Camping is a time to enjoy nature and the adventure of the great outdoors. Last week, I attended a community meeting about San Jose Family Camp. There were approximately 25 residents who all appeared to be Family Camp boosters. They expressed support for Family Camp, recalling fond memories that for some dated back approximately 30 years. But in these tough budget times, Family Camp might need to be outsourced or eliminated.
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Mayor Reed Answers Readers’ Questions
This is the first installment of a new San Jose Inside feature that allows readers to pose questions to public officials. This week, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has answered 10 questions selected out of hundreds that were submitted by San Jose Inside commenters. The topics range from pensions and public safety to a proposed ballpark. The next public official to be interviewed by readers will be announced on Friday.—Editor
Incubators in Spotlight at Special Meeting
The City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to determine if the city should conduct an audit of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency’s incubator programs. As San Jose Inside first reported, a study buried for two years shows the RDA spent more than $30 million on start-up companies that often provided a poor return on investment.
Golf Courses Could Be on Chopping Block
Faced with its 11th straight year of a budget shortfall, the city of San Jose is considering selling off and/or converting land used by public golf courses to prevent further cuts to libraries and community centers come next summer. Mayor Chuck Reed and other city officials will be holding the first of several community meetings at 6pm Wednesday at the Mayfair Community Center.
Musical Chairs in Milpitas
At a July meeting of the Milpitas Planning Commission, Mark Tiernan, the recently ousted chair, was heard hissing at fellow commissioner Noella Tabladillo, telling her (and anyone within earshot) that she couldn’t be trusted. Tiernan is convinced that Tabladillo was part of a “coup” that forced him out three weeks ago, and that Mayor Jose Esteves orchestrated the whole thing.
Did RDA Waste $30 Million?
Councilmember Sam Liccardo submitted a memo late Thursday calling for an audit of four incubator programs funded by the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. The request responds to a 2009 study—unseen by most city officials for two years—which finds that RDA spent more than $30 million on business-building incubator programs which, it says, showed very poor returns on investment.
Pot Club Cap Could Increase to 25
The planning commission is advising the City Council to take a less rigid approach in capping medical marijuana collectives. Included in recommendations voted on in July, the planning commission suggests a cap of 25 instead of the council’s preferred number of 10. As of this spring, there were more than 100 medical marijuana collectives operating in San Jose.
Idea to Increase Sales Tax Abandoned
Polling done in July indicates voters aren’t especially interested in raising taxes until the city negotiates true pension reform, which is why the City Council decided on Tuesday to delay any action on revenue ballot measures.
Chamber Invites Unions to the Party
While it might not signal a real truce in the endless, tedious factional conflict that is San Jose politics, the business community extended an olive branch to local unions last week. The setting was a soiree introducing Matt Mahood, the new CEO of the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Fiscal Emergency Vote Pushed Back Again
The first City Council session of the new fiscal year won’t be nearly as significant as expected. The council is planning to defer any action on declaring a fiscal emergency from Aug. 2 to Sept. 20. This is the second time the matter will be deferred.
Blogs Battling Over Prostitution
A recent NBC Bay Area report on the increase in prostitution downtown—and the disbanding of the city’s vice squad—has gone viral, and spawned a Twitter debate over the cause. Protect San Jose, a blog run by the police union, Tweeted that city manager Deb Figone was to blame for the downtown hookers, drawing a response from Daily Fetch, an anonymous political blog.
Zoning Out Medical Marijuana Clinics
Medical marijuana clinics are having a big summer in downtown San Jose, as patients in oversized jean shorts and nightgown T-shirts can be found burning on the sidewalk almost any afternoon. Complaints of people lighting up on city streets are numerous—ask downtown’s Councilmember Sam Liccardo as well as police—but medicating in public isn’t illegal as long as smokers carry a doctor-prescribed card and stay clear of public transportation hubs.
COPS Grant: Setting the Record Straight
Editor’s Note: Police union president George Beattie wrote an op-ed blaming city officials for police layoffs. City Manager Debra Figone responded by sending a memo to the mayor and city council detailing why layoffs occurred and San Jose passed on a federal police grant that would have saved jobs. Beattie has now provided San Jose Inside with a response to Figone’s memo.
Beattie and Figone Trade Words
Campaigning against Measures V&W last November, police union leader George Beattie issued numerous thinly-veiled warnings: If San Jose voters allowed the city to renegotiate contracts with cops and firefighters, he said, people might die. That strategy failed—V&W passed with an almost 80 percent majority—but Beattie is sticking to his guns.
Kalra Pleads Guilty to DUI, Avoids Jail
Councilmember Ash Kalra won’t serve any jail time after pleading guilty today to misdemeanor DUI, but he will take part in a jail work-detail program for five days, pay $2,000 in fines, receive alcohol counseling for 90 days and be put on probation for three years.
Lawsuits Expected as Fiscal Year Ends
It’s the final day of the fiscal year, which means many people who work for the county and city will be out of a job starting tomorrow. It also means lawsuits are on the way.
