One Last Fight Left for Silicon Valley’s Environmental Activists

If the Silicon Valley region has been a laboratory for high tech innovation, East Palo Alto has been its trash bin. But now, in a hallmark victory for the environmental movement, those days are over. After a more than twenty-year struggle, East Palo Alto residents have managed to force the Department of Toxic Substances to shut down Romic Environmental Technologies Corp., the toxic waste company that processed much of the hidden hazardous material of our valley.

The news that four men (including a former Bellarmine student and current freshman football coach) have been arrested for the murder of Los Gatos businessman Mark Achilli shows that though we live in a safe area, something pulled right out of a Hollywood movie can and did happen in our backyard.

A month ago I drafted a memo that would expand the city’s ordinance to allow Community Benefit Improvement Districts (CBID). This is not an original idea, nor is it cutting edge. In fact, it’s embarrassing that the City of San Jose didn’t jump on this opportunity sooner.

We spent the weekend converting San Jose Inside over to a new server. Thanks Edgar, Adrian, Joel and Ivan for your hard work in getting the new site up.

Astute San Jose Inside readers will notice a few subtle changes. A wider screen, a cleaner interface, larger headlines, more contributors and a cartoon on the front page. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same San Jose Inside, moved over to a faster, more robust server that can accommodate our future growth.

If any comments posted over the weekend were lost in the transition, please repost them, and if you catch any errors or have any feedback on the new look, please feel free to post your thoughts or email me.

Illegally Taught Children Served Up As Beef Substitute

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture was busy trying to replace 143 million pounds of tainted meat reserved for Northern California school districts, the State Legislature was busy trying to figure out what to do with millions of idle California homeschooled children.

Faced with a $220 million deficit, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is on the hunt for easy revenue to buoy the sinking ship. Consequently, Supervisor Pete McHugh is targeting east San Jose’s Reid-Hillview Airport for destruction so the 179 acres it occupies can be developed. (He uses the area around Elmwood Correctional Facility as a model for his proposal.) The problem is that the airport is home to 600 small planes and several aviation businesses, and the county has received millions of dollars in grants from the federal government (the FAA) to keep it open for another 20 years.

Law enforcement uses the state’s gang-enhancement law to crack down on violence, but a judge’s ruling in the Joshua Herrera case raises questions about its reach

THE moment before Rebecca Rivera entered the courtroom to hear whether or not her son Joshua Herrera was going to face a life sentence in prison, she gathered with 40 or so supporters, who were bustling around with nervous tension. “I talked to Joshua last night, and he wanted us all to know that whatever happens in there—he is coming home.” She began to weep, then collected herself and walked into court. The potentially devastating question that was left in her wake, the one no one dared ask, was: When? Rivera had already consoled the mother of another young man involved in the case, Alex Samarro, who had been given 23-to-life the day prior, and knew the pain she saw yesterday could be hers today.

Things often seem to have a new beginning around Easter. In some ways it is more rejuvenating than even New Year’s Day in the minds of many. I am one of those who feel this way. The idea of resurrection is, and should be, a fine chance to start again. It is in the center of my mind this week and presents us with a real opportunity.

I recently read that a Hudson, Kansas judge ordered a man, who had admitted to molesting a boy, to post signs around his house and to put a decal on his car—for the duration of his five years of probation and house arrest—proclaiming that he is a sex offender. My first reaction was: Why shouldn’t we know what he did? Then more questions came up, including: How much do we have the right to know about our neighbors?

Digital technology is definitely a two-edged sword, but it has brought many good things to all of us that we never imagined possible.  In a new twist, I have seen a couple of live satellite broadcasts into local movie theatres of musical performances by Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour in the past year. Although I was skeptical that such a thing could compete with a real concert, what I found, in fact, was that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The sound is superior (and not TOO LOUD like a concert), the visuals are much better, there are no crowds or parking problems, and the ticket cost of $10 is a mere fraction of the price of a concert ticket.

The council meeting last Tuesday evening lasted until almost midnight. The council discussed and voted on the Mayor’s Budget Message, San Jose Medical Center and Mexican Heritage Plaza. I was happy to see the budget discussed at night so more people were able to attend.

Bernanke says $2 billion not a “bailout”

Hoping to avoid a systematic meltdown in cultural institutions in San Jose, the Federal Reserve on Sunday approved a $2 billion credit line for the beleaguered Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke vowed that the money was not a bailout but a “friendly loan” that he fully expects the cultural institution to pay back once the venue is running in the black.

As I recently explained, San Jose Inside has joined an alliance with other local news and information outlets that we will be sharing content with, including Metro Newspapers, Boulevards, NBC11, and the Los Gatos Observer. This means that anything that is posted on San Jose Inside might appear in some form in the publications or broadcasts of the other members.

No, it’s not Brandi Chastain, Sarah Winchester or Madison Nguyen. Since I grew up watching reruns of Maude, I am compelled to cast my vote for Adrienne Barbeau, who graduated from Del Mar High School in 1963. About a year ago, she came back to San Jose to fill in for George Romero at a horror convention and I asked her about Del Mar High. She said it was a flagship school in those days.

Tuesday the San Jose City Council voted 10-1 to approve the plan put forward by Mayor Reed and Councilmember Campos to rebuild and sustain the operation of the Mexican Heritage Plaza.  As we stated in a recent e-mail to our Plaza friends, this decision is the right one and has been nearly ten years in the making.  In that time, many different groups, committees, and policy makers have struggled to solve the structural and financial challenges inherent in operating the Plaza safely, making it available to meet the community’s needs and programming it with critically and popularly successful artistic and cultural events. Since the facility opened:

The protestors have left for the time being and quiet has returned to the plaza of the smoking fountains at San Jose City Hall. How long the peace will last is an open question. It is far too early to discern the answer. But one thing is clear: the primary heroes in the enterprise are evident to all. First and foremost is Sam Liccardo, the District 3 council member who seized the reins and achieved a resolution, snatching stalemate from the jaws of defeat. Then there is Mayor Chuck Reed, who dug the cement out from around the feet of many in City Hall and gave his approval to the agreement that ended the hunger strike of the redoubtable Ly Tong. Vice Mayor Dave Cortese is one who clearly knew that ending this protest, for whatever reason, was the correct course.