This is a special New Year’s weekend edition of San Jose Inside’s weekly open forum. We would like to invite SJI visitors to answer the following question: What would you like to see happen in 2010 to make San Jose a better place?
San Jose Inside
San Jose Inside (https://www.sanjoseinside.com)
The effort to put the 49er Stadiun measure on the ballot for Santa Clara voters is moving downfield so briskly that it reminds me of a Toby Gerhardt rushing drive. Sadly, people like our favorite naysayer, Bill “Candyman” Bailey, is stopping his sojurn at parks and ranting about the efforts to get voter input on this binding measure. If voters could get more respect from Bailey, and Jamie “Fannie Mae” McLeod (taxpayers lose 400 billion while McLeod received 20,000 dollars from FM while serving on a housing committe), we would have support for a binding vote on the stadium. McLeod has actively spoken out against measures that would bring the matter to the voters, saying that the Council not the voters, should control the issue.
Are you that eager to pretend you’re San Francisco?
Who said anything about San Francisco? The South Bay is simply ready for the NFL, and if the team that’s interested in moving happens to be from San Francisco, then so be it.
I’m sick of any effort for the South Bay to improve being called imitation by our pretentious neighbors from the north. The Bay Area is a big place, and there’s no need for San Francisco to feel threatened.
If the SAN FRANCISCO 49ers play down here, that does further damage to our apparent image crisis. Think about it.
James Rowen,
Why did you make up a quote? Is that how you support the stadium, by making up things, such as jobs, economic impact, etc.
Hmm, making up stuff??
How is a cap at, and I am being generous, 100 million, “hundreds of millions of dollars?”
Nammy, you seem to have some Freudian issues with poop, you keep talking about it.
We don’t want to know
What kind of dipshit response was that? I happen to love football, you mongoloid. The issue I’m addressing is Santa Clara dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into hosting a team that is too good to carry their name.
Get back to your serious business, like calling the SCPF guys “poopyheads.”
Another brilliant ad hominem retort…
Wow.
A spammy from Nammy.
“It hurts our image. Think about it.”
Hmm, I bet that took him thirty minutes to ponder that great essay. Another wedgie king mad about football. Yawn!
About the cap of city investment?
Eric: When I opened up SJI a 1/7/05 piece by John McEnery came up instead of the most recent post This has been going on intermittently for a few weeks now.
Is anyone else experiencing anything like this?
JMO: What browser are you using? (Safari, Firefox?)
plain ol’ Internet Explorer
Check out some interesting points made about last weeks Merc article about SJPD.
http://www.protectsanjose.com/blogs/2-poa-perspectives/162-counterpoint
1) Eliminate speed bumps in all parking lots.
2) Continuous, interconnected bike paths along Guadalupe Creek/River, Los Alamitos Creek, Coyote Creek, and Los Gatos Creek.
3) Elimination of Housing Dept., affordable housing programs, and high density residential zoning, thus causing property values to increase and easing overcrowding and squalor in our little corner of the world.
4) Designate one night each year when all the lights in the City will be turned off for 3 hours.
5) Drastically cut back police and fire pensions, forcing them to save for retirement like most of the rest of us.
6) Chairlift up Mt. Hamilton.
I would disagree with the high-density part of #3 here. The overcrowding we have now is simply due to bad planning and poor public transportation (not the planner’s fault, don’t think anyone could have anticipated we would grow so much). I’ve been to cities with 4 times the density of San Jose that actually are LESS crowded and easier to get around. If anything we need to improve public transit and focus our density on or near transit stops.
Also cutting high-density residential zoning will not increase housing values. While it would decrease the supply of housing (which raises values) it will also decrease demand (lowering values). One of the reasons why our housing prices became so high to begin with, is the proliferation of cutting-edge high-pay technology jobs. The number one complaint of the companies that provide these jobs in San Jose is the high cost of housing. If we choke the supply, companies will simply stop adding or further reduce quality jobs here, completely negating the supply effect.
Better planning and intelligent capital investments will let us keep our high-paying jobs and home values, increase density, and reduce congestion.
> 1) Eliminate speed bumps in all parking lots.
Nope. It is socially useful to have parking lot speeders hit the ceilings of their cars and getting compression neck fractures.
> 2) Continuous, interconnected bike paths along Guadalupe Creek/River, Los Alamitos Creek, Coyote Creek, and Los Gatos Creek.
Only if completely paid for by massive taxes on bicyles and spandex shorts.
> 3) Elimination of Housing Dept., affordable housing programs, and high density residential zoning, thus causing property values to increase and easing overcrowding and squalor in our little corner of the world.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Yes.
> 4) Designate one night each year when all the lights in the City will be turned off for 3 hours.
No new legislation is needed. It will happen naturally due to electricity shortages caused by electic car drivers all plugging in their chargers at the same time.
> 5) Drastically cut back police and fire pensions, forcing them to save for retirement like most of the rest of us.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Yes.
> 6) Chairlift up Mt. Hamilton.
Only if completely paid for by the Big Chairlift cartel.
Eric,
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I’m not having the problem JMO is having but, I am still having problems with the anti-spam word being there when I try to post. Sometimes I have to refresh several times before it appears.
Also, once in awhile a post will be on the blog, but not noted in your recently commented column.
Thanks Kathleen. Our development team returns from their holiday break tomorrow—I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on. Happy New Year.
(FYI: It took me three times of refreshing this page to get an anti-spam word to show up so I could post.)
This is on Face Book. It makes me mad that this is happening. I’d like to see THIS kind of betrayal by the City Manager STOP! Citizens donated money to keep this unit going and this action by the City Manager is just wrong.
Eric, why don’t you get the Metro to report on this? People need to know what goes on at the City.
(Posted on Save The Mounted Unit)
Daniela Garcia Ortiz January 1 at 10:18pm
Back in July 2009, Mayor Chuck Reed directed our city management to enter into an agreement with the Friends of the San Jose Mounted Unit who agreed to pay the cost of the unit for the 2010-2011 budget year, making the unit a cost-effective public-private partnership.”
UNFORTUNATELY, city management has NOT taken action on Mayor Chuck Reed’s direction. City Manager, Debra FIgone, has failed to contact the “Friends of the Mounted Unit.”
The Mounted Unit again is up on the “chopping block” for this year’s upcoming city budget cuts. The rumor is that the unit will be CLOSED in June. PLEASE take action NOW!!!
Help save the San Jose PD Mounted Unit. Help keep them alive. We can’t let this vital public safety community service be eliminated. Also, we don’t want an insecure future for the 14 horses in the unit.
Help spread the news. You NEED to BOMBARD the office of Debra Figone with letters, e-mails, faxes, and/or phone calls.
City Manager’s Office
200 East Santa Clara Street, San José, CA 95113
tel. (408) 535-8100 fax (408) 920-7007
Contact the Mayor, and your City Council Representative!!
Check out the Friends of the Mounted Unit website (http://sjmu.org/). IF POSSIBLE, send a donation to show that the unit has your support!!!
DO YOUR PART! Don’t keep quiet! Speak out! Take the time! The officers, the horses, and the community needs your support.
Make it a true HAPPY New Year for the San Jose Police Dept. Mounted Unit!!!
Correction:
In the interest of fairness and of personal integrity, I owe Ms. Figone an apology here. I just received an email from her stating that her office did make attempts to speak with the Friends of the Mounted Unit and did not hear back. She has assured me they will try again.
I have indeed learned a valuable lesson. Next time I will do a lot more research before posting something even when it is from a reliable source!
It turns out the Friends of the Mounted Unit DID NOT post this or have anything to do with it. It is just a concerned citizen. Again, my apologies to you all.
Daniela Garcia Ortiz sent a message to the members of Save the San Jose Police
Mounted Unit.
——————————
Subject: Mounted Unit Update #2
Fellow Members: I am writing this update to remind you that I am NOT directly associated
with the “Friends of the Mounted Unit.” I am a concerned citizen of San Jose
who created this support group in hopes that we could speak out and save a unit that is
vital to our city.
Since my last update, I have received multiple e-mails from members stating that Ms.
Figone has responded to them and stated that she has contacted the “Friends of the
Mounted Unit.” If this is true, then that means that our efforts are working. I
have not received anything from the City Manager stating such information. If this is
so, I would not know as I am not a board member of the “Friends of the Mounted
Unit.” What I do know is that NOW, we are being heard. If such commnication does
exist, then WHY is the Mounted Unit still on the “chopping blocks” for budget
cuts????
Let’s keep doing our part, letting the city know that letting go of this unit is a HUGE
MISTAKE. If we communicate, THEY will communicate! Thanks for your support. Keep
spreading the news!
——————————
Sorry, K, but I cannot agree with you on this one. With a $100 MILLION deficit looming, we need roads and cops on the street solving crimes; not a “feel-good” unit that takes cops away from solving crimes so kids can pet the horsey in DTSJ.
That is okay JMO, I love you any way!
Hope you had a great holiday season, and have a very Happy New Year!
I’d like to see the people of this city get involved in helping San Jose become a full-fledged place to live.
With that said, any suggestions of how we can involved?
You could start by singing Downtown at Treatbot the karaoke ice cream truck. Now that’s public participation.
1.) A’s Ballpark Downtown
2.) BART to commit to coming to DTSJ as originally planned.
3.) HSR commitment
4.) Fewer empty retail spaces and office buildings (I’m looking at you Sobrato tower)
5.) The Public Market
6.) Improved cultural facilities and events
7.) More dynamic and interactive art throughout San Jose (The 88’s interactive LED lighting system is a great example)
8.) Earthquakes Stadium
9.) Additional SJC routes, the new Maui and Kona flights are a great start.
10.) More people to appreciate San Jose as a cosmopolitan and culturally significant city.
I hope you don’t mind me adding one more
11.) Progress in making Guadalupe River Park the Central Park of San Jose
I’ll gladly add this to the list =)
Yesterday I went for a walk along Guadalupe Creek starting at the Arena and going north. A beautiful, warm Sunday afternoon. Only a handful of other souls did we see. Other than paying people to go there, I don’t know what else we can do to make it into the “Central Park of San Jose”.
To paraphrase the great Yogi Berra, “If the people don’t want to come, you can’t stop them.”
Of course no one uses the Guadalupe Creek trail. There is an airport ruining life for everyone close to it.
Not too much air traffic on a Sunday but I would agree that it would be more pleasant if it was quieter. In my own opinion SJ doesn’t even need an airport- SFO’s so close. But pursuing the relocation of SJC is not a windmill at which I care to tilt.
Is this the same Jamie McLeod who is voting on stadium EIRs one minute, meeting with a representative of Santa Clara Plays Fair the next, and discussing the issues in the EIR with the leadership of her employer at the Water District the next. Wow, a council member who can juggle. We have s phrase for that
Conflict of Interest.
In San Francisco, they call it Gavin Newsom.
No wonder the naysayers get jumbled when they speak with Bailey’s prepared drafts, they can’t read McLeod’s handwriting.
The current proposal for the baseball stadium is for it to sit smack in the middle of what was supposed to be the Los Gatos Creek trail, so if that comes to pass you can say goodbye forever to the idea of linking up the trails. The firetraining facility on the southwest corner of Park and Montgomery, now slated to become a creekside park, would be paved over and add to the sea of parking lots in that general area. Also Park would be narrowed, losing the bike lane.
When there’s something going on at the HP Pavilion, people park on Stockton and Coleman as far north as Taylor, showing that people are willing to walk up to 1.5 km to avoid paying for parking. That same distance from the baseball stadium would put you the other side of Meridian.
I’ve noticed that people who dislike paying high prices for parking also dislike paying inflated prices for beer, so they do their drinking on the way there.
10 MHZ Days,
You need to get your knowledge of the proposed ballpark up to 20 MHZ! A parking structure is no longer planned for the fire training center; an urban park is now planned. Second, the ballpark, along with the proposed Autumn Parkway, will bring a new Los Gatos Creek Park from Park Ave. to Santa Clara Street. Right now that portion of the creek is a dirty, homeless ditch. Also, the LGC trail was always proposed to come to street level in this downtown portion of the creek, as the creek runs in a tunnel under Park/Autumn/Montgomery. No bike lane for narrowed Park Avenue? Didn’t realize this was a heavily cycled route through downtown (sarcasm); just use the damn sidewalk for that portion!
My information was based on the article published in the Resident just before Christmas, which was I believe presented at a public meeting on Dec. 16. (I don’t have the paper any more to check.)
The Park Avenue underpass is one of the few places to cross the railroad tracks safely on a bicycle. Hedding, Taylor, Julian and the Alameda are far too narrow to ride safely when there is traffic. There used to be other options, but they’ve mostly been fenced off in the last few years.
10 Mhz,
Egad, after reading your comments, I had a flash of brilliance! Past Mayors and Councils have thrown a couple of billion dollars at Downtown in an attempt to relieve their collective inferiority complex. Success has not followed to the regret of those folks – they still feel as though SJ is, at best, San Francisco on training wheels. Oh, the horror of it all!
Sooooo, here’s the plan: when the Fire Training Facility is dozed, rebuild it in San Pedro Square. With Yosemite-like fire falls nightly, it could be a huge draw to the Downtown area. Why, with entertainment like that, we might even gain some ground on SF!
In case you didn’t catch it, todays Mallard Fillmore cartoon in the Murky News went as follows:
“Harry Reid’s New Year’s Resolution: resolve to spend even more of YOUR money to bribe other Senators to vote for stuff that you DON’T want.”
‘nuff said
Remember this every election day until these spend OUR money scumbags are out on the street looking for a REAL job.
Anybody been watching President Obama’s bipartisan health care negotiations on CSPAN?
I can’t find it on my cable system and I want to TIVO it.