The City Council is expected to finalize the city staff’s Top 10 priorities for the current fiscal year at Tuesday’s meeting. With three high-priority spots potentially vacant on the city’s workplan, several councilmembers have submitted ideas on what they think should take a front seat.
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Last Year of Music in the Park?
Rising costs and complaints have cast a cloud over one of the city’s favorite events, Music in the Park. The San Jose Downtown Association will decide this fall if this should be the 23rd and final year of the free summer concert series.
Class Warfare and the Gates Foundation
“It’s hard to improve public education—that’s clear,” Warren Buffet says. “If you’re picking stocks, you wouldn’t pick this one.” Even Bill and Melinda Gates must question whether their $5 billion multi-year investment in public school reform has been worth it.
Airport to Get Bulk of Council’s Attention
The City Council will meet Tuesday to discuss a variety of topics relating to Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. Included in items to be discussed are: an advertising concession agreement with Clear Channel, Inc.; leasing space agreements with airlines; public transit for the airport; and development of land west of the airport.
Council to Hold $24M Bond Hearing
Tuesday’s city council session, the second of the new fiscal year, will feature a hearing regarding the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) and a separate item giving City Manager Debra Figone the ability to accept a federal grant for public safety.
Education Reform Movement Takes Off
America has resolved the raising of the national debt ceiling through bipartisan legislation and averted catastrophic economic consequences, or so we are told. However, like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, is it once again government smoke and mirrors?
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.
Unions Outraged by City’s Ballot Proposal
A few weeks ago, there seemed to be a greater sense of cooperation between the city and five public employee unions over pension reform. Agreements were made to extend negotiations and work together on ballot measures. But last week, the city sent out its first draft of proposed measures. The ideas did not sit well with more than a few unions.
Building Communities of Trust
Last week, “the Feds” visited Pioneer High School to present an initiative collaborating with cities to prevent a terrorist action. They distributed a brochure titled “Building Communities of Trust.” The Feds included the Department of Justice and the FBI. I attended to hear first-hand the details and the comments from attendees that were assembled.
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.
Selig Talks About A’s Move to San Jose
Answering fans’ questions at an online town hall for the All-Star game, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig made a rare comment regarding the Oakland A’s potential relocation to San Jose. He was asked what is the latest news on San Jose becoming the new home for the A’s. At face value, Selig used 90 words to say absolutely nothing. But a closer inspection of his answer tells the whole story.
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.
Ex-Councilmember John Diquisto Dies at 83
Former San Jose city councilmember John Diquisto died of a congestive heart failure Monday morning. He was 83. Diquisto was a Cambrian Park native who worked as a San Jose firefighter for 31 years before serving two terms as the city council’s District 9 representative. He was termed out of office in 2002.
Fiscal Emergency Vote Delayed
Despite calling the city’s unfunded liability a cancer, brought on by escalating and unfunded employee retirement costs, Mayor Chuck Reed has decided to delay treatment options. The City Council will defer any decision on declaring a fiscal and public safety emergency to Aug. 2.
An Open Letter to Hillary Clinton
I am sure you remember the slogan during your challenger’s campaign, the “fierce urgency of now.” It has been exactly 30 months since the inauguration of President Obama, and we still have a public school system in chaos and shambles. In addition, we have not completed the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and test scores in math and English-Language Arts continue to be the major factor in judging effective schools.
Twenty Rocketships on the Horizon
The epicenter of public education is right here in Silicon Valley from this week to Aug. 10. The local and national spotlight will shine on this moment with unprecedented lumens, casting a potentially dark shadow or bright glow on the decision the County Board of Education and the Santa Clara County Office of Education will wrestle with for the next eight weeks.
