Free Republic

With pension costs devouring San Jose's budget and many employee unions balking at reducing their perks, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed on Friday unofficially declared what is believed to be the city's first fiscal state of emergency and said he will take his case to the voters in November. ....A big hang-up is whether the city can change retirement benefits for current employees, something officials in San Jose and other governments say is essential to stabilize costs. Unions argue that constitutional protections for public employees mean their pensions can't be reduced because they are "vested rights." Reed and other officials...

It was shaping up to be another rowdy Cinco de Mayo in San Jose late Thursday, as police and emergency crews were busy breaking up crowds, picking up the glass from shattered windows and treating people who had been beaten up and even stabbed. As of 11 p.m., one person had walked into Regional Medical Center after being stabbed in the festivities and several other people had suffered more minor injuries, Assistant Police Chief Diane Urban said. "Many fights, we've had multiple fights along Santa Clara Street," she said "And it's busy." The crowds had also knocked out windows of...

After months of nervous anticipation, 106 San Jose police officers are getting notices this week that they may be laid off as the reality of the city's dire financial picture cast a gloom over police headquarters and City Hall. Another 20 cops learned they may soon be demoted. And overall, the city could lose about 9 percent of its police force in what could be the first layoffs of cops in the city's history. City officials have been threatening layoffs for months, and City Manager Deb Figone last week broadcast a total of more than 600 city employees. But that...

Info here >> http://www.ksfo.com/Article.asp?id=2155622 here >> bayareapatriots.comand here >> tppsv.com SAN FRANCISCO - JUSTIN HERMAN PLAZA - 4-7 PM with Barbara Simpson SAN JOSE - Cesar Chavez Park - 4-7 PM with Brian Sussman

At least one person was hurt in a brazen daytime shooting at a fast-food restaurant in San Jose Wednesday afternoon that prompted a lockdown of a nearby school. The shooting was reported a few minutes after noon at the McDonald’s at 898 S. Bascom Ave., across from Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Police spokesman Officer Jose Garcia said it appears that the shooter walked up to the victim and shot him once at close range, then ran north on South Bascom Avenue. The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment. Garcia did not have an update on his condition....

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The latest information about the salaries and benefits of each San Jose city employee was posted online Friday in an effort to maintain transparency in the city's government. The compensation information, which can be accessed at www.sanjoseca.gov/salary, is from 2010, the latest year available, according to city officials. Former police Chief Robert Davis had the highest total compensation - more than $534,000 in salary and benefits - for the year, according to the report. City Manager Debra Figone - who made more than $276,000 in 2010 - said the release of the information is an example...

San Jose-based SoloPower announced Thursday that it is expanding -- to Oregon. The company, which makes thin-film solar cells and modules, has chosen Wilsonville, south of Portland, as the site for its new manufacturing plant. The start-up got a $20 million loan through Oregon's State Energy Loan Program, which also was announced Thursday. "The intention was always to have corporate here in Silicon Valley, and research and development here," said Peter Kesser, SoloPower's senior vice president for sales and marketing, in an interview. "But when we looked at scaling up, we looked at a number of areas, both here in...

San Jose-based SunPower, Silicon Valley's dominant solar panel manufacturer, on Monday announced three power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison to deliver 711 megawatts of solar power. The deal, one of the largest for photovoltaic solar power in the United States, would produce enough power for about 460,000 California homes. "This is an unprecedented time for solar photovoltaic," Marc Ulrich, the utility's vice president of renewable and alternative power, said in a statement. "We're seeing growth in technological advances and manufacturing efficiencies that result in competitive prices for green, emission-free energy for our customers." ... California's three largest utilities have...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Police Department is expected to stop 30-day impounding of vehicles when an unlicensed driver is stopped for a minor traffic violation. . . . Immigrant advocates have complained the 30-day vehicle holds unfairly target illegal immigrants.

Sarah Palin today gave a speech in California and managed to get a few good slams of the liberal elites in DC – and California! (More)

Hey Bay Area FReepers, just heard on Barbara Simpson's program that Sarah Palin is going to be in San Jose, Thursday, October 14th at 3:00 PM at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, and KSFO radio is giving away a free pair of tickets! Here's the link to enter the contest - http://www.ksfo560.com//customform.asp?id=53727&view=scheduledGood luck! (No, I'm not associated with it, just passing along the info.)

THE LIBERTY & FREEDOM FOUNDATION is proud to announce that we will be bringing former Alaska Governor SARAH PALIN to the Bay Area. Thursday October 14, 2010 - San Jose, CA 3PM - 8PM At the FORUM you’ll have an opportunity to hear Governor Palin’s remarks discussing a variety of issues that are important to, and currently affecting, the people of the greater Bay Area. There will be a Q & A session posing questions from locals, as well as questions from school kids. We believe in our youth perspective and know you all will enjoy their insight into America....

Between processions of nuns and monks leading chants and prayers, tens of thousands of Buddhists have come to a warehouse in San Jose to pray before the Jade Buddha and pose before the popular statue for family snapshots. "I came here to just pray for good things to happen, especially to the community of San Jose," Pauline Bui said Sunday morning at the makeshift temple. "It's for universal peace. That's what this Buddha is for." A financial analyst who lives in San Jose, Bui has brought her mother and two children six or seven times. On a previous visit, she...

More than 90 unions have organized to vet city council candidates based on a 10-page questionnaire and 30-minute interviews scheduled for Sept. 9 at 2102 Almaden Road in San Jose.

Despite California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plunging job approval ratings and waning biceps, he still had time for a ho-hum visit with President Medvedev at Cisco HQ in San Jose on June 23rd. The President met with Cisco CEO John Chambers and members of the Cisco executive team over TelePresence and got to make a video (wink,wink). Following this discussion, Chambers and Viktor Vekselberg signed an MoU to confirm Cisco's commitment to the Skolkovo project. Arnold was very quiet so I don’t think he will be back!...

OAKLAND, Calif. – Hundreds of protesters condemning Israel's recent raid on an international flotilla bound for Gaza are picketing at the Port of Oakland, where an Israeli ship is due to arrive. The demonstrators gathered Sunday to prevent the incoming ship from being unloaded. The dock's day shift of longshoremen agreed to not cross the picket line. Meanwhile Sunday, Israel said it will immediately allow all goods into Gaza except weapons and items deemed to have a military use under its decision to ease its three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory. Israeli officials had decided last week to ease the...

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is scheduled to shutter its office in San Jose next week. But officials say the organization will maintain a local role in advocating for police accountability. Both employees who have been working at the office at 111 N. Market St. are being laid off. The ACLU, which works to protect constitutional liberties, decided to close the office, opened in 2006, due to budget cuts, according to associate director Kelli Evans. "San Jose and Santa Clara County are critical regions for ACLU work in Northern California,'' said Evans, a former civil rights trial...

Fighting like cats and dogs? Not at a San Jose home, where a family is learning first-hand about the amazing way nature helps foster life. The Cervantes family was raising a cat and a dog when their cat, which recently had a litter of kittens, was hit and killed by a car. That's when the dog took over. Carlos Cervantes is at a loss for words over the apparent adoption. He says the dog isn't even pregnant but she's been nursing the kittens for the past few weeks. "I'm not sure how to explain it." Cervantes said. "I'm pretty sure...

Infiniti parked on neighborhood street abuzz with swarm It looks like a scene out of a B-rate movie. Thousands of bees attached to something other than a hive looking hungry and ready to devour anything in their path. It wasn't exactly an "Attack of the Killer Bees" situation but the oddity of nature in the South Bay Friday was enough to make people steer clear of a car discovered with a swarm attached. A viewer alerted us to the bee-zarre scene at the corner of 5th and E. Empire streets, where a white Infiniti was discovered with thousands of the...

To many Silicon Valley solar companies, the chance to bid on San Jose's largest municipal solar installation might seem a welcome opportunity, especially during a slow economy. San Jose, after all, is the place Mayor Chuck Reed has pitched as the "world center of cleantech innovation." Since he became mayor in 2007, at least eight solar companies have moved or expanded here. Yet the bid to furnish enough solar panels to fill 3.4 acres atop Norman Mineta San Jose International Airport's new rental car garage .. went to a Canadian company for $2.2 million. Second in line was a Southern...