San Jose Inside

So Leon Panetta has no experience in intelligence, huh? Could have fooled San Jose attorney Bill Gates, who sat at a desk facing President-elect Obama’s choice for CIA chief for two years in the 1960s at Fort Ord. Gates and Panetta worked together in a military intelligence unit in 1965 and 1966, before Panetta launched a career in politics by joining the staff of U.S. Senate Minority Whip Thomas Kuchel, a moderate California Republican whose head was handed to him when he refused to kowtow to the party’s nascent right wing.

Leon E. Panetta, the former Monterey Bay area congressman and White House chief of staff, is President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for head of the Central Intelligence Agency, according to national news reports quoting Democratic insiders. Panetta has degrees in political science and law from Santa Clara University. “He couldn’t have picked a better guy,” says San Jose attorney Bill Gates, a longtime friend.

2008 was certainly a roller-coaster ride. From the rise and fall of oil to the housing market collapse and finally the recession. 2009 will be a challenging year for each and every one one of us.

It’s a brand new year, and 2009 means big changes. Posters this weekend are sounding off about the disappearance of a website known for its anonymous personal attacks on its political adversaries.

Most cities revel in their own pop culture landmarks or specific locales tied to things that celebrities did there. For example, much hoopla survives about the road outside Paso Robles where James Dean crashed and died, the garage that spawned Hewlett-Packard, or that stretch of highway in Malibu where Mel Gibson got his infamous DUI.  San Jose has a few similar sites, for example, the house on Jackson Street where Nirvana stayed in 1990.

I will suggest another local landmark which might possibly achieve similar notoriety: the city utilities box at the corner of Fruitdale and Southwest Expressway, where Shepard Fairey, on Aug. 2, 2000, plastered a promotional poster for his art show at Anno Domini the next night.

Another year. They all seem to blend together at a certain point. Part of the problem of getting older, I guess, is the sameness. But it’s also an opportunity. You can see the similarities with a bit of perspective, and enjoy the way things seems so calm and, even, I venture, understandable. When you look at San Jose, you can’t help but getting a warm and positive feeling. Even in the face of the greatest economic downturn in our lifetimes, people remain positive and even hopeful for the new year.

Incoming Councilmember Rose Herrera is already stirring up drama on the 18th floor after she abruptly fired her senior policy analyst Mark Tiernan—two days before the holiday break. It seemed even more odd to some City Hall staffers, considering Tiernan was the lead man on Herrera’s transition team—and was her top pick for chief of staff. So what happened?

Citizens do the City’s job by revitalizing San Jose’s Rose Garden.

The San Jose Mercury News Editorial Board recently applauded the efforts of Terry Reilly and Beverly Hopper, who trained and organized the many volunteers who repaired and rejuvenated the San Jose Rose Garden. Thanks to the volunteers’ hard work, the Rose Garden regained its certification from the All-America Rose Selections organization. The Mercury News pointed out that the volunteers served to rebuild the city’s relationship with volunteers, and wondered if the Friends of the Rose Garden model could be applied to other public spaces that “lack the magic of roses.”

Now, I’m all for volunteering…but should the citizens of San Jose be asked to volunteer and do work that is supposed to be performed by city employees who are paid by taxpayer money?

As time marches inexorably on we find ourselves just a few days away from the dawning of a new year. With that celebratory sip of champagne at 2400 hours on Dec. 31, we christen 2009. I will clink the glasses of those I am with to toast a year where we will witness the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (formerly No Child Left Behind), which puts public education back on the right course. We have been off course for far too long.

So it seems that this is the end of the road for Single Gal. I never thought I would be typing this, but I finally can take the moniker “Single” off my name—for good. I must break the news that I am getting married.  There, I said it. I will never be called Single Gal ever, ever again. I have found someone who is willing to deal with my whining, and my ability to talk about the same things over and over, without wanting to strangle me.

ESPN is cool, but San Jose Channel 15 is cooler.

The new apartment I moved into has cable, and I’m a new man. And although I was excited about ESPN (and basically any channel that expands my viewing options beyond Law and Order and CSI reruns) I’ve decided that nothing beats Channel 15—our local community access television. Peep the line-up: In the few hours I had it on while moving furniture, I watched sermons on three different religions in three different languages, two shows on paranormal activity, a kids mariachi group dance in the back of a parking lot, and one dude yell at his camera crew for a half hour straight. It was the best. The Civic Center channel is cool, and lets you get a glimpse into the political machinery at City Hall, but if you want a ground up view of San Jose, its diverse interests, beliefs, and unadulterated directions, Channel 15 is your looking glass.

Hope your Christmas and Hanukkah holidays were enjoyable. City Hall is closed from Dec. 24 through Jan. 5 for the annual furlough. Like many people, I am spending time with family and reconnecting with friends. I have known many of my friends since San Jose grammar school in the 1970s and ’80s, so that puts us in the 35-45 age range. Most of my friends are married with children and both parents or partners work. Our discussions usually include catching up and memories of the past. This year, however, our conversations were mostly about the economy.

This is it—the last best chance for SJI reader/writers to rant and/or rave together in 2008. Suggested theme—a time-honored end-of-year tribute: 2008: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It’s the time of year when we’re all in a very good mood. The Sharks won last night capping the best start in their era and one of the best in National Hockey League history. The rain was light. People seemed festive in Downtown and Valley Fair, although a bit harried in the latter stop.

Sometimes, even bleak economic times like this, the Grinch doesn’t have a chance. Just ask Leannette M. Spence, assistant vice president and personal banker at the Bank of America in Cambrian Park. Last week, Spence had a customer who accidentally left her card in the bank’s ATM. When the customer called in to cancel it, she learned that a $200 cash withdrawal had been made at the same ATM immediately after she left, which led to all kinds of anxiety on her part: was there a way to track down who stole it? Could she get the money back in time for Christmas?