Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez starts her new job in New Mexico on Wednesday, but last Friday she got to say goodbye to many of her colleagues and friends at an event hosted by the Valley Health Foundation at Notre Dame High School in downtown San Jose.
Chavez has been having a bit of a farewell tour lately as she’s been preparing for a new job as the county manager of Bernalillo County in New Mexico. She delivered the Don Edwards Lecture at San Jose State two weeks ago, received the Carmen Castellano Legacy Leader Award from the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley at its brunch Sunday and was honored as Woman of the Decade by Assemblymember Ash Kalra. Along the way, she had her last meetings at the Board of Supervisors and Valley Transportation Authority.
But Friday’s event, emceed by Valley Health Foundation CEO Michael Elliott, had the feel of a family reunion — the disco ball in the gym helped — if your family was filled with a who’s who of Santa Clara County figures like San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, Santa Clara County Executive James Williams, Santa Clara County Sheriff Bob Jonsen and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna. The speaker list was just as high-powered with U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and state Sen. Dave Cortese all sharing their memories of working alongside Chavez, who served on the San Jose City Council before she was elected to the county Board of Supervisors.
Flanked on stage by her husband, Mike Potter, and son, Brennan Potter, Chavez said she saw the evening as her opportunity to say thank you to the labor movement, the nonprofit world and those who served the community so many other ways. Chavez, who penned a farewell letter that ran in the Mercury News this weekend, said that besides having her family, “the biggest honor of my life has been to serve with all of you to make this place amazing.”
Have we seen the last of Cindy Chavez in San Jose? My instinct says she’ll be back one day, so let’s just make this “hasta pronto.”
POLITICS ON PARADE: OK, as noted by Maj. Gen. Stephen Hager, the grand marshal of San Jose’s 106th annual Veterans Day celebration, it did literally rain on his parade. Bands wore ponchos, military color guards and scouts marched in the rain and politicians rode inside hard-top cars instead of convertibles. Of course, once the final units were going by, the sun peeked out and within 30 minutes of the parade’s end there was barely a cloud in the sky. Go figure.
And while the Veterans Day parade is a great opportunity to show respect for our military veterans, state Sen. Dave Cortese used his time on stage Monday to do a bit more than that. You might remember that back in 2015, Cortese — then a Santa Clara County supervisor — and then-San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo launched “All the Way Home,” an initiative to house homeless veterans that ended up being very successful.
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The need has not subsided, however, and during his short speech, Cortese proposed that he and Mayor Matt Mahan partner to revive the initiative. Mahan spoke a short while later and accepted Cortese’s offer — and I don’t think either the offer or the acceptance was pre-planned.
Speaking of Liccardo, he missed the parade because he was headed to Washington, D.C., for orientation as a newly elected member of the House of Representatives. He posted on Facebook about taking a run Monday morning through the nation’s capital to the Lincoln Memorial — which he says has been his favorite running destination in DC since he was a Georgetown student interning for then-Rep. Norm Mineta. How do we know he hasn’t forgotten San Jose? He ran wearing a Silicon Valley Turkey Trot shirt.
‘TIS THE SEASON: Whether you’ve been eagerly awaiting the holidays or trying to keep them at bay, there’s no denying that they’re here.
The finishing touches are being put on Downtown Ice at the Circle of Palms in San Jose, with the outdoor skating rink opening Nov. 15 in advance of its big grand opening ceremony Nov. 20. You don’t need to grab your skates — you get them included when you purchase a general admission session for $21 at www.sjdowntownice.com.
The Los Altos History Museum is also inviting the public to its “Catch the Spirit” event on Nov. 20 starting at noon. The festive afternoon includes performances by the choral group Schola Cantorum and the Volare Choir from Los Altos High. And the historic J. Gilbert Smith House will be decked out for a 1930s Christmas. If you’re planning to pick up some early gifts at the museum’s boutiques, you’ll be paying 2024 prices I’m afraid — but at least you’ll be supporting the preservation of local history. Check out the details at losaltoshistory.org/CTS2024.