This is your turn to discuss whatever topics you want to cover.
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What will be the most popular topic for the upcoming ethics hot-line?
Will it be the City Hall project and the shell game with the funding that has been open knowledge for the last few years? Including where city staffers are charging their time.
How about Borgsdorf’s predeliction to throw city staff to the wolves while he protects his own job at the expense of others?
The only thing that’s predictable is that the hot-line will get lots and lots of use.
How about the multiple failures of the City of San Jose lately and the lack of accountability. There has been more negative news about the City in the last year than in the prior twenty.
Who really lost the stem cell center?
Who is really responsible for the tent fiasco?
Who really caused the Cisco mess?
Why has all this been glossed-over?
Etc.
and
WHY ARE THE CITY MANAGER AND HIS CRONIES STILL EMPLOYED BY THE CITY – CLEAN OUT THE MANAGER’S OFFICE!
For starters, how about the ongoing tent debacle? The weekend spin on how losing the EbAY dinner is no big deal was a masterpiece of “you can fool some of the people some of the time.” Was the tent originally only being inflated for the EbAY dinner? What is it really going to be used for? How much is it really going to cost? How embarrassing is the loss of the dinner versus the general embarrassment of the tent itself? Why doesn’t Cirque use the tent when they get here next year instead of spending money to use the parking lot at the old City Hall? Might as well put a real circus in the tent.
Can anyone confirm the rumor that city officials from San Jose and Santa Clara have forged a new agreement regarding their respective convention facilities? What I heard is that San Jose, bargaining from a position of desperation, will make its big tent available for Santa Clara conventioneers to relieve themselves. In exchange, Santa Clara has agreed to provide San Jose convention-goers with discount coupons for Great America. San Jose will outfit its tent (“The Two-Ply Palace” pending name lease) with additional toilets, sinks, and urinals. The addition of a dome was rejected for budgetary reasons.
My sources tell me that VTA has signed on, agreeing to provide special trains to get those folks the relief they need, and then get them (and their dollars) quickly out of San Jose and back to Santa Clara. In keeping with San Jose’s obsession with Mexico’s culture the light-rail service is expected to be dubbed Montezuma’s Express.
Hey everybody, let’s get this rolling today!
We lost the stem cell facility and the powers that be say it’s no big deal.
Now eBay has decided not to use the tent for it’s main event and they again say it’s no big deal.
The people in charge need to wake up! Both of these cases should be treated like a big deal, especially the technical error on the stem cell application. We would have had that nailed if not for the problem on the application. Why aren’t heads rolling on that one?
It’s clear that Gonzo has set the standard that it’s OK not to perform your job as you’re supposed to down at City Hall.
It doesn’t matter which political spectrum one ascribes, principals have become relative. It is the hypocrisy which knows no bounds that has caused our political system to become broken.
Locally, the ethics debate has firmly entrenched everybody in the “reform” movement. Yet, business interests decry Terry Gregory’s ethical lapses, but are strangely silent during the Ed Voss debacle.
Ron Gonzales complains about the amount of work caused by frivolous requests for public information. But his City inundates the County with such requests in an attempt to halt them from going forward with their Theatre Project.
It is this “relative” ethic that has turned people away from politics and it is not simply a local phenomenon. Consider:
1) All the Republicans for fair reapportionment in California gleefully point to the Texas gerrymander with great pride.
2) All the Democrats who decry the ability of the minority party to hold-up the budget in the State Assembly, yet staunchly defend the cloture rule in the U.S. Senate that allows a minority to block Judicial nominations..
3) Republicans decry to use of “recounts” or “new elections”, unless it is in the state of Washington where they insist on determining who the “voters really chose”.
4) Republicans are philosophically against big government—unless it means an increase in funding for the wars on terror, crime and drugs.
5) Arnold is for reform, unless it hurts his contributors.
6) Businesses are against taxes, unless it’s a sales tax increase that will improve housing and transportation infrastructures they need to do business.
7) Teachers are outraged by the Governor’s failure to keep his word, but you hear nary a peep from them when the gas tax is stolen from transportation to fund education.
8) Government Administrators decry the “greedy” unions, yet their compensation has increased more rapidly than the workers at the bottom.
9) Newspaper reporters write column after column about the need for open government, using unnamed sources.
10) Conservative business people rail against the cost of labor, then give failed CEOs millions of dollars in golden handshakes for ruining compainies.
11) Latino, African American, and Asian Ministers of faith are offended by the racism in our society, only to oppose marriage for gays on religious grounds. Was it not religious grounds that many whites initially opposed equality for blacks?
12) I see a Governor who was going to kick the special interests out Sacramento., but he gives a tax break to his Hollywood cronies.
13) Democrats forgive Clinton for his sexual exploits. Bob Packwood is cannot be forgiven by Democrats.
14) Republicans look the other way when Rush Limbaugh is using illegal drugs, but call for harsh penalties when the user is a person of color.
15) Baseball owners got rich on the theory of supply and demand. But when it comes to Baseball players, those greedy guys need a salary cap to stop the Millionaires who own the team from paying the demand rate.
16) Everybody wants affordable housing, except in their neighborhood.
17) Everybody knows of at least one Green Party member who has driven a gas guzzling vehicle to protest Global Warming.
18) Alan Greenspan raises interest rates and kills the dot.com boom after sighting “exuberance in the market”, notes that the government is paying down the debt too fast, supports Bush’s tax cuts and his social security privatization that will cost trillions then complains that the government has been fiscally irresponsible and that continued deficits will hurt the economy.
19) Bush criticized the Clinton Administration for “nation building”, then adopted the entire policy wholesale under his watch. “The world changed after 9/11”.
20) Fox news bashes the “liberal” media.
21) We make a hero out of Gaylord Perry for never getting caught using a foreign substance on the baseball, then we are “shocked” to find that players are using corked bats and steroids.
22) The same company that sent a dog a free credit card insists that we make borrowers more responsible by tightening the bankruptcy laws.
23) Liberals are accused of not supporting the troops, but it is the conservatives who deny them body armor, death benefits and cut funding to the Veterans Administration.
24) Phillip Morris runs ads saying they want kids to stop smoking in America, but they still hand out free cigarettes to kids in third world nations.
25) The United States, who has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, is insisting North Korea and Iran abandon their programs. While we leave all options open and institute “regime change” as a national policy.
Hey, let’s talk about quality of life in San Jose. It’s among the worst in the country. In San Diego and Chicago, forinstance, when you watch the local news, you see celebrities appearing for book signing events at the downtown store, and they appear in person on the outdoor stage where everyone can approach them beforehand. You see, we don’t have local news that’s part of the community. Celebrities, by the way, just go straight to SF. SF is a hell bok of place for San Joseans to go to enjoy live band musice, getting passport, shows , national branch for banks and company and so and on and so on. SF acts like haven for us to do anything exciting. San Jose is a disaster loser.
Hey Smurf, it all depends on the kind of life you’re talking about.
Generally quality of life uses measurements involved with everyday living—driving, parking, shopping, doing other business. Entertainment figures in too, but it’s not how most people spend their money every day. So for the basic stuff, the quality of life here is likely the best of the Bay Area’s major cities. Driving, parking and shopping (beyond the mom/pop type stuff) are all challenging tasks in SF or the Oakland/Berkeley area. I have 6 supermarkets within less than a mile from my home, all with free parking, and two of them are very high end. I can walk to 3 different bus lines, if I were inclined to take the bus anywhere. Our infrastructure is showing its age around here, but it’s in way better shape than SF or Oakland’s. I know I’m speaking in Suburban here and that there is a ton of work to be done to make downtown a destination, but otherwise I can’t complain much about the quality of my everyday living situation, except to say that sometimes the lack of anything that’s cuturally enriching out in suburbia hits home. Especially when one of those monster redneck trucks with dual American flags flying goes cruising past my place.
Yup, San Francisco is the recommended site for the stem-cell research.
If you were applying for a job and decided you didn’t feel like filing a complete application, do you think you would be successful in being hired? NOT.
No current city council members would be the renegade to spearhead the diabolical and dubious “deals” that fill the local headlines. Some one without a doubt should have been fired for losing the stem cell headquarters. This council has no notion on how to build a prosperious downtown. For example, building a highrise “mall” anchored by Bloomingdale’s or Macy’s; shopping/retail needs to enter the equation.
Now, we have an expert on baseball stats, who tells the rest of us that we are not as smart as he is, and would like to be the only one ever quoted on issues. By the way, there were several besides Perry, and there was only one incident ever on national television where a manager was thrown out
for objecting to a ball that was doctored. The person who loves to lecture the rest of us will likely never be able to answer it, just as he refused the chronology tht Lisa G confirmed but he never wants to admit to.
Mark T, downtown is so important to quality of life in any city because you don’t have to have a car to deal with traffic, parking, high fuel prices, going to spread out and isolated places for jobs, shopping and cultural events that would create smog in the area, and If you have all that in downtown, you would not be alone, broke, sick and bored, and that’s what SJ quality of life is all about, not to be able to function without a car which is no leg without one! Basically, you need a car in San Jose. San Jose is so boring, so isolated and very hard to do things and meet people. Suburban lifestyle is an evil culture. The city needs to fix up downtown in a hurry to improve quality of lifestyle in the city and earn more respect, but I know the city is so lame to do that.
Gaylord used more than spit, a little vasoline stored on various body parts.
Also, I don’t disagree that reporters should use unnamed sources, they need it to be effective. But forcing public officials to share all their private conversations because “the public has a right to know” is dangerous and ultimately hurts the ability of people to accomplish great things.
To all:
I would never presume to try and squelch free speech, but not all speech is equal.
Coherency, relevance, experience and focus are key to establishing a meaningful dialogue.
Credibility comes not from the amount of times one posts, but from the quality of those comments.
Some folks should take the advice of the boy in the back of the room who was once asked, “Why do you never speak up, people wonder if you may be stupid?”
To which the boy replied, “better for them to wonder, than for me to speak-up and remove all doubt.”
Finally, just for the record, I have never used a pseudonym for posting on this board. Some who have used a fake monicker have been accused of being me.
For those who were falsely accused, I simply say “consider the source” and take solace in the fact that you must have been highly articulate and cogent in your reasoning to be accused of such an atrocity.
For those making the accusations, paranoia is a disease which can be treated.
Smurf, I’m right there with you. A thriving downtown would seal the deal to make the quality of life here virtually impossible to beat.
Too bad neither of us will likely live to see one unless we get someone in charge who has this same vision and the ability to execute it.
Judging from the current pool of candidates for mayor & council, we’re headed for more of the same BS that we’ve been dealing with since Gonzo came to town.
USA gets it,
Fox News gets it
Bud Selig gets it
Arnold gets it
All of us about affordable gets it
Bush gets it
Phillip Morris gets it
teachers get it
Democrats get it
But then we have to understand who will want no comments.
No, you’re not the only one. I tried and gave up. I felt it was unfair to get into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
You, and anyone else who dares wonder what he is talking about should prepare to be barraged with a variety of unintelligible ramblings belittling us and accusing of saying things we did not say.
Such is life.
Well, it is always nice that we have two cowards talking about the rest of us with real names about things we say they cannot understand, but they feel free to talk about with the desire to be too frightened to discuss it with real ids.
Mr. Robinson is still, no matter, a very dedicated and impressive person, for despite what we are frustrated about, he shows his guts by talking with a desire to put his name on it, and that deserves respect.
As for above coward one, and above coward two, well, the emails earlier today did also do some confirming about them.
There, you have my name and I agree with “coward” number 1 and 2.
You sure are obsessed with names aren’t you? We don’t even know if you are using your real name. I would assume you are not because nobody would use their real name to say the things you do.
chugga, chugga, chugga, more money for the homes, more building for the homes, gotta have the KB, KB Homes!
B More space, more space, place for Del Monte, place for Del Monte, want the home, want the KB, KB Homes
C Chugga, chugga, chugga, more infill, more homes, no more libraries, can’t have the libraries, get the KB, get the KB, Chuck says, KB Homes
D Dave had the plan, Dave had the plan, but Ron said no, he said, no, chugga, chugga, chugga, Ron said no, Dave has no plan, he cant be given the plan, more homes, more KB, KB Homes
A Whattya talk, whatyya talk? No libraries, no parks, no libraries, no parks, money for the baseball, whattya talk, whatya talk, need it all for the baseball, no library hours, KB, need more KB, KB Homes
B Chugga chugga, chugga chugga, and Robby talks about Iran and North Korea nukes, says USA gotta shut up about the nukes, we got plenty of nukes, and KB, KB, no historical needed, KB Homes
C Doesn’t know the territory, doesn’t know the territory, Ron said BART, BART he said, BART, BART. Chugga, chugga, doesn’t know the territory, Carl said shaddup, shaddup if you don’t like BART
D And money for the baseballl, need that baseball, and for the demijohns, and the corn liquor, and the basins, need the baseball, and the BART, and money for the housing, all of them need housing, chugga, chugga, chugga, Carl said shaddup, if you don’t like the parcel tax, keep them for the parcel tax. Parcel Tax for Berreyssa, parcel tax for East Side, Parcel Tax for San Antonne, all them need the parcel tax, chugga, chugga
A Whatyya talk? Whatyya talk, money for the parcel tax?
C All them need parcel tax, no opposition allowed, and no talk from the people, just from the Carl group, nothing from the people
A Whatya talk, whatyya talk, what about Reed, what about Reed?
B Closed down the Cisco, chugga, chugga, closed down the Cisco, nothing to look at, keep it away from the people, all the money for the homes, need the homes
C And the Bart, the Bart, need the Bart
D Coming when we are sixty, coming when we are all sixty, 2029,. 2020
B Carl said no social security, but a KB Home and a ball cap, gotta have a baseball cap
A Whatya, whatya talk, chugga, chugga, San Jose Council, no discussion, all arranged, no questions, there, no questions, there, just no libaries, and no Del Monte, just all the same homes, and baseball, and the BART, and the Cisco, big city hall, big city hall
B Chairs, chairs, chugga, chugga, what about the chairs?
C Cisco,. and the Cisco,. whatya talk, chugga chugga, whatya talk? Just stop it about Cisco, Chuck seconded, and seconded and seconded.
D What about the libraries tomorrow, and the parks, chugga, chugga, and Dave’s Plan
A Ron said no, no plan, whooooa, stop the train, City Hall, all stop, for city hall.
Rich-
Regarding this one:
9) Newspaper reporters write column after column about the need for open government, using unnamed sources.
Apples & Oranges.
Without those unnamed sources Terry Gregory would still be shaking down local businesses owners. Without open government his Council cronies would let him get away with it.
Regarding this one:
21) We make a hero out of Gaylord Perry for never getting caught using a foreign substance on the baseball,
I think most people would agree that spit is a natural, not foreign, substance….
Interesting list!
Ed
I would like to point out that without guaranteed anonymity we would not be getting any input from the City Hall insiders on what’s really going on there.
I’ll opt for anonymity any day if it will provide information that exposes the truth about day to day business at City Hall.
It is sure nice to know that you think I have no right to say anything, but then again, isn’t that what we get to do in this country, unless we have all surrendered control to you.
And it came to pass, that a trust land holder wanted to curry favor with KB Homes by writing insults.
Well, as I said, the most impressive thing about people like Dale Warner, the McEnerys, Rich Robinson, and Ed Rast, is that they all do decide to seek dialogue with their views and their identity, which we all have said is the test, isn’t it? What it is it about it being easier to attack from the shadows, or to do it, to get that next transaction?
Didn’t I say that guaranteed anonymity for waste and corruption whistle blowing must be maintained? Gee, Mark, what city hall issue has the “Inquistor” uncovered???? Please name one, please Mark, tell us what great city hall scandal has #25 talked about,
Sorry, but I am not going to knitpick this to death or argue about it in this forum. I think most readers know perfectly well what I meant, it was a general statement and not directed at #25. My statement stands, you have every right to disagree, but I respectfully decline to discuss this further.
I just agreed with the use of pseudo names to point out issues with problems at City Hall. If you think that is a disagreement, gotcha. I just feel that if you are going to get cute with another blogger on here, which does not point out any “corruption” or bad act, just have some guts, and we know that you and others do, and there some others that are too scared of their own shadow, to do so.
A rsomewhat rambling comment on Joe Coto’s bill to tax legal services(I’m a lawyer) as a way to raise more money to waste in Sacratomato:
Taxing legal services to raise more money is completely misguided.
When will the men and women who represent us realize that the problem is too much spending?
On a local level—spending over $1 million TO STUDY whether to install suicide barries on the GG Bridge is a total waste of money.
I feel for the families of the troubled people who leap. But I am a Darwinist—their deaths cleanse the gene pool a bit. I’m sure Jesus, Allah, Buddha or whomever loves the troubled leapers. But when kids can’t get adequate nutrition and healthcare, spending money on this suicide barrier is completely misguided.
This is but a local example. I am confident that the Sate budget could be reduced by 20% by axing all sorts of other misguided spending plans, and having governemnt do only what citizens cannot do individually.
Pillaging gas tax money for non-road issues is another example.
Californians have a combined tax rate that rivals that of Sweden, but we don’t have half what the Swedish government provides for its citizens.
CALTRANS workers spend half their day standing around. Fire half of them, require the other half to ACTUALLY WORK 30 hours per week—yes 30, not 40—and sound walls wouldn’t cost $1 million + per mile.
The answer is NOT to get more money by rasing taxes. The answer is to spend it wisely, on programs that do more than funding another bureaucracy.
Mr. Robinson’s list of why I and many others can no longer tolerate our government at any level was incredible!
As a person who has been interested in politics since I was a wee one outside of Boston MA, who moved here and ran for local office, it is my sad duty to say I have ZERO faith in government at any level to do anything but feather its own bed.
Terry Gregory is just an egregious example. Yes, I know there are elected officials who realy want to do the right thing; but they are derailed by a bureaucracy that trundles on no matter what.
The people do not get value for their money from any government agency.
A friend has been trying to open a restaurant downtown for almost a year. His fees are exorbitant. He has no redevelopment subsidy. The folks in planning—who the mayor would like us to believe are very co-operative and efficient—put up roadblocks all along the way. And this is DOWNTOWN, which is supposedly the darling of local government.
Another friend slogged through planning for nine months to get a 600 square foot addition to a business location in Willow Glen. He had a handicap access at the side of the building already, and the parking lot was in the rear of the building. The bozos in planning held him up a month or two by insisting he put a second handicap access in the front of the building, close to the street with virtually no parking, and farther away from his rear parking lot where his customers parked. Do people in planning get sent to Stupid School before they get hired?
Government is the enemy. My tax rate—combined federal and state income tax, self-employment tax, FICA, Medicare, sales tax—is 60% of my gross income. That’s about the same as in Sweden, where everyone gets a good education, healthcare is universal and FREEEE, and they don’t waste a gazillion dollars trying obviously guilty people and then giving them decades of appeals. I’m sure not getting my money’s worth. Are you?
“Smurf” gripes a lot, and many times he’s/she’s right. Too bad he/she doesn’t have the cojones to post under his/her real name. Then maybe people might take him/her (??) more seriously.
John, you are a bery perceptive person and talk about very relevant things. I wish I had your good sense more often. Permit me, as a planning consultant not to defend the planning staff, but to venture a reason for the planning staff’s rather “non use friendly approach.” A good planner uses the general plan as an enforcement tool. They feel, at times, that the best way to handle a problem is to make you advocate for yourself, and they stand back and use the general plan in complete objectivity. To them, the applicant is one client, but anyone who would object to their cutting the guy some slack, needs to have some representation as well.
This is why your friend feels that they are not being too easy on him, and he feels wronged, because as the applicant, he thinks he should be allowed to do it his way, which is likely the best way.
Always feel free to email me with any general question about why a particular application is regarded a certain way, and what things your friend can do and say to get city hall off his back. I have been in the planning field for fifteen years, work mostly for homeowners, and go to college with a number of the planners that are dealing with your friend and others. I only expect to be paid, if, after two to three emails, the person really is getting frustrated with how city hall works. But I am always willing to make some suggestions for no obligation.
I am sure you know several people who get very frustrated with dealing with city hall, especially when it involves planning issues.
Here are some tips:
A) Have a good set of drawings and a good, basic idea of what you want to do.
B) Never build anything without reading the zoning ordinance and general plan, and know what district, what zoning area, and what specific design guideline set applies to you.
C) NEVER BUILD THE ITEM AND EXPECT TO GET IT CODIFIED, it is like stealing a car, and then going to the DMV.
D) Be as nice to your neighbors as much as possible, having their support helps, and if they want your signature on an addition, generally agree to it, because you might need the same one day.
E) Generally, a designer or an architect is going to be fine to use if you need a professional. A guy like me is only, only, and only needed when it is a very tough case. Go in there thinking positive thoughts. The minute you pound the fist, it is a over.
F) Be ever, ever, ever so careful about any home that is an historic home. I have written DPR reports, commissioned them, and cross examined them. I can write reports for historic homes, and believe me, it is like going through a 23,444 page case file with tweezers.
G) Have a good chronology about when you expect to get the matter done.
H) my email is [email protected], worked for small businesses, homeowners all over the Bay Area, and I only want people to consider doing business with a planning consultant after we have made some suggestions. Planning consultants in San Jose have to register as lobbyists, so that cost has to be passed on, so please take my advice above before you spend any money anywhere.
What will be the most popular topic for the upcoming ethics hot-line?
Will it be the City Hall project and the shell game with the funding that has been open knowledge for the last few years? Including where city staffers are charging their time.
How about Borgsdorf’s predeliction to throw city staff to the wolves while he protects his own job at the expense of others?
The only thing that’s predictable is that the hot-line will get lots and lots of use.
Let the games begin…
How about the multiple failures of the City of San Jose lately and the lack of accountability. There has been more negative news about the City in the last year than in the prior twenty.
Who really lost the stem cell center?
Who is really responsible for the tent fiasco?
Who really caused the Cisco mess?
Why has all this been glossed-over?
Etc.
and
WHY ARE THE CITY MANAGER AND HIS CRONIES STILL EMPLOYED BY THE CITY – CLEAN OUT THE MANAGER’S OFFICE!
There will be a ground breaking ceremony for the Cesar Chavez Memorial Arch at San Jose State University this week.
Don Kassing, who is being recommended for the permanent job of university president, and rightly so, will be conduct the ceremony.
Kevin-
I must object. Today’s blog is entirely too controversial and such inflamatory opinion has no place on the Internet. Shame!
For starters, how about the ongoing tent debacle? The weekend spin on how losing the EbAY dinner is no big deal was a masterpiece of “you can fool some of the people some of the time.” Was the tent originally only being inflated for the EbAY dinner? What is it really going to be used for? How much is it really going to cost? How embarrassing is the loss of the dinner versus the general embarrassment of the tent itself? Why doesn’t Cirque use the tent when they get here next year instead of spending money to use the parking lot at the old City Hall? Might as well put a real circus in the tent.
Can anyone confirm the rumor that city officials from San Jose and Santa Clara have forged a new agreement regarding their respective convention facilities? What I heard is that San Jose, bargaining from a position of desperation, will make its big tent available for Santa Clara conventioneers to relieve themselves. In exchange, Santa Clara has agreed to provide San Jose convention-goers with discount coupons for Great America. San Jose will outfit its tent (“The Two-Ply Palace” pending name lease) with additional toilets, sinks, and urinals. The addition of a dome was rejected for budgetary reasons.
My sources tell me that VTA has signed on, agreeing to provide special trains to get those folks the relief they need, and then get them (and their dollars) quickly out of San Jose and back to Santa Clara. In keeping with San Jose’s obsession with Mexico’s culture the light-rail service is expected to be dubbed Montezuma’s Express.
Hey everybody, let’s get this rolling today!
We lost the stem cell facility and the powers that be say it’s no big deal.
Now eBay has decided not to use the tent for it’s main event and they again say it’s no big deal.
The people in charge need to wake up! Both of these cases should be treated like a big deal, especially the technical error on the stem cell application. We would have had that nailed if not for the problem on the application. Why aren’t heads rolling on that one?
It’s clear that Gonzo has set the standard that it’s OK not to perform your job as you’re supposed to down at City Hall.
It doesn’t matter which political spectrum one ascribes, principals have become relative. It is the hypocrisy which knows no bounds that has caused our political system to become broken.
Locally, the ethics debate has firmly entrenched everybody in the “reform” movement. Yet, business interests decry Terry Gregory’s ethical lapses, but are strangely silent during the Ed Voss debacle.
Ron Gonzales complains about the amount of work caused by frivolous requests for public information. But his City inundates the County with such requests in an attempt to halt them from going forward with their Theatre Project.
It is this “relative” ethic that has turned people away from politics and it is not simply a local phenomenon. Consider:
1) All the Republicans for fair reapportionment in California gleefully point to the Texas gerrymander with great pride.
2) All the Democrats who decry the ability of the minority party to hold-up the budget in the State Assembly, yet staunchly defend the cloture rule in the U.S. Senate that allows a minority to block Judicial nominations..
3) Republicans decry to use of “recounts” or “new elections”, unless it is in the state of Washington where they insist on determining who the “voters really chose”.
4) Republicans are philosophically against big government—unless it means an increase in funding for the wars on terror, crime and drugs.
5) Arnold is for reform, unless it hurts his contributors.
6) Businesses are against taxes, unless it’s a sales tax increase that will improve housing and transportation infrastructures they need to do business.
7) Teachers are outraged by the Governor’s failure to keep his word, but you hear nary a peep from them when the gas tax is stolen from transportation to fund education.
8) Government Administrators decry the “greedy” unions, yet their compensation has increased more rapidly than the workers at the bottom.
9) Newspaper reporters write column after column about the need for open government, using unnamed sources.
10) Conservative business people rail against the cost of labor, then give failed CEOs millions of dollars in golden handshakes for ruining compainies.
11) Latino, African American, and Asian Ministers of faith are offended by the racism in our society, only to oppose marriage for gays on religious grounds. Was it not religious grounds that many whites initially opposed equality for blacks?
12) I see a Governor who was going to kick the special interests out Sacramento., but he gives a tax break to his Hollywood cronies.
13) Democrats forgive Clinton for his sexual exploits. Bob Packwood is cannot be forgiven by Democrats.
14) Republicans look the other way when Rush Limbaugh is using illegal drugs, but call for harsh penalties when the user is a person of color.
15) Baseball owners got rich on the theory of supply and demand. But when it comes to Baseball players, those greedy guys need a salary cap to stop the Millionaires who own the team from paying the demand rate.
16) Everybody wants affordable housing, except in their neighborhood.
17) Everybody knows of at least one Green Party member who has driven a gas guzzling vehicle to protest Global Warming.
18) Alan Greenspan raises interest rates and kills the dot.com boom after sighting “exuberance in the market”, notes that the government is paying down the debt too fast, supports Bush’s tax cuts and his social security privatization that will cost trillions then complains that the government has been fiscally irresponsible and that continued deficits will hurt the economy.
19) Bush criticized the Clinton Administration for “nation building”, then adopted the entire policy wholesale under his watch. “The world changed after 9/11”.
20) Fox news bashes the “liberal” media.
21) We make a hero out of Gaylord Perry for never getting caught using a foreign substance on the baseball, then we are “shocked” to find that players are using corked bats and steroids.
22) The same company that sent a dog a free credit card insists that we make borrowers more responsible by tightening the bankruptcy laws.
23) Liberals are accused of not supporting the troops, but it is the conservatives who deny them body armor, death benefits and cut funding to the Veterans Administration.
24) Phillip Morris runs ads saying they want kids to stop smoking in America, but they still hand out free cigarettes to kids in third world nations.
25) The United States, who has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, is insisting North Korea and Iran abandon their programs. While we leave all options open and institute “regime change” as a national policy.
A partial list
Hey, let’s talk about quality of life in San Jose. It’s among the worst in the country. In San Diego and Chicago, forinstance, when you watch the local news, you see celebrities appearing for book signing events at the downtown store, and they appear in person on the outdoor stage where everyone can approach them beforehand. You see, we don’t have local news that’s part of the community. Celebrities, by the way, just go straight to SF. SF is a hell bok of place for San Joseans to go to enjoy live band musice, getting passport, shows , national branch for banks and company and so and on and so on. SF acts like haven for us to do anything exciting. San Jose is a disaster loser.
Hey Smurf, it all depends on the kind of life you’re talking about.
Generally quality of life uses measurements involved with everyday living—driving, parking, shopping, doing other business. Entertainment figures in too, but it’s not how most people spend their money every day. So for the basic stuff, the quality of life here is likely the best of the Bay Area’s major cities. Driving, parking and shopping (beyond the mom/pop type stuff) are all challenging tasks in SF or the Oakland/Berkeley area. I have 6 supermarkets within less than a mile from my home, all with free parking, and two of them are very high end. I can walk to 3 different bus lines, if I were inclined to take the bus anywhere. Our infrastructure is showing its age around here, but it’s in way better shape than SF or Oakland’s. I know I’m speaking in Suburban here and that there is a ton of work to be done to make downtown a destination, but otherwise I can’t complain much about the quality of my everyday living situation, except to say that sometimes the lack of anything that’s cuturally enriching out in suburbia hits home. Especially when one of those monster redneck trucks with dual American flags flying goes cruising past my place.
More talking point puffery – until you can think of something relevant to SJ, give us all a break and go hang out at Barbara Streisand’s site.
Yup, San Francisco is the recommended site for the stem-cell research.
If you were applying for a job and decided you didn’t feel like filing a complete application, do you think you would be successful in being hired? NOT.
SF vs SJ: Smarter and Dumber?
gee, ethics training from Mr. Robinson.
Hmm, projects where help is solicited and then not acknoweldged, gee, what novel concept.
No current city council members would be the renegade to spearhead the diabolical and dubious “deals” that fill the local headlines. Some one without a doubt should have been fired for losing the stem cell headquarters. This council has no notion on how to build a prosperious downtown. For example, building a highrise “mall” anchored by Bloomingdale’s or Macy’s; shopping/retail needs to enter the equation.
Now, we have an expert on baseball stats, who tells the rest of us that we are not as smart as he is, and would like to be the only one ever quoted on issues. By the way, there were several besides Perry, and there was only one incident ever on national television where a manager was thrown out
for objecting to a ball that was doctored. The person who loves to lecture the rest of us will likely never be able to answer it, just as he refused the chronology tht Lisa G confirmed but he never wants to admit to.
Mark T, downtown is so important to quality of life in any city because you don’t have to have a car to deal with traffic, parking, high fuel prices, going to spread out and isolated places for jobs, shopping and cultural events that would create smog in the area, and If you have all that in downtown, you would not be alone, broke, sick and bored, and that’s what SJ quality of life is all about, not to be able to function without a car which is no leg without one! Basically, you need a car in San Jose. San Jose is so boring, so isolated and very hard to do things and meet people. Suburban lifestyle is an evil culture. The city needs to fix up downtown in a hurry to improve quality of lifestyle in the city and earn more respect, but I know the city is so lame to do that.
Ed,
Gaylord used more than spit, a little vasoline stored on various body parts.
Also, I don’t disagree that reporters should use unnamed sources, they need it to be effective. But forcing public officials to share all their private conversations because “the public has a right to know” is dangerous and ultimately hurts the ability of people to accomplish great things.
To all:
I would never presume to try and squelch free speech, but not all speech is equal.
Coherency, relevance, experience and focus are key to establishing a meaningful dialogue.
Credibility comes not from the amount of times one posts, but from the quality of those comments.
Some folks should take the advice of the boy in the back of the room who was once asked, “Why do you never speak up, people wonder if you may be stupid?”
To which the boy replied, “better for them to wonder, than for me to speak-up and remove all doubt.”
Finally, just for the record, I have never used a pseudonym for posting on this board. Some who have used a fake monicker have been accused of being me.
For those who were falsely accused, I simply say “consider the source” and take solace in the fact that you must have been highly articulate and cogent in your reasoning to be accused of such an atrocity.
For those making the accusations, paranoia is a disease which can be treated.
Smurf, I’m right there with you. A thriving downtown would seal the deal to make the quality of life here virtually impossible to beat.
Too bad neither of us will likely live to see one unless we get someone in charge who has this same vision and the ability to execute it.
Judging from the current pool of candidates for mayor & council, we’re headed for more of the same BS that we’ve been dealing with since Gonzo came to town.
Gee, didn’t Joe Trippi have the right to say the same thing?
It is nice for one to claim someone has all these issues, then to say, I am above it.
Now, let’s see,
Someone likes to point it
USA gets it,
Fox News gets it
Bud Selig gets it
Arnold gets it
All of us about affordable gets it
Bush gets it
Phillip Morris gets it
teachers get it
Democrats get it
But then we have to understand who will want no comments.
got it
OK, I’m lost. Anybody out there who can translate #15 and #23 for me?
And would that poster mind keeping his personal battles private?
No, you’re not the only one. I tried and gave up. I felt it was unfair to get into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
You, and anyone else who dares wonder what he is talking about should prepare to be barraged with a variety of unintelligible ramblings belittling us and accusing of saying things we did not say.
Such is life.
Inquisitor, thanks for validating, and your eloquent assessment mirrors my own.
Well, it is always nice that we have two cowards talking about the rest of us with real names about things we say they cannot understand, but they feel free to talk about with the desire to be too frightened to discuss it with real ids.
Mr. Robinson is still, no matter, a very dedicated and impressive person, for despite what we are frustrated about, he shows his guts by talking with a desire to put his name on it, and that deserves respect.
As for above coward one, and above coward two, well, the emails earlier today did also do some confirming about them.
There, you have my name and I agree with “coward” number 1 and 2.
You sure are obsessed with names aren’t you? We don’t even know if you are using your real name. I would assume you are not because nobody would use their real name to say the things you do.
YEAH! Ethics Training. The “hot line!”
The fox is in charge of the hen house.
The ethics problem is on the 4th floor and I don’t mean the Planning Department.
Wake up SJ.
In great respect and love for Meredith Wilson
A Whattya talk, whatyya talk,
chugga, chugga, chugga, more money for the homes, more building for the homes, gotta have the KB, KB Homes!
B More space, more space, place for Del Monte, place for Del Monte, want the home, want the KB, KB Homes
C Chugga, chugga, chugga, more infill, more homes, no more libraries, can’t have the libraries, get the KB, get the KB, Chuck says, KB Homes
D Dave had the plan, Dave had the plan, but Ron said no, he said, no, chugga, chugga, chugga, Ron said no, Dave has no plan, he cant be given the plan, more homes, more KB, KB Homes
A Whattya talk, whatyya talk? No libraries, no parks, no libraries, no parks, money for the baseball, whattya talk, whatya talk, need it all for the baseball, no library hours, KB, need more KB, KB Homes
B Chugga chugga, chugga chugga, and Robby talks about Iran and North Korea nukes, says USA gotta shut up about the nukes, we got plenty of nukes, and KB, KB, no historical needed, KB Homes
C Doesn’t know the territory, doesn’t know the territory, Ron said BART, BART he said, BART, BART. Chugga, chugga, doesn’t know the territory, Carl said shaddup, shaddup if you don’t like BART
D And money for the baseballl, need that baseball, and for the demijohns, and the corn liquor, and the basins, need the baseball, and the BART, and money for the housing, all of them need housing, chugga, chugga, chugga, Carl said shaddup, if you don’t like the parcel tax, keep them for the parcel tax. Parcel Tax for Berreyssa, parcel tax for East Side, Parcel Tax for San Antonne, all them need the parcel tax, chugga, chugga
A Whatyya talk? Whatyya talk, money for the parcel tax?
C All them need parcel tax, no opposition allowed, and no talk from the people, just from the Carl group, nothing from the people
A Whatya talk, whatyya talk, what about Reed, what about Reed?
B Closed down the Cisco, chugga, chugga, closed down the Cisco, nothing to look at, keep it away from the people, all the money for the homes, need the homes
C And the Bart, the Bart, need the Bart
D Coming when we are sixty, coming when we are all sixty, 2029,. 2020
B Carl said no social security, but a KB Home and a ball cap, gotta have a baseball cap
A Whatya, whatya talk, chugga, chugga, San Jose Council, no discussion, all arranged, no questions, there, no questions, there, just no libaries, and no Del Monte, just all the same homes, and baseball, and the BART, and the Cisco, big city hall, big city hall
B Chairs, chairs, chugga, chugga, what about the chairs?
C Cisco,. and the Cisco,. whatya talk, chugga chugga, whatya talk? Just stop it about Cisco, Chuck seconded, and seconded and seconded.
D What about the libraries tomorrow, and the parks, chugga, chugga, and Dave’s Plan
A Ron said no, no plan, whooooa, stop the train, City Hall, all stop, for city hall.
Rich-
Regarding this one:
9) Newspaper reporters write column after column about the need for open government, using unnamed sources.
Apples & Oranges.
Without those unnamed sources Terry Gregory would still be shaking down local businesses owners. Without open government his Council cronies would let him get away with it.
Regarding this one:
21) We make a hero out of Gaylord Perry for never getting caught using a foreign substance on the baseball,
I think most people would agree that spit is a natural, not foreign, substance….
Interesting list!
Ed
I would like to point out that without guaranteed anonymity we would not be getting any input from the City Hall insiders on what’s really going on there.
I’ll opt for anonymity any day if it will provide information that exposes the truth about day to day business at City Hall.
It is sure nice to know that you think I have no right to say anything, but then again, isn’t that what we get to do in this country, unless we have all surrendered control to you.
And it came to pass, that a trust land holder wanted to curry favor with KB Homes by writing insults.
Well, as I said, the most impressive thing about people like Dale Warner, the McEnerys, Rich Robinson, and Ed Rast, is that they all do decide to seek dialogue with their views and their identity, which we all have said is the test, isn’t it? What it is it about it being easier to attack from the shadows, or to do it, to get that next transaction?
Didn’t I say that guaranteed anonymity for waste and corruption whistle blowing must be maintained? Gee, Mark, what city hall issue has the “Inquistor” uncovered???? Please name one, please Mark, tell us what great city hall scandal has #25 talked about,
tick, tock, tick, tock
Sorry, but I am not going to knitpick this to death or argue about it in this forum. I think most readers know perfectly well what I meant, it was a general statement and not directed at #25. My statement stands, you have every right to disagree, but I respectfully decline to discuss this further.
I just agreed with the use of pseudo names to point out issues with problems at City Hall. If you think that is a disagreement, gotcha. I just feel that if you are going to get cute with another blogger on here, which does not point out any “corruption” or bad act, just have some guts, and we know that you and others do, and there some others that are too scared of their own shadow, to do so.
A rsomewhat rambling comment on Joe Coto’s bill to tax legal services(I’m a lawyer) as a way to raise more money to waste in Sacratomato:
Taxing legal services to raise more money is completely misguided.
When will the men and women who represent us realize that the problem is too much spending?
On a local level—spending over $1 million TO STUDY whether to install suicide barries on the GG Bridge is a total waste of money.
I feel for the families of the troubled people who leap. But I am a Darwinist—their deaths cleanse the gene pool a bit. I’m sure Jesus, Allah, Buddha or whomever loves the troubled leapers. But when kids can’t get adequate nutrition and healthcare, spending money on this suicide barrier is completely misguided.
This is but a local example. I am confident that the Sate budget could be reduced by 20% by axing all sorts of other misguided spending plans, and having governemnt do only what citizens cannot do individually.
Pillaging gas tax money for non-road issues is another example.
Californians have a combined tax rate that rivals that of Sweden, but we don’t have half what the Swedish government provides for its citizens.
CALTRANS workers spend half their day standing around. Fire half of them, require the other half to ACTUALLY WORK 30 hours per week—yes 30, not 40—and sound walls wouldn’t cost $1 million + per mile.
The answer is NOT to get more money by rasing taxes. The answer is to spend it wisely, on programs that do more than funding another bureaucracy.
John Michael O’Connor
WOW—
Mr. Robinson’s list of why I and many others can no longer tolerate our government at any level was incredible!
As a person who has been interested in politics since I was a wee one outside of Boston MA, who moved here and ran for local office, it is my sad duty to say I have ZERO faith in government at any level to do anything but feather its own bed.
Terry Gregory is just an egregious example. Yes, I know there are elected officials who realy want to do the right thing; but they are derailed by a bureaucracy that trundles on no matter what.
The people do not get value for their money from any government agency.
A friend has been trying to open a restaurant downtown for almost a year. His fees are exorbitant. He has no redevelopment subsidy. The folks in planning—who the mayor would like us to believe are very co-operative and efficient—put up roadblocks all along the way. And this is DOWNTOWN, which is supposedly the darling of local government.
Another friend slogged through planning for nine months to get a 600 square foot addition to a business location in Willow Glen. He had a handicap access at the side of the building already, and the parking lot was in the rear of the building. The bozos in planning held him up a month or two by insisting he put a second handicap access in the front of the building, close to the street with virtually no parking, and farther away from his rear parking lot where his customers parked. Do people in planning get sent to Stupid School before they get hired?
Government is the enemy. My tax rate—combined federal and state income tax, self-employment tax, FICA, Medicare, sales tax—is 60% of my gross income. That’s about the same as in Sweden, where everyone gets a good education, healthcare is universal and FREEEE, and they don’t waste a gazillion dollars trying obviously guilty people and then giving them decades of appeals. I’m sure not getting my money’s worth. Are you?
John Michael O’Connor
“Smurf” gripes a lot, and many times he’s/she’s right. Too bad he/she doesn’t have the cojones to post under his/her real name. Then maybe people might take him/her (??) more seriously.
John Michael O’Connor
John, you are a bery perceptive person and talk about very relevant things. I wish I had your good sense more often. Permit me, as a planning consultant not to defend the planning staff, but to venture a reason for the planning staff’s rather “non use friendly approach.” A good planner uses the general plan as an enforcement tool. They feel, at times, that the best way to handle a problem is to make you advocate for yourself, and they stand back and use the general plan in complete objectivity. To them, the applicant is one client, but anyone who would object to their cutting the guy some slack, needs to have some representation as well.
This is why your friend feels that they are not being too easy on him, and he feels wronged, because as the applicant, he thinks he should be allowed to do it his way, which is likely the best way.
Always feel free to email me with any general question about why a particular application is regarded a certain way, and what things your friend can do and say to get city hall off his back. I have been in the planning field for fifteen years, work mostly for homeowners, and go to college with a number of the planners that are dealing with your friend and others. I only expect to be paid, if, after two to three emails, the person really is getting frustrated with how city hall works. But I am always willing to make some suggestions for no obligation.
John
I am sure you know several people who get very frustrated with dealing with city hall, especially when it involves planning issues.
Here are some tips:
A) Have a good set of drawings and a good, basic idea of what you want to do.
B) Never build anything without reading the zoning ordinance and general plan, and know what district, what zoning area, and what specific design guideline set applies to you.
C) NEVER BUILD THE ITEM AND EXPECT TO GET IT CODIFIED, it is like stealing a car, and then going to the DMV.
D) Be as nice to your neighbors as much as possible, having their support helps, and if they want your signature on an addition, generally agree to it, because you might need the same one day.
E) Generally, a designer or an architect is going to be fine to use if you need a professional. A guy like me is only, only, and only needed when it is a very tough case. Go in there thinking positive thoughts. The minute you pound the fist, it is a over.
F) Be ever, ever, ever so careful about any home that is an historic home. I have written DPR reports, commissioned them, and cross examined them. I can write reports for historic homes, and believe me, it is like going through a 23,444 page case file with tweezers.
G) Have a good chronology about when you expect to get the matter done.
H) my email is [email protected], worked for small businesses, homeowners all over the Bay Area, and I only want people to consider doing business with a planning consultant after we have made some suggestions. Planning consultants in San Jose have to register as lobbyists, so that cost has to be passed on, so please take my advice above before you spend any money anywhere.