San Jose Inside

These last days of July and the first few weeks in August continually prey on my mind. As an educator I always want what is best for all students: great teachers, rigorous, engaging lessons, and high expectations for learning. As an administrator, one has the charge to provide these during the 180-day school year. But what about the 65-70 days of summertime?

Do you remember the commercial for Ginsu Knives from the late ‘70s?  It would show a sharp knife on TV cutting through everything from tomatoes to tin cans. The announcer would repeatedly say: “But wait! There’s more!”

Well, just when you thought we had a balanced budget for the City of San Jose, the state of California has said “But wait! There’s more!”

A privacy-invading anonymous website known for personal attacks on journalists and political adversaries of local labor-backed politicians has been tied to the inner circle of former vice mayor and newly-appointed South Bay Labor Council chief executive Cindy Chavez.

According to electronic evidence inspected by San Jose Inside, an administrator of the site, “San Jose Revealed,” is Manhattan-based former SBLC political director Philip Bump. The labor council made payments to Bump until earlier this year, according to two sources.

It’s a special summer Friday edition of SJI’s open forum, where visitors to the site—including hard-core regulars and newbies—set the topics of discussion. What’s on your mind? 

Citing “low morale” and “childish” political infighting on Gilroy’s city council, Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage announced that he will run for mayor of that city. Gage served on Gilroy’s City Council from 1981 to 1997, when he ran for a seat on the county’s Board of Supervisors.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed struck a defiant pose yesterday in response to California’s new state budget. After hammering out a difficult budget of his own to cover the city’s $84 million deficit, Reed was shocked to learn that his city could be handing over as much as $100 million to the state.

His strategy is simple: Sue the state. “We will certainly be joining in with other cities in litigation,” he said.

This was echoed by mayors across California

Are we witnessing today the disintegration of California before our very eyes? The budget decisions the “Gang of Five” have agreed to might be the beginning of the end for California’s world leadership. America has been known to act boldly when we are threatened by global competition. Remember Sputnik in 1957? Can we find the same spirit in 2009 to confront the $26 billion California budget deficit?

I was recently downloading classic songs on my iTunes from the late ‘70s, two of which were Bob Welch’s “Ebony Eyes,” and Player’s “Baby Come Back.” iTunes is great because I can choose the specific songs I like rather than having to purchase the entire album. While downloading my songs, I was thinking about how we choose our politicians. Unfortunately, we don’t get to pick politicians the way we do music, although I bet most of us would like to. It would be great to choose the top characteristics of the best candidates in a race and then take those skill sets and create our own politician.

San Jose Inside’s open forum for ideas and opinions on any topic is open for business. What’s on your mind?

Just over a month ago, San Jose-based Cisco Systems replaced GM on the Dow Jones list of the nation’s biggest companies. Now the networking and communications giant announced that it will be laying off some 700 people at its corporate headquarters in San Jose. The move is part of a larger strategy, announced in November, to reduce spending by $1 billion in fiscal 2009. At the time, the company announced that it “will be targeting reductions in travel and discretionary-related expenses, including offsites, outside services ... and other activities.” The company is now saying that “this limited restructuring is part of our ongoing, targeted realignment of resources.”

Critics are noting that Cisco’s second corporate headquarters in Bangalore, India, is soon to be expanded to 3,000 workers.

A press release arrived today from California’s Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, that read like something in The Onion. It announced the approval of an initiative to require drug and alcohol tests of all members of the state legislature. Among other things, the statute would “prevent a legislator who tests positive from performing his or her official duties or from getting paid until that legislator completes a substance abuse program.”

Fly can practically hear the conversation that led to this effort: “I think they’re all high on glue.” “What are they, smoking crack?”

Regents of the UC system are meeting in San Francisco to decide on how to implement the necessary budget cuts for the coming year. The meeting comes in the wake of an $800 million cut in state funding to ten-school system’s budget, compounded by an additional $335 million deficit expected over the next two years because of increasing costs.

They will be voting on a plan unveiled by UC President Mark Yudof to impose furloughs and salaries on 100,000 staff members, which will reduce their pay by 4 to 10 percent. The biggest cuts would be borne by the highest-paid staff members, with Yudof himself taking a 10 percent pay cut. This was unsatisfactory to protestors gathered outside his house this week, who pointed out that Yudof is already earning $800,000, while they are barely earning enough to provide for their families.

Another downtown club went dark last week as SJPD Chief Rob Davis used the city’s urgency ordinance for the first time, suspending the entertainment permit of the SoFA district’s Club Wet for one month. Recent club closures unrelated to the urgency ordinance include Taste, The Vault Ultralounge and Johnny V’s.  The urgency measure gives the chief broad discretion to close businesses viewed as imminent threats to public safety. The ordinance was passed by the city council two years ago following a shooting incident in the parking lot outside Club Ambassador.

A U.S. District Court judge dismissed two state legislators, Assemblyman Joe Coto (D) of San Jose and Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D) of Los Angeles, from a lawsuit filed by the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigrant group, which claims that its First Amendment rights have been violated. The legislators had petitioned Caltrans to revoke the group’s Adopt-a-Highway program and remove a sign bearing the group’s name.

I reported for jury duty last week to the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse on Hedding Street in San Jose. Once I checked in I was asked to report to Department 38. As I walked into the courtroom, I was brought back to a time when my job included monitoring a middle school dress code.

I sat there rather surprised by some of the attire worn to court by fellow prospective jurors. I felt similarly many times as a principal, when I had to reprimand students for inappropriate attire and ask them to change into something appropriate for class.