San Jose Inside

Food for Thought

Last week I asked the question: Is our national nightmare nearly over? I don’t think we know the answer yet, but come Jan. 20—which can’t come soon enough—we may see the beginning of the end. One thing is for sure, the landscape of American politics has been significantly and permanently altered for the better. With the decisive election of a mixed race African American as our president, we have finally exorcized the demons of centuries of racial intolerance and bigotry. We have shown the world that we really can live up to the promise and potential of our democratic ideals and doctrines, and that we can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

Food for Thought

Over the past 60-plus years since World War II, we have become the throwaway society. Our landscape is littered with plastic and paper wrappers, bags, bottles, containers, etc., and our garbage dumps are filled to the brim with the same. Californians use 50 million plastic bags every day, around 18 billion each year, which accounts for more than 60 percent of the state’s litter. Of course, the main reason plastic is used is its low cost as a packaging material for industry and retail stores, and there is no arguing with its convenience factor.  However, plastic waste is responsible for a long list of costly environmental problems, including the clogging of water and waste systems and the death of wildlife. In addition, plastic is manufactured from oil, takes thousands of years to break down and much of it is not recyclable. At every step of the way from manufacture to end-of-use, plastic bags and containers constitute a major source of pollution.

“C’mon you can blog in the limo,” ringleader orders me as I get yanked off the front lines of the most boring election ever. The front lines at that precise moment, 11 to 11pm PST, means a balloon-festooned Carlos Goldstein’s restaurant in North San Jose that smells like refried beans. The quartered quesadillas in the warming tray have permabonded to each other so that they peel up in clumps. 

The election is over and the citizens are safe for a brief respite before the clamor and cacophony of the General Election.  There are things even more important than the fate of professional football at stake—like the future direction of the City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara—that will be set in some significant and perhaps unchangeable ways. 

Why I Support Diana Foss

The Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) Board of Directors needs new blood. Many of the members have been on it for way too long and may be there for the rest of their lives since they unanimously decided against term limits for themselves recently. The incredible arrogance of the board’s decision gives yet more sustenance to the necessity of changing the membership.

Complaints of “Gamey” Chicken Marsala

San Jose’s favorite romance, between City Hall peregrine falcons Carlos and Clara, came to an ignominious end yesterday after three employees discovered that they ingested most of the birds after complaining that their weekly Thursday lunch special of chicken marsala tasted “gamey.”

The Bucks Should Stop Here

Last week in an opinion piece for the Mercury News, Councilmember Nancy Pyle and Silicon Valley Chamber President Pat Dando called for the residents of San Jose to make a concerted effort to “Buy in San Jose.” By encouraging San Joseans to shop within their city’s limits, more tax receipts would go to help offset the city’s growing budget deficit.

When I read that nonprofit developer Neighborhood Housing Services was having trouble selling the 17 condos of their new development just south of downtown, I can’t say I was surprised, given the worsening national mortgage crisis. The main selling point is that these units are considered “affordable housing” for buyers that have a low enough income to qualify for borrower assistance (less than $84,900 for a family of four). Originally offered at $535,000, the two-bedroom condos are now priced at $450,000 and still aren’t selling. I don’t know about you, but I don’t see how anyone could consider $535,000 or $450,000 homes to be affordable on an average family income, even with the incentives.

Your birth is a mistake you’ll spend your whole life trying to correct.
—Chuck Palahniuk

PART OF being a respectable columnist is to exhibit a strong degree of self-confidence and integrity when admitting one’s mistakes. Since I have committed more than my share of embarrassing howlers over the years, I feel the time is right to do just that. So here are a few to get us started.

San Jose Finishes Third Behind SF and Oakland

The SF Chronicle recently published a compilation of facts and figures relative to the Bay Area’s three largest cities.  The simple data provides a picture of where we are, and perhaps, where we are going

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.

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.