This just in: The City of San Jose and International Association of Fire Fighters Local 230 have agreed tentatively to reduce firefighters’ total compensation by 10 percent. Mayor Chuck Reed and union president Jeff Welch will hold a 6pm press conference today outside of City Hall at 200 E. Santa Clara St.. A source close to the negotiations said the deal was close to what was previously reported on San Jose Inside, minus the retirement portion, because the city wants to study actuarial schedules in greater detail.

Most of Mayor Chuck Reed’s State of the City Address, delivered at the Civic Center this evening, dealt—in sometimes painful detail—with the budget mess that the mayor has been forced to deal with since he took office.

He began by defending the city’s Redevelopment Agency, which, like RDA’s throughout the state, is under attack from Sacramento.

The murder of shopkeeper Vahid Hosseini and the ensuing charges against Williams Rodriguez were a turning point in the political career of former District Attorney Dolores Carr. Now that Jeff Rosen is DA, the problem with Carr’s involvement in the case through her husband has vanished. But the State Attorney General’s office announced yesterday that it has decided to drop the case.

Just when the South Bay live music gets back on its own two feet again, along comes something new to kick a leg out from under it. VooDoo Lounge, the 300-capacity nightclub that’s brought the most diverse mix of shows to downtown San Jose for the last 11 years, is closing at the end of February.

Dean Singleton announced yesterday that he is stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group—the Denver based company that owns the San Jose Mercury News along with most of the newspapers in the Bay Area. Amid speculation that the move was forced on him by a New York hedge fund that controls the company, Singleton insisted that he wants to focus on strategic planning and leave day-to-day management behind.

Times have changed since Jerry Brown was last Governor. These days he’s faced with a $28 billion deficit and the realization that he’s going to have to cut somewhere. One possibility is the state’s Redevelopment Agencies, which consume about $5.5 billion in property tax revenues. It won’t be easy. While transferring that money to schools, for instance, could prove popular, the same voters who elected him also approved Proposition 22, which prevents the state from raiding local funds.

Team San Jose chief Dan Fenton resigned this week, following critical audits of TSJ’s financial management of city facilities.  Team San Jose was formed in 2004 in a coalition between labor groups and the city’s hospitality sector. It serves as San Jose’s Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as the operator of the convention center and performing arts facilities, including the Center for Performing Arts, the Civic Auditorium and the California Theater. Exceprts from Fenton’s resignation letter follow.

I wanted to take this opportunity to inform you of a recent decision I have made. I have decided to step down as the CEO of Team San Jose. I have had 14 plus years in the San Jose community and it is time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life. I have thought about the wonderful accomplishments and experiences I have had and want to share some of them with you.

At its weekly meeting on Tuesday, the City Council signed off on the new design-build contract for the Convention Center despite its $120 million price tag. That did not, however, signal its support for the folks at Team San Jose, the public-private coalition that runs the place.

At its meeting yesterday, the San Jose City Council passed the most stringent ban on plastic bags in the Bay Area. Stores will no longer be allowed to hand out plastic bags in 2012, with the exception of restaurants and second hand shops. With this ban, San Jose will be following the lead of ten other cities in California, including Palo Alto, Oakland and San Francisco.

The City Auditor is at it again, finding ways to save San Jose money while cutting back services only minimally. This week’s target is the SJPD, which has already suffered from severe budget cuts.

City Councilwoman Rose Herrera didn’t mince her words. “If we were the private sector we would be asking for resignations,” she said about Team San Jose, which runs the McEnery Convention Center and Visitors Bureau.

Councilman Sam Liccardo reported that when compared with six other similar-sized California cities, San Jose comes in dead last in the number of conventions booked. Meanwhile, special events like the Genghis Khan exhibition not only end up losing money—they have to be bailed out by the city. Yet shortly after CEO Dan Fenton informed the city that Team San Jose was $950,000 over budget, he went and gave bonuses to himself and his staff

Pat Dando announced that she will be leaving the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce after a six-year stint as head of the local group. “It’s time for a new chapter for me, personally and professionally,” she explained. She added that she wanted to wait until the elections were over before announcing her decision.

Mayor Chuck Reed has nominated Madison Nguyen to be vice mayor, three weeks after she won a surprisingly close race to hold onto her District 7 council seat. The move seems to confirm a shift of loyalties for Nguyen, a onetime ally of the South Bay Labor Council. She was the swing vote in the council’s decision to put Measures V and W on the ballot—a move SBLC vehemently opposed.

By Greg Larson

It appears that Democrats won all nine statewide races and retain significant majorities in the California legislative and congressional delegations. But as evidenced below, the statewide ballot measures paint a completely different picture, one that suggests the Democratic Party itself is increasingly out of touch with the policy preferences of the California electorate.

The warrant issued for the Oct. 14 raid on the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) reveals that investigators believe Xavier Campos had first-hand knowledge of the diversion of employee pension funds at the group’s embattled charter high schools.

Mayor Chuck Reed came out swinging this afternoon, calling for an end to the “lying, cheating and lawbreaking” by public employee unions who oppose Measures V and W.

At a press conference held this afternoon at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters in downtown San Jose, Reed denounced the police and firefighters unions’ controversial campaign to dissuade citizens from voting yes on the measures.