Silicon Alleys

“What is history? An echo of the past in the future; a reflex from the future on the past.”
—Victor Hugo

When people yak about the beginnings of Silicon Valley, a few component parts usually enter the conversation: Hewlett-Packard, Stanford Industrial Park, Varian Associates, Lockheed, Fairchild, etc. When it comes to the medium of radio, people usually begin with Lee de Forest, who invented the vacuum tube amplifier in Palo Alto around 1912 or Charles Herrold, who basically started the first radio broadcasting station out of San Jose in 1909.

But what truly makes history a rocking subject to study—no matter what part of the social static you may be from—are the forgotten stories, the failures and those individuals whose contributions have long since been overlooked.

Nancy Pelosi talks tech in Mountain View

At Google headquarters, as elsewhere in Silicon Valley, the term “disrupter” is commonly used to describe technological innovations or companies that force evolution. Nancy Pelosi found a novel way to repurpose the word during a visit to the search-engine giant’s Mountain View campus Monday.

“Our founders were disrupters,” Pelosi said. “They disrupted the status quo.”

Food for Thought

I have been on vacation the past week and the one question going through my mind as I sat on the beach has been: Is our eight-year-long national nightmare nearly over, or has it just begun? One thing is for sure, the Bush II era will end at noon EST on January 20, a massive failure by any standard of human history. The inheritor of the Bush Republicans’ terrible mess will be faced with the daunting task of pulling the country back from the precipice it has been driven to by the horrendous misjudgments of a shallow president, his deregulatory-feasting party of the wealthy elite, and international political theories of a small group of neocons led by a vice president who has hacked our Constitution and international treaties to bits in pursuit of empire and brutal, Roman-style dominance of the less powerful.

Continued pre-election coverage for SJI’s South County residents: four ballot measures that could affect the political, cultural and infrastructural landscape of Gilroy and Morgan Hill.

Well perhaps this is the year that they decide to do the third thing—making some decisions for themselves.

Whom, you may ask, am I referring to? Namely, that vast group of young people and uninvolved individuals who for too long have been AWOL from the crucial moment in any democracy: electing the guy who is going to make the big decisions. They fight our wars, the young, and they certainly are going to pay in a big way for the sins of the fathers and mothers in the current financial implosion. It is now very heartening to see them showing up.

Continuing SJI’s coverage of local measures, we today present an argument for a “yes” vote on Measure D, written (as always) by our colleagues at Metro. Have at it.

It seems as we get closer to the election most voters have made up their minds and are just waiting to see how things fall. I heard someone today ask another person, “Is there any way Obama can lose?” And the prevailing opinion is that he has it in the bag. But why?

Have the people who have underlying prejudices against African Americans shelved those for this election? Or did John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin inspire voters to fear his dying in office and Palin becoming President?

Last week the San Jose City Council discussed the Hayes Mansion, a historic 100-year-old south San Jose estate. The City of San Jose bought this property about 10 years ago. The story of “why” the City purchased the property is long…and depending on whom you ask, the reasoning can change. Therefore, for the sake of brevity, I will skip the reason why the City owns the 214-room hotel with two restaurants and twenty five conference rooms.

Here at SJI we believe blogging about local issues is our civic duty. Traditionally, weekends are devoted to the random pieces of wit and wisdom we call Rants and Raves. This week, Rants and Raves continues its sabbatical to make room for pre-election opinionizing. The questions: Valley Med? BART? VTA? Yes or no? And why?

These two measures conclude SJI’s week-long consideration of the State Propositions voters will be asked to decide on in a couple of weeks. One will redraw the state map, and change the way politics is done in Sacramento. The other will make it possible for war veterans to buy homes.

Claim City’s Intoxication Title is Not Accurate

Claiming that San Jose is trying to subvert their hard-earned title, a group of drunken sailors from San Francisco have filed a cease-and-desist order against San Jose, hoping to quash the city’s latest efforts to brand itself with another title.

“Capital of Silicon Valley, Safest Big City, Valley of the Heart’s Delight…these are all nice titles,” said Commodore Brad McGuinness. “Do they really need Capital of Drunks also? Shameful.”

Operated by die-hard fans of the San Jose Earthquakes Major League Soccer franchise, the Soccer Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SSVCF), an official 501c(3) nonprofit group, calls itself the “only all-volunteer fan-based philanthropy in American sports.” In what looks to be a serious hoedown this Friday, SSVCF will stage its first annual fundraiser and nosh-up at the Starlight Banquet Hall on Minnesota Avenue, complete with full sponsorship from the Earthquakes franchise itself. Silent auctions will take place. Politicos and luminaries will hold court. Old-timers from the original NASL Quakes in the ‘70s will be there.

“She Made It!” Exhibition at History Park

One of San Jose’s most precious possessions is History Park—located in Kelley Park—under the direction of the good group of people at History San José (HSJ). It’s a great place to take your family for a weekend visit. I learn so much every time I go there, which isn’t nearly often enough. We can never know enough about our past and History San Jose is doing an excellent job of bringing that point home with small but very interesting exhibitions. A new exhibit, “She Made It! — The Tradition of Women’s Arts and Crafts in Santa Clara Valley,” that opens on October 24 in the Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House, is a good example of what I am talking about.

Twelve state propositions is a lot to consider, and every California voter is being asked to do so. It is admittedly an iffy way to make political decisions—but this is what we’ve got to work with. To assist in the effort, SJI has been presenting two a day, including today. We finish the list tomorrow. Then it’s on to 21 local measures. (Whew.) 

The San Jose City Council needs to get a grip on its demeanor in public.  They’ve been a bit out of control with some recent comments. I was surprised but not amazed to see the statements from City Hall revolving around the topic of public drunkenness and arrests by the San Jose Police Department in the Downtown area. Basically, several members were quoted saying they’re appalled at the number of arrests, and the disparity in the arrest rate of Hispanics, far out to proportion to their one-third share of the San Jose population.

It is not surprising that the Council is out of touch on certain issues.  But the situation has become frightening to those trying to live or run small businesses in Central San Jose.