Move Necessary to Offset Spike in Gas Prices Decimating City Budget
One of the lesser casualties of hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been the spike in fuel prices that have decimated municipal budgets due to city supplied cars and gas allowances, prompting the federal government to move in and implement President Bush’s plan for oil exploration in the Alviso Slough.
In a brief visit to San Jose on Tuesday, the president explained that the seven oil derricks that would be built off the coast of Alviso in the next 12 months may end U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil. “I can tell you that the Nation will owe you their thanks for sacrificing your safety, security, and protection,” said the president.
“What the hell is he talking about?” exclaimed Mayor Gonzales. “All of those words mean the same thing.”
The San Jose City Council sent a strong message on Tuesday when they voted 9-1 to incorporate the Alviso Slough as a redevelopment area before any federal investment was made. This will allow the city to siphon off the tax increment dollars, which some say might reach the billions, and allow the city to fund a BART extension, move the A’s to San Jose, and develop weapons of mass destruction that would deter a rogue and unpredictable Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
The sole dissenting vote came from councilman Forest Williams who explained that before he supported the President’s plan, he wanted to read the assessment report on risk and reward from independent investigator Karl Rove.
John,
There are only two sources of gas in Alviso: visiting Councilmembers and the Water Pollution Control Plant.
TM,
Your forgetting the methane gas from the land fill. Although the mayor and council account for much more hot air.
To the best of my recollection, this is the first posting that, even in fun, refers to a neighborhood not in the city’s downtown core.
A thread that runs through most of the postings is that the downtown core is the only part of the city that matters along with a not-so-gentle condescension toward the suburban neighborhoods that make up the far larger share of city life, tax base, and infrastructure.
This privileging of the downtown core in public discourse is a very strongly held view, but the day may come when the Alvisos, the Evergreens, the flea markets, the community colleges, and all the communities and institutions outside the downtown core will come into their own and be recognized as legitimate parts of this city.
And I don’t mean by being swallowed up inside the great redevelopment agency belly.
By the way, some day downtown devotees will realize the truth of the dictum, “You get less of what you tax, and more of what you subsidize,” and get the city council to declare free parking throughout downtown. That would have a greater positive impact on downtown core development and merchants than all the speculative projects by the planning and traffic departments put together.
BART and moving the A’s to SJ are WTDs – Weapons of Taxpayer Destruction.
But fortunately for the council, the city planners had the foresight to build the new CH to withstand the fallout from megatons of 2-minute citizen blasts.
No, guys, that’s natural gas—or maybe unnatural gas—that spews forth from the pols, which is distinct from gasoline. But since all oil wells give it off, we can solve two problems by drilling off Alviso. A great coup for Dubya. I bet his approval numbers soar next week now that J-MAC got the word out on this incredible coup.
The Mercury reports that Forest Williams (Formerly Dr. Bones McCoy on StarTrek) just had his underpants designated as a federally protected wetlands…
What happened to your article last week? It is sealed along with Gonzales’s email records?
Dale,
Your points are will taken, but you outline a grass is always greener scenario.
The reason so many people voice concerns related to downtown is that downtown doesn’t recieve the support it needs. Everyone in San Jose should and would benefit from a well designed vibrant downtown. We do not have that at this time and our mayor / council have made a real mess of downtown.
By the way, you are right on the money about parking. Parking is a mess downtown. The only thing that comes of the parking fees is more money for city staff.
Just a stupid question; do the city hall staff members have to pay for parking?
J Walker:
I am one who would like to see better/cheaper/free parking downtown.
On the other hand, parking sucks in SF and Los Gatos, but people still flock there. Why? That’s what we need to find out from a parking study—why the major difference in attitutde?
Dale Warner: The legacy of the last couple of decades in SanHozay is the desire of certain “leaders” to enhance downtown and make it more like somewhere else; all the while failing to recognize that SanHozay remains a bastion of suburbanites who could not care less about a downtown. And now they’re proposing a downtown north. So what does that give us—two non-downtown downtowns?
Amen on downtown, J.Walker…
J. Walker
Actually, in the case of Los Gatos, parking is 100% free. That is a big reason of the town’s healthy downtown economy.
Several years ago there was a move to establish a parking management plan that included paid parking. It was very unpopular with both merchants and citizens. The proposal went nowhere.
Now when Los Gatos addresses it’s parking shortage they look for ways to create more free spaces and free shuttle service.
San Jose could learn a lesson from it’s smaller neighbor. The last time I had lunch in downtown San Jose I had to pay $1.25 for every 20 minutes my car was parked! You can be sure that keeps me, and thousands like me, away from downtown San Jose. No matter how good the restaurants are, we have other choices.
J Walker:
I was about to mention that parking is free in Los Gatos, but ALG beat me to the punch.
What I don’t get is what interesting places there are to see in Los Gatos, from your point of view? There are lots of very fit, very good looking, very hedonistic peole on view there, especially around the roasting company on weekends. There is also the largest collection of very successful mediocre restaurants in North America there, with the exception of Manresa and Cafe Marcella, which are succesful excellent restaurants. [There may be other successful excellent restaurants there that I haven’t located yet—please forgive me—but for the most part the restaurants there emody the principle that “mediocrity sells”]. But interesting???
San Francisco is a different story. Lots of good stuff there, along with the detritus that unfortunately exists in all great cities. But can anyone define for me what constitutes downtown San Francisco? Is it City Hall/Opera House? Is it Union Square? Is it the financial district? Is it SOMA? Is it the new and very vibrant South Beach?
Lots of free parking would seem to be essential to downtown SanHozay, because the extremely vast majority of our residents won’t come down there to party without it. But even if it existed, would the attitude change? Quien sabe?
Downtown is the heart of every city. San Jose is no different. It was that for so long it wasn’t beating. Now it has life starting slowing from a very sick ttime when it almost died. All other parts of this city are just parts, good parts but just parts. Downtown is the heart and soul of our city.
JMO,
People flock to SF and Los Gatos because there are interesting points of interest and businesses that are worth visiting. Because of the interesting points of interest and businesses; those cities can charge a premium for parking.
Our city has the cart before the horse. We don’t have any interesting points of interest downtown unless there’s a Sharks Game or a major festival. And most spaces for business remain unused because of our parking issues.
A Los Gatan,
We have screamed about this for years. Parking is the biggest problem faced by businesses downtown. The city’s plan is about generating revenue; even if its at the expense of business.
In the last five years they have doubled the rates of monthly and hourly parking twice. This was planed so they could create a parking fund that would “fund” new garages.
Problem is each time they doubled the rates; more large office tenants moved out of downtown and the customer counts driving into downtown were literally cut in half. (I know this from my exerpience as a restuarant / bar business owner).
And the sad truth is that this fund to build more garages has grown to over 20 million; and the city refuses to use any of it for parking development.
And the really sad truth is that the city staff and powers that be are now preparing to take away the free evening and weekend parking.
Please note: downtown actually fills up when the parking is free. Gee maybe free parking would generate more business and jobs downtown.
San Jose, what a great place to do business!!!!
A Los Gatan #15:
Been to Kuletto’s and Valeriano’s several times each. Kuletto’s’ service is routinely abysmal/incompetent/unconcerned. Food is spotty. Though I’ve always like Steve Borkenhagen, and was an extreme regular for many years @ Eulipia, Valeriano’s is only great if you’re a regular; if you’re not, you ain’t shit as far as the bartenders or servers are concerned. Extreme Los Gatos attitude there, which I describe as a place with attitude that has no good reason to have attitude. If I want mediocre service, I can just stay home.
That said, we have a huge problem in downtown SanHozay. Emile’s is the top end. The Grill has fine quality steaks, but they routinely understaff, so that the servers run around like dervishes and the service still sucks from the consumer point of view. The bartenders spend more time talking to the attractive hostesses(when they have one) than dealing with customers. McCormick’s has a great happy hour, and very poorly prepared fish—almost always overcooked. Service is also spotty, at best. And talk about a truly bogus wine list!! They even admit it. Bring your own.
Paragon @ lunch is a dead zone. Rocks at dinner, but who wants to rock while eating dinner? Well, actually some people do, just not me. They have two excellent dinner servers, but I won’t ID them, because then I won’t be able to specify their stations when I eat there.
Arcadia is…well, it’s Michael Minna—food you’ve never heard of at huge prices for small quantities. Once again, service spotty.
There are many restuarants in the south bay that have spotty-to-incompetent service. The main problem as I see it is that food servers here, and in most of the U S of A are students, artists (aspiring mostly), and folks between jobs; whereas in NYC or all of Europe, it’s a career.
So, owners are stuck with high turnover of unprofessional people with no real interest in their job. So, when you like the food in a place you hope to god you can find a good server, so when you call for a reservation you can request a seating time at the station of this wonderful person who actually knows what she/he is doing, and who cares about whether you will have an enjoyable experience.
For years I have followed professional servers as they move about to new locations; and sometimes tolerate less than stellar food in exchange for stellar service.
But in the end, the numbers are in mediocre food at a low price. Medocrity sells; e.g. Bella Mia. They have the price point that works for most folks, and the food is a solid C-. So they fill the joint. Then there’s The Spaghetti Factory—truly abysmal “Italian Food” at a low price…so you can bring the wife and kids for just a little more than a couple of Happy Meals.
The Deep has an eclectic menu, most food prepared well, but from the bartender to the servers to the managers—CLUELESS. I was there recently for lunch with four friends. We sat at the bar for lunch. The bartender took twenty minutes to serve us two cocktails and three galsses of wine (merely one drink item per person)! He was completely overwhelmed by five people…Jeez!
So much for my food review.
J. Walker makes a good point about parking as far as S-Jay residents and visitors are concerned; but I must say that Palo Alto, Los Gatos, and THE CITY have worse parking problems and yet they fill up and we don’t. HHmmm. Is that because there’s more reasons to go there than to come to downtown SanHojay? Let’s see, I work in downtown but I live in Portola Valley. I leave work Friday and go home. The wife and I want to have a nice meal together out. Why would I ever consider returning to downtown San Jose when there’s Palo Alto, or even The City?
Then there’s the problems caused by the cruisin’ crowd that patrols the Santa Clara Street part of downtown. They scare off lots of the folks with more money to spend, but who are fearful of certain “types”. Not politically correct…but reality.
Well, I’ve rambled enough for today.
Mr. O’Connor,
You should come back to Los Gatos and try a few more restaurants. There are some good ones.
You already mentioned Manressa and Cafe Marcella (good picks), two excellent restaurants in a town the size of Los Gatos. But there are more.
Next time you come out our way you might try Kulettos or Valerianos (run by the same folks who operate Downtown SJ’s Eulipia).
If you want to spend a little less I’d suggest Crimson Cafe on Los Gatos Boulevard or the legendary Cats Restaurant out on Highway 17.
I have to agree about the about the weekend freak show at the LG Roasting Company. They are mostly tourists from San Jose. Next time try Great Bear on North Santa Cruz Avenue for a much better cup of coffee and atmosphere.
Downtown San Jose, by comparison, seems to be hell bent on importing chains like McCormick and Schmidts, and Melting Pot. Fortunately there are still some good ones such as Stumps, Eulipia and Emile’s. I recently had a really good dinner at Grill On The Alley. For a good torta it’s hard to beat La Victoria.
I’d spend more time, and money, in Downtown San Jose but the parking can literally cost more than the meal. Why aren’t the merchants screaming about this?
Happy Dining!