Mitchell Colbert lifted a copy of his student transcripts above his head. With his free hand, he raised a lighter. “During the Vietnam War, soldiers would burn their draft cards to protest the war,” the senior San Jose State University political science major shouted into the microphone. “Well, I have for you today a copy of my transcript.”

There’s bad news for the City Council again. The deficit is up 16 percent and now stands at $116.2 million. The problem, says City Manager Debra Figones, is employee pension costs, and especially the pension costs for retired policemen and firemen. While they were expected to grow by $38 million during the next fiscal year, the estimate has been adjusted and now stands at $53 million. Exacerbating the problem is reduced revenue from business tax receipts, which continues to drop.

When Peter Friess came to the Tech Museum in 2006, he brought with him a vision of transforming it into a world class institution with “blockbuster” traveling exhibits and constantly updated permanent exhibits. He believed that this would stop the museum’s sharp decline from 1999 to 2005, when revenue dropped 50 percent and attendance declined from 809,000 visitors to just 391,000.

SJI’s weekly Rants & Raves is a forum where the site’s regulars and visitors set the agenda. Any topic is fair game. What’s on your mind?

How far do citizens’ rights to assemble freely extend? Citing an increasing gang presence in the city’s streets, Councilmember Nora Campos says it may be too far. The ACLU thinks differently.

Is San Jose making a play for the valley’s other large police organization? Already in control of the SJPD, San Jose’s political leadership appears to be aligned with an effort to challenge Sheriff Laurie Smith’s re-election. Mayor Chuck Reed’s campaign strategy chief, Victor Ajlouny, has been working with retired police Capt. Richard Calderon to take on the three-term incumbent. Former Deputy Sheriff’s Association president Jose Salcido, a Smith adversary, SJPOA ally and one-time candidate for sheriff is now Reed’s law enforcement adviser.

Mayors of California’s ten largest cities met with the CEOs of some of the state’s ten largest companies at San Jose’s Morton’s Steakhouse last night for more than just an evening of rare beef and wine. They are all fed up with how the state is operating, and decided to work together to fight for real changes

It’s SJI’s open forum, where comments on any topic are welcome. What’s on your mind?

Dr. Charles Weis, the county’s superintendent of schools, is shortening the leash on the East Side Union High School District following a damning report that was released last month. Weis attended the board’s meeting last night and grilled the members, demanding that they hire an internal auditor immediately—before he pulls their power over their own $200-million-plus budget.

In a major reversal of a controversial decision, Dan Fenton of Team San Jose, the group that operates the San Jose Convention Center, has backed down from an earlier decision granting Teamsters Local 287 exclusive rights to set up trade shows at the Convention Center.

Past San Jose mayors have used the annual State of the City speech to announce big projects or initiatives.  Commandeering a broke city, however, limits Chuck Reed to talking about already dry cement like the swoopy new airport terminal or trumpeting minor capital spending projects, such as fixing the convention center’s leaky roof or reopening the Happy Hollow Zoo with a renovated Guinea Pig Island.  When it comes to mayoral speeches in San Jose, no detail is too small.

Full text of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s 2010 State of the City Address, delivered February 18, 2010 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

Reporter Jessica Fromm is at the San Jose 2010 Community Breakfast, covering Mayor Chuck Reed’s State of the City Address. Inside: A live blog form the event.

Last week the Council tackled two agenda items related to parks. One was to apply for a state grant. There is $184 million up for grabs for the entire state of California to be spent on city parks. California has 36 million people and San Jose has one million. If San Jose were to get 1/36th of those state funds, that would be $5 million. The other item was the city postponing the opening of 11 parks city- wide because there is no money to fund operations and maintenance.

On SJI’s weekly open forum, comments on any topic are welcome. What’s on your mind?

Assembly Member Joe Coto has withdrawn his request for the state legislature to audit the San Jose Police Department for its use-of-force practices.

The news arrived in the form of a dear-colleagues email that was sent out yesterday by Roxanne Miller, the city’s envoy to the state legislature:

GOOD NEWS. .. I’ve just been advised by staff to members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that Assembly Member Coto this morning has withdrawn his request for the JLAC to audit San Jose’s Police Department’s use of force. The item will be removed from the February 17 Agenda of JLAC. Note: A request for audit could be renewed later this year as there will be two other meetings of the JLAC to consider audit requests in May/June or in August.