San Jose Inside

There is absolutely no magic in achieving the goal of effective schools and classrooms. Quality teachers and principals are the key ingredients to excellence for all. Strong confident leaders and teachers encourage parent participation and inspire all students to learn.

Since Sept. 7 was the Labor Day holiday, the City did not have a regular city council meeting. So, instead the Council had a “study session” on the Greenprint, which is a vision for our parks and community centers.

The city has grown in square footage both in parks and community centers. However San Jose still ranks lower then many cities in its ratio of parks to people, even when you include school property (which is where I used to play as a kid). By 2020 we will be 1,124 acres short of our goal/vision. In fact, we exacerbate this ratio every week by approving affordable housing that is exempt from park fees or land dedication.

It’s SJI’s weekly open forum, where thoughts and opinions on any topic are welcome. What’s on your mind?

San Jose Inside has confirmed that Club Wet in Downtown San Jose’s SoFA District has had its entertainment permit suspended. Police Chief Robert Davis has power to shut a club under San Jose’s emergency ordinance. A four minute video clip of a dance floor brawl at Wet was posted to YouTube this week.  Update: Wet was served late Friday. Club officials say the timing gave them no opportunity to challenge the action in court. The club will be open and be able to serve alcohol and play music, just won’t have live entertainment.

Already reeling from from the fallout from posted YouTube videos of a dance floor rumble, downtown San Jose’s beleaguered entertainment community was thrown another curve this week with the surprise reassignment of Lt. Larry McGrady to the East Side’s Foothill Division. McGrady had promoted communication and improved relations between the San Jose Police Department and Entertainment Zone operators since being appointed to oversee the district in December 2008.

Just a few years ago Ed Munyak, a fire protection engineer for the city of San Jose, seemed like a lonely, out-there figure, a sometimes-target because of his outspoken position on the events of Sept. 11, 2001. These days, hundreds of other building trade professionals have joined him in challenging the official narrative about the collapse of three buildings at New York’s World Trade Center (WTC) on that fateful, traumatic day.

While the idea sounded good in principle, City Council members are finding that it’s not as easy as it seems to put all the text messages that they receive about city business on the municipal record. The city is currently considering a policy that would make all personal electronic communications about official matters public. Ideally, the policy would include all personal emails, text messages, and even Facebook postings. But as Councilman Pete Constant learned, there is no way for him to transfer text messages from his personal iPhone to the municipal email system.

Immediately following President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation’s students yesterday, a diverse mix of juniors in Mr. Mendoza’s US History class at Andrew Hill High School in South San Jose gave their reactions. By a show hands, the President did not poll well.

Municipal whistle-blowers—and political shysters—may no longer be protected by anonymity, if a proposal by the city’s Elections Commission is approved. The proposal suggests that all written complaints of improprieties be signed before they are submitted to a law firm for investigation, and that callers to the anonymous tip hotline state their precise relationship to the person they are accusing.

The proposal was made in response to a series of allegations surrounding former mayor Tom McEnery, which ultimately were found to have no merit.

Even though my advocacy for school uniforms caused a major career snag when I was a middle school principal in Moreland School District nearly 15 years ago, I am still a strong and passionate proponent.  Placing an emphasis on the proper tone for learning while reducing discipline problems are two outcomes of an effective uniform policy. I believe we need a renewed county conversation about the efficacy of school uniforms, particularly for our students in middle school

San Jose’s population is officially 1,006,892! 

1,006,892—confirmed by the State Department of Finance on April 30th of this year. I thought it would be interesting to share how San Jose has grown since 1950. Take a look:

This is the Sept. 5-6 edition of San Jose Inside’s open forum, where users generate the topics of discussion. What’s on your mind?

A report commissioned by San Jose’s Office of Economic Development claims that relocating the Oakland A’s to San Jose would add $130 million to the local economy and create as many 2,100 jobs, almost 1,000 of them new jobs. The anticipated economic benefit to the city is expected to approach $3 billion over the next thirty years. Beneficiaries of the move would include local schools, which can expect to see as much as $842,000 per year from it, and Santa Clara County, which would get $948,000 because of a profit sharing agreement with the city in redevelopment areas.

San Jose’s favorite Evangelical leader, Larry Pegram, chose the biggest political event of the season to come out last week. (No, not like that.) At the annual Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee (COMPAC) picnic, Pegram, who was a vociferous leader on the campaign to ban gay marriage in California last year, was spotted wearing a yellow ribbon, flagging him as a candidate. When asked what office he was seeking, the president of the Values Advocacy Council confirmed that he is eyeing Congress in 2010.

The Toyota Corporation recently announced that the NUMMI Plant in Fremont will be closed next March.  Last week, a number of NUMMI workers and a handful of politicians held a rally outside of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s San Francisco office to protest the decision to close down the plan