ok , we got rid of that Terrible morally-bankrupt Mayor, Ron Gonzales ,,,
But,,,
1-TRAFFIC: Some , some call this the 'heart' of Silicon Valley , but we do not have one expressway or boulevard with TIMED LIGHTS BY COMPUTER !! I am not talking regular 2 lane streets, but divided 2x2 or 3x3 or 4x4 major thoroughfares !! NOT ONE . Our new much better Mayor says they have been on the 'to do' list for decades ,,, and we have the personnel , paid for in place for decades ,,, and the huge computer in place for decades ,,, 'but we need a new larger computer.' Really !! Traffic is horrible. The commute is horrible. Even before and after the holiday shopping season. Valley Fair is still the #1 grossing shopping center (with tons of free parking) and the $Bs spent to 'redevelop' and teardown and rebuild most of downtown San Jose , with the city govt. moving back downtown(WITH LOTS OF EXPENSIVE PARKING METERS AND EXPENSIVE LOTS ,,,will city govts ever ever ever learn?!) in a new super expensive building(with a falcon nest on top, ok, and a cool 24-7 falcon cam , to keep the 30-60 diseases transmitted to humans ,pigeon problem at bay) , the DOWNTOWN is still mostly a ghost town ,,, in spite of the new high rise luxury office buildings and many luxury high rise luxury condos ,,, and a monument that looks like a cowpie ,,, oh, and not enuf night walking police , natch. So computer timing all the major divided boulevards and expressways would do so much to alleviate the terrible traffic and the skunky smog pollution, but we will die waiting for the politicians. It is so easy a FIX. (oh, SF has at least 3 timed streets.
They did have at least 5, including highways 101-van ness street and highway 1=19th avenue.) Sooo embarrassing , for the much vaunted computer industry.
POLICE: We live in a really, if that is possible , nice looking and expensive part of southern central SJ called Lincoln Glen with homes on Westgate and Cottle going for well over a $M, even tho the wiring and plumbing are too old 1950s behind the walls ,,, and when you phone the SJPD that there are carpenters remodeling a house on the street, again, and at the end of the day RACING DOWN THE 25MPH STREET AT OVER 50MPH WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG FAMILIES MOVING INTO THESE OLDER RANCH STYLE HOUSE ,,,What do you get from the SJPD ? Nothing. They never show. Day after day. You call ,,, and the San Jose Police Department ,,, NEVER SHOWS. No excuse. And they are among the highest paid ,,, in the Nation !!?
POLLUTION: This valley, Santa Clara ,use to be famous for plums, cherries, walnuts and apricot tree orchards for miles and miles. And before in the Spanish and Mexican rule days , the Almaden cinnabar MERCURY 'quick silver' mines !! Nowadays, we have all these computer industry 'Superfund' toxic cancerous underground chemical leaking tanks that have massively and broadly polluted our ground water. And real estate agents are getting OVER $1M for a standard ranch 3br-2ba built in the 1950s for less than $20k with aged wiring and old fouled pipes !!? (Talk about lack of full disclosure ...)
Smog is as bad as L.A. ,,, due to the rim around the Bay of these small hills, a natural smog trap, in Summer and some days threw out the year, like just the other day. "Don't go outside cuz it is a 'spare the air day' !!"
Diamond lanes are under used, and we only have 4x4 freeways unlike SoCal that has 8x8s and 10x10s, even 11x11s and can afford to lose a lane to such politican foolish failure of a plan. So cars in the other 2 or 3 lanes just sit during the commute,,, making more SMOG !!
We are force to pay Federal Flood Insurance ,,, because of Ross Creek, which is a small concrete channel ,straight, about 12-15ft wide. SUCH A RIP OFF !!
COST OF LIVING: We kicked out the lying bum , Republican Governor Grey Davis , who got us to de-regulate home gas and electric rates by weakening the state PUC long time mostly effective cost controls. But we did not RE-REGULATE home gas and electric rates! Big state govt failure on Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's and state legislatures part !! i know a retired couple , both 92, living on one state public school teachers pension and their savings ,,, who are PAYING $400-500 PER MONTH FOR PG&E HOME GAS AND ELECTRIC , BEFORE THEY TURN THE NEW AIR CONDITIONER ON FOR HUSBAND'S HEALTH REASONS ,,, AND $100 PER MONTH FOR WATER FOR A 3BR-2BA WITH A NICE FRONT AND BACK YARD LAWN AND MANY TREES. This is highway robbery.
JOBS: One company locally , HP , laid off over 30,000 workers ,,, and sent the jobs to India, China , whatever. And there is this crazy attitude here that 'everyone must be one of those Silicon Valley Multimillionaires, so stop complaining about the inflated high too high prices on most every thing' !! Most companies don't pay anywhere near THE COST OF LIVING IN THE SOUTH S.F. BAY AREA !! It isn't that 'd.i.n.k.' /double income no kids is not nearly enough to buy a condo or a small cheap house in a safe neighborhood, it is that compared to the 1950s and 60s , it will take you at least 4 INCOMES to get that then STANDARD OF LIVING, a stay at home mom, 4 kids, all college and university educated, long 3 month summer vacations of the western national parks with the parents, 2 cars in the garage/driveway, and an $18,ooo 3br-2ba house built in 1953 that would sell nowadays for OVER $700,000.oo !! This place and the economy are SO OUT-OF-WACK !!
SCHOOLS: There are way too many school districts in 'Silly Con Valley'. Too many Superintendents getting too many golden handshakes and golden parachutes and bloated salaries ,,, with little or NO ACCOUNTABILITY for the PUBLIC SCHOOLS to do better than worse !! This again is more of the same sick area mentality of 'get rich quick , be as irresponsible as you can as no one will notice , and to hell with everyone else'. There should be one large and well organized school district with accountability at every level. Parents that suck at parenting and don't have their kids do their homework get 'bonehead' classes in parenting. Teachers that still don't know how to teach get a semester with a great model teacher. Principals who hide in their offices and do little get replaced by eager recent college graduates. And fat-cat Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents of Silicon Valley who ,i swear i personally witnesses, do nothing but sit at their desk and for 6 months receive full pay for only planning their weddings, get immediately Fired, and replaced by eager recent college graduates. We , as a State and a society, can not afford the waste ,as rich as we in the USA are, of professional educators at public schools who do not do their very best every day. If the unions and educators and administrators can not get behind that , then maybe it is time to get rid of all public instruction as failed Meg Whitman proposed and just do paid charter schools for those that can afford it.
WEATHER: Yes it is mostly pleasant. But why is the only federal or govt weather station at the San Jose Airport , where no one lives, instead of at downtown San Jose ,,, or Valley Fair where many shop ,,, or at multiple locations like Willow Glen and Eastridge and the Rose Garden neighborhoods ?
SECRET CORPORATE TAX AND FEE BREAKS, TOO TOO MANY: Why do we have to allow all these politicians this massive secrecy ,,, if all these massive deals are so good for us !? And these same companies shit on this land and the Bay. It makes no sense.
