San Jose Inside

According to a very good and informative article by Vrinda Normand in the Metro last week, San Jose is the only city in Santa Clara County that allows developers to contract directly with consultants to write environmental impact reports for their proposed projects. The problem with this policy was made evident recently in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Coyote Valley Specific Plan.

History was made last Tuesday night at City Hall when over 1,000 people gathered there, packing the Council Chambers, the rotunda and all the community rooms. Approximately 200 people from the crowd spoke at the meeting. They were old and young, male and female, recent immigrants and those here for decades. The topic was the naming of a business district

San Jose is in trouble. No, it’s not about losing our title as “safest” big city in America and other meaningless titles. If I had to lose the “safest” and also the “10th Largest City in the US” titles, it would be a more than fair exchange, for few monikers have been so graspingly offensive as that last residue of the ancient regime. Never forget that not only was the Gonzales tenure venal, it was also incompetent and just plain dumb.

Stop the presses! City Hall is giving up bottled water. There is no telling what can happen from this. The money they could save makes me salivate. Could we raise enough money to build an A’s stadium? Or build a second Santana Row downtown? How about more high-density housing or connect the light rail across the city? If they plan on saving upwards of millions of dollars from simply deciding to drink cloudy tap water, there is no stopping this city!

Veterans Day is a time to be thankful for the men and women who have served or serve in our military.  I am taking this opportunity to share why Veterans Day is important to me.

I have never served in the military, so sometimes I feel a bit “hollow” in comparison to those who have committed their lives—past and present—to our armed forces.  There are other occupations where people put their lives on the line for others; however, the military is the biggest commitment one could make, in my opinion.

Al Gore Will Team With Paramount Classics to Distribute Movie

Just minutes after the city council approved Mayor Reed’s “green vision” for San Jose, which sets ambitious goals for the city to reduce energy and support clean technology, he made the surprise announcement that he would take a short leave of absence from the city’s top job to film his version of “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Al Gore Praises the City for Cutting Greenhouse Emissions

In what critics called their biggest fear, the recent vote to ban smoking in public parks has become the “gateway” banishment that has led the city down the dark and addictive road of harsher rules and stiffer regulations culminating in yesterday’s announcement that as of November 1st, breathing will also be forbidden in public.

It has been a year since our good friend, fellow columnist and in-house San Jose historian Leonard McKay passed away suddenly. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think of him and his preservation work for our community. I certainly miss the almost-daily chats I had with him the last couple of years of his life. I don’t think I ever learned so much from one person in such a short period of time. I would like to take this opportunity to remember my friend Leonard and his efforts to preserve our history—buildings, artifacts, documents and stories—for future generations of San Jose citizens. I am reprinting one of his last columns below as a tribute.

In the news and in the city council chambers, the debate continues about housing vs. jobs in San Jose. Some argue that creating housing before jobs is a little like the cart coming before the horse, while others argue that there needs to be housing here to attract and keep new workers. Is there one that should be in place before the other can follow? I think it is an interesting debate that deserves more airtime.

City Hall Diary

This past Tuesday, the City of San Jose discussed its midyear point, which is where we consider how we should spend or not spend any “extra” money that was not part of the regular budget proposal.  This year approximately $13 million is up for discussion. 

On Saturday morning, a public workshop will be held at City Hall to help determine what revisions need to be made to the city’s general plan for growth. An Envision San Jose 2040 Task Force has been assembled to review the plan and they are seeking public input to assist them in setting the agenda. Since many of us will find it difficult to attend the meeting on Saturday, I thought we might give our bloggers an opportunity to express their views on the matter here on San Jose Inside where they can be seen by the denizens of City Hall.

It has become a tradition with me to go with my friends to see the Blue Angels fly over San Francisco at the pinnacle of Fleet Week. This year I stood on a rooftop taking in the spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city itself. The sight of the Blue Angels flying above me never seems to get old. The maneuvers, the speed and the beauty of these planes are really something to marvel at.

After my last column on the Mexican Heritage Plaza (MHP) a few months ago, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had missed something and things didn’t add up to some of the conclusions I reached at the time. I spent what time I could spare over the summer searching and researching the matter over the Internet and my hunches were confirmed by what I found.

On a “quiet” Sunday night in downtown San Jose—the evening of August 26—over 30 police officers were called to quell a large disturbance at the Scores/Raw nightclub on South First Street. While the officers were dealing with the ugly scene and arresting 12 patrons, another customer cut loose with a semi-automatic weapon directly into the crowd and toward the officers. Miraculously, no one was hit.

City Hall Diary

At the August 28 city council evening meeting, the council spent over two hours deliberating on where to put the park that is part of the Irvine Development in North San Jose. This item was continued from the August 14 meeting where the council discussed it at length until 1 a.m.