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.

As the news keeps rolling in about Ron Gonzales, his censure and moves to possibly oust him from office, I am struck by the lack of knowledge most young people in San Jose have about their own city’s politics.  As I have been talking to friends, there are few of them who follow what is happening in the news, or even have a vague knowledge of Ron Gonzales and his scandal-plagued term as mayor. Is it apathy at its finest?  Or has our city government been so appalling and crooked that it causes people to lose interest?

With the mayor fighting for his political life, three candidates separating themselves over what the next steps should be for the City, and the Mercury News releasing a poll that shows 85% of the participants favor the mayor stepping down, we thought we would take our own, primitive poll…

It was the biggest fight ever seen in San Jose. The adversaries were “Frank Heney,” at 450 pounds, versus the team of “Reuf” and “Schmitz,” each weighing in at 250 pounds.  The victor was “Frank Heney,” who nearly killed his opponents and then kicked them out of the arena.

Says Mercury News Editorial Board Next

Mayor Gonzales took time out of his busy schedule in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, where he delivered the keynote address on “good government” at the annual National League of Cities (NLC) conference, to respond to the latest round of Scud missiles launched at him with intent to inflict bodily harm.

The report of the Special Investigator is now complete for its initial phase.  It is very, very damning in its conclusions regarding Mayor Ron Gonzales and others. The Grand Jury and our own worse fears have been confirmed.  Our Council is now faced with another moment of truth.  I do not know what the majority of this group will do. It is a time for sober reflection and candor; it is a time for courage and leadership.  Silence will not do at such a critical time in our city’s history.  We are providing a link to the editorial in today’s San Jose Mercury News.  Please read and comment…Ultimately, the citizens of San Jose will be heard on this issue.  Their judgment is the most important.

To realize the glory of San Jose, including desolate downtown, try moving to Cocoa Beach, Florida, as I did last year.  I would give anything to be back in San Jose complaining about tumbleweeds tumbling across San Carlos, or watching children cavorting on the Quetzalcoatl Statue. Cocoa Beach has its attractions: the annual “I Dream of Jeannie Look-a-Like Contest,” and the world renowned Ron Jon Surf Shop. But that’s about it except for a pawn shop built to resemble a castle and painted orange. Not complaining. I like the beach. But I can’t stop thinking about San Jose with its odd charms and central location. I don’t think downtown San Jose really needs “saving,” but some judicious purchase of “wonders” would liven things up a bit.

I do like give and take; it’s healthy, it’s in my nature, and I believe that is the tradition of San Jose—a hallowed one. But if our next mayor’s race becomes the traditional American election, one full of personalities but short of vision, replete with attacks, more thunder than light, then we all lose.  Our city needs the next campaign to be about ideas and issues rather than platitudes and endorsements and who is the “nicest.” With that goal in mind, I’d like to speak about issues and an idea or two—those things that we need to be the focal points of the next mayoral election, namely growth, a big park, safety and ethics.

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. 

We lost a great benefactor to our community when Faith Davies died in 1996 at age 91.  Not only was she one of the most generous people, she witnessed and was intimately connected with the growth of the largest and most important business in our pre-Silicon Valley, the Food Machinery Company, or FMC.

Council Unable to Question City Manager in Annual Review

Predicting a haranguing about his role in the Norcal garbage scandal, City Manager Del Borgsdorf was able to fend off any direct questions by filibustering anxious council members during a rare eight-hour, closed-door, annual performance review on Tuesday.