Quick Notes

• When Alcalde Reed took office, San Jose was the Safest Big City in America! Then, Third Safest. Now, according to those who determine such things, 4th safest. Not bad for only two years work.
  
  If we extrapolate this decline over a full eight year term:
  
  Huh. Well, there's something to look forward to, anyway. (For those curious: is this scientifically valid? Yeah. Totally.)
• For those just getting up to speed on the issue of vacant retail space at City Hall, you may want to revisit two previous posts of ours: one, from April 2007 which looks at what is really wrong with the space and another that asks what exactly Economic Development guru Paul Krutko actually does. (As a bit of a spoiler, he may as well be in charge of keeping San Jose the safest big city in America, for as much success as he has.)
• A tipster sent in, with perfect timing, an article indicating that newspaper ad sales dropped $2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. That's a shocking 18% of all revenue.
  
  What makes this truly hard to believe is that the Merc's parent company seems to buck the trend, when they can send out high quality ads like this:
  
  I think that if this ran in the Chronicle, it would be interpreted differently.
  
  But the good news is, we can count on continued excellence from the Mercury News, which is a relief, despite the fact that Obnoxious Blowhards apparently landed a sweet Pizza Hut deal.
  
  The spirit of competition is alive and well in the Silicon Valley!

You're Doing A Heck Of A Job, Krutkie!

Paul Krutko, he of Eraserhead hair and the head of the City's Economic Development hit squad, might not be a big fan of the folks over at the Redevelopment Agency these days.

It seems the RDA sent out a beautiful, glossy brochure touting the East Santa Clara Street Business District. The piece entices with tales of the area's established businesses, proximity to City Hall, and the growing demographics in this "thriving neighborhood".

In fact the piece, which a tipster faxed to us, has these two inspirational quotes from local business owners:


Of course, you knew there was a hook. Specifically, that these two businesses, Saigon 75 and 10th Street Pharmacy are both out of business. And, not only that, they're the only two businesses quoted in the brochure.

Granted, Mr. Krutko (whose job it is to assist business in coming to - and staying in - the City) is very busy writing his regular column for the Chamber's newsletter - an organization to which he proudly gives over a hundred grand a year. But maybe a little more time spent actually developing the economy might be worthwhile.

Paul Krutko, What Do You Do?

The Mercury News today re-introduces a favorite straw man, labor peace - a bit of baloney we have discussed and dealt with before.

But what's really missing from the story is the question of all the other vacant retail downtown. Of course people aren't going to move in to the equivalent of a concrete box - they also won't move in to an old stationers, an old jewellers, or a copy center, even if they're directly across from the art museum, the Knight Ridder building and the library, respectively. And this is just from a quick look down San Fernando.

So, Paul Krutko, head of the City's economic development, what do you do? Instead of making excuses for why no one wants to move in (excuses that, rumor has it, will be easily disproven), why not actually find some tenants?

In the meantime, I've created a new logo for your department. No rights reserved.