Rich Robinson looks back the good, the bad and the ugly of Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans. While the game didn’t go as hoped for San Francisco 49ers fans, the ambience and the food didn’t disappoint. But one local historical attraction glazes over the most shameful period in our nation’s history.
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Coalition Will Work with County Education Board to Help Students in Need
This year, working with newly elected Santa Clara County Office of Education President Grace Mah and Trustee Darcie Green, as well as city and county leaders, we will launch a grassroots effort to secure quality preschool for all of the county’s 3 and 4 year olds. There is a roadmap to achieve the goal.
Political Predictions a Tricky Game
Predicting the future of politics is a tricky proposition, as Nate Silver pointed out in his NY Times blog and book during the election season. But taking a closer look at local issues, there are a few predictions you can, or can’t, count on in the future.
Naughty or Nice, Every Politician Wants Something This Holiday Season
Folks at the North Pole have been inundated with holiday wish lists from local politicos. Following are some of the requests they have received.
Q&A with County Assessor Larry Stone
We tried to do a Q&A with Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone back in late March. That didn’t happen, but it wasn’t Stone’s fault—there weren’t enough questions at the time. But here we are, three months later, and we’ve got the tax man’s answers to a couple submitted questions, relayed in a telephone conversation, as well as his thoughts on the fight between the county and Redevelopment Agencies, the odds the Oakland A’s will relocate to San Jose and how he views the local housing market five years after the subprime mortgage crisis.
Oakland’s Loss is South Bay’s Gain
It’s OK to pity Oakland, a beleaguered and maligned city whose greatest achievements were earned on the field by its World Championship sports teams. But now those storied franchises are fleeing like refugees from a war-torn nation.
An Open Letter to Larry Baer
Dear Larry: We need to talk. It started a few years back, when Lew Wolff got it in his head that Oakland wasn’t the best home for the ballclub he’d recently purchased. The A’s play in a rundown stadium in a decrepit area of town in front of a dwindling—albeit loud and loyal—fanbase. The organization’s limited revenue stream prevents it from building a consistent winner and essentially makes them a ward of the league. Enter San Jose.
Success is Winning it All
The San Francisco 49ers’ season notwithstanding, anything less than a Super Bowl victory is a failure. It’s old fashion, but making the playoffs is not success. Maybe it’s because of my own chosen profession, but coming in second is not a successful outcome. My clients don’t pay me to come in second.
City Needs to Explain Ballpark Benefits
Steve Kline—a lawyer, former political consultant and current city activist—recently sent a letter to the San Jose City Council asking for a full hearing on the land option agreement with Lew Wolff that gives the A’s owner a sweet deal for a future ballpark. It was a shot over the bow, not a lethal attempt to kill the stadium.
Former Santa Clara Mayor Has Cancer
Patricia Mahan, Santa Clara’s vice mayor after serving as mayor from 2002 through 2010, says she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. While it is unclear if Mahan’s condition will require leave from her position, she reportedly is expected to fully recover with proper treatment.
Dirty Machinations
At last April’s State Democratic convention in Los Angeles, the head of the powerful South Bay Labor Council, Cindy Chavez, called a face-to-face meeting with state Assemblymember Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles and labor leader Maria Elena Durazo. Chavez wanted to discuss de Leon’s fundraising activity for a San Jose City Council campaign.
De Leon had contributed $250 and helped bring in campaign funding for Magdalena Carrasco, his ex-wife, who was running against the SBLC-backed candidate for the District 5 council seat, Xavier Campos.
Metro Endorsements: Local Measures
Yes on Measure J: Bring the Super Bowl, etc., to Santa Clara. Yes on all the school bond measures, with one caveat. Yes on Measure K: A safe and sane sin tax.
Yes Means No, And No Means Yes
Welcome to the City of Santa Clara where “Yes” means No, and “No” means yes. That is, when it comes to the Measure J Campaign, the drive to build a football stadium for the 49ers. A posting on the website, Save Santa Clara.com, indicated that supporters of Measure J had gone to the trouble of registering several different domain names that might have been useful to the opposition. Apparently, it’s true.
Polls, Papers and Jobs
A joint Mercury News/KGO TV poll indicated that Santa Clara’s Measure J (The 49ers’ Stadium) is likely to pass. Weeks prior, a poll was commissioned to measure the level of support among voters for a baseball stadium indowntown San Jose.
QUESTION: When will some agency or press outlet sanction a poll to ask local residents about their feelings towards breaking the unions’ vice-grip on the delivery of city services? (“Would you support allowing 50 percent of city services to be done by the private sector?”). I’ll bet the “yes” category would approach 90 percent.
Are The Raiders Coming To Santa Clara?
Last week, KLIV Radio reported that NBC Sports has learned that the National Football League is encouraging both the 49ers and the Raiders to play in the proposed Santa Clara Stadium. Will the Raiders and 49ers both call Santa Clara home?
The possibility of the Raiders (or another team) making partial or full use of the Santa Clara Stadium is not really “news.” The E.I.R. and Stadium Term Sheet both allowed for the possibility. The Stadium Term Sheet reads, “49ers Stadium Company will have the right to enter into a sublease with a second NFL team, on terms and conditions consistent with and subject to the stadium lease. Conditions of repayment to the city, forgiveness of advances, and additional revenues to the City of Santa Clara are defined in the term sheet’s outline of conditions.
Mission Ale House Closing
Didn’t know Mission Ale House was closing this week? Hey, don’t worry, neither did the people who work there. “I was out of town spreading my father’s ashes, and came home to no job,” says Johnny Van Wyk, who this year closed his club Johnny V’s and moved his live-music bookings to Mission, where he was general manager.
