This is SJI’s weekly open forum, where you set the agenda. What’s on your mind?

San Jose Inside is now equipped with a “tagging” feature that will make it easier to keep track of people and subjects. We have also upgraded the server software to allow for “threaded” or “nested” comments, making it possible to reply directly to a comment. As a result, it will no longer necessary to begin a post with “#7 Kathleen” or “#4 JMO” (a clever work-around invented by the SJI community).

BBC News North American Editor Justin Webb is returning to England after a seven year assignment in the United States.  Webb shared his feelings about America in an article posted on the BBC News website.  His thoughts paint a picture of America from the outside looking in, and convey a sense of respect and admiration for our country that is seldom heard.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has surprisingly reached my desk, in the form of $3.14 million of new revenue to the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE). These funds are one-time only and must be used within 18 months or be returned to the Federal government.

At last Wednesday’s Board meeting, I and my fellow SCCOE trustees were asked to approve a revision of the FY2009-10 budget to incorporate these new funds into our previously approved budget. I voted “aye” reluctantly, with an admonition to County Superintendent Weis and staff that every public dollar is spent wisely with strong accountability measures. It is also our obligation that we make certain that the ARRA funds help stimulate the local economy.

Anyone who’s watched an open meeting of City Council will have seen council members fiddle with their iPhones and Blackberries to check their latest emails or text messages. Councilmember Sam Liccardo now argues that those messages should be disclosed to the public as part of the city’s policy on open governance.

“Council meetings are open to the public for a reason,” Liccardo says, “and if we’re voting on a matter and outside groups are using private means to communicate with us about how we should or shouldn’t vote, the public ought to know what’s being said and who’s saying it.”

The 20th San Jose Jazz Festival was a shining success—for itself, and also for Downtown San Jose. The festival showcased straight-up jazz, Latin jazz, blues, and Brazilian music, at outdoor stages scattered throughout the Downtown. Many of the Downtown hotels were filled with visitors, which means money for the City of San Jose in the form of transit occupancy tax (TOT). Forty percent of this tax goes to the general fund, and the balance is split between the convention center, cultural facilities, cultural grants and arts groups.

As the sun came up revealing all the burned out people and campfires, Jefferson Airplane played Wooden Ships. A serape-skirted woman with long blond hair played the flute in the campsite next to ours. The sun rose and everyone collectively woke up. The Hog Farm was spread out on the knoll above us serving a breakfast of brown rice and vegetables. We were all exhausted but it wasn’t that different than any other camping trip we’d gone on. Just a whole lot more people and a lot better music.

Well we’re a day late and a dollar short. The weather’s too nice here in sunny San Jose to stay inside and post, so we recommend you get out and enjoy the sunshine. Take a walk, ride a bike, hike a mountain, visit a park or head to the beach. If there’s anything on your mind on any subject that you’d like to share with fellow San Joseans, though, please share it here.

Lost in the ongoing debate for a national health care system are questions of personal responsibility. If we as a nation accept and require that everyone should receive health care services, shouldn’t there be some minimal standards of responsibility to help the program along?

The son of a former tennis partner of mine called and left a frantic message on my phone last week. I called him back the next morning to find out what he wanted. Like so many others before him he was trying to get my relatively informed advice about where to put his child in school. He recently moved into the San Jose Unified District.

Of course, I understood the urgency in his voice. This is one of the most important decisions a parent can make. Most times the decision is made due to geographic boundaries solely, and the parents have little voice. He asked if I knew any tricks of the trade to get his son into a school that’s not in his immediate area.

The City of San Jose closed a $84 million dollar budget shortfall for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, which resulted in 13 city employees being laid off. However, these 13 former employees are first in line for job openings at the City should they become available. Also as a result of the balanced budget, 250 city employees moved into different departments and/or positions based on their seniority. For those 250 people involved in the “bumping,” it is a intricate process that is all about years or months of service that I will attempt to explain. Bumping is governed by the Civil Service Rules.

Guest column by Jack Wimberly
Neighborhood associations typically come with a uniqueness all their own but most share a common thread of yards and single-family dwellings, with a dash of charm.  Downtown San Jose, an area playing host to many domiciles, lacks that thread on a sizeable scale.  Her neighborhoods consist of busy thoroughfares, mass transportation, and transients—transient workers, transient travelers and transient residents.

Was Cesar Chavez a racist?  No, I don’t think so.  But today, people of every political stripe and ethnicity are labeled “racists” for espousing some of the same attitudes towards immigration and immigration law as Cesar Chavez did.

Figures just released by the Sacramento Bee calculate how much local counties, cities, and redevelopment agencies across the state will be forced to pay to cover the $3.7 billion that the state needs to balance its own budget. In Santa Clara County, that sum comes to $185,253,807.

The word equity comes from the Latin root aequus, meaning fair. Equity and fairness should be the foremost constructs when it comes to students and public schools. Lately, I have been pondering whether there is a real or perceived Machiavellian plot to create a rulebook for Charter schools that is inequitable toward public schools and their districts. What is good for Charters should also be good for district schools and vice versa. I am getting increasingly suspicious and concerned.

The first council meeting of the new fiscal year will result in discussing the new budgets cuts that must be made due to Sacramento’s raid of cities’ property tax money. Since San Jose does not want to look at delivering services differently, as Chicago and other cities do, then that leaves us with only one option: cut services to San Jose residents.