San Jose Inside

City Hall Diary

A few months ago I wrote about the chronic problem of speeding in San Jose. My concern about this problem peaked when two parents were killed recently by a speeding driver while walking on Graystone Lane in Almaden Valley. At that time, I proposed that the City of San Jose review its traffic calming policy in an effort to update it so that it reflects the needs of residents today.  For example, the current policy refers to using NASCOP (a photo radar device) that would take pictures of drivers in their cars as they sped by. Recently, NASCOP was ruled illegal by state courts, leaving a hole in our current policy.

The report in the Mercury News yesterday that mandatory water rationing in Silicon Valley may soon be a reality is not unexpected. The decision of the judge to limit the flow of water through the Sacramento River Delta—which supplies 50 percent of our needs—to protect an endangered smelt is largely due to inadequate rainfall this past year and the crumbling delta infrastructure that desperately needs attention. There is only so much water available even at the best of times, but we are in a drought year and there could be many more to follow. It isn’t unheard of and the situation could get a lot worse.

The Business Journal so much reminds me of that old saying about editors: that they “come in after the battle and shoot the wounded.”  Never was it truer than in their recent editorial about Cirque du Soleil. They have been absent in past years concerning the takeover of City Hall by lobbyists; absent on the unconscionable stealing of our future by the transfer of 1400 acres of industrial tax base to residential housing; absent on any meaningful discussion of the proper support for small businesses in the downtown; and absurdly critical of candidate Chuck Reed on some relatively minor issues in the recent election. Not much of a record.

Bay Bridge, Hwy. 101, Leaves of Absence Keep Tiny Office Out of Top Ten

Employees of the tiny San Jose City Auditor’s office were told on Tuesday by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) that their daily trip to the sexually-charged workplace known as the “Auditor’s Den” was not among the top ten dreaded commutes.

There have been a number of recent articles in national publications about the brave new city of the west, San Jose. The Wall Street Journal stated its view of our city as the center of innovation and entrepreneurship. There is a strong effort to reap the benefits of locating the new and exciting clean-tech areas of the new economy here to join eBay, Cisco Systems and Adobe. We are trying very hard and the ability to try hard is a virtue in a person and an asset in the development of the city.

Budget Figures Tell the Tale

Ah, it’s springtime in San Jose.  The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and the roses at the Rose Garden are…well, never mind.

It’s also budget season, and the preliminary budget numbers coming from the San Jose city government are not exactly encouraging.  The sources for the information that follows are:  The City Manager’s Budget Message, The 2007-2008 Proposed Operating Budget, and the city’s transportation department. Read ‘em and weep:

Is There Some Hope?

As we look at the past, it is important to remember that the same leadership (I use the term loosely) that presided over the sad demise of San Jose’s credibility in the last decade was the predominant force on the VTA Board.  This is not much to inspire confidence or faith in anything, let alone a leap of faith like BART.

Part I

The organizational audit for the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) presents a picture neither unexpected nor unwarranted.  It clearly exposes that not only does the emperor have no clothes, but he may not even be the emperor. 

And the End of the Storied Santana Row Boycott

Fiascos always have precedents as well as postscripts.  The mistake of land use in the Santana Row project was based on the same model that led to the destruction of downtown’s retail in the fifties and sixties. The postscript was written when Silicon Valley and Bay Area leaders challenged the absurd spending priorities of the California Transportation Commission last week. Chuck Reed, Carl Guardino and the others struck a blow for all of us when they got the state’s commission overseeing this spending to change their priorities.  Feeding the economic engine of the world here, our valley,  is crucially important to the US economy, and stands in stark contrast to some overpass in Tulare County or a “bridge to nowhere” in Modoc County. Every commuter in our valley should be grateful that Mayor Reed and the others were successful. It is the latest battle in the allocation of bond proceeds, but not the last.

I thought the story a week or so ago about improvements in our local transportation system was very informative.  Basically, it goes like this: the California Transportation Commission slanted the available funding to rural and non-economically important areas of the state. The Mercury News headline screamed: “South Bay Road Plans Dim.” They have refused, in some goofy pique or lack of sanity, to fund the economic engine of the free world: San Jose, Silicon Valley, us!  What are they thinking?

How City Officials Snuck It Through

Very few people in San Jose know the story about the political maneuvering that paved the way for the San Jose Airport to be renamed for Norman Mineta. 

I would like to start by taking a different direction in the budget debate and bring up the matter of saving money at City Hall through conservation and converting San Jose into a green city fit for the 21st century. With a $3 billion budget, even a fragment of 1 percent saved would be a lot of money that could be used for other purposes. I know that steps have been taken in this direction, but a lot more could be done. Every city function should be regularly reviewed and monitored to reach and maintain maximum efficiency. I see lots of gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups with the city logo driving around. They should be replaced by hybrids or other alternative fuel vehicles as they wear out. All city buildings, works and public transportation should be converted to take advantage of modern technological innovations in cleaner, alternative power. The airport takes a huge portion of our budget and it should lead the way in conservation and green conversion. San Jose should actively set an example for our citizens and other cities around the country. This is the center of world technology. Let’s use it and show what it can do! 

This week, we thought we would focus in on what the priorities of our city government should be, given its limited resources. We daily columnists will all be weighing in on our regular days with some thoughts of our own. To get the ball rolling, we want to give our bloggers an open forum to express their views first. So we hope that you will take the opportunity to tell us what you think today.