Soccer Silicon Valley Blog

« Philadelphia-area county pledges $30 million for stadium | Main | Community & Economic Development Committee unanimously endorses progress on stadium deal »

October 22, 2007

Latino Film Fest brings two soccer flicks to Bay Area; Merc is at it again

Now that the soccer season is nearly over — well, already over for the L.A. Galaxy — it's good to know that there are still opportunities for fútbol-related entertainment.

Specifically, the 11th annual International Latino Film Festival has two soccer films among the nearly 100 which will be screened at 14 locations throughout the Bay Area November 2 through 18.

On Saturday, November 10, Fútbol, el nacimiento de una pasión (Football: The Birth of Passion) will be shown at 12:30 p.m. at the Camera 12 in downtown San Jose and at 2:00 p.m. at Pickleweed Community Center in San Rafael. It's a documentary that traces the modern sport of soccer from its roots in many different cultures and was co-produced by Real Madrid. Looks like an interesting fim — check out the link above for all the details.

Also on the schedule is La gran final (The Great Match), a comedy about how even the most isolated societies on Earth will go to great lengths to see a World Cup final. This one is screening on Sunday, November 18 at 4:15 p.m. at the Century 20 Downtown Redwood City and on Monday, November 19 at noon at CSU Sacramento. The premise of this one reminds us a little bit of The Cup, a 1999 film about Tibetan monks who go to great lengths to see the '98 World Cup final at their monastery, so the idea has potential.

* * *
Speaking of potential, the Merc's Barry Witt proves again today that the toughest thing about potential is living up to it with his story today, Plan favors jobs over housing, in which he takes what might have been an interesting topic for a story and turns it into a confusing mess.

Tomorrow, the San Jose City Council is going to consider new guidelines regarding the conversion of commercially-zoned property to residential. It's an important issue for the long-term fiscal health of large cities because the businesses which occupy commercial space typically require less support from city services than residents. Cities with a high ratio of commercial to residential development can usually spend more on infrastructure, transit, parks, community services, and so forth, instead of things like police and fire service.

The importance of the commercial/residential balance is the reason that Lew Wolff is being so generous in his proposal for the new Earthquakes stadium. He owns a number of properties in San Jose, including the Fairmont Hotel downtown, so he has a vested interest in the long-term viability of the city. The conversion of the iStar property from commercial to residential use is the fulcrum for creating the new stadium, and Wolff has worked with city staff to make sure that there is no net loss of commercial capacity by increasing the allowable densities on the surrounding commercial sites. To top it all off, he is taking every cent that is generated by that zoning change and pouring it into a new stadium which the City of San Jose will own.

You would think that he would be lauded for this effort. After all, what has typically happened in the past has been an endorsement of development for development's sake, where zonings were seemingly rubber-stamped by the city and builders walked away with pocketfuls of cash. Instead of praise, however, the Mercury News seems bent on generating controversy around both Wolff's proposal and the city's newfound interest in its long-term fiscal health.

Maybe the problem really doesn't lie with either the stadium proposal or the proposed city guidelines, though. Maybe the problem is that Wolff, through this act of generosity, is creating a new awareness at City Hall that it's not necessary to roll out the red carpet for any old developer who struts into town. And maybe the rest of the developers who have worked in San Jose in the past are trying to cast a cloud over the soccer stadium because they can't come out and say, "We liked the old rules better because we made a ton of money."

Well, as they are learning, the region's soccer community is much larger than they have guessed, and we are vocal enough to make sure that City Hall knows that we will not be cast as scapegoats in this scenario. We're here, we cheer — get used to it.

Our admiration goes out to Lew Wolff, who makes it possible to use the words "generous" and "real estate developer" in the same sentence, and to the City of San Jose for taking the progressive stance that smart development is the only way forward in the dawning days of the 21st century.

Posted by Jay at October 22, 2007 07:06 AM

Comments

Posted by: leocal11 at October 22, 2007 12:49 PM