Sharks won last night capping the best start in their era and one of the best in National Hockey League history. The rain was light. People seemed festive in Downtown and Valley Fair, although a bit harried in the latter stop.

My dictionary defines “oratory” as the art of speaking in public with style, cogency, and grace. In just four short weeks we will once again have a president that possesses high quality oratorical skills. Obama will make it cool to be an excellent public speaker. Candidate Obama’s speech on race in America, one of the best crafted, written, and delivered speeches I have been privileged to see and hear, was the equivalent to shooting a 35 foot jump shot with one second remaining on the game clock. And the shot got nothing but net…swish.

I believe we should seize the moment as educators, and use President-elect Obama’s public speaking skills as inspiration for the classrooms throughout Silicon Valley.

Tomato Thyme is a popular restaurant in my district that operates out of a typical suburban shopping center—with parking in the front and the buildings in the back. Tenants in this shopping center include Safeway, Rite Aid, Bally’s Fitness, Bank, Dry Cleaner and even a Moose Lodge.

Consumers patronize shopping centers like this, but may never ponder who actually owns the land. In some cases the land is owned by one person, and in other cases there are many owners. In this shopping center, there are six different property owners. They each own their specific building and specific parking spaces. The six owners have had a shared parking agreement in place for years that has allowed customers to park wherever they wanted and visit whichever store they choose without being towed.  This parking agreement is expiring in a few months, and renewing it is up to the private property owners.

In this, the second-to-last 2008 episode of SJI’s weekly open forum, rants are more than welcome, as always. And we’d especially like to see some raves.

By G. Melesaine
A couple of weeks ago the San Jose Eastside School District proposed to cut athletics for next year. There was no debate. The cuts had to be made before the Dec.15th, 2008 date where, according to state law, the district had to turn in their balanced budget for the next two years. The district is already in debt, and the state as well, so cuts had to be made. Athletics was the first choice. I attended the aftermath meeting on Dec. 15 at the district office where athletic directors were confronted by angry parents and students trying to find solutions.

Tom McEnery has plans to revamp the entire San Pedro Square historic district in downtown San Jose and build a permanent outdoor public market neighborhood, anchored by the Peralta Adobe and the Fallon House, and inspired by world-renowned locales like the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver, British Columbia. Now, for decades San Jose has excelled at allocating public money for failed downtown projects, so some of the citizenry out there in the suburbs is hyperpessimistic about such an ambitious project, especially one that yet again asks for a taxpayer “loan.” But the San Jose Public Market is a great idea, if you flesh it out. I’ll leave the political, legal and financial brouhahas for more specialized commentators and instead offer my own conjecture.

Councilwoman Madison Nguyen was spot on when she said that her Wednesday night shindig at Motif restaurant felt more like a holiday party than a fundraiser for her No Recall campaign. Mayor Chuck Reed set a more serious tone when he grabbed the mic from Nguyen (who reminded everyone that there were no contribution limits in this campaign…”keep writing zeros,” she said ) and greeted the attendees, mostly public officials and elected leaders from around the Valley, who had spent the last hour sipping wine and stuffing shrimp on a stick in their mouths.

Prior to last week’s council decision to invest in San Pedro Square, the Mercury News Editorial Board posed an important question that deserves the consideration of every citizen in San Jose. The paper asked, “Should decisions to invest redevelopment money be based purely on a direct dollar payback to the city…or should they take into account less tangible goals, such as creating public spaces, encouraging private investment and keeping the charm and atmosphere of those rare, older parts of downtown?”

Recently, a blog by The Fly referred to some cops in its title as “Rogues”—few of us who live and work Downtown see it that way.  We admire and appreciate them greatly. But here’s a group of dangerous people that we should be worried about.

Very, very soon, three federal judges will be deciding whether to free 52,000 of California’s 172,000 prison inmates because of overcrowding. And we have to ask the question: “Haven’t we tried this before—and with disastrous results?”

There has been much discussion on this blog, and elsewhere in California, about the state government’s so-called raid on redevelopment funds to help balance the budget. A couple of weeks back, Dan Walters, the longtime Sacramento Bee columnist, weighed in, pouncing on local redevelopment agencies (San Jose’s is one of the biggest) as the epitome of waste, and touting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to take $228 million a year from redevelopment agencies.

Roll call for the emerging Presidential cabinet of the United States of America: National security team…check. Green energy & environmental team…check. Economic team…check. The United States of America now has the star quarterback in President-elect Obama, VP-elect Joseph Biden as the back-up quarterback, pro bowl quality offensive and defensive teams, yet only today will we meet the person who will be nominated for the hugely strategic position integrally related to our national security and global economic survival…the Secretary of Education.

Last week, I attended the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Policy Advisory Committee at the VTA headquarters on North First Street.  This advisory committee is not the official VTA governing board you hear about, but a committee “underneath” the governing board which has a representative from each city in Santa Clara county.

At this meeting, Joseph T. Smith, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of VTA, spoke to the committee about the VTA budget.  As we knew, and he explained further, VTA derives much of its revenue from a sales tax. And because the recession has knocked consumer and corporate spending to the ground, less sales tax revenues are being generated for government bodies like VTA. He is forecasting decreased sales tax revenues in 2009—down 3 percent

Dec. 14: Police arrest a suspect after a club fight.

About ten men were arrested at club closing time at South First and San San Salvador streets in the SoFA district early Sunday morning when several fights spilled into the street and a metal crowd control barrier toppled over. Police standing by quickly grabbed and handcuffed the suspected combatants to maintain order and assure a smooth, safe exit for patrons. After most of the clubgoers left the area, a journalist snapped two iPhone photos of one handcuffed arrestee in the middle of South First Street surrounded by six officers and being held face down on the pavement. An officer who appeared from a distance to be kneeing the suspect in the back decided that was a little too much of the First Amendment for him and ordered the iPhotographer out of shooting distance. The iPhotographer held up SJPD press credentials and snapped one more photo. The officer cited the photojournalist.

Saturday, Dec. 13. This the third-to-last Rants & Raves of 2008. Been quite a year, and it ain’t over yet. Maybe this is a good time and place to look back and remember the worst (that’ll be easy) and the best of it.

Among the thousands of out-of-state checks that flooded into California in support of Prop. 8 last fall was one for $9,999, from Plano, Texas. This contribution to the anti-gay-marriage cause came from Alan Stock, CEO of Cinemark, which owns two national movie theater chains. In coming weeks, Stock will likely be earning a lot more than 10 grand from gay men and their supporters.