ESPN is cool, but San Jose Channel 15 is cooler.

The new apartment I moved into has cable, and I’m a new man. And although I was excited about ESPN (and basically any channel that expands my viewing options beyond Law and Order and CSI reruns) I’ve decided that nothing beats Channel 15—our local community access television. Peep the line-up: In the few hours I had it on while moving furniture, I watched sermons on three different religions in three different languages, two shows on paranormal activity, a kids mariachi group dance in the back of a parking lot, and one dude yell at his camera crew for a half hour straight. It was the best. The Civic Center channel is cool, and lets you get a glimpse into the political machinery at City Hall, but if you want a ground up view of San Jose, its diverse interests, beliefs, and unadulterated directions, Channel 15 is your looking glass.

Hope your Christmas and Hanukkah holidays were enjoyable. City Hall is closed from Dec. 24 through Jan. 5 for the annual furlough. Like many people, I am spending time with family and reconnecting with friends. I have known many of my friends since San Jose grammar school in the 1970s and ’80s, so that puts us in the 35-45 age range. Most of my friends are married with children and both parents or partners work. Our discussions usually include catching up and memories of the past. This year, however, our conversations were mostly about the economy.

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.

Last week, Apple announced that next year’s MacWorld would be its last.  In a related article, the SF Chronicle reported that several other large trade shows have been cancelled, and that the city would take a direct financial hit as a consequence.  The article offered a quote from an industry expert who declared the days of large-scale trade shows to be over.

Meanwhile, San Jose continues to make plans for a $300 million expansion of the convention center.  Rather than spending $300 million on the expansion, why not entice Google to buy the Sobrato Tower (now owned by Oracle) with a $100 million subsidy?  Think about it…a Google move to the downtown would be a huge (and permanent) financial shot in the arm for the hotels, restaurants, and merchants. 

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.

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?”

By Erin Sherbert
The Nov. 4 election was about month away, and with a downtrodden economy, it appeared that a transportation tax like the BART measure was going to need all the help it could get. So San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a leading proponent of the BART tax, made some back-and-forth calls to the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s president, Pat Dando, requesting some face time with her board.

Dando turned him down.

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