San Jose Inside

There appears to be a renewed interest in our county about the health and welfare of some of our most wounded children. My highest praise for the advocacy work being done by Judge Patrick Tondreau, presiding judge of the Juvenile Justice Court and Pam Serrano, Chair of the Juvenile Justice Commission. UPDATED Monday Feb. 21, 1:30pm.

The Budget Valentine will be visiting with the Council today at 1:30pm. The Council is having a public study session that will be streamed on the Internet and broadcast on Channel 26. This meeting will include discussion of what cuts will be required based on the budget shortfall.

The top salaries for city employees in 2010 were released Friday, and recently retired police chief Rob Davis topped the list at $534,576 in total cash compensation. Of the top 15 on the list of 624 full- and part-time City of San Jose workers, nine are members of the police department and five work for the fire department.

San Jose’s oldest deli, Chiaramonte’s Sausage and Deli, opened a location at the airport after a meet-up arranged by the city. Then air traffic plummeted. The airport deli is likely to be out of business within two weeks.

The murder of shopkeeper Vahid Hosseini and the ensuing charges against Williams Rodriguez were a turning point in the political career of former District Attorney Dolores Carr. Now that Jeff Rosen is DA, the problem with Carr’s involvement in the case through her husband has vanished. But the State Attorney General’s office announced yesterday that it has decided to drop the case.

Some meetings have too much at stake to leave to Skype, which is why Mayor Chuck Reed and a small convoy of local officials took a four-day jaunt to Japan last week.

San Jose officials are looking into the possibility of replacing 41 police officers and 12 firefighters currently stationed at the airport with a private security firm. An estimated $10 million could be saved if such a switch were to be made. Airport officials have invited outside companies to submit proposals.

The education of our most vulnerable youth in Santa Clara County should be at the top of our agenda as a civil society. A high-quality educational program implemented for delinquent, foster and truant youth built around their academic, social, emotional and developmental needs and addictions would increase the quality of life for the student and the entire community. It would even reduce our state deficit if we have fewer adults in prison at a cost of $45,000 each per year.

In my opinion, the Council made two great investments two weeks ago for our tax base and jobs. The Council provided $500,000 of Redevelopment Agency (RDA) funds each to Sunpower and Maxim, totaling a one million dollar investment for economic development. These two companies compete globally, therefore they could have chosen any other location in the world. 

Just when the South Bay live music gets back on its own two feet again, along comes something new to kick a leg out from under it. VooDoo Lounge, the 300-capacity nightclub that’s brought the most diverse mix of shows to downtown San Jose for the last 11 years, is closing at the end of February.

As San Jose city officials scramble to convince Governor Brown to not shut down its redevelopment agency, more and more information is coming to the public’s attention that speak to the value and effectiveness of the redevelopment system.  San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders offered the following argument in a recent column, “The Future Of California-Jerry Brown Takes On The Redevelopment Agencies.”

A couple of days before Debra Figone finalized her selection of Chris Moore as the city’s next chief of police, councilman Sam Liccardo referred to the candidates’ race as “the elephant in the room”—Moore, acting chief for the last three months, is white while the other finalist, Oakland Chief of Police Anthony Batts, is black. The real “elephant in the room,” though, was an inflammatory online report by a small newspaper in Long Beach.

Jerry Brown’s plan to dismantle the state’s redevelopment agencies would make things a lot worse for San Jose’s staggering deficit—and eliminate the funding source for the salaries of Mayor Chuck Reed and the San Jose city council.

Every young person listening tonight who’s contemplating their career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation, if you want to make a difference in the life of a child, become a teacher. Your country needs you.

Kudos to Pres. Obama for including that statement in his State of the Union address Last Tuesday night. America’s teaching force is the cornerstone of our society. As Pres. Obama said, teachers are known as national builders in South Korea. He exhorted Americans to treat our teachers with the same level of respect.

As you may remember, two weeks ago I shared that the City of San Jose contracted with a public opinion organization to conduct a telephone poll of 1,000 residents. These residents were asked survey questions from Jan. 13 to Jan .17. In comparison to my web survey, the City did a “scientific survey” which means they called men and women from all council districts, different age groups, ethnically diverse, homeowners and renters who are likely voters. The company responsible is instructed to get a group that mirrors San Jose.