San Jose Inside

On Sept. 21, in a SJI post I said, “…school boards as a systemic cause of school failure did not resonate with me.” My post on my pride in the SCCOE Board was very sincere four weeks ago, but rings hollow today. I sit at my computer ashamed at our collective behavior.  What follows is an excerpt of opening remarks I gave in public session on Oct. 13 prior to the vote on whether to undo the censure vote of August 25 against Member Mann and then revote.

Last week, Council dove into a study session about street paving. As you may have heard, San Jose came in last on a national survey on road conditions. This survey was done prior to the $12 million in federal stimulus money that was allocated to San Jose for road paving this summer. 

San Jose’s cost to maintain roads is high due to our suburban sprawl. Total lane miles in San Jose is double that of San Francisco, which came in second for worst roads.

Magdalena Carrasco is calling Xavier Campos to the carpet, publicly demanding that her District 5 city council opponent address whether he had any knowledge of financial wrongdoings at the Mexican American Community Services Agency Youth Center (MACSA), his longtime former employer.

Armed investigators from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office raided the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) Youth Center at 660 Sinclair Dr. in East San Jose Thursday.

The raid began some time this morning. By 5pm, at least five officers with badges around their necks and guns on their belts were loading two unmarked police vehicles from a side door of the community center.

San Jose’s Mayor Chuck Reed is perhaps the most popular and powerful leader in the Bay Area.  Reed was re-elected mayor by a landslide.  No serious challenger took him on for the very simple reason that it was clear that he couldn’t be defeated.  It’s only a matter of time before Chuck Reed’s name will be mentioned as a candidate for state or national office in the next election cycle.

In 2004, Miguel Baldoni was working as a substitute teacher in rural Appalachian Ohio when he heard about a new charter school opening on the East Side of San Jose. He uprooted himself, came to California and got a job teaching chemistry at the Academica Calmecac, which was run by the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA).

He says he was pleased that the position offered him a chance to change the lives of at-risk students who had been left behind by traditional public schools. But he freely admits that the exceptional retirement package promised to all MACSA teachers really cemented his decision to pack his bags and come to Silicon Valley with 10 bucks in his pocket.

“This was the biggest reason why I took this job,” Baldoni says.

The Pentagon in 2009 employed 27,000 people for recruitment, advertising, and public relations for all branches of the military, at a cost of $4.7 billion. No doubt, fulfilling military recruitment quotas is critical for our national security. But there is nothing more important to our homeland security than employing a quality teacher in every classroom.

Sunday’s San Jose Mercury News endorsement of Jerry Brown is getting a bit of traction, as might have been expected. The Brown campaign spread news of the endorsement today in an email blast headlined: “Meg’s Hometown Paper Backs Brown.”

Last week, I got a mailer from the No on V campaign railing against the decisions of past city councils about spending on the Hayes Mansion.  I was elated! I felt validated in my support for selling the Hayes Mansion to stop the annual bleeding of millions of dollars. I wrote about selling the Hayes Mansion two years ago on the Council and on this blog.

Voters must decide on eight state initiatives and referenda next month, all of which will have a deep impact on California politics and culture. These four ballot measures deal directly with how government does its business. Because they will produce structural change in Sacramento and Washington, they may be the most crucial questions state voters have confronted in years.

Last Wednesday, Father James Mifsud, Pastor of Queen of Apostles Church in San Jose, passed away. He was 75 years old.

A wise man once said that “Heroes create joy.” Father Jim created a lot of joy for a lot of people. He was a hero, mentor, guardian, and friend to many thousands of people. James Mifsud stood for the integrity of the individual and looked for the divine in every person.

At a City Council meeting yesterday, Bob Brownstein of Working Partnerships blasted an audit that found the city’s pension benefits program unsustainable, saying it was, “filled with flaws and inaccuracies.”  It was a testy exchange, and at one point, City Councilmember Pete Constant, who chaired the meeting, threatened to have Brownstein removed from the meeting.

This is to correct and clarify several points contained in your article “SBLC Helps Big Political Contributors Erase Their Tracks,” [Sept. 22]. Your article states: “Enforcement of city election laws falls on the Government Integrity Unit of the District Attorney’s Office.” That is inaccurate. Section 12.06.260, which prohibits contributions from card rooms to candidates or candidate controlled committees is found in the San Jose Municipal Code, Title 12. Enforcing violations of Title 12 fall within the jurisdiction of the City of San Jose and its Elections Commission. Title 12 lays out an entire regulatory framework for the investigation of Title 12 violations, including campaign contribution violations.

Measure V puts budget control back in the hands of the elected representatives of the people, which is where it should be. It’s our money, and we elect people that we think will spend it in the most productive way possible.

Measure W would allow the city to create new retirement programs for new hires that are in line with today’s employment landscape. It protects current employees’ pensions— nobody who works for the city will be affected by this change.

The unionized education hourglass has a few minutes of sand left before its upper glass chamber loses its last speck. Race to the Top and the Charter School movement have quickened the pace of the draining granules of sand. Unions can flip the hourglass to gain some time for dialogue, but only if they heed some advice.