San Jose Inside

It is never too late for a good, economical idea, and getting rid of bottled water at City Hall is a good start. Of course, it does not compare to ethics reform, but it is in the right direction. If you want to see ridiculous ideas, compare the “bottled watergate” fuss to the simple concept presented straight-faced in the pages of the Mercury News by a development lobbyist who says that the building of a new city in the Coyote Valley will significantly reduce the effects of our carbon footprints.

Stop the presses! City Hall is giving up bottled water. There is no telling what can happen from this. The money they could save makes me salivate. Could we raise enough money to build an A’s stadium? Or build a second Santana Row downtown? How about more high-density housing or connect the light rail across the city? If they plan on saving upwards of millions of dollars from simply deciding to drink cloudy tap water, there is no stopping this city!

Veterans Day is a time to be thankful for the men and women who have served or serve in our military.  I am taking this opportunity to share why Veterans Day is important to me.

I have never served in the military, so sometimes I feel a bit “hollow” in comparison to those who have committed their lives—past and present—to our armed forces.  There are other occupations where people put their lives on the line for others; however, the military is the biggest commitment one could make, in my opinion.

Reverend Sharpton Lends Support to Bay Area Chapter of Diminutive Hunter-Gatherers

Unafraid of Congressman Lantos’s verbal haranguing of web behemoth Yahoo during a congressional hearing into possible human liberties violations by the web browser, the Bay Area Pygmy Coalition has garnered national support in their call for the Democratic representative’s resignation.

Old Fire Station One is located in downtown San Jose at Market Street and St. James Street, right next to new Fire Station One which opened in 2000. Old Fire Station One sits on .46 acre. It was in service from 1951 until 2000. Today it is owned by the City of San Jose’s Redevelopment Agency.

The San Jose Fire Museum (SJFM) is a non-profit organization created to provide service to the San Jose Fire Department (SJFD) and the City of San Jose while preserving the history of the SJFD. The SJFM started in the early 1970’s and was originally called the San Jose Muster Team. In 2002, we changed our name to the SJFM, became incorporated and received a 510 (c) 3 non-profit status from the State of California.

He is coming again, and it will be a sight to behold. Luis Valdez, the playwright, director, trail blazer and visionary, will be honored this Thursday evening at the Camera 12 Cinema as part of the International Latino Film Festival—not for the first time, nor the last. Zoot Suit, La Bamba, the Cisco Kid, and so many other accomplishments have become part and parcel of our stage and cinema tradition and our culture. He has enriched us greatly.

Along with the growth of San Jose, a new change is coming that we haven’t seen before: high-rise luxury housing in our city’s core. As I drive through downtown and see the cranes in the sky around these towering developments, I can’t help but wonder how it will work. This is such a drastic change from the way people live here—sprawling suburbs with ample parking, mini-malls within a 5-minute drive, and cul-de-sacs with kids riding skateboards and shooting hoops. However, I do believe there is a market for this kind of housing. It just remains to be seen how big that market actually is.

The question of raising taxes came up for discussion during a special study session regarding deferred maintenance and infrastructure backlog within the city of San Jose.  The city needs at least $915 million in one-time funding and an additional $45 million for ongoing funding needs if we want to catch up with our projects.

You may be asking yourself how the city came to these numbers and why the city allowed our backlog to become so poor and what exactly is the best method to pay for so many projects?

Al Gore Will Team With Paramount Classics to Distribute Movie

Just minutes after the city council approved Mayor Reed’s “green vision” for San Jose, which sets ambitious goals for the city to reduce energy and support clean technology, he made the surprise announcement that he would take a short leave of absence from the city’s top job to film his version of “An Inconvenient Truth.”

This week’s moderate earthquake and last week’s devastating fires in Southern Californian are a wakeup call for all of us. Are we prepared for a large-scale natural or other disaster here in San Jose? Is there a plan? How do we minimize our risk?

Boy can these guys dance, and it’s always two-step time in our state legislature when it comes to reform. Whenever they sense that there is a legitimate attempt to enact reform, as in fair redistricting or term limits, there is a headlong, panicked, and bipartisan rush to work together. They blunt the reform and maintain the status quo and vow that “they” will reform themselves.

Ah, Sacramento politics. You gotta love it if you are an incumbent.

The recent news about the resignation of Santa Clara Country Superintendent of Schools Colleen Wilcox can be looked at in two ways, depending on your perspective. First, it is alarming that a school superintendent who is supposed to have our children’s best interests at heart was almost dismissed because of ruthless and manipulative tactics. How is it that someone like Wilcox achieves the high post as a leader for our principals and teachers and put in charge of an office that is supposed to educate young children? Is it any surprise that our school system finds itself cast in such a negative light after news charting the school boss’s behavior like she was the villain Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada hits the front page? It is a sad state of affairs when those that we place in charge of our kids’ future turn out to have qualities that we despise.

This week I am writing about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Most of the time, sadly, we hear these words of good advice but don’t make the conscious effort to apply healthy choices to our usual routines. Perhaps some of you who are reading this may think that writing about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, one which includes “eating right” and “exercising,” may not have anything to do with city government. I politely disagree.

Al Gore Praises the City for Cutting Greenhouse Emissions

In what critics called their biggest fear, the recent vote to ban smoking in public parks has become the “gateway” banishment that has led the city down the dark and addictive road of harsher rules and stiffer regulations culminating in yesterday’s announcement that as of November 1st, breathing will also be forbidden in public.

It has been a year since our good friend, fellow columnist and in-house San Jose historian Leonard McKay passed away suddenly. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think of him and his preservation work for our community. I certainly miss the almost-daily chats I had with him the last couple of years of his life. I don’t think I ever learned so much from one person in such a short period of time. I would like to take this opportunity to remember my friend Leonard and his efforts to preserve our history—buildings, artifacts, documents and stories—for future generations of San Jose citizens. I am reprinting one of his last columns below as a tribute.