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Top Stories: Oct. 19, 2009Money & Politics; Sunshine Reforms Hit Snag; Shark Meters Discussedby Staff on Oct 19, 2009City to Take on Card Clubs Ambrose Bierce once pointed out that "The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling." It's a problem the City Council will face at its Tuesday session, when members discuss a long series of regulations on San Jose's card clubs. Among the new rules being considered are capping play time for card players at 20 consecutive hours and the compulsory posting of odds on games, almost like the calorie-counts now appearing next to Big Macs and other fast food. The problem is simple: while no City Councilmember actually likes the card clubs (or at least, is willing to admit they like them), they do like the revenues they bring in to the city's straining coffers. The city's two card clubs, Garden City Casino and Bay 101, generate $13.5 million per year in tax revenue, and that's a lot of road repairs and municipal salaries. As Councilmember Sam Liccardo puts it: "Certainly no one is going to turn down the tax revenue that the gaming clubs create for the city, but at the same time, nobody wants Las Vegas in the middle of downtown San Jose." Liccardo claims that proposed state legislation will bring the worst of both worlds to San Jose. As a proponent of the new rules, he argues that this will not prevent the card clubs from moving right outside the city limits. If that happens, he explains, San Jose will be stuck with all the "social ills" of gambling, without any of the revenue benefits. If that's the case, odds are that the city will adopt the new regulations. Meanwhile, the card club owners believe that they have all the cards. As City Council prepares to vote, they are pointing out that the taxes they pay to San Jose are higher than those paid by similar establishments in other Bay Area cities. Could it mean that they are preparing to move, or are they only bluffing? Read More at KCBS. Sunshine Reform Task Force Proposals Stir Controversy When Chuck Reed was elected mayor three years ago, he did it on a platform of greater transparency. The city created a 15-member Sunshine Reform Task Force that issued a series of proposals in 2007, which were for the most part embraced by the City Council. Officials' calendars were posted online, and city reports were made available long before they were discussed and debated. But a second group of proposals, these about public records, are proving to be far less popular. If adopted, the new proposals would force the city to release most city records automatically—including police records. Though exceptions are made for the most obvious circumstances, such as juveniles, witnesses and the victims of sex crimes, the SJPD argues that any automatic release of police records puts victims and witnesses at risk. Reed has now expressed his support for Police Department's position. "The central problem," he explains, "is that a half-dozen law enforcement organizations around the state and county said it was a bad idea," Task Force Chairman Ed Rast disagrees. He claims that there is significant public interest in making these records available, and such procedures are already in place in other cities such as Dallas and Miami. Taking their cue from the SJPD, public prosecutors, and victims rights groups, City Council seems likely to reject the new proposals when put up for a vote at Tuesday's meeting. But there still could be a fight on hand. With the support of the ACLU, Councilmembers Ash Kalra, Nora Campos and Kansen Chu have called the Task Force's proposals "reasonable," and called efforts by DA Dolores Carr and the Rules Committee to derail them a "sham." Read More at the Mercury News. How Much Revenue Could New Parking Meters Bring in? One of the great things about parking in San Jose is that if you actually find a spot, it is usually free on evenings and weekends. That may soon change though in the area surrounding the HP Pavilion. At its weekly meeting tomorrow, City Council will decide whether to introduce new parking meters in the area just south of the arena. The meters would cover 150 parking spaces. Even if the new measure is passed, it won't help drivers to carry a stash of quarters in their pockets. The new meters are planned to have fluctuating prices, based on the event that is taking place, with parking costs for the most popular events reaching as high as $25 dollars. Yet even this new revenue will barely make a dent on San Jose's budget. The meters are expected to earn just $130,000 per year, and the projected deficit for this year is already at $90 million. Read More at KLIV. Local Jobless Rate Dips Slightly Unemployment figures for Santa Clara County may be above the national 9.5 average, but they are above the state average of 12 percent. The good news comes from Silicon Valley, were unemployment dipped to 11.8 percent, from a high of 12.1 percent. Over the past year, computer and semiconductor manufacturing firms lost some 18,500 jobs. The biggest losses, however, occurred in the local service sector, were some 26,000 people found themselves out of work. All told, the number of people employed in metropolitan San Jose declined by 5.9 percent in the past year. Read More at the Business Journal. Intel Exec Charged with Insider Trading Rajiv Goel, a director of strategic investments at Intel's treasury department, and Anil Kumar, a director at the McKinsey management-consulting firm, have been charged by the SEC with insider trading. According to reports, they were part of a much larger ring in Silicon Valley and New York that used their knowledge to manipulate stock prices of such prominent tech companies as Google and IBM. According to the filing, the ring was headed by Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund manager with a net worth listed at $1.3 billion. Goel is suspected of providing Rajaratnam with information about Intel's quarterly earnings and a pending deal with Clearwire. The complaint claims that he was paid $250,000 for the information. When news of the complaint was released, Goel was placed on administrative leave. Read More at NBC Bay Area. Man Shot Dead at Milpitas Mall A man was shot dead in the parking garage of the Milpitas Great Mall on Friday night. His body was discovered shortly after 7:00 pm by two women who work at the mall. Police are still investigating the motive. The shooting was the second homicide to take place in Milpitas in the past two months: in September a man was stabbed to death on South Main Street. Read More at ABC 7. Read More at CBS 5. by Staff on Oct 19, 2009 |
 State rules would target card clubs like San Jose's Bay 101. |
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