No truth to the rumors that the tree was used to print the new Merc.
The Willow Glen Resident has a story about the effect to city community centers of the budget cuts. Irene Kew has the details.
Irene Kew also writes about the illegal removal of a redwood tree on Lincoln Avenue that has prompted calls from the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association for toughening of the city’s tree ordinance.
If such a change ever makes it before the City Council, it won’t be in their current quarters. Aaron Davis in the Merc notes that Tuesday’s meeting was the last one in their current chambers. After the July break, they’ll be downtown. He also gives the fine points of the plan the council passed to have outside experts pick a special investigator to probe the garbage deal.
That Merc may look different, but is it really smart, fast and easy, The Fly wonders? The Fly also has a blurb on guest blogger Alex Marthews leaving the Preservation Action Council. His voice in seeking to keep a piece of our history intact will be missed.
From Scott Herhold column this morning…
“On the Tom McEnery-Jude Barry blog, Sanjoseinside.com, pessimist after pessimist complains that San Jose will never be a great city, that we’re too disparate or too hopeless or too incompetent to ever make it in the big leagues.
But those complaints are based on mourning what we’re not instead of appreciating what we are.”
Hey Scott,
I’m so ashamed of myself. How could I complain about the bonehead moves at City Hall when I should feel good about how great the weather is here.
Let’s all be happy.
Herhold isn’t completely blind or I guess consistent. He writes this later in the column:
“Can things be better? Of course. We desperately need new leadership at City Hall, for starters.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/columnists/scott_herhold/12021771.htm
Scott could say the same about the editorial pages and the letters to the editor in the Mercury News: pessimist after pessimist complaining about Iraq, Governor, BART, Gonzales, etc…
All I can say about Scott’s column today is it is a small step up from Patty Fisher’s column yesterday on leaf blowers in Palo Alto.
A writer for the San Jose Mercury complains that San Jose Inside often contains pessimistic comments about San Jose.
I wonder, has Scott Herhold read his own newspaper lately?
President Robert Clark, the SJSU President during many of the campus riots of the 1960s, has died in Oregon.
President Clark will be remembered as the president unlike many in the nation, who actually invited the protesters in his office and told them that they may be right about feeling excluded.
Unlike some cities, some with missions in the name, President Clark denounced people who sit outside the governing structure, and make little lists of who is to be in and who is to be out.
We have senior council members in other cities with others doing what President Clark and others denounced.
It is all about progress isn’t it?
I hope no one dismisses out of hand Scott Herhold’s advice to suppress our pessimism and appreciate who we are, because when comes to turning a blind eye to reality no one does it better than Scott and the others in the “We are the World” chorus at the Mercury News. Classrooms filled with overweight, monosyllabic droolers? Don’t point a finger and wonder why; instead, question the validity of testing and celebrate the diversity in our schools! Empty stores and streets downtown? Don’t trip over a bum and curse in anger; instead, offer him comfort and find-out how Ronald Reagan failed him! Gang members taking over your neighborhood? Don’t resent and hold their parents responsible; instead, learn to decipher their graffiti and admire their pride in their cultural identity! Morality on the decline? Don’t look down on that teenaged, tattooed, single mother of two; instead, rejoice in her vow to return to school and dream of becoming a role model! Crack dealers clogging up the Transit Mall? Don’t wonder why the top cops have restrained their troops; instead, pick-up the Merc and lose yourself in another story about Juneteenth. Local hospital closing its doors? Don’t bitch about the unbearable cost of open borders and open arms; instead, chalk it up to greedy capitalists and go enjoy an overpriced latte at Starbucks—where they practice good capitalism.
If your reality needs a shot of fantasy, rely on the Mercury News for a liberal dose.
Hey Finfan, get a grip. Downtown San Jose’s empty storefronts and streets are things of the past. Downtown is way too vibrant and attractive to be dismissed. I’ve been to just about any major city downtowns across the country and found that San Jose downtown is more of 24/7 than most of them, including Portland and Seattle. There are very few drug dealers on the streets because cops constantly crack down on them. Downtown is very squeaky clean and safe. Go and check it out!
Anyone notice they tore down the basketball hoops at Trace this week? Since they already tore down the hoops at Cory School a few years back that leaves zero good courts for anyone from either neighborhood. And people wonder why kids are so overweight these days.
Gary, how many downtown SJ restaurants can you name that are open 24/7? Eric Carlsen’s observation of a tumbleweed rolling through empty streets there captures the true atmosphere of downtown after 6PM or on a weekend. There is a lot of work left to be done before the term “vibrant” will correctly describe downtown SJ. Meanwhile, terms like “dead” or “hollow” are still in order. As Alex Marthews stated in the story Kevin links to above, too many of the historic buildings that formed the soul of downtown were allowed to be destroyed. You can’t get that sort of thing back and because it’s gone we’re still in an uphill battle after all these years of throwing money at it to make something of downtown.
Gary,
Come downtown tonight at 1:30am and see why this isn’t a 24/7 city. The police will “encourage” and help you leave ASAP.
As for the drug dealers; the police do very little if not nothing at all to the drug dealers. Especially during the day.
They’ll set up jay walking and parking lot stings to raise money; but they won’t lift a finger to combat the drug dealers and users.
Scott open your eyes. Everything in this city has been bad bad and bad since Gonzo and council have been there. the guy is sleazy and un inspiring. We need someone like Tom again to tell us where we are going. He was a great leader and gave San Jose some class, as a great speaker, historian, could talk on any subject intelligently. We could put him against anyone in country not with the last view Mayors.
Mark T, downtown is packed with dinner crowds during evening hours most of the time and packed with club crawlers after 11 pm. Wed-Thurs. It’s sometimes quiet on Sun-Tues if there’s no event, but that’s fine because most downtowns are dead at this period anyway. As for police chooing the crowd to go home after 2am, I think we can have the clubs stay open till 5am to sober out drunks in downtown. That’s what they do in New York. We can improve the situation.