San Jose Inside

Robert Reich’s powerful new film, “Inequality for All,” breaks down the disparity of wealth that is so pronounced in this country. It solves the riddle of why San Jose is really two cities, and it explains the great political divide we face locally and as a nation.

San Jose is in desperate need of neighborhood coalitions and the community involvement they foster. Crime has increased and extensive cuts have been made to basic neighborhood services. With our quality of life at stake, it is important for residents to get involved with their local neighborhood associations or community groups.

Steve Holmes represents the kind of citizen leader that we need in the years ahead, as the new paradigm of limited government requires more involvement from private sector volunteers, donors and visionaries. Mr. Holmes is all three and the group he launched, Friends of Los Gatos Creek, has already had a significant and positive impact on one of San Jose’s key environmental challenges.

Earlier this year, Councilman Don Rocha considered calling it quits. He was fed up with a City Council he felt was obsessed with cutting employee costs and not improving public safety, libraries, streets and community centers.. Things are better now and Rocha is willing to stick around. On Wednesday night, the District 9 representative sent out an email and posted to his Facebook page that he’s planning to seek a second term.

Hyperbole is the crudest way to make a point. It’s also the easiest way to lose an audience. But there’s a desperate talking point in local political circles going unchallenged. No longer.

What in tarnation is Chuck Reed up to? Pension reform, of course. The mayor of San Jose got future benefits for city employees scaled back last year with Measure B, and now he’s taking aim at a state ballot measure with the help of Texas moneymen and California libertarians.

After failed past attempts to regulate medical marijuana collectives in San Jose, the city should take up the issue again, says Councilman Don Rocha—just as a voter initiative to legalize the stuff cleared for signature gathering. Other items on the agenda for Wednesday’s Rules and Open Government Committee meeting include Councilman Xavier Campos asking for the city to sponsor a gun buyback event, Voice Mayor Madison Nguyen wanting some pension reform clarification and David Wall doing his best David Wall impersonation.

Agencies in Santa Clara Valley have finalized a sweeping conservation plan that will set out guidelines for development in exchange for preserving South Bay creeks, trails and open space. State, county and local agency leaders will meet Thursday morning at the Anderson Dam in Morgan Hill for a signing ceremony to launch the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan.

On Wednesday, the county Board of Education will make a decision on the charter petition for Alpha: Blanca Alvarado Middle School 2. The vote will be difficult for me.

A nearly 100-year-old Chinese restaurant may get a historic designation, protecting it from new development. The City Council on Tuesday will vote whether to make Ken Ying Low an official historic landmark. Located at 625 N. Sixth St. in Japantown, the building is the last vestige of what was once a Chinese neighborhood. Other items on the council agenda include a $154,000 contract for a company to count trees in San Jose and stricter requirements for healthy options in city-owned vending machines.

Last year it was utility bills. This year, the San Jose Independent Police Auditor’s office has placed signs on more than 100 buses in San Jose, asking residents to reach out if they think a police officer has has broken the law or acted inappropriately. Judge LaDoris Cordell, who oversees the IPA, says the buses on which the ads are displayed—in English, Spanish and Vietnamese—come out of the Chaboya garage line and criss-cross East San Jose and downtown.

Santa Clara County is going forward with a new ordinance to govern lobbyists. By definition, everyone who has an issue or interest is a lobbyist. But this new ordinance would apply only to those who are paid to redress county government.

Families that faced eviction and homelessness were bought a little time Tuesday, when the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to pull $1 million from reserves to cover a shortfall in the Section 8 housing subsidy program caused by the federal sequester.

George Shirakawa Jr. can no longer afford his legal bills, according to his top-dollar lawyer. As a result, county taxpayers will now start picking up the tab. In court Wednesday, attorney John Williams told Judge Risë Jones Pichon that the disgraced former county supervisor needs a public defender to represent him on a felony charge of false personation. That case, as well as a sentencing hearing for Shirakawa’s admitted misuse of campaign funds and perjury, will be heard next week.

All work and no play makes Kansen Chu a dull councilmember. Back in March, the representative for San Jose’s Berryessa district (and 2014 State Assembly candidate) took a trip with his wife—on the city’s dime—to Yosemite National Park to attend the 22nd Annual Ahwahnee Conference for Local Elected Officials. What initially caught Fly’s attention was the conference, titled “Building Livable Communities: New Strategies for a New Age,” was sponsored by a who’s who of who-cares-about-the-environment: PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison Company and the Southern California Gas Company. But a closer look at Councilman Chu’s expense report shows he barely attended the event, despite shelling out $809.54 of taxpayer dollars.