San Jose Inside

March is going out like a lion, not like a lamb, with the past week being chilly, rainy and dreary around here.  Let’s see if the news has been the same.

“Every time I try to get out they pull me back in.”  So said Al Pacino playing the aging Michael Corleone while chewing all the scenery he could reach in Godfather Part III.

Move over, Al.

I was excited when I heard that Mayor Ron Gonzales was headed to Spring Training to make his case to Major League Baseball this weekend that San Jose is a major league city.  Then, I went to his website and … gulp … saw the photos.

By Guest Blogger Rick DiNapoli

You will pardon me if I remain seated with hands folded while the city council takes its bows for “resolving” the Cisco-City Hall telecom kerfuffle.

Some Attendees Literally Bored To Death

In an effort to save hundreds of South Bay lives, the County Supervisors voted unanimously to spend $569,000 to install safety padding in the Supervisors’ Chambers.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and I just wanted to take this time, as I try to do every week, to point out that not all big stories get broken here at San Jose Inside.  Let’s see what’s been unearthed elsewhere in the last few days.

The 2006 Mayor’s race is shaping up as a strong assault on the current administration of Ron Gonzales by Chuck Reed and the other announced candidate, Dave Cortese. In stark contrast to most of the recent elections for Mayor, it is clear that this race will be a referendum on the Gonzales style and substance, and few punches will be pulled by Reed or Cortese.

Will Los Angeles elect a mayor whose name will be regularly misspelled by school kids, news reporters, and, heaven forbid, bloggers?  Antonio Villaraigosa—yes, correct spelling—could become California’s most notable Latino politician in May.  For a sense of his challenge, let’s jump in our blogospheric time machine and go back to San Jose, 1998.

By Chuck Reed, Guest Blogger

I started trying to make San Jose a great place to live, work and raise a family over 25 years ago but today we face problems that threaten our success.  Some things are broken and must be fixed.  That’s why I am focusing my campaign for Mayor on Honesty, Fiscal Responsibility and Open Government.

“Gesture Necessary to Cover Monthly Nut,” Explains City Manager

In an effort to follow their own “cost-recoupment” policies, the City Manager’s office was forced to direct union workers on the new City Hall project to “stop everything,” and focus all manpower on the installation of 527 state-of-the-art French toll-machines at every office and conference room.

We wish SJ Mercury News VP and Editorial Page Editor David Yarnold a fond farewell. He’ll be missed.

Thanks to an intrepid San Jose Inside reader, we bring you the message he sent to the newsroom:

As I watch the discussion and debate about the new policy for increasing the allowable uses in North San Jose and the creation of the “new town” in Coyote Valley, it reminds me of the old carnival shell game – switch them around and find the real downtown. These developments may or may not be in the best interest of our citizens, but the final decisions on them will inform much of our future evolution and possibly elect the next mayor.

You take lethargic leadership, add uninspired vision, mix with low key personality, and throw in a couple city hall ethics scandals.  Then, you stir with an election.  What do you get:  a mayor on the verge of losing his job.

The Cinequest film festival is in the midst of its fifteenth year, with over 200 films being shown to 60,000 people, all in downtown San Jose.  This, I would contend, is what makes a city great.

“We CAN Carry San Francisco’s Jock!” Thousands Chant

In response to the debate regarding San Jose’s “greatness,” started by sanjoseinside.com bloggers and picked up by the San Jose Mercury News tens of thousands of people gathered at Taco Bell on Bascom Ave. to dispel the rumors of the city’s inadequacies.