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Scott Herhold of the San Jose Mercury News each year gives awards for campaign ads. He dishes out trash cans for political hit pieces, and bouquets for well done pieces.
He awards three (3) Garbage Cans to the hit piece that took the side of challenger Chuck Blair, by the Santa Clara Police Officer’s Association against councilwoman Jamie McLeod. Personally I think it should have got four but he gave four to a Vietnamese-American group associated with the LIttle Saigon movement that did a hit piece on Councilman Dave Cortese who is running against Sunnyvale Councilman Otto Lee. I trust Herhold if he says that, that ad deserves 4 garbage cans I’m sure it does.
Clearly the hit piece done on these two candidates warranted the attention of the greater community otherwise Mr Herhold would not have written about it. Local city politics here is definatley more intense and there seems to be more at stake if you win the race. Which begs the question Why? What is it that have people so hell bent on being on a city council? What do they get out of it? A gravy train? Junkets? I don’t know what the answer is? Perhaps is it civic duty? Civic pride? a Vision for something ….
and if it is a vision then let us hope that those that get elected in Santa clara this time can earn some bouquets from the residents and that they look at issues like
Cleaning El Camino in Santa Clara,
Planting trees along El Camino
decrease the number of high rise buildings planned
Give us a proper downtown area
and start to listen to what residents want
Once again I say support Jamie because she appears to be one of the few current council people who has listened to residents and asked questions. She is a thinking person, and I believe that there are others out there running in this election that representing thinking people, such as Brian Lowery and Mary Emerson.
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
You got to hand it to Brian Lowery he’s got a lot of guts standing as an independent in this city – sure he may have his name on a ticket that the group who doesn’t care for the stadium put out but I’m not sure he endorsed that ticket. But he certainly seems to come across as a person who is not into games, endorsements, or campaign financing.
Sure he has endorsements on his web site, they however, seem to be your average bloke endorsing him. He doesn’t have the big ticket endorses like past and current council people, chiefs of this or that Government department just your average Joe or Mary Smith. Good for him taking his endorsements from the grass roots of the community.
His campaign is fully funded by his own dollars. He has run for city council before and lost. At his website you will learn though that he turned that result into a positive and learnt more about how the city worked and got involved more. Kudos to him.
I hope he wins this time around he seems to have his heart in the right place with his concerns for some of the development that is proposed for the city.
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
You have to wonder if Santa Clara Plays Fair are going to run people against the current members of the Santa Clara City Council. I for one feel that there has to be some opposition to the current city council.
I was reminded of the Gang of Four and Jiang Quin – Jiang was later given the name “Blue Apple” – hmmm kind of Santa Claran don’t you think? Anyway I digress, and all I’m saying is that we need a change and we need a balance where fair debate and reason can be heard. Dare I say ‘Reason’ pervail. I’m hoping that people like SC Plays Fair is considering running some people and that Jamie McLeod finds some other co-horts to be on her ticket and give her some support. It’s a little hard to see the current council objective and making decisions on behalf of its current citizens.
Though I have not decided how I feel about the 49ers Stadium I have to say that the Santa Clara Plays Fair organization makes good sense when you watch this on YouTube
I am sure if it was my brother who was writing this post he would be all for a stadium in in back yard – he even moved from Eaglemont to East Melbourne so he could walk to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). But I’m not him – and given the MCG creates revenue and contributes to the city of Melbourne I have no reason to criticize but I would if they were expecting my money to fund a game that I don’t even care for (football that is). Heck if was money for Cricket I’d probably willingingly pass money to the MCG – nothing better than a day of cricket – but we are talking gentlemans sport vs hooligans and larrikans.
What comes with football? I ask you do you think is this a good thing for a small city? Who is the Santa Clara city council thinking of? What does their record tell us? The ‘owners’ of our fine city have had a lot of their own agendas in the past dictating how the residents money should be spent. Sounds like a time for change! Hmmm I’m sounding like Obama! interesting – lets bring on a change in Santa Clara and start getting some new blood on council – people who are asking their citizens what they would like.
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
I have the privilege of having a few days bed rest due to a some surgery. So as I have time I’ve been thinking about what would you do improve El Camino – if I had millions of dollars and total power to alter the state that currently is – here is my master plan. Please read this with tongue in cheek and the right to freedom of speech.
I think I’d sit down with some landscapers and see what we could do about greening El Camino – so it is more in line with Mountain View and Sunnyvale. Perhaps the trees that sit on the 900 Kiely Site where the old Kaiser hospital was could be moved to selective locations along El Camino. After all common sense tells you that Fairfield Residential is going to “conveniently” ‘loose’ most of those established pines! We all know that trees have a habit of ‘disappearing’ when developers take over a lot – even though they make big commitments to ‘keep’ or ‘move them’ hmmm. I’m not a genius but my gut tells me it’s more wishful thinking on a developers side vs reality. New York City Cracks down on Slumlords
Then all the stores on El Camino that require painting be issued with a selection of different paints – actually be issued with the paint not the money but the paint, rollers, brushes, tarps, tape etc and the city sets a clean up store front month. Imagine a community painting month – much like the community Spring Clean up. Perhaps we could have this month after the Spring Clean up period.
Of course this would happen after the building inspectors have done their due diligence and checked all the properties that look like they need inspections and to be up to code! Imagine that – just humor me this is my dream. But imagine if we had inspectors check that signs were approved as per building code, and that properties have fire alarm inspections by a person of authority - not just the owner! And what about cleaning store fronts and back areas. Or perhaps maybe all this is done and I’m just not aware of it – but it seems to me that it should be done more often! Quarterly for the next two years till owners and tenants get into a routine and develop some pride of their store fronts. You may find this article interesting about how NY city council introduced regulations to clamp down on slum lords
Now humor me on the signage along El Camino – perhaps we could have a change in policy and we don’t advertise ‘24 hour book stores’ or ‘tattoo store’ or ”24 hour video stores’ or ‘liquor stores’ – heck someone took on the tabacco companies and Joe Cool is no longer to advertise. Or the sign be no bigger than 20×30 inches! Let’s face it those that frequent those stores already know where they are and with the internet it’s possible to find anything if you really want it. So why the need for the urban blight? I ask you is it necessary – what are we advertising here in Santa Clara? We know how to tattoo you while you drink liquor flip through magazines that show not much but skin or watch a movie that demeans women and stay in a hotel that the police regular drive by in the evening to see who is frequenting it! Charming!
Speaking of hotels and motels it’s sad to have to tell prospective visitors that they really should not consider one of the more well known motels along the SC El Camino Strip – and as one of my friends said to me last Thanksgiving: “that explains why the reviews on line were very negative”.
Don’t get me wrong I’m all for helping and assisting those that need accommodation when they are in bad times. However, sticking them in a hotel that you know is frequented by people of interest to the local police is not nice! Surely those people who are looking for low income housing assistance deserve better. How low do we have to go?
Am I the only one that notices how little planning has gone into our section of El Camino? sigh….
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
