There’s a lot of jockeying going on over who will succeed local trade union boss Neil Struthers, but reports of his departure to Sacramento may be premature. In October, the state Building and Construction Trades Council will meet in Santa Monica and vote in a successor to its chief of 20 years, Robert Balgenorth. The two presumed candidates for the position: Struthers, who’s married to Assemblymember Nora Campos, and Robbie Hunter of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties chapter.

As a councilmember, I interact with many different people on a regular basis and have a chance to observe the different stages of life. One day I might meet a newly engaged couple and, behold, they are married with kids who attend the local elementary school. Or it could be a young family and the next thing I know I am shaking their son or daughter’s hand at a high school graduation ceremony.

Silicon Valley is home to tech behemoths such as Google, Adobe, Facebook, and HP. Being one of the biggest business hubs in the world, Silicon Valley has also become a fundraising battleground for President Obama and his likely opponent in November, Mitt Romney.

The public officials arguing against High Speed Rail was disappointing. They utilized the false premises of opponents, yet they knew the real consequences of not approving the first phase of the project. Their pandering to curry political favor with the NIMBY crowd was unseemly.  Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and the project is moving forward.

InnVision and Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley recently announced that they are merging with similar organizations from other parts of the Bay Area. It is great to see nonprofits with similar missions merging to form stronger entities. Both had executives who were willing to look at the big picture, ensuring their respective nonprofits were able to continue serving the community. It makes sense for more nonprofits to seek opportunities to combine forces, especially when the CEO is leaving the organization.

UPDATE: When will Casino M8trix open? Maybe as soon as July 20. City officials say they are cautiously optimistic Police Chief Chris Moore will grant the casino its necessary permits at a hearing July 19, because the card room owners have relented and agreed to open the first floor only while continuing negotiations on how top floor gaming will be managed. But casino owner Eric Swallow says the city never contacted him about such an arrangement.

A U.S. patent office will open in San Jose. This is the result of diverse political interests uniting in a shared goal. It is a victory for San Jose and the region, and it will help Silicon Valley businesses, which are the heart of our nation’s economic engine. But considering California accounts for 25 percent of all new patents—with half of those coming from Silicon Valley—why wouldn’t San Jose be chosen? Let’s do the political math.

Rural/Metro took over Santa Clara County’s ambulance contract last July, and by most accounts the company has done a good job. The company submitted a low bid to replace American Medical Response, and county Supervisors George Shirakawa, Mike Wasserman and Dave Cortese championed Rural/Metro as a low-cost yet responsible replacement. Aside from a rough transition in the first month on the job, response times have been above the required threshold in most cases. However, what isn’t found in the monthly reports that Rural/Metro is required to submit to the county is the number of patient records the company lost in its first two months on the job.

U.S. Reps Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda, as well as a myriad of political and civic leaders, must be congratulated on securing the regional site for one of four patent offices in the country. This is a huge win for Silicon Valley. However, the accomplishment will be less meaningful if we don’t create a public education system that represents the ideals of the area and ranks first in the nation.

This weekend the Mercury News published an excellent story that exposed abuses by Santa Clara County court-appointed officials who take advantage of elderly and incapacitated adults whose finances have been placed under control of the county. Investigative reporter Karen de Sá found that some court-appointed personal and estate managers charge expensive and questionable fees, and judges often sign off with little scrutiny. These finance managers basically drew down their clients’ accounts until little to no money was left in the trust funds and their clients were forced to depend on government assistance. In one case, a Belmont dementia patient was charged $1,062 to help celebrate her birthday.

Do you remember the childhood story about a Troll under a bridge who threatens to block passage and eat the three Billy Goats Gruff? Well, this is similar to the county of Santa Clara and the city of San Jose when it comes to Redevelopment Agency money.

Almost half a million assessment notices went out to Santa Clara County property owners today, and following three years of minimal or negative growth in assessed property values, the county reports its first solid increase since 2008. Overall, total net assessed value of all real business and personal property values increased by 3.25 percent to $308.8 billion.

By now everyone knows that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). Some of the conversation has centered on why the reform was upheld, but more so the story has been advanced to focus on what this all means for the future of the country as well as President Obama’s re-election chances.

Most voters are not stupid. However, they are overwhelmed by their own lives, often uneducated on public issues and misinformed by an increasingly biased and malevolent media. Hence, the substance that formed Winston Churchill’s opinion: “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”

We tried to do a Q&A with Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone back in late March. That didn’t happen, but it wasn’t Stone’s fault—there weren’t enough questions at the time. But here we are, three months later, and we’ve got the tax man’s answers to a couple submitted questions, relayed in a telephone conversation, as well as his thoughts on the fight between the county and Redevelopment Agencies, the odds the Oakland A’s will relocate to San Jose and how he views the local housing market five years after the subprime mortgage crisis.

Officials for Santa Clara County went back on the offensive regarding Redevelopment Agency funds this past week, deciding to direct $30 million in property taxes to schools rather than pay back a loan from the San Francisco 49ers.