San Jose Inside

They just fired “Archibald Cox.”

I thought that headline would never be seen anywhere again, let alone in San Jose.  It happened yesterday when Chris Scott Graham was “fired.” The independent investigator was basically told that it was time to move on from the Norcal scandal and the crises in confidence with the mayor.  Healing was the mantra of a solid majority of the council.

As the news keeps rolling in about Ron Gonzales, his censure and moves to possibly oust him from office, I am struck by the lack of knowledge most young people in San Jose have about their own city’s politics.  As I have been talking to friends, there are few of them who follow what is happening in the news, or even have a vague knowledge of Ron Gonzales and his scandal-plagued term as mayor. Is it apathy at its finest?  Or has our city government been so appalling and crooked that it causes people to lose interest?

With the mayor fighting for his political life, three candidates separating themselves over what the next steps should be for the City, and the Mercury News releasing a poll that shows 85% of the participants favor the mayor stepping down, we thought we would take our own, primitive poll…

It was the biggest fight ever seen in San Jose. The adversaries were “Frank Heney,” at 450 pounds, versus the team of “Reuf” and “Schmitz,” each weighing in at 250 pounds.  The victor was “Frank Heney,” who nearly killed his opponents and then kicked them out of the arena.

Says Mercury News Editorial Board Next

Mayor Gonzales took time out of his busy schedule in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, where he delivered the keynote address on “good government” at the annual National League of Cities (NLC) conference, to respond to the latest round of Scud missiles launched at him with intent to inflict bodily harm.

The report of the Special Investigator is now complete for its initial phase.  It is very, very damning in its conclusions regarding Mayor Ron Gonzales and others. The Grand Jury and our own worse fears have been confirmed.  Our Council is now faced with another moment of truth.  I do not know what the majority of this group will do. It is a time for sober reflection and candor; it is a time for courage and leadership.  Silence will not do at such a critical time in our city’s history.  We are providing a link to the editorial in today’s San Jose Mercury News.  Please read and comment…Ultimately, the citizens of San Jose will be heard on this issue.  Their judgment is the most important.

To realize the glory of San Jose, including desolate downtown, try moving to Cocoa Beach, Florida, as I did last year.  I would give anything to be back in San Jose complaining about tumbleweeds tumbling across San Carlos, or watching children cavorting on the Quetzalcoatl Statue. Cocoa Beach has its attractions: the annual “I Dream of Jeannie Look-a-Like Contest,” and the world renowned Ron Jon Surf Shop. But that’s about it except for a pawn shop built to resemble a castle and painted orange. Not complaining. I like the beach. But I can’t stop thinking about San Jose with its odd charms and central location. I don’t think downtown San Jose really needs “saving,” but some judicious purchase of “wonders” would liven things up a bit.

I do like give and take; it’s healthy, it’s in my nature, and I believe that is the tradition of San Jose—a hallowed one. But if our next mayor’s race becomes the traditional American election, one full of personalities but short of vision, replete with attacks, more thunder than light, then we all lose.  Our city needs the next campaign to be about ideas and issues rather than platitudes and endorsements and who is the “nicest.” With that goal in mind, I’d like to speak about issues and an idea or two—those things that we need to be the focal points of the next mayoral election, namely growth, a big park, safety and ethics.

So what comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Would more people want to live downtown if there were more to do?  Or will people wait to see what happens downtown before they invest their money into apartments and lofts? I believe that if there were masses of families, young people and baby-boomers living downtown, that the retail and entertainment would have to come to feed the demand. 

We lost a great benefactor to our community when Faith Davies died in 1996 at age 91.  Not only was she one of the most generous people, she witnessed and was intimately connected with the growth of the largest and most important business in our pre-Silicon Valley, the Food Machinery Company, or FMC.

Council Unable to Question City Manager in Annual Review

Predicting a haranguing about his role in the Norcal garbage scandal, City Manager Del Borgsdorf was able to fend off any direct questions by filibustering anxious council members during a rare eight-hour, closed-door, annual performance review on Tuesday.

When the National Hockey League ended it’s year long work stoppage this past summer with a new collective bargaining agreement between the players and the owners, I was definitely in the group that believed the league would have a long road ahead of it to win back the fans. I mean it’s one thing to shut down for a few months like the NHL did in 1994, hammer out a deal, and then come back to the ice. But when you wipe out an entire season and fail to hand out the Stanley Cup trophy in June, it’s pretty serious stuff.

It is said that the cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Are we spending too much time on the investigations into the events that have recently happened at City Hall? This is a question that is being posed in the community.  Let’s look at the cost: the Cisco investigation was $150,000, the Norcal scandal, so-called Garbagegate, was at a $100,000 limit, and the Terry Gregory affair was a bargain at $60,000.  The Gregory investigation ended in his resignation after a very late response by the mayor and council. In the Cisco affair, the plug was pulled by the council at what many thought was the penultimate moment.

I recently read where Forbes magazine named San Jose as the “Richest City in the U.S.” We may be the richest when it comes to money, but are we the poorest when it comes to fun?

What happened to the days where you would meet coworkers for happy hour or take clients out to eat?  What I see in the Bay Area now are tech geeks that are more than happy to spend 12-hour days in their cubicles, and less time out on the town.

Did you ever buy a lopsided donut, one with a handle on it, and discover that it was the best donut you ever ate in your life?  If you bought your sinker at Lou’s Living Donut Museum, you are in for a real treat.  Lou’s is one of those hidden gems of old San Jose—not the kind you find in every shopping center, but a place where quality, friendliness and patriotism prevail.  How many donut shops can you name where the employees raise the American flag and sing the Star Spangled Banner every morning?  How many donut emporiums have their own little theatre where touring school children can see a video on donut making?  How many donut shops have displays of World War II aircraft, pictures and displays of American Independence, such as a copy of the Declaration of Independence, pictures of George Washington and memorabilia of the area?