Sitting at a café table outside Original Joe’s in downtown San Jose, Forrest Williams unzips his binder and starts flipping through the pages within, searching for a document. He finds what he is looking for: a slightly wrinkled, stapled packet of paper with a large amount of handwriting in the margins. This packet contains a long list of city council members, county supervisors, assembly members, senators and water board members—everyone the former San Jose City Councilman has ever worked with in his two decades as an elected official.

It’s the Oct. 3 edition of SJI’s Rants & Raves, an open forum where you set the agenda. It’s been a busy week in our city, state, nation and world. What’s on your mind?

It’s San Jose Inside’s weekly open forum, where thoughts on any topic are welcome. What’s on your mind?

It’s Saturday, Sept. 19, and this is SJI’s open forum—the last of the summer of ‘09. What’s on your mind?

The San Jose City Council continued its overwhelming support of bringing major league baseball to San Jose at Tuesday’s council meeting, voting unanimously to approve the findings of an economic impact report on the potential ballpark.

Deputy DA Jeff Rosen (left), prosecuted murder defendant Paul Garcia, in handcuffs (right). Photo: Los Gatos Observer

Deputy DA Jeff Rosen and Assistant DA Rolanda Pierre-Dixon appear to be testing the agua to run against District Attorney Dolores Carr. And Rosen, according the the county registrar’s office, just pulled papers of intention to run and organize a committee. The Mercury News, which has been riding Carr’s derriere ever since she defeated Karen Sinunu, appears to be goading Rosen into the race. This wasn’t always the case. The Mercury included Rosen as one of its poster boys for prosecutorial misconduct in its “Tainted Trials” series. The daily cited an appellate court decision finding that Rosen ignored a judge’s orders when cross-examining a defendant.

It’s SJI’s weekly open forum, where thoughts and opinions on any topic are welcome. What’s on your mind?

San Jose Inside has confirmed that Club Wet in Downtown San Jose’s SoFA District has had its entertainment permit suspended. Police Chief Robert Davis has power to shut a club under San Jose’s emergency ordinance. A four minute video clip of a dance floor brawl at Wet was posted to YouTube this week.  Update: Wet was served late Friday. Club officials say the timing gave them no opportunity to challenge the action in court. The club will be open and be able to serve alcohol and play music, just won’t have live entertainment.

Already reeling from from the fallout from posted YouTube videos of a dance floor rumble, downtown San Jose’s beleaguered entertainment community was thrown another curve this week with the surprise reassignment of Lt. Larry McGrady to the East Side’s Foothill Division. McGrady had promoted communication and improved relations between the San Jose Police Department and Entertainment Zone operators since being appointed to oversee the district in December 2008.

This is the Sept. 5-6 edition of San Jose Inside’s open forum, where users generate the topics of discussion. What’s on your mind?

The San Jose City Council signed off Tuesday on a Grand Jury Report detailing how two municipal golf courses have ended up in a $1.9 million sand trap. Los Lagos and Rancho del Pueblo, two of the three public courses owned by the City of San Jose, have been draining $800,000 per year out of the General Fund because of extensive debt.

It’s San Jose Inside’s weekend-long open forum, where any comment on any topic is welcome. What’s on your mind?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi covered a lot of territory in a brief visit to the San Jose Rotary’s weekly lunch meeting today—from the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy to the empowerment of young women (the subject of her book, “Know Your Power,” which she signed at the event). But she clearly wanted the audience to take home one message: “We must have health care reform.”

The San Jose city council voted to begin the process of establishing a Clean Tech Demonstration Center at yesterday’s city council meeting, and it might not cost the city much money at all. The council decided to start this process by adopting a resolution authorizing the city manager to apply for federal assistance. Sources would include up to $4 million from the U.S Department of Commerce and up to $5 million from the U.S Department of Energy.

This is SJI’s weekly open forum, where you set the agenda. What’s on your mind?

“We are sorry to say the city is forcing us to move. For now we will be open by appointment only.” So reads a small sign taped to the locked front door of Moto Amore in downtown San Jose. The small scooter sales and service shop, located in the old Tenth Street Pharmacy building, officially started its move to Santa Clara last Monday, following months of what owner John Bettencourt says has been an uphill struggle dealing with San Jose’s code enforcement bureaucracy.

“Have you ever heard that the city is not friendly to downtown small business? Well, every word of it is true,” says Bettencourt, 39. “It’s one thing to say you need a permit, but it’s another thing to make it impossible to get one.”