Pierluigi Oliverio has come under fire recently for his campaign fliers that show him posing with kids and what some people believe is his “pseudo family.” I just have to come to the defense of Oliverio. Being single is tough no matter where you are or where you live, and even tougher, apparently, if you are running for a council seat in the ultra family-oriented Rose Garden and Willow Glen neighborhoods.

How City Officials Made an 18-Story Building Disappear

In November 2001, the City of San Jose Finance Department presented a Measure I legal recertification study to the city council. (The Measure I initiative, approved by San Jose voters in 1996, required that a new civic center could only be built if it were cost effective.) The city’s recertification analysis concluded that if commercial lease rates dipped to a level of $28.11 per square foot, building a new complex would not be cost effective, and the city would be obliged not to pursue the construction of the new center planned for Santa Clara Street.

Claim Lieber’s “Thinly-Veiled” Legislation Targets Recreational Flogging

Just hours after Assembly Member Sally Lieber went public with her no-spanking legislation, the pornography industry responded in kind with their anti-no-spanking campaign to try and defeat a law that they claim will eventually lead to a total ban of all kinds of flogging.

We seem to spend a lot of time on this site bemoaning the fact that San Jose is perceived as a second-class member of the “ten largest cities in the U.S.” club (we don’t get the big convention or we don’t get the big team). Why? In a blog earlier this week, some cynic even compared San Jose to Toledo and Omaha. The comparison might be apt if we were surrounded by the vacuum of the prairie, but we aren’t.

Few of us have given much thought to Joyce Kilmer, fine “woman” that he was, since we were forced to memorize his poems in grammar school, forever immortalizing the basic “tree.”  I think we would have agreed then that very few poems we were forced to learn by rote are as beautiful as the green, wavy creatures that we see every day around us.  When we found out later that Kilmer died in the muddy fields of France in 1918, it made him a bit more interesting—the tragic poet. Yet, that damn poem rang out in our minds, at least one line anyway. 

A few weeks ago, I attended MacWorld for my company.  As I was driving to San Francisco, fighting traffic every step of the way, I had a thought: Why am I driving to San Francisco for this show? 

After I paid my $23 for parking (and we think we have issues here) near the Moscone Center and got inside the convention center, I was awed by the size and scale of this show and the sheer volume of people attending.  I know, our rinky-dink convention center does not have the capability of hosting a show anywhere near that size; but why should that be?  Why can’t we get it together as a city to make our convention center a place where these world-class shows can come? 

The Truth Behind San Jose’s New City Hall

The new City Hall complex at Fourth and Santa Clara was built with the promise that it would save the city money.  But the truth is, much more money could have been saved if an honest and intelligent approach had been applied to the process.

University to Move to Houston to Be Closer to Dynamo

In yet another blow to San Jose’s fragile psyche, plans by developer Lew Wolff to return professional soccer to San Jose by building a new $80 million stadium on the campus of San Jose State University were dealt a blow yesterday as SJSU President Don Kassing announced that the university would be relocating to Houston.

I would like to start by taking a different direction in the budget debate and bring up the matter of saving money at City Hall through conservation and converting San Jose into a green city fit for the 21st century. With a $3 billion budget, even a fragment of 1 percent saved would be a lot of money that could be used for other purposes. I know that steps have been taken in this direction, but a lot more could be done. Every city function should be regularly reviewed and monitored to reach and maintain maximum efficiency. I see lots of gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups with the city logo driving around. They should be replaced by hybrids or other alternative fuel vehicles as they wear out. All city buildings, works and public transportation should be converted to take advantage of modern technological innovations in cleaner, alternative power. The airport takes a huge portion of our budget and it should lead the way in conservation and green conversion. San Jose should actively set an example for our citizens and other cities around the country. This is the center of world technology. Let’s use it and show what it can do! 

It seems that on this week of a great man’s birthday, we should remember the wonderful quote that reminds us that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.” It is particularly pertinent to our situation now in San Jose.

OK, so I have to admit, when I heard the news last week that David Beckham—footballer and purely perfect human being to boot—was joining Major League Soccer to play for the LA Galaxy, one thought immediately popped into my head:

WHY DON’T WE HAVE A TEAM HERE ANYMORE?

This week, we thought we would focus in on what the priorities of our city government should be, given its limited resources. We daily columnists will all be weighing in on our regular days with some thoughts of our own. To get the ball rolling, we want to give our bloggers an open forum to express their views first. So we hope that you will take the opportunity to tell us what you think today.

Shoppers Skeptical as Several Cannibals Found Eating Outside Tommy Bahama’s

Upscale shopping center Santana Row—70 shops, 20 restaurants, 5 spas, 1 hotel, 24 hours—has now added, “10 security check points” to its slogan in a bold, and some say overreaching, plan to rid the mall of violence.

Where would our South Bay community be without the philanthropy of David Packard, son of the late Silicon Valley giant? I asked myself that question yet again last Sunday after attending a screening of the 1920 silent film, “The Mark of Zorro,” with expertly assembled and performed live organ accompaniment by Dennis James (always great) at the California Theatre. The film was preserved and the showing was supported by the Packard Humanities Institute; the theater was completed and the vintage Wurlitzer organ rebuilt with funds from the same foundation. Indeed, it is doubtful whether the restoration of the California Theatre, home to Symphony Silicon Valley and the San Jose Opera, would have happened at all without Packard.

Between Andrew Bales and Single Gal, it seems that the subject of the week is “whither San Jose’s cultural scene.”  But, before that, the swearing in of our new mayor deserves a big mention.  Chuck Reed’s big event was just what you would expect of it: solid, dignified, hopeful.  From the casual and friendly manner of Mayor Reed, his wife Paula and his staff, to the impressive administration of the oath by a genuine hero—his daughter, Air Force Major Kim Campbell—it was just the antidote to a dismal recent municipal history. A good time was had by all.

Yesterday’s excellent guest column by Andrew Bales reminded me of when I was having lunch with my uncle the other day and how we got onto the topic of culture in San Jose.  We talked about the theatre, opera, symphony and ballet, and how all of these various local arts groups have had a difficult time sustaining themselves in San Jose.