San Jose Inside

The news that four men (including a former Bellarmine student and current freshman football coach) have been arrested for the murder of Los Gatos businessman Mark Achilli shows that though we live in a safe area, something pulled right out of a Hollywood movie can and did happen in our backyard.

Anybody who rides Silicon Valley public transportation knows the eclectic experience of traveling via the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).  From tardy buses to drunken fights, graffiti to sleeping transients, and unidentifiable stains to vomit, you never know what you’re going to get when you step aboard one of the VTA’s fine vehicles. However, what I didn’t expect on my ride home the night of March 21 was a train wreck.

A month ago I drafted a memo that would expand the city’s ordinance to allow Community Benefit Improvement Districts (CBID). This is not an original idea, nor is it cutting edge. In fact, it’s embarrassing that the City of San Jose didn’t jump on this opportunity sooner.

We spent the weekend converting San Jose Inside over to a new server. Thanks Edgar, Adrian, Joel and Ivan for your hard work in getting the new site up.

Astute San Jose Inside readers will notice a few subtle changes. A wider screen, a cleaner interface, larger headlines, more contributors and a cartoon on the front page. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same San Jose Inside, moved over to a faster, more robust server that can accommodate our future growth.

If any comments posted over the weekend were lost in the transition, please repost them, and if you catch any errors or have any feedback on the new look, please feel free to post your thoughts or email me.

When I tell people that I’m running for Director of District 2 of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the two reactions I get are “Huh?” and “Didn’t we just have an election?” The first is the more common. The water district is a countywide agency responsible for wholesale water supply, flood control and watershed stewardship. It has a budget of over $360 million a year, and voters don’t know that they have any say over how it’s run.

Illegally Taught Children Served Up As Beef Substitute

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture was busy trying to replace 143 million pounds of tainted meat reserved for Northern California school districts, the State Legislature was busy trying to figure out what to do with millions of idle California homeschooled children.

Faced with a $220 million deficit, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is on the hunt for easy revenue to buoy the sinking ship. Consequently, Supervisor Pete McHugh is targeting east San Jose’s Reid-Hillview Airport for destruction so the 179 acres it occupies can be developed. (He uses the area around Elmwood Correctional Facility as a model for his proposal.) The problem is that the airport is home to 600 small planes and several aviation businesses, and the county has received millions of dollars in grants from the federal government (the FAA) to keep it open for another 20 years.

2-26-08PromoterOrdinance.pdf

San Jose’s beleaguered entertainment community, already reeling from a multi-agency crackdown on downtown San Jose clubs, now faces a new threat in the form of a well-intentioned ordinance to bring promoters under the umbrella of the City of San Jose’s regulatory apparatus. Currently, promoters escape many of the requirements that club operators face in bringing entertainment to the public, so not everyone thinks it’s a bad idea to have these pied pipers show some accountability.

Law enforcement uses the state’s gang-enhancement law to crack down on violence, but a judge’s ruling in the Joshua Herrera case raises questions about its reach

THE moment before Rebecca Rivera entered the courtroom to hear whether or not her son Joshua Herrera was going to face a life sentence in prison, she gathered with 40 or so supporters, who were bustling around with nervous tension. “I talked to Joshua last night, and he wanted us all to know that whatever happens in there—he is coming home.” She began to weep, then collected herself and walked into court. The potentially devastating question that was left in her wake, the one no one dared ask, was: When? Rivera had already consoled the mother of another young man involved in the case, Alex Samarro, who had been given 23-to-life the day prior, and knew the pain she saw yesterday could be hers today.

Things often seem to have a new beginning around Easter. In some ways it is more rejuvenating than even New Year’s Day in the minds of many. I am one of those who feel this way. The idea of resurrection is, and should be, a fine chance to start again. It is in the center of my mind this week and presents us with a real opportunity.

I recently read that a Hudson, Kansas judge ordered a man, who had admitted to molesting a boy, to post signs around his house and to put a decal on his car—for the duration of his five years of probation and house arrest—proclaiming that he is a sex offender. My first reaction was: Why shouldn’t we know what he did? Then more questions came up, including: How much do we have the right to know about our neighbors?

Digital technology is definitely a two-edged sword, but it has brought many good things to all of us that we never imagined possible.  In a new twist, I have seen a couple of live satellite broadcasts into local movie theatres of musical performances by Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour in the past year. Although I was skeptical that such a thing could compete with a real concert, what I found, in fact, was that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The sound is superior (and not TOO LOUD like a concert), the visuals are much better, there are no crowds or parking problems, and the ticket cost of $10 is a mere fraction of the price of a concert ticket.