Downright Neighborly

If there was any doubt that "sunshine" is the watchword for San Jose politics in '07, one need only have been at the Neighborhood Commission Forum at City Hall Saturday morning to see how it's finally soaked through to the residential level. In reviewing the achievements of the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative Project Advisory Committee, "Sunshine Reform" made the top 3 on the big-screen-projection list. "You've all been seeing that in the paper," noted SNI PAC chairman Ernest Guzman of the concept. But the SNI PAC is clearly hoping its proposed neighborhood commission will be the ultimate in South Bay sunshine, giving residents from every district direct access to the city's decision-making process—and even to city staff. Make no mistake, this is scary territory for any city government, as evidenced by the fact that only two places in the entire country, L.A. and D.C., have attempted it on this scale. "We're on the threshold of something new," said Guzman. Clearly neighborhood leaders are ready. Not only was the turnout impressive, with residents from every district in attendance, but audience members were beating speakers to the punch on translating bureaucratic nonsense. When Guzman couldn't remember what "PDO/PIO" stood for, several residents called out "Park Dedication Ordinance/Park Impact Ordinance!" as if, like, duh! When he paused for a moment to consider "LOS," nearly the entire audience seemed to release a collective "Level of Service!" The purpose of the meeting was to give some more shape to the commission concept, and the districts broke up into separate groups to get their neighborhood-specific-input on. Several district-leader types were there, including Steve Tedesco, who's in the March 6 run-off election for the District 6 council seat. But the most interesting revelation was the save-the-date announcement that incoming Mayor Reed will meet Jan. 20 with neighborhood leaders about spending priorities. That and the recognition by co-chair Autumn Gutierrez that, along with all of the other little indignities of participatory democracy, residents who have dedicated themselves to working with SNI PAC on this have had to suffer "one of the longest acronyms in San Jose history."

Sign Off

There's nothing tackier than leaving Christmas decorations out until July, except political signs out until January. We've seen them lingering on front lawns, stapled high on telephone poles and plastered on the sides of buildings well after the election is over. And by now we're certainly "over" the chintzy eyesores that candidates have been too lazy to retrieve. Luckily, California lawmakers felt the same way when they wrote the State Outdoor Advertising Act. Officially, these temporary signs must be registered with the Department of Transportation and taken down no later than 10 days after the election. If DOT officials have to remove them, they have the right to bill the candidate or person responsible for the cost. But, it turns out, the agency hardly ever exercises this right. "It's a huge amount of work for us to monitor all of the signs," said Caltrans spokesman Jeff Weiss. He couldn't think of an instance when the agency actual billed for the removal, because it's too busy trying to keep state-owned right-of-ways clear of the pesky plaques. "It's an immense ordeal that happens ever year," Weiss told Fly. "Political opponents call us about signs and try to put us in the middle. We hate it." Maybe a little social pressure will do the trick. You can help finger the sign offenders by letting us know precisely where you still see their advertisements hanging around—we're keeping a running tally.

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