San Jose Inside

UPDATE—Friday 6pm: Mayor Chuck Reed endorses Carrasco.

District 2 Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. proved himself to be a gentle giant at this morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting, shedding more than a few tears over the controversial Arizona immigration law, SB 1070.

“I’ve tried to suppress my emotions, so hopefully they won’t come out,” he said in opening, but to no avail. Face reddening, the poor guy basically lost it.

I served as a principal of public schools for nearly 20 years, so it is with tremendous empathy toward the administrators at Morgan Hill’s Live Oak High School that I write this week’s post. I also have empathy for the students on both sides of the political maelstrom.

This year, the San Jose City Council is forced to make drastic cuts. Unfortunately, the city of San Jose has had a deficit for the last decade even before the Great Recession. In fact, even without the recession, San Jose’s financial obligations are significantly higher then revenues coming into the city.

As a result current elected officials are left with trade offs often having to pit necessary services against each other. This year the deficit is $118 million. This is more then the entire library, transportation, planning, code enforcement, information technology, city attorney and public works departments combined.

Former District Attorney George Kennedy says that he has mellowed out in retirement. Sitting beachside in Santa Cruz where he now lives, a strong breeze tossing his newly longish hair, he looks very much the part of the retiree, not so much the fearsome four-term district attorney.

Kennedy was the first person outside of his family that Assistant DA Jeff Rosen consulted with over his decision to run against his boss, District Attorney Dolores Carr. And though Kennedy has traded his wing-tips for flip-flops, he agreed to jump into the fray on Rosen’s behalf.

Calling Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith “an absolute jewel,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on the elected official’s behalf at a May 5 Los Gatos fundraiser that may have raised close to $100,000 by some early estimates. Smith called it her most successful fundraiser ever.
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Former Assembly member John Laird and current Assembly member Sam Blakeslee may have officially announced their candidacies and are preparing for a shotgun wedding-style campaign for recently confirmed Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado’s 15th district senate seat – but hooold your horses, cowboys! A lawsuit filed this morning is trying to delay the June 22 special election and names one of the counties in the district, Monterey, as a defendant. The document says the special election ordered by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last month would put Monterey County in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

Minh Duong, a 31-year-old furniture store owner vying to oust City Councilmember Madison Nguyen from her seat representing District 7, got a huge boost last month when the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce gave him its endorsement.

Duong says that winning the ChamberPAC’s support was a huge shock, even to him. Before this election season, the ChamberPAC consistently supported Nguyen, even backing her in her 2009 recall campaign.

In Sunday’s Mercury News, reporters Linda Goldston and Vinne Tong wrote, “Arizona’s SB 1070 allows police to stop and ask about a person’s immigration status when they suspect the person could be in the U.S. illegally.”  Is that true?

Sometimes when I read the blog responses to my weekly post I feel like my opinion on educational funding issues is in the smallest of minorities. Sometimes I wonder if I am a lone voice in the wilderness. I was quite heartened when I recently read the results of a new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California funded by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation that places my opinion with most of my fellow Californians. I now feel vindicated, but so what?

I hope your weekend was enjoyable. I wanted to let you know that I believe that you have a very difficult job and I wanted to say thank you for your nearly 30 years of service to San Jose.

Managing an organization of approximately 1,400 people, public or private, is a challenge. It is impossible to make everyone happy internally or externally all of the time, or even some of the time. Overseeing a Police Department is one of the most difficult and demanding jobs one could have because of the high level of public scrutiny. As I have heard you say many times at the police academy graduations; wearing the police uniform puts the officer in the spotlight and all eyes are on the police officer. Our police are judged by everything from their words to the tone of their voice to body language.

With the retirement of Assistant Chief Katz there is a void in the police department leadership ranks.

The campaign to hold a statewide constitutional convention fizzled out last February. That’s when Repair California, the bi-partisan organization behind the bid, ran out of funds and announced their efforts would have to be put on hold.

This Saturday, statewide leaders from both sides of the aisle will be coming together at San Jose State University to discuss fixing California’s broken government. Titled “Reviving California Community Summit,” the public event will focus on re-building momentum for comprehensive reform.

Both the Police Department and the Fire Department have an uphill battle ahead of them as they prepare to fight the City Council’s decision that they either take an across-the-board 10 percent pay cut or lose jobs. Cooperation between them might strengthen their position, but that’s not likely to happen soon. The bone of contention is Proposition K, which would expand gambling within San Jose

Two San Jose medical marijuana clubs announced this afternoon that they’ve filed a lawsuit against San Jose’s City Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Department and its director, Joseph Horwedel.

County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. doesn’t seem like the sort of guy to turn down a good steak, especially when it’s for a good cause. Shirakawa has invited the public to join him at Maceio Brazilian Steak House in downtown San Jose this evening, as part of the Dining Out for Life event to benefit local HIV/AIDS services.