Emmett Carson, CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, says it is “hard to understand” why the San Jose City Council chose to delay action on accepting a $50,000 grant to look into anti-predatory lending policies, what with so many people falling deeper into debt. He should ask Manny Diaz, a former city councilmember and state assemblymember who is now a registered lobbyist for Community Financial Services Association of America, a trade group that represents the payday loan industry
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Medical Marijuana Battle Continues
The San Jose City Council once again fell short on Tuesday in its efforts to craft a plan to deal with the popularity of medical marijuana clubs in the city. Many of the ideas being proffered by city staff, Mayor Chuck Reed and councilmembers Rose Herrera, Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant, were wildly ambitious, including things that no other municipality has tried in the 14 years since the passage of Prop 215.
Updated with correction: Apr. 14.
Pete Constant Changing Party Affiliation
San Jose City Councilmember Pete Constant is the closest thing that this city has to a Tea Party Republican in local politics. Or at least he was. In a surprising announcement late last night, Constant said that he is abandoning the Republican Party and registering as a Democrat.
Taxpayers and Residents Must Become the Largest Special Interest
During my first four years on the San José City Council, I have been lobbied and visited by many who hope to influence the decisions that I make as a councilmember. There seems to be an endless line of special interests that form to ensure that I know their concerns. This is particularly so during budget negotiations when everyone thinks that the cuts are necessary, but that their project, program or need is the exception to the rule.
Should California End Redevelopment Agencies?
Last week, RDA director Harry Mavrogenes and the San Jose City Council said they would work to keep the Redevelopment Agency going despite Gov. Jerry Brown’s intention to shut down agencies statewide.
An article in the Mercury News closed with the following paragraph: “The governor’s finance office said Brown has not wavered on his position and cited a study released Tuesday by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office. The report offers support for Brown’s plan to eliminate the agencies and replace them with other ‘tools to finance economic development.’”
Google vs. Microsoft
More than a year ago, the San Jose City Council was presented with renewing its Microsoft desktop licenses. This can be an expensive line item. We have spent over seven figures in the past for licensing alone on this item. I thought to myself, and later spoke at the Council meeting, that there is no real competition for this purchase we were about to approve and wondered if we could do better. In the end, we got a government discount from a Microsoft reseller, but it was not truly competitive since Microsoft did not have any competition at City Hall.
Julie Constant Takes Up Politics
Julie Constant, the wife of San Jose City Councilmember Pete Constant, officially entered the realm of local politics when she won a spot on the Campbell Union School District Board earlier this month. And already Fly is hearing rumblings that this could be a sign that the mother of five has aspirations for the District 1 seat that is now occupied by her husband’s newly slender derrière.
Carrasco Camp Claims Fraud
While Xavier Campos seemed to recover from his scandal-induced loss of the ability to speak this week, all but announcing victory in his tight race Magdalena Carrasco on Tuesday, the Carrasco camp is claiming voter fraud in the Eastside San Jose City Council race. Kevin de León, the LA state assembly member (and Carrasco’s ex), says he’s been hearing from eyewitnesses who claim to have spotted some shenanigans by members of the South Bay Labor Council (SBLC) in District 5.
Vote Today: Endorsements Summary
Next week, voters will have the opportunity to create real change in San Jose and in Sacramento. In addition to choosing a new governor, we must decide on eight state initiatives and referenda, all of which will have a deep impact on California politics and culture. Locally, two measures could rescue the city from a crippling budget deficit, and deal with an imbalance of power that helped create it. At the same time, two tight races could put a couple of candidates on the San Jose City Council who promise to bring some much-needed independence to that body.
In the months leading up to today’s vote, the editorial team at Metro/SJI has been interviewing candidates and studying the issues. Posted here are our suggestions.
Larry Pegram: New Financial Revelations
Eighteen months after leading the local battle against gay marriage—and shortly after an aborted plan to move to Tracy and run for U.S. Congress—Larry Pegram promised that his campaign for San Jose City Council would be about fixing the city’s pressing money troubles, not social issues. Since that time, Pegram has emphasized his commitment to balanced budgets and cited his own credentials as a professional financial planner.
A Public Spanking
County Assessor Larry Stone visited the San Jose City Council study session last week and gave an extensive lecture on the role of the County Assessor and a critique of Spectrum Economics. His comments were blunt, sparing only profanity about the economist hired by the RDA for $15,000. I wrote about this topic three weeks ago.
This is the only time that another elected official has spoken to the City Council at length during my tenure.
Metro Endorses Magdalena Carrasco
District 5 voters have a chance to restore balance to the San Jose City Council by electing Magdalena Carrasco, a talented and articulate neighborhood activist who began a grassroots campaign and now enjoys a wide base of support.
Nora Campos Accuses Magdalena Carrasco of Selling Out to L.A.
A $250 campaign contribution from a Los Angeles lawyer to San Jose City Council candidate Magdalena Carrasco is drawing fire from District 5 Councilmember Nora Campos. Campos, whose brother Xavier Campos is running against Carrasco to represent San Jose’s East Side, suggests the money is evidence that Carrasco is somehow in cahoots with politicians from L.A.
Curse of Reed
The city’s fearless and occasionally politically tone-deaf leader, Chuck Reed, was riding high after successfully placing pension reform and binding arbitration on the ballot with a carefully stitched-together coalition that seemed to spell the end of organized labor’s control of the San Jose City Council.
The afterglow was short-lived, however. Reed threw the new majority into chaos with his divisive endorsement of gay marriage opponent Larry Pegram for a council seat, just a day before a California court overturned Prop 8.
Marijuana Tax to Appear on Ballot
At its weekly meeting Tuesday evening, the San Jose City Council voted to put a proposed marijuana business tax on the ballot this November. The tax, which could reach up to 10 percent, would encompass business that sell medical marijuana both legally and illegally in the city.
Gloves Come Off in Rocha-Pegram Race
Two weeks ago, Larry Pegram hand-delivered a letter to Donald Rocha, his opponent for the District 9 seat on the San Jose City Council. The three-page missive asked Rocha to pledge support for a doctrine labeled the “Pegram Principles,” obviously modeled on the “Reed Reforms” that helped Larry’s friend Chuck win the mayor’s job a few years back. (As if front-runner Rocha would have anything to gain by endorsing his opponent’s philosophy.) Pegram attached a personal note, essentially one of those “no-negative campaigning” promises: “Dear Don, I look forward to a campaign that is worthy of our constituents and is carried out in an honorable manner.”
