Top Stories: Oct. 28, 2009

Galleon Scandal; Vaccine Shortage; 49ers and Santa Clara; Unlicensed Pets

By Staff (Oct 28, 2009 )

Pyle to Investigate Leash Law
It all began with a freak accident. On Sept. 16, Beverly Head, 62, was walking along the Los Alamitos Creek Trail when she was passed by a man on a mountain bike with two Siberian huskies trailing behind him. She got entangled in the leash and fell backwards on her head, suffering severe brain trauma. A few hours later, she was dead, and the city has since been investigating whether to regulate the length of leashes that cyclists can use while walking their dogs.

City Councilmember Nancy Pyle is behind the initiative. Tonight, she will be holding a public meeting to discuss the incident, and determine whether there is justification for adding a "leash law"—the first in the nation—to the San Jose legal code. Pyle says that she has been receiving dozens of emails and faxes about what she calls "such an emotional issue."

The response to the initiative is mixed. While some people, including Head's husband, would like to see cyclists banned from leading dogs on leashes while riding, other argue that nothing like this accident has ever happened before, and that the same thing could happen with someone walking a dog. Others have suggested separate paths for slower walkers and for cyclists, while still others contend that common courtesy demands that cyclists keep their dogs on the right. And more ideas are sure to come at tonight's meeting.
Read More at NBC Bay Area.
Read More at the Mercury News.


Possible Leak Identified in Growing Galleon Scandal
Hector Ruiz, the former Chairman of Advanced Micro Devices, has been implicated in the Galleon insider trading scandal. Reports claim that he leaked information about AMD's restructuring to Danielle Chiesi of New Castle Partners, one of the hedge funds at the center of the scandal.

AMD is the largest international supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture after Intel, and the third-largest supplier of graphics processing units. In 2008, the company decided to focus exclusively on chip design, and spun off its manufacturing operations as GlobalFoundries. The project was a joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment, an investment firm founded by the government of Abu Dhabi. According to the reports, Ruiz leaked information about the planned, multi-billion dollar venture to Chiesi, who then bought shares in AMD.

Neither Ruiz, who is now Chairman of GlobalFoundries, nor representatives of AMD have commented on the allegations.
Read More at KLIV.
Read More at the Business Journal.


Few Swine Flu Vaccines Available
Public Health Officer Marty Fenstersheib is facing a dilemma. He had hoped to get as many as 50,000 swine flu vaccines this week, but despite the national swine flu emergency, San Jose is only getting 8,800. "Those who are truly the highest risk have to be in the front of the line," he now says, and that means children first. Yet even then there aren't enough shots to go around, so the city is planning to prioritize children, with a focus on children who are already most ill.

Fenstersheib says that this "wasn't supposed to happen," but faults the government for the delay. By now, some 120 million doses of the vaccine were supposed to have shipped out across the country, but the real numbers tell a different story. Only 11 million have shipped. As Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chief of infectious disease at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital says, "Hopefully next week there will be another shipment."
Read More at The Mercury News.


Santa Clara Votes to Eliminate Bidding Process on New Stadium
Using a new state exception law, SB43, Santa Clara City Council voted 5-2 last night to bypass the city's competitive bidding rules for the proposed new stadium for the San Francisco 49ers. This clears the way for the city to choose HNTB as the stadium's new architects and Turner Construction, and Devcon Construction as its contractors, even if other firms might underbid them in the tender. Without the new law, City Council would have had to pose the question of whether to bypass the bidding process on the ballot this spring.

Supporters of the new stadium, such as Councilmember Kevin Moore, rejected criticism that the exception was cutting voters out of the deliberations. "People can vote up or down as to whether they want a stadium," he argued. The 49ers also cheered the decision. Spokeswoman Lisa Lang said that the team would only agree to cover cost overruns "if we are working with an architect and design-build contractor that we have confidence in to actually build an NFL stadium." The project is expected to cost $937 million, of which $114 million will be taken from public redevelopment funds and a tax on guests staying at any of eight hotels near the new stadium.
Read More at the SF Gate.

Only One in Nine Pets Licensed in San Jose
According to an internal audit reviewed by San Jose City Council yesterday, only 11.5 percent of the 400,000 cats and dogs in the city are officially licensed by their owners. The report goes on to suggest the creation of a part-time "licensing position" to reach out to the community and encourage them to license their pets. The position would cost the city $50,000.

Finances are one of the major reasons why the city has decided to tackle the issue. Pet licensing accounts for some 60 percent of the local Animal Services Agency budget, but because of a lack of funding, it has been forced to dip into the city's general fund at an average cost of $4.3 million per year. The Agency's budget is currently $6.2 million, and it employs a staff of 64. It also provides services to neighboring communities.

Public health is another reason why City Council wants to take a more proactive step in getting people to license their pets. According to the report, it is the only way to ensure that people vaccinate their cats and dogs against rabies.

Yet the numbers for San Jose are not that shocking. Pet licensing has increased 83 percent since 2003, and while 29.7 percent of pets are licensed in Santa Clara, in San Francisco the number is just 7.5 percent.
Read More at the Mercury News.