Despite an uptick in crime and a top brass changing of the guard, fewer people logged complaints against the San Jose Police Department in 2012 compared to previous years. There was a 7-percent drop in citizen complaints last year, according to an annual report by the Independent Police Auditor’s office, which is on the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Other items on the agenda include additional expenses for the Environmental Innovation Center project.

Once known as the “mecca for vintage bike enthusiasts,” the historic Faber’s Cyclery building is no more. The 129-year-old building on South First Street was the site of a three-alarm fire Thursday night, leaving the structure with heavy damage and a slight lean to one side. One writer predicted this would happen almost five years ago to the day.

Last Saturday, a modest group of runners, bicyclists and community leaders gathered on a trail near San Jose’s airport for a quietly auspicious occasion—the completion of the Guadalupe River Trail from San Jose to Alviso.

San Jose’s top casino cop has had enough. In his first interview since Casino M8trix filed lawsuits in February against the city of San Jose, Richard Teng, the San Jose Police Department’s gaming administrator, called accusations against him “a political nightmare.” There is history in this dispute.

Enough people have complained to the city about drop-off containers for used clothing, mostly in grocery story parking lots, as being magnets for graffiti and trash, that San Jose’s Planning Commission agreed earlier this year to do something. But some people suspect this is part of a larger strategy by Goodwill Industries, Inc. to put up a little more red tape for companies that own the scattered-about donation boxes. A proposed ordinance is criticized in a letter submitted to the public record for Wednesday’s Rules and Open Government Committee.

City officials admit that San Jose’s IT department tails behind other Silicon Valley municipalities, and to change that they want a new department head. In questions geared toward candidates applying for the role of chief information officer, the City Council asks how the applicants plan to make San Jose more competitive and how to improve data access to the public. Other items on Tuesday’s San Jose City Council agenda include a $10 million airport taxiway proposal, a resolution supporting a ban of flavored tobacco sales in San Jose and a possible bump in fees for developers.

Last month, I wrote about West San Carlos Street as one of the major boulevards in San Jose. West San Carlos is the strategic link between our city’s downtown and the Santana Row/Valley Fair area. A major parcel on West San Carlos is the site of the former Fiesta Lanes bowling alley and retail/auto center. The City Council voted this month to remove the final hurdle in the transformation of this strategic parcel by funding the construction of a housing complex that would be exempt from property tax. The vote was 10-1 in favor of approval, with my vote as the only one against this proposal.

The number of sexual abuse cases involving kids behind bars nearly doubled last year when compared to 2011. The disturbing increase occurred in spite of declining populations at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall and William F. James Ranch. A report on sexual assaults involving incarcerated youth will go before the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Also on the agenda are a number of health and public safety contracts up for renewal.

Unlike a lot of activists, I’m not what you’d call a single-issue voter. Education, health care, immigration, land use, transportation—I’m passionate about all of them. But if there’s one overarching issue for me, it’s our environment and how we as a civilization deal with the now undeniable impacts of climate change. Whether or not you believe human industry is responsible for melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, superstorms, draught, and famine, you have to admit that the future looks bleak for our species if we don’t do something to stop the regression.

Contemporary American cities are at a defining moment in many ways. Traditional, reliable sources of revenue have been reduced. Reductions in federal and state spending have added to the burden by cutting or removing direct funding for city programs. But I am optimistic about the future of San Jose’s parks system, and there are some very specific reasons why.

Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio proposes pushing back the City Council’s start times to 4:30pm, at least, while still keeping meetings on Tuesdays. His plan goes before the Rules and Open Government Committee today. Other items include a review of the city auditor’s contract and an odd letter from City Hall gadfly David Wall about Councilman Pete Constant.

After a lengthy delay in opening last year, owners of Casino M8trix sued the city of San Jose, citing “a long history of unlawful, harassing and malicious conduct” by city gaming administrator Richard Teng. Teng rejected any conflict-of-interest claims in sworn testimony last December. Now, newly filed documents obtained by San Jose Inside show that the city of San Jose’s top casino watchdog repeatedly filed false statements over the course of a decade, while under penalty of perjury.

The economic viability of San Jose’ airport (SJC) is in a precarious position. Bond payments are now due for the $1.7 billion dollar airport expansion, and, ultimately, the payment could fall to the general fund if airport revenue cannot cover what is owed. In order to avoid a bailout by tapping into the general fund, it is important to run the airport in the black. There are two ways to do this: either increase revenue or reduce expenses.

The property that’s home to the San Jose Mercury News printing plant and newsroom will soon be up for sale.

Flights louder than 89 decibels can’t fly in and out of San Jose from 11:30pm to 6:30am without violating current airport rules. Airlines risk a $2,500 fine and, if a tenant at Norman Mineta San Jose International Airport, they could face eviction if found in repeated violation. The whole curfew conversation came up last week, when downtown Councilman Sam Liccardo asked to delay a City Council vote on a proposed $82 million addition to the airport. Signature Flight Support, whose proposal involves a massive new facility that will house Google’s executive jet fleet, doesn’t think it’s fair for the lease language to allow the city to evict the company over a single curfew violation.

McDonald’s doesn’t make you fat or cause ridiculous amounts of traffic, Pete Constant want people to know. Constant and fellow councilman Xavier Campos signed a memo Friday arguing that a proposed McDonald’s in Constant’s district should be approved on appeal.