The protestors have left for the time being and quiet has returned to the plaza of the smoking fountains at San Jose City Hall. How long the peace will last is an open question. It is far too early to discern the answer. But one thing is clear: the primary heroes in the enterprise are evident to all. First and foremost is Sam Liccardo, the District 3 council member who seized the reins and achieved a resolution, snatching stalemate from the jaws of defeat. Then there is Mayor Chuck Reed, who dug the cement out from around the feet of many in City Hall and gave his approval to the agreement that ended the hunger strike of the redoubtable Ly Tong. Vice Mayor Dave Cortese is one who clearly knew that ending this protest, for whatever reason, was the correct course.

The naming of places and the honoring of icons is an often confusing and sometimes treacherous country to enter. Walking by the empty lot on Jackson between Sixth and Seventh Streets that was once the city corporation yard led me to a number of thoughts about that problem, our government, and local history. For many years this was site of the city-owned garage and maintenance facility. Its acquisition is shrouded in a bit of mystery from the sordid days of the forced internment of Japanese Americans. It is alive in the memories of many members of that community who believed their area and property were seized during that tragic time. But the story goes back even further than the recent focus on the World War Two chapter. As L. A. Chung pointed out in the Mercury News, it goes back to the destruction of our old Chinatown in the area of the Fairmont Hotel.

I attended a luncheon at City Hall yesterday honoring one of San Jose’s most notable citizens: playwright and film maker Luis Valdez. It was a wonderful and inspiring time, as all sessions with Luis and his wife Lupe are. However, it had one other element to it. Supervisor Blanca Alvarado asked Valdez a question that focused on the Plumed Serpent—Quetzalcoatl—and the meaning of art.

San Jose does not have to be like every other place. We are unique and we are blessed. The corruption and sleaziness of politics in the national, state, and other cities’ elections does not have to be tolerated here.

This was brought to mind by the recent arrest of a former young intern who worked for a councilman and a defeated candidate for mayor, and the heavy suspicions that he was encouraged, instructed, and/or “bribed” by certain people to engage in the type of political espionage that makes most citizens hate politics and despise politicians. It does not have to be this way in San Jose.

When it comes to the difficult task of reversing the dismal budget record of the city, help from whatever quarter is usually welcome. But lately, I find the deathbed conversions of the editorial board of the Mercury News and tardy concerns of the South Bay Labor Council to be a bit Wednesday-ish. During the dismal decisions of the last fifteen years or so—the conversion of industrial land to housing, the attacks on the Coyote and Almaden Valley urban reserves, the showering of new benefits on public safety employees, and various other moves—there was a notable silence, or at the most, weak concern from both.

Something being proposed in Florida and Michigan for the Democratic primary selection is often utilized in golf where it’s called a “mulligan.” It is, indeed, a very human reaction and a plausible escape route. But beware the easy route—it’s full of peril. We have seldom seen it in San Jose politics before, but in the battle for “Little Saigon,” we may have another look at the concept of the “do-over” and the results may be anything but satisfactory.

The tumult and the shouting have died. The captains and the kings have departed. The election is over. What happened?

The impressive showing and meteoric rise of Obama across the nation served notice to the entire country and world that a new era has arrived—an era marked by renewed hope and optimism about the future. The old hackneyed tactics are no longer good enough. In fact, this time, fed by the reckless behavior of powerful people, they backfired. It was indeed a historic election.

There is a line from an old John Ford movie that explains much of the mythology of America and, indeed, the current deification of celebrities: “This is the West … when the legend becomes fact, print the legend!”

I visited the Mexican Heritage Plaza on Friday to see the play, “School for the Americas,” concerning the last day in the life of Che Guevara. It was entertaining and enjoyable, in spite of a degree of anti-Americanism. The next day, a subsequent conversation with the play’s author, Jose Rivera, sponsored by the Commonwealth Club, was low key but nice.

It is the time of year when truth is the first casualty: election time. This year, one example comes in the guise of a “reform” Prop 93, the “change term limits” measure. When groups we should trust—firefighters and public safety personnel—send deceptive mailers talking about “reducing” the time the politicians can serve, it is, indeed, the depths of degradation. I can only conclude that they believe the end justifies any means. This particular end is the perpetuation of selected leaders in office, and increased benefits to those unions who play ball with them. It’s a sad situation and you wonder how any self-respecting person could have so little regard for the truth.

Today is Mayor Reed’s State of the City and it is easy to predict an issue that will be paramount in his speech. Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the budget woes of the City of San Jose are never far from us. Far from crying wolf, the wolves may be howling too late and not too inappropriately. San Jose has faced multimillion dollar deficits for the last few years. The mayor has decided to try and fix this one quickly, and, he hopes finally, in the next three years. As the front page story in the Mercury News reported yesterday, the mayor has performed quite well on the reforms that he promised the citizens in the last election. It is a refreshing and significant achievement.

Purchasing the Future

The year of 2008 is already shaping up as a fascinating one, but tough decisions are ahead. BART, professional sports and our incredibly increasing deficits—state, local and national—are going to loom very large.

As a New Year dawns (I love using that phrase so full of hope), it is time to take stock of our city and community. There are things that we should hope for in the New Year; and, more than that, we should work fervently for them to occur. It is critical to build in the present if you want a future to be proud of.

With the state of California poised to release 22,000 convicted felons designated as non-violent, I thought of another former prisoner who rehabilitated himself and made something of his life: the American author known as O. Henry whose real name was William Sydney Porter. He wrote over four hundred short stories, an amazing achievement. Though I have great reservations about this prisoner release as a cost-cutting measure, I truly hope that there is an O. Henry in the mass of those returning to our neighborhoods shortly. Merry Christmas.

It seems like we have a battle over art again in San Jose. Not over what type of art, but, rather, whether to have it in the new police substation.  I, for one, am happy not to discuss the recall in District 7 or the loss of our esteemed title of the “Safest Big City” in this yuletide season and get to the real issues that determine our future.

There is the fundamental question that often comes to the fore in the political life of a representative: Do you vote what you think is right or do you vote the will of your constituents? Madison Nguyen is caught in this situation. According to news reports this week, 2,000 people attended a meeting and rally on the naming of the Little Saigon/Saigon Business District. 

The tumult and the shouting have died and “Little Saigon” is now a political battle, not an alternate name to an important area of small businesses. Or is it?  A recall is in the offing if cooler and more focused minds do not prevail. I hope they do. It would be bad for the city, District 7, and the Vietnamese community. While it is difficult to understand why Madison Nguyen was so blind-sided by the somewhat predictable events of the last few weeks (and the strong feelings behind them), the council supported her down the line.  One day we may see it more clearly.