San Jose Inside

LAST week’s Veterans Day parade provided an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Mountain Charlie Chapter No. 1850. The Clampers, as they call themselves, are a men’s drinking fraternity of the absurd that doubles as a historical preservation society. They sport Old West duds and install historical plaques at various locales throughout California, swilling drinks in the process. The Mountain Charley chapter, our local faction, is named after “Mountain Charlie” McKiernan, the legendary Santa Cruz Mountain trailblazer and grizzly fighter.

Food for Thought

If there is one important lesson to be learned from the last election it is that the referendum process in California is broken and being abused. There is something wrong when any individual or group with unlimited funds to flood the airwaves with propaganda and the malls and grocery store parking lots of the state with petition signature gatherers paid on commission can attempt to either legislate morality based on religion or enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayers. More to the point, many such measures violate both the spirit and letter of the fundamental documents of our democracy, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, as well as the structure and process of government in a federal republic. Let’s take three cases in point.

Rumors have swirled that San Jose Magazine was about to bite the dust, and confirmation came this evening with an item by the Mercury News’ Sal Pizarro. The columnist reports that the December issue will be San Jose Magazine’s last. Instead of plugging plastic surgeons and lawyers on glossy pages, the company will reinvent itself as a video production company, according to Publisher Gilbert Sangari.

Well, just when you thought it was over. Measure B—BART, has surged into the lead, with over 600,000 votes cast, at the astonishing percent of 66.67: Amazing does not come close to defining it. And remember, there are still 9,800 votes to count. In my grandfather’s day, a report from the Calvary Cemetery precinct would seal the win—ah, for the good old days.

This victory, if such it is, is as remarkable as any in the history of the valley. It sealed in my mind the undying resolution of our citizens to always vote for the future, to reach for the dream of a better city and valley, even in the face of frightening times.

It has been discussed here before many times about how to make San Jose a cooler, hipper, more “it” place to be, but it seems as if Campbell may have cornered the market on “it.” Whenever you seem to meet a nice, young person in the South Bay, if they don’t commute back and forth from San Francisco, inevitably, if you ask them where they live or where they spend most of their time, it’s Campbell

The president of the San Jose Downtown Association, the group that represents downtown San Jose business and property owners, has called for the establishment of a police advisory commission. Though his position has not been officially endorsed by SJDA’s board, Art Bernstein says it is consistent with the objectives of the group’s advocacy arm.

San Jose needs “a body in between the police and city council so that every time there are issues of concern to the community, it doesn’t take a city council meeting,” Bernstein told Fly. A “citizen’s advisory group” would fill that role best. In an OpEd in Sunday’s Merc, Bernstein cites recent initiatives to charge downtown businesses for policing costs and notes that police have become “more aggressive with permit compliance, code enforcement and the closing down of some of downtown’s bars and clubs.”

Last week I attended the 8th annual Tech Awards at our convention center. The Tech Museum organizes this amazing event which is sponsored by a “who’s who” of tech companies. Nearly 1,500 people attended this years event. This is one of the best events for San Jose because of the positive PR.

The greater Bay Area tech giants gather at the Tech Awards to celebrate entrepreneurs and inventors for innovation in the categories of Environment, Education, Economic Development, Health and Equality. Nominees and attendees flew in from all over the world.  Although some may argue that San Jose is not the center of Silicon Valley, the world does perceive San Jose as the epicenter.

Thoughts, comments and judgments on local, national or global culture, politics or trivia—including even BART—all are welcome here today.

Ruminations on the Enigma Variations

I’m still a bit wound up from the election, Luis Valdez’s magnificent performance at the Mexican Heritage Plaza recently, and the afterglow of our wonderful mariachi festival. The election has definitely captured a mood of optimism and the determination to keep our hand on the plow and fix the mess we’re in.

Lately, I’ve been in a writing mood, which only became more insistent after I turned on the car radio the other night and found myself listening to English composer Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. On the long drives home from San Jose, especially after evening gigs where I have to be the host and “on” for the evening, I always turn on the radio for the drive back and listen either to the classical station or show tunes or Sinatra.  If I’m lucky, I get to hear something new that catches my imagination, which helps me to stay alert.

Victory For Mall Rats and Buffalo Wing Lovers

With the likely defeat of Measure B, the head of the Valley Transportation Authority wants to implement a new plan, calling for a shorter, independent BART line, smaller cars and practically no maintenance.

“We just felt we had the momentum to move this project forward autonomously,” explained VTA General Manager Michael Burns. “The people almost approved it, which means they really want us to do it, and with the opening of Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits in downtown, we obviously have the critical mass.”

Silicon Alleys

Of all the books I initially acquired just for their titles, Eric Maisel’s Staying Sane in the Arts was one that stuck with me. Maisel is a renowned therapist who specializes in the psychology of the creative person. He’s written 30 books, delivered keynotes at numerous writers’ conferences and regularly runs creative workshops in both Paris and San Francisco. Staying Sane was the first of his books I happened to come across. I yanked it out of the library during the winter of 2000 when I needed something to read while stuck at a humdrum job with way too much downtime.

Food for Thought

Now that the excitement, tears, and post-election euphoria of the presidential election has receded, the headlines have returned to the country’s very serious economic woes, and the news gets worse by the day. It is becoming more evident that the “top-down” bailout of Wall Street pushed by the Bush Administration is not working at the current funding level and the lame duck and his banking-insider treasury secretary will soon be asking for more. Already, AIG—whose executives continue to enjoy lavish getaways, now at the public’s expense—got yet another nearly $40 billion in the past few days. The corporate capitalists that control our government who constantly whine about “socialism” for ordinary citizens every time a new program like universal health care is proposed, have no compunctions about seeing that the rich get it in a sleight-of-hand inversion of the Robin Hood method.

Well the consultants and pundits are receding into the background, thankfully. It is now time to check the battlefield for casualties and then look at options for the future.

Paramount to our valley, the path to mass transit is very bumpy in our valley. The excruciating narrowness of the loss of the BART sales tax measure is something that will not soon be forgotten by the losers—Mayor Chuck Reed, Carl Guardino of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and rising star Sam Liccardo laid it, and all, on the line. And in an incredibly close miss, they saw the hopes of a complete BART system dashed—for now.

In the same way that some Vietnamese love to hate Councilwoman Madison Nguyen, San Jose cops appear once again to have turned against one of their own—Councilman Pete Constant. In the latest episode of Constant vs. the Police Officer’s Association, the POA is furious that Constant, who is a former cop, openly opposes their pick, Dave Bacigalupi, to represent them on the Association of Retired San Jose Police Officers and Firefighters board, which is directly involved in deciding retirement for officers, among other things.