Thousands of Reports Said to be Mothballed for No Good Reason
An obscure room at City Hall that contained all of the reports commissioned by San Jose in its past, has collapsed and fallen through to the floor below under the sheer weight and volume of paper.
No one was injured in the 4 p.m. accident on Wednesday, since City Hall was empty as all city employees had already left for the day.
“I have never seen so much paper in my life,” said a surprised structural engineer examining the site. “Who paid for all these reports and what was ever done with them?”
Initial clues have led state inspectors to believe that the latest report, finished Wednesday by the city’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Ethics, was “the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak,” said one investigator.
Reports are sketchy but witnesses say that after the ethics report was printed and stamped for approval by task force chairman Ken Yeager, a city clerk “tore ass” to the Hall of Records and interred the report for what everyone thought was forever. This is what allegedly led to its collapse several hours later.
“You wouldn’t believe what we have found here,” said an investigator. “Reports from Mineta’s era, thousands from Hammer…here’s one from the sixties explaining the economic impacts of a downtown Macy’s, clipped to a newer and related report on the negative impacts of a Santana Row. Incredible! I guess all the answers were right here.”
Following the collapse, the Mayor’s office put a freeze on all new reports and ordered the old ones destroyed.
John, thanks for exposing the true reason for needing a new City Hall.
It’s my understanding that the mayor immediately established a task force to study the cause of the collapse and issue a report of their findings.
Now that the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Ethics has disbanded I guess they’ve pretty much solved all of the ethical problems at City Hall…
It’s my understanding that the mayor immediately established a task force to study the cause of the collapse and issue a report of their findings.
And the task force consisted of 3 citizens and 47 RDA or city employees. It was found 47 – 3 that there was no problem at all and the city is on a great 10 year course.
Never a wiser statement on reports. Actually, it was the ethics report along with the Evergreen development studies, which was two years of studies, thrown in there by the Mayor Gonzo not wanting to use Cortese’s report on Evergreeen because his flunkies haven’t gotten a piece of the action.
Hopefully, the new deck of reports will show San Jose, 10 years from now, got it acts together with a new downtown plan that would make downtown SJ fit the size of the city and make San Jose act it size like a major city. The new downtown plan: 50 million square ft. of office space in 85 office towers ranging from 14 stories to 30 stories, the maximum FAA allows, 75 or more condo towers of 12 stories and up, the maximum FAA allows, 10,000 hotel rooms, 1,000,000 or more convention exhibition space, and lastly, 3 department stores as follows: Bloomindale, Nordstrom and Macy’s. The new plan should also include state of the art world’s attraction featuring Light tower with observation deck near the top. The light tower should be located on Market and Santa Clara Street. Therefore, we would have the downtown worthy of our stature, and we would truly be known as the “Capital of Silicon Valley”, not a joker town with moribound downtown we have today which is devoid of life! That’s the report that would be falling on the head of future mayor or another politician, not the ones that callapsed today.
Not only would San Jose benefit from “new reports”, but new leaders, mayor & city council, to bring the city full circle to realize its’ complete potential.
These reports are actually to be used for insulation in homes by KB
What is the point on this web-site for making up stories? They aren’t humorous. The real issue here is why aren’t all past reports scanned and put on the web so that they can be accessed by the public. All new reports should be in electronic form for easy posting.
It irks me that for both San Jose and Santa Clara county that reports/studies on areas that impact my life are not available for review.
Once a report is complete it should be on the web and never removed. For example, the study stating how much money Cisco would generate at Coyote Valley was removed a few years ago yet this is still a relavant topic.
I just keep holding out hope that someone in City Hall will get their act together and start making things happen. Sometimes I feel that hope is just setting me up for disapointment though! Great article!
Why doesn’t anyone see the benefits of reports? They provide jobs for everyone. The timber industry and the paper they provide, the ink industry, the trucking industry.
Oh wait I know who they don’t help. The citizens of San Jose. After completeing one and putting it such a massive room it gets forgotten. Has anyone down there heard of the internet?
I’m sure all the reports filed could be put on a convient website called http://www.reportsarethelifeofsanjose.gov I can see it now. People would have the same access to files that our officials have and our government would be open and we would know everything going on and it would be great.
In order to save libraries in San Jose, Ron Gonzales and Larry Stone are going to museum events, and are standing outside the entrances to the museum’s with the following signs:
SAVE LBRARY HRS, THEY NED STAFFF ALOT!!
Also, Council Member Yeager and Chuck Reed have found a way to approve KB Homes split lot proposals in the parking lots of branch libraries to raise money. Also all Uniform Building Code manuals have been withdrawn from the collection.
Ground Control to Mayor John. Any chance that there were some files destroyed that contained the real background on the “Statue” you know the one with that bad boy riding a horse in some obscure area of San Jose which I have yet to locate. I know i am bringing up old news. The big news is “granny units” build them and they will come, jobs, tax base get on the band wagon, no granny units in Santana Row means growth down town. Think parking under each unit. Zorro