City Hall Diary

No, I am not referring to the subprime mortgage crisis and the subsequent foreclosures but rather last week’s three-hour city council study session regarding inclusionary housing. Many comments were expressed on how inclusionary housing should be dispersed. What exactly is “inclusionary housing?” Is it for extremely low income (ELI), or for others? No one can argue that San Jose has not done a good job at building affordable housing, especially when you compare San Jose to other municipalities in the Bay Area.

County Assessor May Be Stripped of 2004 Royal Schmoozer Title

If baseball received another black eye on Thursday with the publication of Senator Mitchell’s report detailing rampant abuse of steroids amongst its players, than County Assessor Larry Stone was dipped into an industrial-sized vat of scalding hot nacho-cheese when his name inexplicably turned up on the list.

There is the fundamental question that often comes to the fore in the political life of a representative: Do you vote what you think is right or do you vote the will of your constituents? Madison Nguyen is caught in this situation. According to news reports this week, 2,000 people attended a meeting and rally on the naming of the Little Saigon/Saigon Business District. 

Through careful research and consideration, I have come to believe that bouncers are now the lowest form of humans to grace our social scene. I have logged hundreds of man-hours in our local establishments to come up with this conclusion that I am sure other people have come to long ago. Doormen and bouncers already operated on power trips and egos. Even so, there is a new increased power given to these men that they do not deserve, and an attitude in our city that they can do or say anything they want to us. I think we all have a growing lack of respect for others in general and the bouncers are leading the way.

City Hall Diary

The San Jose City Council received a North San Jose Task Force update last week.  North San Jose is a grand opportunity for the city. The prospects are endless: industrial land which adds revenue to the city budget, residential properties to allow people to live close to where they work and an abundance of land which can be used for open space and parks.

Budget Cuts Force Donkey Patrol in Downtown

Faced with the grim task of choosing between fiscal responsibility and horses, the San Jose City Council, rather than suspend the police department’s popular horse-mounted unit, made the tough decision to retire the horses and substitute them with more financially efficient donkeys.

Why is the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors getting mixed up in setting standards for national fast food chain restaurants to display calorie counts and nutritional data of their products? Supervisor Liz Kniss has proposed such legislation applicable only to restaurants with more than 15 outlets in the county. Her stated reasoning is that she wishes to fight the epidemic of obesity in the country, but I don’t see how this no-more-than-cosmetic move will do any such thing. For one thing, it leaves out the vast majority of restaurants in the county. The only result I can see is the high cost to the county’s taxpayers of policing something which has little value to the public.

The tumult and the shouting have died and “Little Saigon” is now a political battle, not an alternate name to an important area of small businesses. Or is it?  A recall is in the offing if cooler and more focused minds do not prevail. I hope they do. It would be bad for the city, District 7, and the Vietnamese community. While it is difficult to understand why Madison Nguyen was so blind-sided by the somewhat predictable events of the last few weeks (and the strong feelings behind them), the council supported her down the line.  One day we may see it more clearly.

Editor’s Note
Single Gal is on vacation this week so we are repeating one of her very first columns from exactly two years ago on a subject that we think is still worth blogging about.

So what comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Would more people want to live downtown if there were more to do?  Or will people wait to see what happens downtown before they invest their money into apartments and lofts? I believe that if there were masses of families, young people and baby-boomers living downtown, that the retail and entertainment would have to come to feed the demand. 

City Hall Diary

As we know, San Jose is made up of council districts and, as a result, many of us have come to identify with these boundaries and/or borders. I know I have. I was raised in Willow Glen. My parents live in the same home they bought over 30 years ago.  Most of my life experiences centered around my neighborhood; therefore, my view of the world was somewhat sheltered until I became an adult when I moved to downtown San Jose for 10 years and traveled to over 40 countries.

Harmony in the South Bay Priority For Bush Administration

The United States and Russia have been working quietly on scheduling a follow-up to the Annapolis Middle East Peace Conference that ended Tuesday which is rumored to include talks on a very complex and vexing problem to the world: Coyote Valley.

According to a very good and informative article by Vrinda Normand in the Metro last week, San Jose is the only city in Santa Clara County that allows developers to contract directly with consultants to write environmental impact reports for their proposed projects. The problem with this policy was made evident recently in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Coyote Valley Specific Plan.

It is now firmly established that we no longer enjoy the title of “Safest City in America.”  I am glad that it’s over because now we can continue the effort to make our city as secure in all its parts—each and every neighborhood—as any city can be in twenty-first century America. The title, awarded by some group in Washington D.C. (nobody can remember who; okay, who was it, wise guys?), now rests on the sun-kissed head of Honolulu. However, the real question is still the same: are people in San Jose safe in their homes and blissfully free of crime? The answer, as always, is a big “no.” But the struggle endures.

If you haven’t had the chance to visit the San Pedro Square Bistro and Wine Bar, you are missing out on one of the best restaurant experiences I have had in San Jose in a long time.  Because of it’s proximity to many downtown offices (it is on Almaden Ave., across the street from the CBRE building), I am sure it does a nice lunch business. However, it also has many different things going for it as a dinner spot. 

History was made last Tuesday night at City Hall when over 1,000 people gathered there, packing the Council Chambers, the rotunda and all the community rooms. Approximately 200 people from the crowd spoke at the meeting. They were old and young, male and female, recent immigrants and those here for decades. The topic was the naming of a business district

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Single Gal started the holiday season off this week by posting the items she felt thankful for. Now I would like to ask you this: What would you like to see happen this coming year that you will be thankful for next Thanksgiving?

I’ll start. Naturally, I turn to politics first.