San Jose Inside

In the midst of the city’s worst budget crisis and a worldwide recession, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed headed a panel yesterday that focused solely on the city’s upside, and new efforts to stimulate local business. “This is a no-bad-news zone,” Reed announced to a crowd of business leaders, investors, building owners and realtors gathered in the San Jose City Hall Rotunda for lunch.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom delivered an optimistic message about California’s prospects to members of the San Jose Rotary Club Wednesday. With a Kennedy-esque call to “renew the spirit of imagination” that has defined the state, the candidate for governor called California “a state not just of dreamers, but of doers and entrepreneurs.”

Jennifer Maguire, San Jose’s budget director, has worked for the city for for 18 years, and says she has never seen anything this bad. And she is not hopeful that things will improve fast. “Most economists are predicting a slow recovery,” she said ruefully.

Maguire addressed the City Council as it prepared to vote on the 2009-2010 budget. Within the hour, the Council would unanimously approve Mayor Chuck Reed’s Budget Message, as well as the Operating and Capital Budgets. But leading up to the unanimous decision, which closed an $84.2 million shortfall, Maguire was one of many local leaders who adopted a solemn tone while making dire predictions.

What do Principal Ken Schlaff from Milpitas High School and Coach Stan Van Gundy of the Orlando Magic have in common?  For one thing both had the public on their case for the decisions each made this week.

Now that Cattelus Development has walked away from developing the Santa Clara Fairgrounds, I hope the County will consider something other than housing.  Perhaps a fee based sports complex or even…a horse track. Currently, the Fairgrounds is home to off-track betting for horseraces, an operation called San Jose Fair Downs. Since gambling already exists at the Fairgrounds, why then not consider a racetrack?

It’s rants vs. raves in this week’s episode of San Jose Inside’s open forum. All opinions on any topic are welcome.

The Santa Clara County coroner’s office reports that an “astronomical” amount of methamphetamine killed a man who died in February following a violent fight with San Jose Police. When Richard Lua, 28, died following the altercation, suspicion immediately fell on the Tasers that members of the SJPD were forced to use to subdue him. Officers reported that Lua was attempting to evade arrest, and tried to grab an officer’s gun before he was stunned.

Dear kindly Trustee DiSalvo
You gotta understand,
It’s just our bringin’ up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks.
Golly, Blogger Raj, it is the grading in school
That gives us that ANXIETY

Introducing Tony West today at the Rotary Club of San Jose’s weekly meeting, Larry Stone reeled off a list of his old friend’s accomplishments: graduate of Harvard, where he was editor of the Harvard Political Review; law degree from Stanford, where he was editor of the Stanford Law Review; former special assistant to Attorney General Janet Reno; former member of the San Jose Planning Commission; and “two-time unsuccessful candidate for local public office.”

When Stone, the longtime County Tax Assessor, mentioned that last item, a couple of groans were heard among the friendly crowd of Rotarians. “Well, Tony,” Stone quipped, “it all worked out for the best.”

More enlightened police strategy appears to be taking hold in downtown San Jose´s entertainment zone. In the past, aggressive law enforcement tactics resulted in large numbers of public-intoxication arrests and lawsuits from club owners and members of the public, as well as packed council hearings, heated public debates over racial profiling and complaints of economic damage to downtown’s business community. Faced with community uproar, fiscal issues and political pressure, SJPD seems to have gotten the message.

District Attorney Dolores Carr today announced an unprecedented move in prosecuting gang violence in Santa Clara County, charging five people involved in the shooting of 18-year-old Larry Martinez with murder.

The Nederlander Organization is here to stay, and Broadway is finally returning to San Jose, California. Quite a few local politicos and arts organization heavyweights rolled into the Center for Performing Arts today for the announcement that Nederlander will be the exclusive presenter of touring Broadway productions and other special gigs in the CPA, beginning in September.

We write to express our concern regarding the recent tone of the rhetoric between a few members of the San Jose Police Officers Association and police critics. Issues surrounding race and police enforcement inevitably invite controversy and sharp differences of opinion. Nonetheless, we expect that members of the San Jose Police Officers Association and other community members will confront what they view as distortions of the facts with respectful criticism and correction.

We do not expect, however, that any member of the San Jose Police Department will label critics as “thugs.”

The average U.S. student watches 1,500 hours of TV annually while spending only 1,100 hours in school. If we continue to increase TV viewing while decreasing time in school, we end up with an equation that threatens the underpinnings of our democracy.

The results of my Budget Survey are in.

One of my favorite TV game shows was the original Family Feud with Richard Dawson. His big line was, “Survey Says!” when the survey answer was shared with the audience. I am pleased that my Budget Survey drew more than 700 participants. Thank you to those who engaged. It was long…but then our deficit is large, so the survey needed to at least attempt to grasp the entire budget.