Mayor Chuck Reed has sent a blunt letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig asking for a conversation regarding a prospective A’s move to San Jose. The letter expresses frustration with the years of delays, reveals that there is not currently direct high level communication between the city and Major League Baseball and mentions the “L” word: litigation.

Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) wants to turn an old insane asylum into a north San Jose high school serving up to 2,800 students. Other items going before the Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday include an update on banning pesky sidewalk bicyclers and support for state legislation that would free the city to spend housing revenue how it chooses.

The Santa Clara County Board of Education is moving quickly to find a replacement for the seat lost by the resignation of Area 6 Trustee Darcie Green, who stepped down last month after the District Attorney’s offie called into question the legality of her appointment. The school board on Wednesday will consider a timeline and form an ad hoc oversight committee to fill the vacancy. Other items on the Board agenda include efforts to prevent teen suicide and a master plan for the coming influx of charter schools.

San Jose-based branding firm Liquid Agency has been tapped to update the Vatican’s marketing strategy. Rome officials are looking to the Silicon Valley agency to provide a contemporary and technology-friendly identity for the Church’s global outreach efforts. The papal rebranding will replace the current identity, which has been used since 1929, when Pope Pius IX signed the Lateran Treaty, creating the newly independent Vatican City. Liquid, located in downtown San Jose’s SoFA district, is expected to produce a more iconic, streamlined look that will better enable the Church to hold its own against competing theologies.

On March 24, Metro/San Jose Inside reported that Santa Clara Family Health Foundation (SCFHF) executive board member and officer Cindy Chavez participated in a board decision to provide $250,000 in funding to the Yes on A committee, on which she and Kathleen King—CEO of SCFHF—constituted a majority of the three-member committee. The committee subsequently turned over a large portion of the funds to the South Bay Labor Council Issues PAC and Democratic Central Committee’s PAC. Because of Chavez’s obvious conflicts of interest—she headed up the SBLC at the time—and the importance of a countywide sales tax increase, which will be paid by all residents, Metro/San Jose Inside felt this was a matter of public interest.

On Friday, nine nonprofit executives wrote a letter to express their thoughts on recent articles. They worry that investigative reporting could make nonprofits “the target of unfounded accusations and public reproach.” Because we feel this is a useful debate to have, and because we want to give differing points of view the proper attention they deserve, we are running below the letter in full, in addition to its appearance in the comments section where it was submitted. —Editor

Nearly every civic official in San Jose agrees that promoting a stronger local economy is our highest priority. Regardless of our political perspectives, we all understand that supporting vibrant small businesses and high-wage jobs are key to putting our friends and neighbors back to work. We can revitalize our economy one street—and one vacant storefront—at a time. The small business incentive package currently pending before the City Council is important. The idea is simple—where landlords of long-vacant, street-facing parcels are willing to reduce their asking lease rates, City Hall should waive permit fees for new businesses seeking to get up and running.

Scott Knies hopes the artist renderings of a Hampton Inn planned for a prime slice of land in downtown San Jose are just placeholders until developers come up with a real design. The executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association saw drawings of the six-story hotel proposed for the corner of Highway 87 and Santa Clara Street for the first time earlier this week. His reaction to the design, to paraphrase: Dear, god, no.

Parts of City Hall, left a bit empty after layoffs and the Redevelopment Agency’s closure, may soon be open to anyone looking to lease a slice of the swanky 18-story downtown centerpiece. Proceeds from the market-rate rents will go right to the city’s general fund, according to a memo going before the Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday. Other items include the Pete Constant-Johnny Khamis memo asking the city to investigate how public funds were used to fund a county sales tax measure carried out by organized labor.

The dissolution of redevelopment agencies and state budget cuts to municipal housing funds have made it tougher for San Jose to meet its goal of building more affordable homes in recent years, according to an annual housing report going before the City Council on Tuesday. Other items on the council agenda include an incentives package for Samsung, a commendation for a police officer who never clocks off and a North San Jose cemetery that is running out of space.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider granting a fair chunk of change to a nonprofit trying to set itself up as a small business support center. This comes on the heels of greater scrutiny regarding public funds going to entities that are not required to disclose their financial dealings. Also on Tuesday’s agenda, the Board of Supervisors will consider supporting a change to the state Constitution that would lower the percentage of votes needed to raise local taxes.

While on its executive committee, prospective county supervisor candidate Cindy Chavez helped move hundreds of thousands of dollars out of a local health nonprofit, according to copies of board minutes obtained by San Jose Inside. At a pivotal meeting last June, Chavez voted to approve a budget that included a line item in which one of her employers, Working Partnerships USA, had a financial interest—and to fund a political campaign that was largely run by her other employer, the South Bay Labor Council. The two transactions totaled $400,000, more than a quarter of the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation’s budget.

When Gov. Jerry Brown ordered in 2011 the dissolution of California’s 400-plus redevelopment agencies (RDAs), San Jose was forced to halt the kind of subsidized development that built much of downtown over the past two decades. Now the city might have to work out a new deal on RDA land it has been holding for a potential baseball stadium in the hope that the Oakland A’s can relocate to San Jose. But as the legal fight between the state and municipalities continues, other ideas for tax-increment financing (TIF) districts are emerging.

Two members of the San Jose City Council are calling for an investigation into whether city funds were illegally used in local campaigns. Councilmembers Pete Constant and Johnny Khamis are asking the city manager and city attorney to “investigate whether any city funds that were provided to either Santa Clara Family Health Foundation or VMC Foundation were used to fund any campaign activities in any manner,” according to a memo released Thursday. The memo notes that the city has given the foundations more than $6 million in the last three years.

San Jose’s Elections Commission received complaints last year about political candidates exchanging coffee for signatures on a nomination petition, raising money after the election to pay off campaign debt and mingling primary and general election funds. In response to some of these complaints, the city wants to update its campaign and ethics provisions, Title 12. A public meeting will be held March 28 at City Hall.

Someone needs to clue in the folks in charge of the South Santa Clara Valley Memorial District about the Brown Act. And its legal obligations to veterans. And basic bookkeeping. And the Internet. This and other items go before the Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday.

Santa Clara County Board of Education member Darcie Green says she is resigning from the board “to avoid a long, messy legal battle to defend my seat.” Green was appointed to the board Oct. 17 of last year to fill a vacancy in Board Trustee Area 6, which was created by the resignation of Craig Mann. New district lines were drawn following Mann’s reelection in 2010. In making the appointment, the County Board relied on its legal counsel’s opinion, which turned out to be a mistake.