Saturday night I was reminded of one of the great things about San Jose, a good ole Irish pub with the catchphrase slogan of “You’re But a Stranger Here Once,” O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub in San Pedro Square.  It is what I call my favorite “local” bar. It is great for many reasons, including the comfy environment, friendly bartenders and authentic feel, but mainly because it stands in direct contrast to the places that have gone terribly wrong in downtown San Jose. 

I want to tell you a different side of the story about one of San Jose’s most interesting characters, Sarah Winchester.

“This guy is the King Kong of lobbyists,” says Jerry Strangis

After several months of negotiations, San Jose lobbyist Jerry Strangis of Strangis Properties has pledged his influence and power, as well as his access and client list, to recently convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff in order to form San Jose’s first lobbying “superfirm.”

Like the city planning document in “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe” that was kept in a locked basement and guarded by a leopard, some monuments in San Jose are hard to get at—or find. Within a half-mile radius of Plaza de Cesar E. Chavez Park is a giant bronze rendition of Tony Ridder’s running shoes, a statue of William McKinley, a memorial forum honoring Robert F. Kennedy, the actual cornerstone of the 1887 San Jose City Hall, and a Brobdingnagian statue of Thomas Fallon and the horse he rode in on.

As many know, the number one spectator sport in America is not a sport at all—it’s politics.  The year ahead should prove most interesting for such aficionados. There has been so much focus on Ron Gonzales that it is time to take a break and comment on the general, instead of any specific problems in this area; the others are now with the grand jury, the DA, and the most important court of all, the court of public opinion.

I celebrated the New Year with a wedding.  No, I didn’t fly off to Vegas on a whim, or watch “Wedding Story” on the TLC network. But I attended the wedding of a good friend to ring in 2006.

This is a week-long year-end discussion.
Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher/ emperor, said late in life that
no matter how old he got, the people that he greeted along the Appian
Way always remained the same, about twenty-five and seemly.  Well,
unlike his subjects, we all “do” change, and at Christmas and the dawn
of new year, we all have hopes and dreams for ourselves and our City. 
Let’s share our best Christmas memories and thoughts for San Jose.

San Jose Positioning Itself For New Draft Pick

In an eerie coincidence with 49er quarterback Alex Smith, City Manager Del Borgsdorf has cited “small hands” as the reason for his resignation as the city’s top executive.

Carping about there being “nothing to do” in San Jose is frivolous and without merit. There are a myriad of soul stirring adventures in San Jose. One need not travel to god-forsaken San Francisco for a culture fix. The following San Jose field trips will fill up one’s spiritual gas tank—assuming one has a soul.

It is often said that with people, their true measure is not so much how they deal with success, but how they deal with failure and adversity.  Most of us have had plenty of both in our lives and had to learn to absorb and work through it by trying to make failure, either meaningful or productive.  So it is with our city. 

It’s official.

As I read the Mercury News last week about the plans to adopt some of Hollywood’s ideas to curb the problems downtown, my first reaction was that if the current system isn’t working, why not try something else?

Did you ever wonder how Christmas was celebrated in the past in San Jose? When our first foreign settlers, the Spaniards, were here, the birth of Christ was celebrated by going to mass at the Mission Santa Clara, the closest church. The male citizens rode their horses for the three-mile trip. The women and young children went on the rough ride to the mission on a wooden-wheeled, no-springs caretta. After the Americans arrived, most of the celebrations moved to the family home or local churches.

Last Minute Vote Saves Nativity Scene

Shortly after voting to censure the mayor, the city council was faced with another controversial vote in order to save the much-embattled Nativity scene at the city’s Christmas in the Park display.

For inspiration today, let’s turn to our valley’s best cartoonist http://www.community-newspapers.com/archives/wgresident/20051214/wg-op-decinzo.shtml.  With DeCinzo oiling the creative machinery within, here is a chance to be whimsical and exercise your imagination by adding your quotes, slogans, mottos or jingles describing the current crises in San Jose government…

They just fired “Archibald Cox.”

I thought that headline would never be seen anywhere again, let alone in San Jose.  It happened yesterday when Chris Scott Graham was “fired.” The independent investigator was basically told that it was time to move on from the Norcal scandal and the crises in confidence with the mayor.  Healing was the mantra of a solid majority of the council.