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Oliverio Proposes Cannabis Business Tax

UPDATED: City Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio released a memo Tuesday proposing that San Jose adopt an ordinance to regulate and tax the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana at dispenseries in San Jose.

The memo, which the District 6 councilmember will speak about at next Wednesday’s Rules Committee meeting, asks the council to discuss allowing medical cannabis establishments in specifically zoned locations within the city. It also outlines his proposal for the taxation of doctor-prescribed uses of pot, most notably that all tax revenue generated would be earmarked for the police department and street maintenance.

Mission Ale House Closing

Didn’t know Mission Ale House was closing this week? Hey, don’t worry, neither did the people who work there. “I was out of town spreading my father’s ashes, and came home to no job,” says Johnny Van Wyk, who this year closed his club Johnny V’s and moved his live-music bookings to Mission, where he was general manager.

Newcomer Challenges Liccardo

An affable former security guard, bartender and doorman at the popular downtown bar Johnny V’s is eyeing a run for a seat on the San Jose City Council. Tim Hennessey has generated backing from a number of angry downtown club owners, and this December, with no political experience, he’ll start officially vying for a position representing the most high profile council district of the nation’s tenth largest city.

Policing and Downtown’s Emerging Nighttime Culture

Much of the news in recent days has been dominated by the issues surrounding the San Jose Police Department.   Last week, several colleagues and I sought greater transparency and disclosure of police reports, but by a 5-6 margin,we narrowly failed to persuade our colleagues to adopt the ordinance proposed by the “Sunshine” Task Force. On Sunday, the Mercury News released a video documenting the use of force by SJPD officers in the arrest of San Jose State University student Phoung Ho. Ash Kalra, Madison Nguyen, and I immediately called for a full investigation and—if any criminal charges of the officers are sought—a grand jury process open to public view.   
 

All About Money on Tuesdays

A variety of issues were discussed at last week’s council meeting that dealt with city finances. Jennifer Maguire, the Director of our Budget Office, shared that the ending fund balance this year is 1.3 percent. The city has always had an ending fund balance for as long as anyone can remember.

Merc Posts Video of SJPD Officer Beating SJ State Student

UPDATED. The San Jose Mercury News posted a video on its website last night that shows San Jose police officers beating a San Jose State student with a baton and using a Taser on him during a Sept. 3 arrest. According to the accompanying article, the force was used “even though the suspect was on the ground, and apparently offering no physical threat to the officers.”

WET Nightclub Sues City

WET may have had its entertainment permit pulled, but the club will open for some October events and is still making news. The owners of the nightclub have sued the City of San Jose, claiming that the SJPD’s decision to pull the plug and revoke its license violates its constitutional rights. Police claim that the club was a public nuisance: over the course of five months, SJPD reports, its owners were given 49 chances to rectify problems ranging from serving alcohol to minors to a stabbing on the dance floor.

Plastic or Cloth?

It is well known that the city of San Jose is on its way to banning single-use plastic bags starting in Jan 2011. An ordinance will come back to Council in 2010 for final adoption which will contain different options. The most problematic option I could see is a fee put on single-use bags.

Moving Van

There’s been a lot of chatter about the reasons why Van Jones had to leave his position as the green-jobs czar for the White House. One theory has it that Fox’s Glen Beck is to blame for his constant hammering about Van Jones’ past controversial statements. The line advanced here was that Beck was seeking revenge for being made the target of a boycott by the group, Color For Change (co-founded by Jones). Color For Change lobbied a number of advertisers to stop sponsoring Beck’s show.

Rosen Ready to Run Against Carr

Deputy DA Jeff Rosen (left), prosecuted murder defendant Paul Garcia, in handcuffs (right). Photo: Los Gatos Observer
Deputy DA Jeff Rosen and Assistant DA Rolanda Pierre-Dixon appear to be testing the agua to run against District Attorney Dolores Carr. And Rosen, according the the county registrar’s office, just pulled papers of intention to run and organize a committee. The Mercury News, which has been riding Carr’s derriere ever since she defeated Karen Sinunu, appears to be goading Rosen into the race. This wasn’t always the case. The Mercury included Rosen as one of its poster boys for prosecutorial misconduct in its “Tainted Trials” series. The daily cited an appellate court decision finding that Rosen ignored a judge’s orders when cross-examining a defendant.

San Jose Greenprint in the Red

Since Sept. 7 was the Labor Day holiday, the City did not have a regular city council meeting. So, instead the Council had a “study session” on the Greenprint, which is a vision for our parks and community centers.

The city has grown in square footage both in parks and community centers. However San Jose still ranks lower then many cities in its ratio of parks to people, even when you include school property (which is where I used to play as a kid). By 2020 we will be 1,124 acres short of our goal/vision. In fact, we exacerbate this ratio every week by approving affordable housing that is exempt from park fees or land dedication.

Breaking News: Wet Permit Pulled

San Jose Inside has confirmed that Club Wet in Downtown San Jose’s SoFA District has had its entertainment permit suspended. Police Chief Robert Davis has power to shut a club under San Jose’s emergency ordinance. A four minute video clip of a dance floor brawl at Wet was posted to YouTube this week.  Update: Wet was served late Friday. Club officials say the timing gave them no opportunity to challenge the action in court. The club will be open and be able to serve alcohol and play music, just won’t have live entertainment.

Change of Command

Already reeling from from the fallout from posted YouTube videos of a dance floor rumble, downtown San Jose’s beleaguered entertainment community was thrown another curve this week with the surprise reassignment of Lt. Larry McGrady to the East Side’s Foothill Division. McGrady had promoted communication and improved relations between the San Jose Police Department and Entertainment Zone operators since being appointed to oversee the district in December 2008.

Retirement Board Governance

Last week, I chose to attend both outreach meetings regarding the issue of retirement board governance, so I could hear concerns first- hand instead of reading a staff report. The possibility of changing the makeup of the current retirement board was presented by the consultant. The biggest change, if adopted, would be to remove city councilmembers from the board and add “independent” board members with a finance background.

Since 99.95 percent of city residents did not attend the meetings I thought I would share a synopsis of the comments that were made by attendees

City Workers, Retirees Protest Pension Fund Oversight Plan

Representatives of the city’s police, firefighters, and city workers unions and retirees are up in arms over plans to restructure the boards that oversee their pensions. Their pension funds lost almost one-quarter of their value in the recent stock market plummet, leaving them with $3.2 billion. Now the city is planning to replace its representatives on the oversight board with council-appointed delegates who do not work for the city or do business with it.

Carr Opposes Prisoner Release

California believes that it can save as much as $1 billion by releasing non-violent inmates from prison. Santa Clara County DA Dolores Carr admits that, but says that in practice it amounts to decriminalizing property crimes—such as car theft, grand theft, commercial burglary, and writing bad checks—by reducing them to misdemeanors. “This is really going to cause an increase in crime in our local communities,” she wrote in a letter to the governor.