San Jose Inside

It’s a holiday reprise of the always popular Rants & Raves, where SJI’s contributors set the agenda, determine the topic and reel off the spiel of their choice. What’s on your mind?

Two weeks before Mark Zuckerberg was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” The Mercury News reported on Zuckerberg’s intention to donate much of his wealth to charity. I’d like to offer the following suggestions to Mark, and to any other billionaires looking for charity investment ideas.

This past summer, Cisco Systems, the biggest employer in Silicon Valley,  announced plans to build 2.5 million square feet of office space on 140 acres near its Tasman Avenue campus over the next 20 years. To help grease the skids with the city on this and other projects and initiatives, the San Jose–based network giant has hired longtime political aide Mike Potter. The local government affairs position is clearly a step up for Potter, who has pretty much had the same job for 15 years.

In eleven days we celebrate the first day of the new year. For Californians it is the most critical year for our future as a state, at least in my lifetime, in my opinion.

Few can argue that quality public education is the means for us to reduce crime, increase employment, grow the economy and decrease poverty. California schools have $20 billion less than was promised by the legislature three years ago. Therefore, we can no longer continue to slash funds from already under-resourced institutions without peril to our children, their teachers and our future. This insanity must stop in 2011 with the help of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s leadership.

Last year, the council was faced with cutting the aquatics program down from ten pools to two due to the budget deficit. Stuck between a rock and a hard place the council invoked the “Unique Service Purchase” clause.

Team San Jose chief Dan Fenton resigned this week, following critical audits of TSJ’s financial management of city facilities.  Team San Jose was formed in 2004 in a coalition between labor groups and the city’s hospitality sector. It serves as San Jose’s Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as the operator of the convention center and performing arts facilities, including the Center for Performing Arts, the Civic Auditorium and the California Theater. Exceprts from Fenton’s resignation letter follow.

I wanted to take this opportunity to inform you of a recent decision I have made. I have decided to step down as the CEO of Team San Jose. I have had 14 plus years in the San Jose community and it is time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life. I have thought about the wonderful accomplishments and experiences I have had and want to share some of them with you.

Thirty-six years ago I began my teaching career at Osborne School at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. I was hired by Superintendent Glenn Hoffmann (who served from 1967-84), a charismatic and visionary man, as a first-year teacher for the then-Office of the County Superintendent of Schools.  As of last Wednesday evening, I am the newly elected board president of the same office, which is now the Santa Clara County Office of Education

At its weekly meeting on Tuesday, the City Council signed off on the new design-build contract for the Convention Center despite its $120 million price tag. That did not, however, signal its support for the folks at Team San Jose, the public-private coalition that runs the place.

They’re calling him “RF Jay” at the district attorney’s office after a newspaper columnist compared him to late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. And deposed DA Dolores Carr probably wishes she hadn’t demoted the office’s newly named chief assistant, Jay Boyarsky, back in 2007. That move ultimately wound up costing her her job. Oops….

At its meeting yesterday, the San Jose City Council passed the most stringent ban on plastic bags in the Bay Area. Stores will no longer be allowed to hand out plastic bags in 2012, with the exception of restaurants and second hand shops. With this ban, San Jose will be following the lead of ten other cities in California, including Palo Alto, Oakland and San Francisco.

In a small city park in West San Jose, there’s a drinking fountain that’s in need of repair. The fountain’s water source has been shut off, presumably until repairs can be made. The water fountain has been “closed” at Gullo Park for not just the past few weeks, or even a month, it’s been unusable for most of this past year.

Tax Base Erosion Night lived up to its name last Tuesday at the Council meeting as a truck drove through the Employment Lands Framework. Council voted 8-3 to amend the General Plan and allow new townhouses instead of reserving land for jobs next to Santana Row. Thank you to Rose Herrera and Sam Liccardo for voting to hold the line and retain our tax base.

The City Auditor is at it again, finding ways to save San Jose money while cutting back services only minimally. This week’s target is the SJPD, which has already suffered from severe budget cuts.

It was a tough week, image-wise, for the City of San Jose. The nation’s seventh-smartest city looked pretty stupid thanks to two stories that received a fair amount of press attention.

City Councilwoman Rose Herrera didn’t mince her words. “If we were the private sector we would be asking for resignations,” she said about Team San Jose, which runs the McEnery Convention Center and Visitors Bureau.

Councilman Sam Liccardo reported that when compared with six other similar-sized California cities, San Jose comes in dead last in the number of conventions booked. Meanwhile, special events like the Genghis Khan exhibition not only end up losing money—they have to be bailed out by the city. Yet shortly after CEO Dan Fenton informed the city that Team San Jose was $950,000 over budget, he went and gave bonuses to himself and his staff