I love the Olympics. Every two years, whether it’s winter or summer, I am glued to my TV. I love the beauty, drama and competitive spirit on display each day. Here are just some initial observations about the games so far:

I have a friend in town this week visiting from Ireland. It’s always interesting to see our town from an outsider’s perspective. He is well traveled, has lived in various American cities before, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and so he is aware that there is life outside his little green island. But when we were talking about what he wanted to do when he was here, I thought I had better take him to San Francisco or else he’ll be bored; it won’t be chic enough in the South Bay and there won’t be enough to do. 

I wanted to keep the discussion going on education—tagging on to last week’s topic—since we all have such differing opinions on what we need to do in this area.  I happened to watch the CNN special Black in America last week, and it had a fascinating piece on an unusual plan to improve student achievement in New York City’s education system.

Every year studies show that we Americans know very little about history.  We fail to identify many famous figures from our past, like Benedict Arnold, Ben Franklin and even George Washington. But what is the root cause of this? Is it our culture and our complete obsession with movies and video games? Or is there something broken in our education system that doesn’t allow students to retain these facts as adults?

I know that Mayor Reed has not been in office for very long, but when will we start to see his impact?  It’s true that he has brought back a lot of respect, integrity and honesty to the position of mayor, but as a lifelong resident who feels that watching our local politicians make decisions is like watching paint dry, I want to see some vision—now!

No, I am not going to attempt to rewrite the famous novel (even I am not that full of myself), but rather, start a discussion on something that needs to be discussed: how two cities, San Jose and Los Gatos, can both hold the same type of event, but with drastically different outcomes. 

We have heard this story many times before. My friend sells downtown real estate and has lived in San Jose his entire life, so he is familiar with an area that many don’t visit much.  He and his lady friend, who wanted to get a taste of what it would be like if she lived downtown, just toured the Axis, 88SJ and other high rise homes there. Then they decided to visit downtown San Jose on a Saturday night and go to dinner and a comedy show.

I am used to hearing about grass fires throughout the Bay Area each summer, but this year the number of fires burning across our neck of the woods and the state are just alarming. The fires in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Martin and Santa Cruz make you wonder what we are doing to help create this, and if nature is trying to tell us something. But beyond that, and strictly having to do with dollars and cents, who is paying for all of this—literally?

The current issue before the city council about hiring additional police officers is one that I am not sure is as cut and dried as it may appear. It shocks me to hear that Chuck Reed is “verbally tussling” with anyone, let alone Nora Campos, who sounds for all intents and purposes like someone that could get under your skin in a hurry about this issue. Crime is up; therefore, more law enforcement officers are needed. However, is it really that simple?  Chuck Reed agrees, but wanted to add only 25 officers so that other programs are not cut.  Nora Campos says that we still need more.  I am not totally convinced of either one.

Oy vay. I have had it. Maybe they caught me on the wrong day, and maybe it’s always this way, but my last dealing with a city employee makes me realize why people curse them.

A couple of bloggers have mentioned in their comments that few of the columns on SJI have focused on the local elections that are taking place today.  Maybe that is because so little noise is being made on the local front that it can more accurately be classified as a whimper.  (This may be due to the last local election that gripped the voters and the media.) Also contributing to this quietness is the political backdrop of the gigantic drama of the Presidential race.  So what happens when it’s so quiet you can hear a pin drop?  Do people care less if there is no drama?

As I sat enjoying the rest and relaxation that comes with the Memorial Day holiday, I wondered why we can’t find a way to make three-day weekends a part of our city’s culture. I know it doesn’t seem possible, but think about it hypothetically for a moment. What if we only worked 4 days each week? Would our city benefit?  Yes!

As I picked up the paper on Saturday morning amidst my latte and bagel, I perused the business section to see that the City of San Jose has now approved Santana Row to seek developers to build and lease over 150,000 square feet of office space. I know this site is very downtown-centric and has received flack for it, but am I wrong in getting a quizzical look on my face when I read this?

We live in a rat race and sometimes I don’t know how to get out of it. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to visit friends in Hawaii for a few days in the past week. Now back in San Jose from paradise, I really feel the differences in lifestyle between the two.

Nausea. Pain. Suffering. Frustration. Anger. Joy. Jubilation. Exhilaration.  I have felt all of these in the span of a weekend watching our beloved Sharks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Sometimes I have experienced all of those feelings in the span of one period in one game.  One thing I do know is that it ain’t easy being a Sharks fan.

For all the talk on this site, much of it frequently seems to come back to this topic: How do we “fix” downtown and make it better?  Everyone thinks they know what needs to be done, or people make kneejerk reactions that just mask the problems. So, how do we really make the changes that need to be made in order for San Jose to become a cross between the 24-hour city and the nice place to live that it already is?