Is Columbus statue headed to the airport?
More than a month after city leaders decided the controversial Christopher Columbus statue inside City Hall needs to go, the dilemma about where to put it looms large.
Now an idea to move the embattled explorer to the Mineta San Jose International Airport is gaining steam among the Italian-American groups who donated the marble monument to the city in 1958.
But a group of civil rights activists who spearheaded the effort to remove the statue say placing the statue inside the airport sends a dangerous message to millions of travelers who come to San Jose. And they argue the idea has never been publicly discussed — despite a promise from elected leaders for a transparent process.
“No one from the opposition has come to any of the
meetings,” said Peter Ortiz, cochair of the San Jose Brown Berets. “We’re jumping through political hoops to get this statue relocated. But the Italian community can meet with the mayor whenever they want and have these private discussions with us left out of it. They’re trying to do this behind closed doors.”
Mayor Sam Liccardo, who is half-Italian, would not say this past week whether he supports putting the statue at the airport. He previously signaled support for relocating the statue while still “honoring” the gift from the Italian community.
Liccardo’s spokesman said the mayor mentioned the airport idea to Ortiz in a private conversation at an unrelated event.
“After city staff explores the viability of this and several other potential sites and publishes a report, we’ll have a public meeting to discuss these and other options,” the mayor said.
Dave Perzinski, president of the Italian American Heritage Foundation of San Jose, acknowledged that the idea to move the statue to the airport came up in private meetings with the mayor and downtown Councilman Raul Peralez.
Perzinski called it a “good solution to a problem that’s not going to go away.” He said there’s no place for the statue in downtown’s Little Italy and he fears it’ll be vandalized — again. The statue was smeared with red paint in September and smashed with a sledgehammer in 2001.
“At the airport it has more visibility and it’s directly tied to transportation,” Perzinski said. “Christopher Columbus was an explorer and he found new routes to the Americas.”
Perzinski said the Italian community also has agreed to remove some “offending” language on the statue that claims Columbus discovered America. Critics note indigenous people were already here.
Columbus has been celebrated for his daring trans-Atlantic exploration that opened the way for European settlement of the Americas. But to Ortiz and other critics, he represents oppression and genocide — not what travelers coming to the heart of Silicon Valley should associate with the city.
“The first thing that people see when they come to San Jose should not be the Christopher Columbus statue,” he said. “It needs to be put in an area where the people who appreciate it can choose to do so, but it’s not shoved in the faces of everyone else.”
“What we saw in Texas is what happens when unfortunately one government agency doesn’t do its job.”
— Craig DeLuz, spokesman for the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Calguns Foundation, about the deadly Sutherland Springs church shooting. The gunman’s criminal and mental health history should have blocked his gun purchases, but the Air Force failed to put key information into a federal database as required.
Former schools chief shows tax returns
Delaine Eastin, a Democratic candidate for governor, made an average of $170,785 annually over the last six years and paid an average of $37,539 in state and federal taxes, according to her tax returns.
The former state schools chief let reporters review six years of her tax returns last week at the home of her campaign chairwoman, becoming the third 2018 candidate for governor to do so.
According to her returns, Eastin made most of her income, about $88,525 annually, from the pension she receives from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. The pension was earned from her years as state superintendent of public instruction and a state assemblywoman.
She also made an average of $14,766 annually as an “educational consultant,” working for a long list of school districts, universities, nonprofits and private schools.
The 70-year-old Eastin also receives Social Security and distributions from her IRA.
Eastin, who is divorced and files by herself, reported giving an average of $20,053 to charity each year. Some of her largest donations went to the Davis Community Church, UC Davis and Capital Public Radio. In 2014, she also endowed a scholarship named after her that supports a female student who is the first in her family to go to college at UC Davis or UC Santa Barbara, her alma maters.
She took a deduction for state and local income and property tax each year — a deduction that would be axed in the tax reform bill proposed by House Republicans. She paid an effective combined tax rate of about 22 percent.
Until earlier this year, Eastin co-owned a rental cabin in Timber Cove in Sonoma County with a former college roommate. She reported earning small amounts of rent from that property but losing money on it overall for several years. The two sold it in 2017 for $638,000, a campaign spokeswoman said, after paying about $22,000 in 1977 for the land and about $125,000 in the early ’90s to build the house.
Her fellow Democratic candidates running for governor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Treasurer John Chiang, also have released six years of their taxes. Newsom and his wife made about $1.4 million annually from wineries and other investments, and Chiang and his wife made about $185,000, largely from his government salary.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has said he’ll release his returns and plans to do so soon, spokesman Luis Vizcaino said. Republican candidates Travis Allen, a state assemblyman, and John Cox, a businessman, haven’t said whether they will release theirs.
Tax returns have become a political issue in California this year. A bill to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns passed the state Legislature in September, inspired by President Donald Trump’s refusal to release his — but the measure was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. All four Democrats in the 2018 governor’s race say they support that bill.
Brown and his Republican opponents declined to release their own tax returns during the 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial campaigns.
Alum Rock school board members lash out
Alum Rock school board members understandably feel backed into a corner. State auditors concluded that the district is vulnerable to fraud and overspending, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Alum Rock’s bond rating, the Securities and Exchange Commission is subpoenaing district documents, and district attorney investigators are snooping around.
In response, the three-member majority — board President Esau Ruiz Herrera and trustees Dolores Marquez-Frausto and Khanh Tran — have berated the state auditing agency known as FCMAT, the county office of education, county office Superintendent Jon Gundry, the district’s lawyers, district Superintendent Hilaria Bauer and, of course, the press.
On Thursday, the district’s bond-construction manager joined in the fray with a video presentation intended to demonstrate that it does, indeed, have records that it has been accused of withholding. Del Terra Real Estate CEO Luis Rojas blamed auditors, the district and the media, and claimed to be mystified why FCMAT never got the records it sought.
FCMAT “never came to Del Terra and asked for any information,” the firm’s attorney, Chris Roux, said, contracting auditors’ statements.
The board majority rushed to praise Rojas.
“Del Terra has been unfairly maligned and wrongly accused,” Herrera said.
“This is definitely political,” Tran said about a move by trustees Karen Martinez and Andrés Quintero to cut some Det Terra contracts. “Somebody wants their family or friends to do the job.”
The presentation and board’s effusive praise incensed the audience at the six-hour meeting.
“I will call you a liar to your face,” Ray Mueller, head of the district’s bond oversight committee, told Rojas.
“Del Terra has to leave Alum Rock — that is the community’s opinion,” said parent Bertha Razo. “Don’t defend a company that has been taking money away from our students.”
Parent Jeff Markham called Del Terra’s presentation “a complete suspension of reality.” In an email later to trustees, he wrote, “You wonder why the community thinks you’re dirty. After tonight’s ‘performance,’ you have only solidified that perception.”
‘The Closer’ enters San Jose District 9 race
The race for an open seat on the San Jose City Council next year just got a little more crowded. Rosie Zepeda, CEO of Compelling Conversations, a communications firm for businesses, jumped into the race after months of speculation that she might make a foray into local politics. Zepeda, who calls herself “the Closer” — based on her career in communications and marketing — joins five others vying to replace termed-out Councilman Donald Rocha.
“Running for this office is personal,” Zepeda said in her campaign announcement. “In 2015 I came home to find I was being robbed. Our city is evolving. Let’s collectively safeguard our community.”
Rocha, who represents District 9 in the Cambrian area, is running to replace termed-out Supervisor Ken Yeager on Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Rocha has not yet endorsed anyone in the council race.
Other contenders in the race are:
Kalen Gallagher, a Campbell Union High School District board member and tech startup guru who helped launch ClassDojo, an app that helps teachers connect with parents.
Sabuhi Siddique, vice chair of the Human Relations Commission in Santa Clara County and a former hospital technician.
Pam Foley, San Jose Unified School District board president and business owner.
Doron Aronson, a Cambrian school board member who works for a cyber security company and has lived in the district nine years.
Shay Franco-Clausen, a former campaign manager and staffer to Assemblyman Ash Kalra who now works for the nonprofit Silicon Valley FACES.