San Jose Inside

Christmas is a time of cheer, smiling faces, carolers and strolling down tree-lighted lanes. I don’t know when it happened, or why, but Christmas has suddenly turned into a time of dashing around, stressing out, sitting in traffic, and pulling out your hair while you buy one gift after another. What happened?

I have been to the San Jose Civic Auditorium once in my eight years of living in the city: a performance by towering jazz giants Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter about five years ago. A big jazz fan all my life, I have been lucky enough to see many of the greats, from Miles Davis to Weather Report, but the best jazz concert I have ever been to was definitely the one in the San Jose Civic that night. In fact, it was the most sublime musical experience of any type I have had, and that’s a hard list to top

Why do we relish traditions around the holidays? Why do we become nostalgic about certain things that we do with family and friends? You don’t see people planning to go to the same play every March or going to see a display around Valentine’s Day. But in San Jose, the Christmas season seems to bring out some wonderful traditions.

City Hall Diary

No, I am not referring to the subprime mortgage crisis and the subsequent foreclosures but rather last week’s three-hour city council study session regarding inclusionary housing. Many comments were expressed on how inclusionary housing should be dispersed. What exactly is “inclusionary housing?” Is it for extremely low income (ELI), or for others? No one can argue that San Jose has not done a good job at building affordable housing, especially when you compare San Jose to other municipalities in the Bay Area.

Through careful research and consideration, I have come to believe that bouncers are now the lowest form of humans to grace our social scene. I have logged hundreds of man-hours in our local establishments to come up with this conclusion that I am sure other people have come to long ago. Doormen and bouncers already operated on power trips and egos. Even so, there is a new increased power given to these men that they do not deserve, and an attitude in our city that they can do or say anything they want to us. I think we all have a growing lack of respect for others in general and the bouncers are leading the way.

Why is the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors getting mixed up in setting standards for national fast food chain restaurants to display calorie counts and nutritional data of their products? Supervisor Liz Kniss has proposed such legislation applicable only to restaurants with more than 15 outlets in the county. Her stated reasoning is that she wishes to fight the epidemic of obesity in the country, but I don’t see how this no-more-than-cosmetic move will do any such thing. For one thing, it leaves out the vast majority of restaurants in the county. The only result I can see is the high cost to the county’s taxpayers of policing something which has little value to the public.

It is now firmly established that we no longer enjoy the title of “Safest City in America.”  I am glad that it’s over because now we can continue the effort to make our city as secure in all its parts—each and every neighborhood—as any city can be in twenty-first century America. The title, awarded by some group in Washington D.C. (nobody can remember who; okay, who was it, wise guys?), now rests on the sun-kissed head of Honolulu. However, the real question is still the same: are people in San Jose safe in their homes and blissfully free of crime? The answer, as always, is a big “no.” But the struggle endures.

If you haven’t had the chance to visit the San Pedro Square Bistro and Wine Bar, you are missing out on one of the best restaurant experiences I have had in San Jose in a long time.  Because of it’s proximity to many downtown offices (it is on Almaden Ave., across the street from the CBRE building), I am sure it does a nice lunch business. However, it also has many different things going for it as a dinner spot. 

Incumbent Pyle Confident She Can Beat the Biostatic Noggin

With just nine months until primary elections in San Jose, speculation in south San Jose’s council race has already turned wacky. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams’s son says that his dad’s severed and cryogenically frozen head will be running against Nancy Pyle as a registered Separatist in District 10 in the June primary.

When Kansen Chu left the Berryessa school board in June to take up his new position as the new San Jose City Council member for District 6, the school board went through a perfectly reasonable and open process to fill the vacancy. A list of 17 candidates was whittled down to five semifinalists and finally down to two very qualified people, Alkesh Desai and David Neighbors, that were considered by the four sitting members of the board. When the vote split two for each, rather than opting for a very expensive by-election to fill the spot which is up for regular election next year in November anyway, the board rightly agreed to abide by a coin toss to decide the winner—a completely legal and common method of settling the matter. The coin toss favored Desai who was considered duly elected and installed as the fifth member of the board. The board and Mr. Neighbors accepted the outcome, and there were no complaints from the public. Case closed? Not quite.

As mayor, you have the responsibility to make changes, provide vision and get things done. Rarely have we had a mayor of this city who could claim to have all three of those qualities. And, yes, the small things like fixing potholes, listening to the neighborhood associations, and being an accessible mayor are all important too. However, at the end of the day, it’s the “big things” that you will be remembered for.

City Hall Diary

Large organizations often wrestle with enterprise software implementations. They are often promised big returns, quick implementations, user friendly programs and then—the real “kicker”—that costs will not exceed a certain given price.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Much to nobody’s surprise, the San Jose Grand Prix is dead. Apparently, it committed suicide. The laughably dubious reason given by the organizers for its demise is that downtown development is happening at such a scorching pace that the property where one of the main grandstands is located is going to be built on and there isn’t another location for the race’s premium seating structure. The Grand Prix directors say that they have always been aware that the construction on the property would happen. If they had done their homework, then they must have also known that it would mean the end of the race. Did they keep this fact to themselves? 

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.

49ers to Santa Clara, A’s to Fremont, Warriors to Mexican Heritage Plaza

In a very complicated deal consummated late Thursday night, the San Jose City Council has decided that the best use for the beleaguered Mexican Heritage Plaza is to turn it into a sporting facility designed and equipped to house last year’s NBA Cinderella team, the Golden State Warriors.