San Jose Inside

The night she was arrested, Maria Castillo fit the description. A petite, 49-year-old grandmother and home healthcare worker, Castillo is Latina in San Jose – and that ethnicity, in that city, makes her the most likely person statistically to be charged with resisting arrest.

Last week, the Council spent two and half hours talking about making changes to a 1997 “competition policy.” At the prior Council meeting we spent two-plus hours talking about the same topic.  That policy is already burdensome and makes it difficult for businesses and/or non-profits to jump through all the hoops to do business with the city. I don’t own a business or manage a non-profit, so don’t ask me, ask the only two businesses that tried to utilize the policy during the past 12 years, but to no avail.

A Historic Window of Opportunity is Open to Improve Police and Community Relations in San Jose

The November 18, 2008 public hearing regarding the suspiciously high and racially disproportionate drunk in public arrest rate was revealing, heart-breaking and inspiring. Anytime City Hall becomes converted into a place for everyday people to bear witness, to pull out their crumpled hand written notes that described stories that were before only shared over kitchen tables, to give testimonials that show how distant policy can be cut through by the deeply personal, San Jose becomes a more considered and inclusive place.

Council again snubs citizens with dismissal of Independent Police Auditor.

Let me take a stab at the job description for the next San Jose Independent Police Auditor. I think I’ve got it.

Qualifications are as follows:
• Must have flexible definition of “independent.”
• Must be willing to satisfactorily explain any police activity as “the norm,” regardless of glaring empirical evidence to the contrary.
• The successful applicant can multitask—listening to and tracking problems with police practices, while refraining from offering any logical policy recommendations.
• Applicants who properly fit in city council and police union pockets are encouraged to apply.

Note: This is a temporary position, contingent upon applicant’s ability to never initiate, affect, or be rumored to be in the vicinity of law enforcement oversight.

San Jose native and pianist extraordinaire Thollem McDonas is about to make history. The SJSU graduate was recently invited to compose for and record on the only piano that French composer Claude Debussy owned during the last 14 years of his life (1904—1918).

I JUST COULDN’T RESIST yet another episode of The Gong Show, er, the city of San Jose’s Rules and Open Government Committee, since last week’s episode involved a proposed citywide moratorium on all new fast food restaurants.

The election is over and the citizens are safe for a brief respite before the clamor and cacophony of the General Election.  There are things even more important than the fate of professional football at stake—like the future direction of the City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara—that will be set in some significant and perhaps unchangeable ways. 

More “Facts” and “Figures” on the Soccer Stadium Deal

On page one of the “Fiscal and Economic Impact Major League Soccer Stadium Proposal Report” we read:

The City of San Jose is currently reviewing a request by the Oakland Athletics to develop a Major League Soccer Stadium for the San Jose Earthquakes as part of a new mixed-use development at the Airport West site. It is anticipated that the Stadium will be owned by the City and leased to the Oakland Athletics.  While this arrangement will not generate property tax revenue to the City’s General Fund, the lessee will be required to pay possessory interest tax to the City.

QUESTION:  Why are the Oakland A’s involved here?

Over a year ago, an ABC 7 News I-Team report exposed San José’s failure to protect children from pornography and those who would openly view pornographic material in their presence. The investigation revealed that there have been a number of individuals arrested for viewing child pornography in libraries, and still others have been arrested for performing lewd acts such as masturbating in public while viewing pornographic material. Please take the time to see the reports here and here.

It is never too late for a good, economical idea, and getting rid of bottled water at City Hall is a good start. Of course, it does not compare to ethics reform, but it is in the right direction. If you want to see ridiculous ideas, compare the “bottled watergate” fuss to the simple concept presented straight-faced in the pages of the Mercury News by a development lobbyist who says that the building of a new city in the Coyote Valley will significantly reduce the effects of our carbon footprints.

City Hall Diary

A few months ago I wrote about the chronic problem of speeding in San Jose. My concern about this problem peaked when two parents were killed recently by a speeding driver while walking on Graystone Lane in Almaden Valley. At that time, I proposed that the City of San Jose review its traffic calming policy in an effort to update it so that it reflects the needs of residents today.  For example, the current policy refers to using NASCOP (a photo radar device) that would take pictures of drivers in their cars as they sped by. Recently, NASCOP was ruled illegal by state courts, leaving a hole in our current policy.

San Jose Officials Livid: We Stole It Fair and Square

With the coming out party for new UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal at the San Jose Museum of Art last week came the disturbing announcement that he was claiming the title “Capital of Silicon Valley” for his granola-munching campus by the coast.

You really wonder how many times the San Jose Business Journal (SJBJ) will blunder into a story, cite a few facts, and then make sweeping comments that stand history, if not common sense, on its head.  The paper did it again with its recent editorial on the binding arbitration award to the Firefighters Union. Whether it’s the citizens’ General Plan or the recent political turmoil at City Hall, the SJBJ displays a Bushian knowledge of local history that is frightening.