One year after he retired as a columnist at the Mercury News, Leigh Weimers is keeping busy by doing radio commentaries on KLIV-AM 1590, writing a monthly column for San Jose Magazine, becoming president of the San Jose Police Foundation and traveling with his wife Geri. “I’m still doing many of the same things I did … I just don’t have to take notes,” Weimers told Merc columnist Sal Pizarro this week. In his travels, Weimers said he was struck by how little San Joseans appreciate their role as residents of the nation’s 10th-largest city. “A lot of people don’t realize how important this city is,” he said. “Sometimes we’re concentrating too much on the potholes rather than prestige.” Weimers was a columnist at the Merc for 47 years.