Friday night ended up being “Girls Night Out,” so we decided to go grab dinner and drinks in Santana Row for a change.  And, I gotta say, it’s always a big change.  Every time I visit Santana Row I wonder: what is it about this suburban mini-mall that has the secret formula that downtown cannot figure out?

Gonzales Vows to Get Rid of Unnecessary Cops

After much criticism from the Mercury News over his unusual number and frequency of security detail for political and business trips, Mayor Gonzales has pledged to cut back on his taxpayer supported “posse” by hiring a single bodyguard—Kevin Costner.

Even though I am in Boston trying to concentrate on watching Joe Thornton (briefly) and the Sharks make a triumphant return to Beantown,  the council’s recent comments on the censure of the mayor were quite incredible and his action to remove “himself” even more bizarre. The council members seem not to understand the gravity of the issue by the tone of their comments, or in some of their cases, non-comments; Mr. Gonzales does.

Saturday night I was reminded of one of the great things about San Jose, a good ole Irish pub with the catchphrase slogan of “You’re But a Stranger Here Once,” O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub in San Pedro Square.  It is what I call my favorite “local” bar. It is great for many reasons, including the comfy environment, friendly bartenders and authentic feel, but mainly because it stands in direct contrast to the places that have gone terribly wrong in downtown San Jose. 

“This guy is the King Kong of lobbyists,” says Jerry Strangis

After several months of negotiations, San Jose lobbyist Jerry Strangis of Strangis Properties has pledged his influence and power, as well as his access and client list, to recently convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff in order to form San Jose’s first lobbying “superfirm.”

As many know, the number one spectator sport in America is not a sport at all—it’s politics.  The year ahead should prove most interesting for such aficionados. There has been so much focus on Ron Gonzales that it is time to take a break and comment on the general, instead of any specific problems in this area; the others are now with the grand jury, the DA, and the most important court of all, the court of public opinion.

I celebrated the New Year with a wedding.  No, I didn’t fly off to Vegas on a whim, or watch “Wedding Story” on the TLC network. But I attended the wedding of a good friend to ring in 2006.

This is a week-long year-end discussion.
Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher/ emperor, said late in life that
no matter how old he got, the people that he greeted along the Appian
Way always remained the same, about twenty-five and seemly.  Well,
unlike his subjects, we all “do” change, and at Christmas and the dawn
of new year, we all have hopes and dreams for ourselves and our City. 
Let’s share our best Christmas memories and thoughts for San Jose.

San Jose Positioning Itself For New Draft Pick

In an eerie coincidence with 49er quarterback Alex Smith, City Manager Del Borgsdorf has cited “small hands” as the reason for his resignation as the city’s top executive.

It is often said that with people, their true measure is not so much how they deal with success, but how they deal with failure and adversity.  Most of us have had plenty of both in our lives and had to learn to absorb and work through it by trying to make failure, either meaningful or productive.  So it is with our city. 

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?

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…