Feb 19, 2014
Santa Clara County and, for that matter California, is missing out on millions of dollars that are right under its nose. The average hard-working resident in Silicon Valley pays his or her taxes and doesn’t think twice about it. But that’s certainly not the case for many Santa Clara County-based corporations. Those companies like Apple and Google, just to name…
Feb 18, 2014
Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community. Tweet
Feb 18, 2014
You don’t know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership—or as it has been referred to, “NAFTA on steroids”— because corporate America doesn’t want you to. But you better bone up on it real fast because if think NAFTA was a bad deal, wait until you get a hold of this one: the TPP will essentially expand NAFTA to 11 more countries. Tweet
Feb 17, 2014
From Encyclopaedia Britannica Presidents’ Day, officially Washington’s Birthday, in the United States, holiday (third Monday in February) popularly recognized as honouring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The day is sometimes understood as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents. The origin of Presidents’ Day lies in the 1880s, when the birthday of Washington—commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and…
Feb 14, 2014
San Jose Mayoral candidate Sam Liccardo is perhaps learning a few lessons from Chris Chrisitie’s BridgeGate and admitting he was wrong. That’s great. But how much more is there to admit? As The Left Hook reported last week it appears Liccardo started his campaign fundraising at least three weeks before local election law allows. One of Liccardo’s lobbiests, Alex Tourk,…
Feb 14, 2014
On February 6th, Jennifer Wadsworth wrote a column for San Jose Inside discussing Mayor Chuck Reed’s lawsuit against the ballot language published by the California Attorney General for his statewide pension initiative. She quotes Reed as accusing the AG of failing to give voters a “true and impartial summary” of the initiative. But Wadsworth fails to alert readers to the facts…
Feb 12, 2014
In a cameo appearance in the movie George of the Jungle, an elitist host of a San Francisco party warns then Mayor Willie L Brown Jr. (who plays himself) that he might need an umbrella due to the weather. The haughty Mayor one-ups the elitist sycophant by replying, “It never comes down on Willie Brown”. The inference is, of course,…
Feb 12, 2014
Last weekend’s opinion piece by Chamber of Commerce CEO Matt Mahood explaining that the Chamber might not oppose a badly needed tax increase in San Jose is a good sign. Anyone who pays attention to what’s going on in the City can see that it desperately needs more money just to pay for essential services like police, firefighters, libraries and…
Feb 11, 2014
For at least the past four years, I took part in the City Manager / Mayor’s Saturday morning budget priority setting session under the dome with members of other Neighborhood Associations and the Youth Commission. This faux-community involvement session is headlined as one of the ways that the Mayor & his allies will listen to the neighborhoods about our needs…
City of San Jose 2014-2015 Budget Planning The San Jose City Council will take up next year’s budget today at a City Council Study Session, where they will discuss the results of the Telephone Budget Survey and the Neighborhood Association/Youth Commission Priority Setting Session. City Manager Ed Shikada will give an overview of the General Fund Forecast and highlight potential…