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Top Stories: July 20, 2010

Oliverio Takes on City Unions; Visiting Vietnamese Pop Star Pepper Sprayed; Child Porn Ring Busted

by Danny Wool on Jul 20, 2010
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Let the Sun Shine on San Jose
Florida may be the Sunshine State, but San Jose is truly the nation’s Sunshine City. A report issued by the California Public Utilities Commission says that between Jabuary 2007 and July 2010, the city has completed 4.9 MW worth of residential solar and commercial solar power projects, more than any other city in the state (eat dust, San Diego!).

Mayor Chuck Reed (who is referred to as Chuck Green in the article—can it be a Freudian typo?) credits large solar installations at two of the city’s major firms, eBay and Cypress Semiconductor, and at the San Jose Unified and East Side Union High School districts.

The challenge is now to beat San Diego in pending solar projects as well. They have 25.1 MW in the pipeline, while San Jose is behind them with 17.9 MW. It’s time for the city to start planning.
Read More at Solar Feeds.


Oliverio Takes on Unions over Pensions
The figures are startling. For every $3 dollars municipal employees pay into their pension funds, the city matches them to the tune of $8. This year it will come to $200 million in a city that is bleeding cash and laying off workers. Next year it could come to $250 million. According to City Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio, the consequences are “out of control.”

He wants to adjust that, and grant City Council the authority to determine how much it pays into its workers’ pension funds and at what age city workers can retire. While his proposal will not affect current municipal workers, it will go into effect on all workers hired from 2011. The proposal would require a simple majority of voters on a ballot, but first it must go through the Rules Committee and then a vote by City Council. The deadline for that is August 3, if the measure to amend the City Charter is to appear on the ballot this November.

That doesn’t leave much time for the unions to fight back, but they’ve already fired their opening salvos. AFL-CIO Labor Council Spokesman Jody Meacham doesn’t understand the rush to get the proposal on this ballot, and Mayor Chuck Reed, who called the proposal “interesting,” seems to agree.

Oliverio, however, is standing firm on his position, citing facts and figures to boost his argument. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, he says, the city paid out $138 million on pensions. This year, the figure is just under $200 million, and next year it will be $240-250 million. That’s a $100 million jump in just two years, which, according to the city’s charter, the taxpayers are obligated to cover. In fact, because of similar problems, pension reform is a hot-letter issue in many other California cities, including San Francisco.

A statement issued by the AFL-CIO argues that Oliverio’s proposal would “remove pension requirements that protect both employees and taxpayers.” If a $100 million hike in costs is what they consider protecting the taxpayers, one can only wonder what they mean by saying that the taxpayer would be unprotected.
Read More at San Jose Inside
Read More at The Mercury News.


Police Bust Child Porn Ring
141 investigators from 13 law enforcement agencies including the FBI cracked down on a child porn ring, arresting 11 people for distributing abusive images of children. The arrests were made after search warrants were served in 15 different locations throughout the county. The operation, entitled “Peer Block,” was headed by two local agencies: the Child Exploitation Detail of the SJPD, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of Silicon Valley. The people arrested ranged in age from 40 to just 17.

The operation followed a six-week long investigation into child porn believed to be originating in the Bay Area. Law enforcement officials are now attempting to determine whether any of the children depicted in the images are local.
Read More at KCBS.
Read More at CBS5.


Pop Star Pepper Sprayed
Vietnamese pop star Dam Vinh Hung wasn’t even born when the Vietnamese war ended. On Monday night, however, he became its latest victim, while performing in Santa Clara.

Local Vietnamese activist Ly Tong allegedly arrived at the concert dressed as a woman and seemingly tried to give Dam Vinh Hung a flower on stage. When he went to accept the gift, Ly Tong allegedly pepper sprayed him. Though no motive has been given, Ly Tong is well known locally for continuing to fight the Vietnam War, three decades after it ended.

According to the New York Times, back in 2000, when then-President Clinton paid an official visit to Vietnam, Ly Tong, a fighter pilot by training, hijacked a small aircraft in Thailand and flew it over Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), dropping pamphlets calling for an uprising against the communist government. It was a repeat of a stunt he had pulled back in 1993. Nor is he a one-cause pamphleteer. He has also flown over Havana, Cuba, dropping leaflets in his self-proclaimed capacity as Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Anti-Communist Forces of the World.

No one was hurt in Ly Tong’s latest escapade, but the concert hall was evacuated temporarily. Ly Tong remains under arrest.
Read More at KLIV.


Carol Bartz’s Success to Prove Itself Today
When Yahoo releases its Q2 earnings today, CEO Carol Bartz, who is known for her colorful language, could quote Vice President Joe Biden: “It’s a big f***ing deal.”

The company is expected to post its best quarter since Bartz took over back in 2008. Revenues of $1.16 billion are expected to result in a 14-cent rise per share, particularly impressive since Yahoo’s earnings are based entirely on advertising, and its mega-rival Google did not do as well as anticipated this last quarter.

Bartz is apparently doing something right. It’s a good thing for Yahoo that she’s not following the lead of other top female executives and running for political office.
Read More at the Business Journal.



by Danny Wool on Jul 20, 2010
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