San Jose Inside

Cinco de Mayo weekend is a nightmare if you are a resident of downtown San Jose, an employee of a downtown business, or someone attempting to attend a downtown play, concert, movie or other non-Cinco de Mayo event. However, it’s not because of what you might think. It’s true that there are many people and a lot of noise and traffic, but that happens almost every weekend. The problem is the San Jose Police Department who throw up roadblocks at all downtown freeway exits and many city streets, making it virtually impossible to enter downtown from the outside world.

Exactly which May 1 march in support of immigrant rights did Merc reporters supposedly go to? The daily reported that the annual march wound “from East San Jose to City Hall,” which is downright bizarre since the biggest behind-the-scenes drama of the day came when the SJPD blocked off City Hall’s plaza.

There is much to be concerned about in San Jose these days. We have seen this before in the early seventies, when the vaunted SJPD of today was not quite that organization. It was undertrained and poorly led. Its relationship with the minority community was fragile and the composition of the force did not reflect the makeup of our city. That all changed with the selection of Joe McNamara as chief in 1976, and his particular brand of leadership. 

Nausea. Pain. Suffering. Frustration. Anger. Joy. Jubilation. Exhilaration.  I have felt all of these in the span of a weekend watching our beloved Sharks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Sometimes I have experienced all of those feelings in the span of one period in one game.  One thing I do know is that it ain’t easy being a Sharks fan.

The May 1 immigrants’ rights march is a hard event to describe to a 12-year-old who is debating whether or not it will be worth his time. It is a historic, enormous event—the outcome of the cataclysmic, politically churning forces of globalization, and the erosion of political certainties such as “national boundaries.” Most of those things, though, pale when compared to the allure of online Pokémon.

The Bucks Should Stop Here

Last week in an opinion piece for the Mercury News, Councilmember Nancy Pyle and Silicon Valley Chamber President Pat Dando called for the residents of San Jose to make a concerted effort to “Buy in San Jose.” By encouraging San Joseans to shop within their city’s limits, more tax receipts would go to help offset the city’s growing budget deficit.

In a prior column, I wrote about taking advantage of the great San Jose weather by having events at City Hall Plaza or at the Circle of Palms. At last week’s city council meeting, there was an item that pertained to sidewalk cafes at night. I support outside settings and made a motion at the meeting proposing to extend hours at sidewalk cafes until 2 a.m. A majority of the council supported the motion.

Says He Has Looked To Rev. Jeremiah Wright For Political Advice, Not Statistical Guidance

San Jose City Councilman Forrest Williams on Wednesday denounced inflammatory remarks from his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who has railed against San Jose for being unsafe and not-large, and accused its leaders of supporting sprawl.

THE SAN JOSE Earthquakes soccer home opener is this Sunday, while at the same time, the latest round of the Little Saigon sideshow is coming soon to a theater near 200 E. Santa Clara St. And leave it to yours truly to suggest a sick and perverse connection between the two. Here we go:

Every day, 110 million gallons of water makes its way through miles of pipes to the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, on the shores of the Bay in Alviso. This is the water that we flush down toilets, run through dishwashers and washing machines, and every other drop that enters the sanitary sewer system in a 300-square-mile area that includes San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Monte Sereno.

Quietly absorbing the short end of the Little Saigon stick are the Vietnamese-American candidates who are running for a seat on the San Jose City Council in the June 3 primary. Things got even stickier for them as the Vietnamese community last week officially launched their campaign to recall Councilmember Madison Nguyen.

We have traveled a long and winding road in the last fifty years—a very long way—and we are now on the verge of becoming a city of one million people. Wow! But does the size of San Jose really matter?

The gym at Alum Rock Youth Center on the Eastside was filled near capacity last Thursday evening when Mayor Chuck Reed held the first of four open forums on gang violence in San Jose and how to spend an additional $1 million towards the issue. While a cynic might say that the event was mere political theater—an attempt by the city leaders to quell growing frustrations about violence on the streets—it is undeniable that the forum did tap into the community’s authentic call to be included in the conversation of allocation of resources. The gathering was probably the first time I saw the city council, SJPD, parents, youth advocates, former gang members, and religious groups, all brainstorming from a position of collective problem-solving, rather than fighting over limited funding.