Pete Constant’s withdrawal from the San Jose mayor’s race sent shockwaves through a desperate California Republican Party. Trying to carve out a niche for itself in the Silicon Valley, Constant was seen as the best hope for the party to make an inroad into San Jose. Now one lucky Democratic candidate could gain considerable support.

The City Parks Alliance website has two very interesting video from two very different mayors: Betsy Price, a Republican from Ft. Worth, Texas, and Michael B. Hancock, a Democrat from Denver. These two mayors co-chair the newly formed group Mayors for Parks. This is a significant development, because the mayor of a city can make a huge difference in the success of developing, constructing and maintaining great parks and trails systems.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education and its Board of Education have been working to address education inequality through a myriad of measures, including the authorization of high quality charter schools. For this reason, I am troubled and angry about what happened at a seven-hour meeting last week.

The beginning of the New Year is a time for resolutions and “Top Ten” wishlists. This is my Bill Wilson Center wish list for addressing some of the major issues around homelessness for our youth.

In 1959, Mildred Overfelt, daughter of these San Jose farmers, wanted to preserve the farm in one piece as a garden park in memory of her parents. She made a donation of this property to the city of San Jose with the proviso that it be a public park. In 1971, a neighborhood couple created a six-acre garden within Overfelt Gardens Park. The result is one of the most beautiful and peaceful settings in all of San Jose.

It’s sad to see some of the data on how poor and minority children perform in school in San Jose and the greater Silicon Valley, says Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo. The results of longitudinal student test data have long indicated a sizeable achievement gap—a gap that threatens our region’s long-term economic viability. We can and must do better, especially in a district like Morgan Hill Unified.

The public has a short memory regarding scandals, but there are three transgressions voters will never forgive. One of them is intentionally increasing traffic.

I first heard of KaBOOM! a few years ago, when I began the San Jose Parks Foundation. The nonprofit works to ensure kids get the play they need to become healthy and successful adults. KaBOOM! elevates the conversation about the importance of play in children’s lives, while also creating great spaces. And with the nonprofit’s help, a new project should be coming to San Jose.

Santa Clara County Board of Education trustee Joseph DiSalvo looks at the top educational initiatives gaining traction in 2014 that could pave the way to increased economic development, job growth, less crime and a burgeoning middle class.

By all accounts, 2013 was a banner year for the solar industry in the halls of government and the court of public opinion. Across the country, big utilities launched attacks on policies like net metering to stifle innovation and maintain the profit margins that clean solar energy threatens to undermine. And in the face of multimillion-dollar lobbyist brigades, the solar industry grew up and learned to fight back.

The last game at Candlestick Park had all the elements for an appropriate send-off for the now hallowed ground, soon to become a mixed-use housing and retail project. Rich Robinson reflects on how the last game showcased the good, the bad and the ugly of what Candlestick represented for the last 55 years.

San Jose Inside takes a look at some of the biggest stories to come in the year ahead.

The year 2013 will be remembered for its political turmoil, local and nationwide. A former county supervisor went to jail and the spotlight subsequently landed on his political buddy, a San Jose councilman. The Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to get married, and the president lied to the nation about domestic spying. San Jose Inside runs down the list of stories that caught our attention this year.

San Jose Inside wishes readers a Happy Holidays. We will return on Friday, Dec. 27.—Editor

Stories on the plight of the homeless during the recent cold weather have focused on adults living in encampments. But in San Jose there is another homeless population that rarely gets any attention:  homeless college students. CNN Money wrote about a homeless college student who was turned out of her Midwest school during winter break. Where do homeless students living in local college dorms go during winter break?

It’s been nearly four years since I fought on the front lines of the health care reform battle, eventually resulting in the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). But that feels like a lifetime ago, as the landmark policy now serves as a punchline. Not long from now, though, the joke will be on the critics.