San Jose Inside

Silicon Alleys

THE San Jose Redevelopment Agency has now released preliminary documents related to the relandscaping of St. James Park in downtown San Jose, a project intended to give the much-maligned park a new face-lift while preserving its historic character. Since this park was San Jose’s original town square in the 1880s, I have a few thoughts on the park’s crazed history.

There has been much discussion on this site about BART coming to San Jose from the very beginning. The latest effort to fund the project, a one-eighth-cent sales tax proposal on the November ballot, has brought the issue back into the news and I thought we might take the opportunity to debate the initiative. (There is a very good article by Erin Sherbert in Metro this week that brings the matter up to date.)

There’s no missing the big red tree that recently sprouted from the grassy corner of St. James Park at St. John and North First streets. A full 15 feet high or so, its straight trunk is crowned with an intricate forking pattern of bare branches ending in carefully pruned nubby ends. And of course, the tree is red. Real red. Bright shiny red.

As the city embarks on a very ambitious plan in North San Jose for jobs and housing, and a mini-debate is had on the wisdom of the city owning land, it will be instructive to look at the past. While we may not always learn from our history, it never hurts to look at it and glean a bit of knowledge and perhaps even some insight.

Every year studies show that we Americans know very little about history.  We fail to identify many famous figures from our past, like Benedict Arnold, Ben Franklin and even George Washington. But what is the root cause of this? Is it our culture and our complete obsession with movies and video games? Or is there something broken in our education system that doesn’t allow students to retain these facts as adults?

Alviso sits at the foot of San Francisco Bay, where Coyote Creek and the Guadalupe River wind through sloughs on their way to the sea. San José annexed Alviso in 1968, all because of the sewage treatment plant that was necessary to support the growth of the future “Capital of Silicon Valley.” While the larger city gained control over its destiny, those in the smaller community it absorbed have never believed that they received the benefits that being part of San José was supposed to provide.

Your City At Work (Sort Of)

QUESTION:  How many San Jose city employees does it take to remove illegal signs?  ANSWER: Zero—they don’t do this sort of thing.

City Hall Diary

After finishing lunch at Pollo Loco on Winchester Blvd., Councilmember Pete Constant took me on a District 1 tour.  District 6 and District 1 share a long border along Winchester. Recently, both of our council offices have been working with the RDA and small businesses to help build a larger business district for Winchester.

This is an open forum so tell us what’s on your mind this week.

Extra-nest Affairs and Eagle Envy Cited as Grounds

The wife of star falcon Carlos the Peregrine has filed for divorce in a Santa Clara County court on Thursday, citing alleged “extra-nest affairs” and “eagle envy” by her husband.

Silicon Alleys

SAN JOSE’S own Joey Chestnut once again won the world-renowned Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest this last July Fourth, and his “bib sheet” on the International Federation of Competitive Eating’s website rattles off an impressive list of his gluttonous conquests—records like 8.8 pounds of deep-fried asparagus spears in 10 minutes or 56 sausage-and-cheese kolaches in eight minutes. Advocates of clogged arteries from coast to coast are hailing the dude as a true hero and a national treasure. He’s as American as apple pie.

Food for Thought

Over the past few years I have taken to driving the speed limit or less, especially on my long distance trips, mainly to LA and Sacramento. Let me tell you, it’s a lonely place to be, over on the right doing 60-65. You get passed by everybody as if you are standing still. I have found it’s often better to do “blue highway” driving whenever I can, avoiding the freeways and taking the two-lane blacktop scenic routes where the speed limit is 55, traffic is minimal (except for nuts on hopped-up motorcycles) and you get to see a bit of the countryside that most people miss.

When it comes to the gay marriage ban that is likely to be on state ballot in November, Mayor Chuck Reed is trapped in the closet. And that’s exactly where local gay-rights advocates want him.