Top Stories: Nov. 6, 2009

Carr v. Rosen; SJ City Budget Woes; Vault's Permit Pulled; Teen Suspects Arraigned

By Danny Wool (Nov 06, 2009 )

The Race for the DA's Office
Dolores Carr is facing a stiff challenge to her bid to stay on as Santa Clara County's DA, but she's fighting back. Even before challenger Jeff Rosen officially entered the race on Wednesday, Carr sent out an email citing a 2006 Mercury News report in its "Tainted Trials, Stolen Justice" series, which reported that an appeals court found that Rosen made a trial error several years earlier by ignoring a judge's ruling to obtain a conviction.

As he stood on the steps leading to the Hall of Justice shortly afterward, flanked by his supporters, Rosen issued his own challenge to Carr. Among the issues he raised was the De Anza baseball players case, in which Carr decided not to bring charges against a group of college athletes, who reportedly assaulted a drunken minor. (Carr’s decision later won the support of state Attorney General Jerry Brown.) Rosen also announced that, if elected, he would reverse Carr's decision to eliminate the county's Cold Case Unit, and drop the two public information officers, which, he argued, were only hired to improve Carr's public image.

Many of Rosen's supporters surrounded him during his announcement wearing T shirts modeled after the famous Obama "Hope" T-shirt, but with Rosen’s face replacing Obama's and with the word "Justice" replacing "Hope." While some of these supporters were prosecutors, Carr fired back that Rosen had actually inflated the number of prosecutors that his website lists as supporting him. And the race has only begun.
Read More at KLIV.
Read More at the Mercury News.


Divvying up the Deficit
There's one thing that everyone in city government agrees on—the deficit is growing. It now stands at $96.4 million, the worst it's been since the dotcom bust, and there seems to be no end in sight as it inches ahead to the $100 million milestone.

Last night, the City Council voted 10-1 to share the burden more or less equally between three distinct sectors. Inevitably, the taxpayer is up there on the frontlines, with several new taxes proposed. A quarter-cent sales tax could raise $33 million, hiking the business tax could add $13 million, and a parking lot tax might raise $4.5 million. Together, that comes to $50.5 million—well over one third. It remains for the city to decide which additional taxes its citizens can absorb.

An additional third is supposed to be covered by "operational efficiencies and restructuring." This leaves one question: After nine years of budget deficits, are city operations still inefficient to the tune of $32 million?

The third sector, city employees, is the most contentious of all. In the past decade, the city has cut its workforce by more than 10 percent. That hasn't made a dent. City Manager Deb Figone says that in that same time, the average cost per worker ballooned by 64 percent, to $120,418. According to the Mercury News, in that same time the costs of salary and benefits for police and firefighters shot up 78 percent. If they had kept pace with inflation, average costs per worker would have increased by only 18 percent.

Much of the blame goes to pension benefits, which account for more than $38 million in this year's deficit alone. In a letter to the Mercury News, one resident called this "appallingly shameful," Another resident suggested that city employees "be put on 401k-type retirement plans like most taxpayers." Inevitably, the unions reject this.

In a debate over how City Council should conduct its upcoming negotiations with nine of the eleven labor unions, only two councilmembers, Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant, supported Pierluigi Oliverio's proposal that labor negotiations be conducted publicly, rather than behind closed doors. As local resident Nick Cochran pointed out in his letter to the Merc, "Less than 1 percent of our city’s population … effectively control the city’s ‘spending’ gate."
Read More at San Jose Inside.
Read More at ABC 7.
Read More at ABC 7 the Mercury News.


‘I'll Have a Cola, Please,’ at the Vault
There will be no cocktails or beer tonight at downtown's popular Vault Lounge. Investigators from California Alcoholic Beverage Control revoked the club's liquor license yesterday for a period of 35 days. According to the investigators, the club allowed entry to a minor … in December 2006. Also, it reportedly violated the state labor code, though no further details were provided … in March 2008.
Read More at The Mercury News.


Halloween Shooting Suspects to Be Tried as Adults
The Santa Clara County DA's office decided that all four of the suspects charged in the shooting of a 12-year-old trick-or-treater and the stabbing of his 13-year-old friend will be charged as adults. The four suspects appeared briefly in court on Thursday, and were ordered to be held without bail, facing a charge of attempted murder. The four were identified as Eduardo "Pelon" Cristobal, 18; Erik Diaz, 16; Hugo "Sharky" Torres, 15; and Diego "Boogie" Gutierrez," 16. Cristobal is a resident of Milpitas, and the three minors are all residents of San Jose. All four suspects are said to be members of the Sureno gang.

The Surenos are part of the Mexican Mafia, and identify with the color blue. Street gang members also identify with the symbols XIII, X3, 13, and 3-dots, indicating the letter "M" for "Mexican Mafia. Other symbols include a black hand, known as "La Eme" and the letters MM. In prison, they align themselves with the Aryan Brotherhood and the Italian Mafia.
Read More at CBS 5.
Read More at Gangwatchers.