Anyone who is a regular reader of Leonard McKay’s columns knows something of our once-idyllic valley before it was paved over and covered with seemingly endless, sprawling housing developments and strip malls. Residents of Santa Clara County have seen the population nearly double to two million since 1970 with no end in sight. With profits to be made, the county is in real danger of losing its remaining open spaces to greedy developers who care nothing about the quality of life of those of us who live here. The Santa Clara County Land Conservation Initiative on the November ballot aims to insure that an adequate amount of our open space remains that way for future generations.

When it comes to advice, almost always listen to your mom. Sometimes you might not believe her, but give it a bit of time. For instance: “When you see a crowd, go the other way.” Just think how many problems you would avoid with that simple act.  “A stitch in time saves nine”—now that’s actually an old wives’ tale, but mom said it too. Get on things early, fix them, and save a lot of pain. There is no shortage to the things your dear mom could save you from if only you would listen

Recently a new shopping mall, San Jose Market Center, opened up right outside of downtown on Coleman Ave and Taylor Street. It boasts retail giants such as Target, PetSmart, Office Depot and Cost Plus, while also offering services such as nails, tanning and even dentistry.  But the interesting thing is now that restaurants are popping up in the Market Center (Panera Bread, Red Brick Pizza, and soon Unamas and Chili’s), people are leaving downtown for the ease and the convenience of the mini-mall.  Is the death toll sounding once again for downtown?

Swing for the fences!

One of the greatest and most memorable pleasures of my youth was learning to swim and dive and spending each summer immersed in the local public pool in my small southern California hometown where the temperature often exceeded 90 degrees. This is probably a very common memory of baby-boomers who grew up in our state. For me, this love of swimming has followed me through life into near-decrepitude and I can’t imagine my life without it. Unfortunately, the youth of our city do not currently have the same opportunity.

It is time to look at the pros and cons of our summer. Just what exactly are the pluses and minuses that can be attributed to our city as we approach the middle of August? A big plus is the Zero One Festival that is occurring this week.  On the harmony front, once again Music in the Park is drawing big crowds, but the enthusiastic revelers and music lovers are much less a source of business to the downtown bar and restaurant owners than the Downtown Association would like you to believe. Some think that they are barely registering on the Richter scale of monetary activity among the vast majority of the businesses downtown.  And the opinion of the police is that the crowds are too massive and it is not a particularly engaging use of Chavez Plaza.

Because it’s summer and heat waves make me insane, I have been spending a lot of time in our lost-in-the-60s sister town to the south, Santa Cruz.  The more time I spend in the little-beach-town-that-could, the more I realize what we’re missing in San Jose.

Launches Verbal Tirade at City Staff

During a quick trip to San Jose to promote his next movie “The Passion of the Buzz,” actor Mel Gibson stopped off at City Hall to make his feelings known about what he called a “bogus” San Jose city staff recommendation to renew the Norcal contract.

With the drone of last week’s grand prix still ringing in my ears (a deafening sound like millions of giant bees on the warpath) I am looking forward to the coming month’s events in downtown San Jose that are of an altogether more low-key variety. Whereas the grand prix may make the biggest noise possible (even drowning out the departing jets from SJC) and attract a lot of commercial hoopla and out-of-towners, it is enduring events like Cinequest and the San Jose Jazz Festival that are really important to the local community and region.

Just when I thought it was safe to get out of the political water, I get pulled back in in a surprising way.  The latest turn on the Chamber of Commerce’s political mailers in the mayoral primary shows that monies far beyond the local limits were raised and spent.  The mailers attacked the business-as-usual cronyism at City Hall and the role of the city council, led by Cindy Chavez in the absence of a mayor, in various alleged nefarious and outrageous decisions. The topics were fine but not the implementation. 

I know that the subjects of professional sports franchises, music halls, retail and housing have all been discussed on this blog at length as a few things San Jose is missing.  We all agree that San Jose has the amazing potential to be a great city or no one would waste their time talking about it, but my question is: What do we really need in San Jose?

Starbucks and Prolific Oven Fall to Labor Peace Agreements

On the heels of a vote that supported labor peace agreements over caffeine, the San Jose City Council made the controversial decision to allow themselves to be replaced by labor council bosses in all future votes pertaining to labor issues.

I lost my father a few months ago. As I sat with him and watched him gently drift off to wherever it is souls go, it struck me that time is the great leveler of all things human. Each of us has only so much of it and that’s it; you can’t buy more even if you are Bill Gates and have all the money in the world. But it was what my father didn’t say in his last hours that really taught me something valuable. He didn’t wish he had spent more time at the office, talking on a cell phone or worrying if Osama or George W. would blow up the world.

It’s summer now. It is also very, very hot. There have been no severe blackouts yet, but it is hard to tell if that situation will last.  In the world of politics, there seems to be a calm that has descended on our city. This quiet is a much-appreciated relief from the tumult and shouting and headlines of the last few months. Many like to pick up the paper and read—nothing.

All the talk about subsidies and too much money spent on the race will hit its peak as the Grand Prix rolls into town this weekend.  But will this oppressive heat keep spectators away from a fun, novel event that brings more new people to San Jose than almost any other event we’ve had in our city’s history? 

Promoters Hope Donkey Will Boost Attendance

In a bid to boost this year’s attendance at the San Jose Grand Prix, race organizers have added more pedestrian bridges, constructed a more competitive course, invited rock legend David Lee Roth and entered a wild North African ass to race side by side with the CHAMP cars.