Former San Jose Mayor’s Blog Slowing Down
Did you know that the former mayor of San Jose, Tom McEnery started his own blog on the San Jose inside site? The former mayor began his blog as a way to communicate with the residents of San Jose about the goings on in their city and to let them know what he was thinking and concerned about. The site also features a humor column and a very popular column called “Single Gal” the author of which is rumored to be part of the McEnery family.
The fact that the San Jose mayor had a blog through which he could communicate candidly with his constituents is amazing, especially considering the fact that a few years ago most people considered blogging to be a fad. Guess what—it looks like blogging is here to stay. If you aren’t convinced, consider the fact that President Obama’s administration has a blog of their own, contained on whitehouse.gov.
But this post is about San Jose’s Tom McEnery’s blog.
The blog is part of a larger site called San Jose Inside, which is an up close and personal look at the city of San Jose and what goes on within its borders. The site features quite a few columnists including Eric Johnson, Dan Pulcrano, Gary Singh, Leonard McKay and—obviously—Tom McEnery.
Tom McEnery’s blog is far from pigeonholed. He has posted several times about a trip to Saigon. He wrote about the city of San Jose’s New Year’s resolutions, which involve revitalizing the downtown neighborhood, the continuing refurbishing of Bart and cutting back on the crime that used to plague the BART stop.
Commenters frequently leave notes and opinions on his writing. Not all agree with him, which is nice to see and most of the conversation appears intelligent and informed.
Often it is President Obama who is given credit for promoting an air of transparency in all forms of government. He pledged that the American people would never have to wonder what was going on in Washington and that he would always ask the people their opinions before making decisions. It is nice to note that some public officials have been doing this for a long time. San Jose is just one of the towns in which the Mayor has regular posts on the internet. Many cities have pages devoted to their public officials’ communications.
As far as we can tell the new mayor of San Jose, Chuck Reed, does not have nor does he have future plans for a self-written blog. It is good to know that the former mayor shows no signs of leaving his blogging days behind and will continue to work for the betterment of San Jose residents even though he has officially handed the mayoral hat over to someone else.
Do you think that Chuck Reed should start his own blog? Are you a fan of Tom McEnery’s blog? Do you think the government should be completely transparent or do some shadows need to be retained?
For more information on San Jose, visit http://www.sanjosemicroblog.com and http://www.pomonamicroblog.com.
John Parks
http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/former-san-jose-mayors-blog-slowing-down-756202.html
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