San Jose Inside

Pop’s Mini-Mart, at the corner of King and Ocala on the eastside, is getting a facelift. But it isn’t just a cosmetic change; it’s the kind that can change the history and lives of a community that surrounds it. Frank “Poncho” Torres, an accomplished muralist whose work is all over the eastside, has steadily been crafting a masterpiece for the past seven months or so—a wall-sized mural that is a call to end gang violence and to locate this community in a larger cultural moment.

High School Science Students Copycat Latest British Columbian Body-Part Crime

In a copycat crime, several high school science students were arrested late Wednesday when they were accused of using a ripe ape carcass they stole from their biology lab, dressing it in a suit, adding grey hair, and passing it off as Pete McHugh during several county board meetings.

When I drove around the Boys Ranch in Morgan Hill a month ago, I expected some sort of military-style, boot-camp atmosphere. Almost all of the young men I knew who went there years ago had run from the Ranch like it was part of the protocol: Go to “the Hall,” then the Ranch, and run from the Ranch back to the Hall. I figured there had to be a reason, something unacceptable that would make youth run when they knew for sure they would get caught. However, after talking to dozens of youngsters as to why they ran, it turns out it wasn’t that deep—it was just easy.

The current issue before the city council about hiring additional police officers is one that I am not sure is as cut and dried as it may appear. It shocks me to hear that Chuck Reed is “verbally tussling” with anyone, let alone Nora Campos, who sounds for all intents and purposes like someone that could get under your skin in a hurry about this issue. Crime is up; therefore, more law enforcement officers are needed. However, is it really that simple?  Chuck Reed agrees, but wanted to add only 25 officers so that other programs are not cut.  Nora Campos says that we still need more.  I am not totally convinced of either one.

As a longtime baseball fan, I can understand why it’s known as the “game of inches.” I had no idea that the same rule applied to the real estate development industry. Neither did 17 residents of the Rose Garden around the old Fiesta Lanes site under development into high density housing by ROEM Builders of Santa Clara, until they received a letter from the company last month.

There is much to be concerned about in San Jose these days. We have seen this before in the early seventies, when the vaunted SJPD of today was not quite that organization. It was undertrained and poorly led. Its relationship with the minority community was fragile and the composition of the force did not reflect the makeup of our city. That all changed with the selection of Joe McNamara as chief in 1976, and his particular brand of leadership. 

Says He Has Looked To Rev. Jeremiah Wright For Political Advice, Not Statistical Guidance

San Jose City Councilman Forrest Williams on Wednesday denounced inflammatory remarks from his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who has railed against San Jose for being unsafe and not-large, and accused its leaders of supporting sprawl.

The gym at Alum Rock Youth Center on the Eastside was filled near capacity last Thursday evening when Mayor Chuck Reed held the first of four open forums on gang violence in San Jose and how to spend an additional $1 million towards the issue. While a cynic might say that the event was mere political theater—an attempt by the city leaders to quell growing frustrations about violence on the streets—it is undeniable that the forum did tap into the community’s authentic call to be included in the conversation of allocation of resources. The gathering was probably the first time I saw the city council, SJPD, parents, youth advocates, former gang members, and religious groups, all brainstorming from a position of collective problem-solving, rather than fighting over limited funding.

The news that four men (including a former Bellarmine student and current freshman football coach) have been arrested for the murder of Los Gatos businessman Mark Achilli shows that though we live in a safe area, something pulled right out of a Hollywood movie can and did happen in our backyard.

Law enforcement uses the state’s gang-enhancement law to crack down on violence, but a judge’s ruling in the Joshua Herrera case raises questions about its reach

THE moment before Rebecca Rivera entered the courtroom to hear whether or not her son Joshua Herrera was going to face a life sentence in prison, she gathered with 40 or so supporters, who were bustling around with nervous tension. “I talked to Joshua last night, and he wanted us all to know that whatever happens in there—he is coming home.” She began to weep, then collected herself and walked into court. The potentially devastating question that was left in her wake, the one no one dared ask, was: When? Rivera had already consoled the mother of another young man involved in the case, Alex Samarro, who had been given 23-to-life the day prior, and knew the pain she saw yesterday could be hers today.

I recently read that a Hudson, Kansas judge ordered a man, who had admitted to molesting a boy, to post signs around his house and to put a decal on his car—for the duration of his five years of probation and house arrest—proclaiming that he is a sex offender. My first reaction was: Why shouldn’t we know what he did? Then more questions came up, including: How much do we have the right to know about our neighbors?

Joshua Herrera May be Facing Life in Prison Because of an Unevaluated Gang Enhancement Law

On the steps of the Main Jail, Rebecca Rivera called out to God and her son at the same time. She asked that God save her son from a life in prison, and that her son hear her prayer. 24-year-old Joshua Herrera, housed on the fourth floor of that jail, did in fact hear his mother and the 200 or so supporters who chanted and cheered through Rebecca’s impromptu speech, many of whom also had sons, uncles, nephews somewhere in that building. And from the fourth floor, it must have been quite a sight, an unlikely movement that Rivera has pieced together since Joshua was convicted of home invasion robbery with gang enhancements in 2006. Marching alongside the Herrera family were young Chicano men who also have been labeled as gang members themselves, college students sporting their banners, firefighters who met Joshua, and about 50 leather-clad bikers sitting on Harleys that roared like they had jet engines inside them.

Confusing Rules to be Sorted by Retailer’s Scanning Technology

Despite a high, six-figure settlement relating to allegations that its cash register scanning technology was overcharging customers, the San Jose City Council has decided to move forward with a multi-year contract for the Walgreens drugstore chain to manage its new downtown parking fee structure.

Merry Christmas to all SJI bloggers and readers.

In the abiding spirit of revolution embodied in the Declaration of Independence, our Founders created this country as a nation ruled by secular, Constitutional law, not religion and mythology, though the assault on this principle by theocrats is ongoing and relentless. Those who attempt to wield the Bible and the teachings of Christ as a weapon—from George W. Bush and Pat Robertson to the Catholic Church and the Texas Department of “Education”—for political and social control, to stifle intellectual debate or cover up the facts of science, do so under false pretenses. Jesus would be appalled.