Pam Foley dropped out of the San Jose City Council District 9 race this morning, saying she had decided that cannot balance being a mother, a school board member and a businesswoman while running a campaign. “I’m really, really sad about it,” Foley told Fly—somehow managing to sound extremely confident in resignation: “It was tough because I know I was going to win this race,” she said. “I had everything I needed to win.”
Your search for San Jose City Council returned 3,201 results
Swenson Wins Library Bid
A watershed moment in an acrimonious battle between local labor and business occured Tuesday when the San Jose City Council reversed its vote to rebid the construction of the Educational Park Library and awarded the contract to low bidder Barry Swenson Builder.
The vote was 6 to 5, with union-aligned councilmembers Nora Campos, Kansen Chu, Ash Kalra, Madison Nguyen and Nancy Pyle opposed.
Raj Jayadev Ridiculed in POA Video
So Fly was browsing YouTube.com, looking for more videos of Keyboard Cat, when up popped an interesting little video posted by the San Jose Police Officers Association. On it, Raj Jayadev, founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug (and a regular SJI contributor), is seen addressing a San Jose City Council meeting, talking about the distrust brewing between some city residents and the police department.
Porn Filtering Shot Down
The religious right may have won the gay marriage debate, but they just lost the war on porn…in the library. After a long meeting Tuesday night, the San Jose City Council put an end to Councilman Pete Constant’s 19-month-long campaign to install porn filters on library computers throughout the city.
Police Auditor Resigns
San Jose’s newly named police auditor resigned this evening following community reaction to the disclosure that his brother is a San Jose police officer.
Chris Constantin was appointed to the $169,000-a-year post last week in a closed session meeting of the San Jose City Council.
He succeeded Barbara Attard, whose contract was not renewed after she sought expanded powers to review investigations into complaints of police misconduct.
Dando: Former Aide? What Former Aide?
It seems that Pam Foley doesn’t have to try to hard to get her name out there as a candidate for San Jose City Council. Even though the San Jose Unified school trustee has no history at City Hall, she seems to be getting attention from San Jose’s political insiders.
Liccardo Responds to Davis Article
San Jose City Councilmember Sam Liccardo sent this letter in response to last week’s Metro cover story about SJPD Chief Rob Davis, which was excerpted on SJI.
Perhaps due to space constraints, last week’s story about San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis (“Can Davis Survive?”) incorporated only one aspect—the most negative—of the views that I expressed about the chief’s performance.
Free Stuff for Public Servants
“City officials…are allowed free use of a special box at Sharks games.” (Mercury News, April 7). Why? And, why do members of the San Jose City Council get a car allowance? Do you get a car allowance from your employer? I don’t.
Liccardo’s ‘Dear Friends’ Letter
NOTE: San Jose City Council member Sam Liccardo is circulating this letter in response to allegations that he illegally accepted tickets to a Sharks game.
Dear Friends,
I ran for office on a platform of open government and honest communication with my constituents. That means acknowledging when I am wrong, as well as standing up for what I believe is right. Since taking office in January 2007, I have relied on this newsletter to provide information to neighbors about what is happening at City Hall and how that affects each of you. Today, however, I write to provide background about a story that has been in the media over the past week, regarding my improper acceptance of free admission to two hockey games.
Walking in Cesar Chavez’s Footsteps
Last week, the San Jose City Council unanimously approved an official Cesar E. Chavez walkway, a five-mile route beginning downtown at the park named after the civil rights hero who founded the United Farm Workers of America. The route will continue east all the way down Santa Clara Street, almost to 680, and then south before looping back up and around to the Mexican Heritage Plaza.
Citizens Should Define RDA’s Future
he citizens of San Jose should be the ones to decide whether or not the city’s redevelopment agency should be permitted to lift its tax increment ceiling. The members of the San Jose City Council, who double as RDA Board Members, are looking at lifting the current $7.6 billion tax increment cap to $15 billion. (Will it be double your pleasure, or double your pain?) This important decision should not be made by a handful of politicians, it should be made by the people.
Gauging Interest
The jockeying has started early for the termed-out District 1 supervisor’s seat held by Don Gage, which will be on the ballot in June 2010, still more than a year away. Former San Jose City Councilmember Forrest Williams has been telling anyone who will listen that he’s running for the seat, and water district board member Rosemary Kamei has been mentioned as another possible candidate. One interesting entrant would be Teresa Alvarado, daughter of ex-Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, who’s been telling friends she’s serious about taking a run at it. The race could become even more interesting if Republican Pat Dando, a former San Jose city councilmember and mayoral candidate who currently runs the Chamber of Commerce, dives in
Territorial Dispute
Can Madison Nguyen’s troubles be explained away as a branding battle between two shopping centers, and the powerful men who own them?
Councilwoman Madison Nguyen didn’t receive an invitation to San Jose’s annual Vietnamese Spring Festival, which was held two weeks ago. It was the second time that Nguyen, the first Vietnamese-American elected to the San Jose City Council and one of the highest-ranking Vietnamese elected officials in the nation, was scratched from the list.
The public act of disrespect was not that surprising, given that one of the event’s main organizers was the powerful local landowner Son Nguyen.
Community Policing Downtown
At the time of this posting, members of the San Jose Restaurant & Entertainment Association are presenting a plan to the San Jose City Council for “community policing” in the downtown entertainment district. The plan, a response to the city’s efforts to impose up to $80,000 in fees on a number of downtown nightclubs, calls for instituting a new version of the “shared employment” model, in which police officers are directly compensated by club owners. It also calls on Chief Rob Davis to use the powers given to him by the urgency ordinance passed in 2006. View the Powerpoint of the San Jose Restaurant & Entertainment Association community policing proposal.
Budget Brainstorm
This past Tuesday, members of the San Jose City Council, city executives, and city staff got together to try and arrive at some about possible solutions for San Jose’s budget mess. They found none. According to the Mercury News, some of the “solutions” that were kicked around included keeping libraries open for only three days, closing some park restrooms on weekdays, and raising all kinds of fines and fees for expected city services.
But rather than cutting city departments evenly across the board, why doesn’t the council and the city manager’s office re-examine just what city departments are essential to the workings of a major, modern American city. In other words, should some city departments be eliminated alltogether?
Blight Makes Right
In an Aug. 13, 2008, cover story, I channeled the Urban Blight Exploration Junkie and raved over the Pink Elephant Center, that landmark rundown strip mall at the corner of King Road and Virginia in San Jose City Council District 5. I had quacked about the place once before in a previous column, but for that travel feature, titled “Postcards from the Edge of San Jose,” in which I mapped out ignored masterpieces in each district, striking visuals were necessary to properly document the shabby outré ugliness of that East Side monument.
