Omar Torres, executive director of the local nonprofit Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM), joins San Jose Inside as a new columnist. In addition to writing about his work as a community organizer, Torres, who is an elected member of the Democratic Central Committee, will break down how politics work behind the scenes in San Jose and Santa Clara County.

Rich Robinson looks back the good, the bad and the ugly of Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans. While the game didn’t go as hoped for San Francisco 49ers fans, the ambience and the food didn’t disappoint. But one local historical attraction glazes over the most shameful period in our nation’s history.

San Jose Parks Foundation, as I mentioned in my first column, was born out of an enlightened look into the future. Funding for parks and trails has been cut to the bone and sometimes worse. Urban and suburban parks are essential economic factors in every municipality. They often are invisible in the economic picture that most of us have.

A new study from the Brookings Institution places the metro area of San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara as No. 1 in patent filings per capita in America. Certainly, the distinction is reflected in the fabric of our economy and the high price of housing. It would follow somewhat logically that this honor must also demonstrate the effectiveness and innovation in our public schools, especially in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. Unfortunately, this is not the case in most schools, districts and classrooms in Silicon Valley.

The Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force held its fifth annual community summit Saturday, and more than a hundred San Jose residents were in attendance. For me, much of the information presented at the meeting served as an unfortunate reminder of the havoc gangs create in our communities.

A curious coupling of councilmembers issued a 4:59pm memo last Friday recommending the City Council adopt what sounds at first like a reasonable idea. Unfortunately, the path to bad policy is often paved with reasonable ideas.

Rich Robinson examines the organizational structure and attitude of his beloved San Francisco 49ers, just days before they take on the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. Robinson will be in New Orleans for the game.

Since this is my first column for San Jose Inside, I’ll begin by framing my current endeavor, the San Jose Parks Foundation. Some of you may know of my past, as San Jose Rep Founder, San Jose Arts Roundtable Co-Founder and the After School All-Stars Founding Executive Director.

The audience at the SF Commonwealth Club, in the sold out Herbst Theater, stood for a sustained ovation Monday in honor of Sonia Sotomayor. The Supreme Court Associate Justice is traveling across the country to discuss her new book, My Beloved World. Her inspiring talk touched on the importance of her schools, and it made me think of how Rocketship and other charter schools are impacting the local educational landscape.

When it comes the garbage services, residents have two simple requests: 1. Pick up the garbage every week in a reliable manner; 2. Do it in the most cost-effective way possible. Easy enough, right? Well, no. Potentially higher costs for garbage services were the topic under discussion at the last City Council meeting.

Voters love term limits for politicians, but they shouldn’t. The quaint notion that public service should be held only for utilitarian purposes for a short period of time, and that these limits create better government, is misguided and fundamentally flawed. The proof can be seen locally in the current mire that represents our public policy.

The city recently acknowledged that it was missing thousands of emergency response times when calculating how long it takes first responders from the San Jose Fire Department to arrive on scene. Robert Sapien, president of San Jose’s firefighters union, explains in an op-ed why emergency response times matter not only in life and death situations, but also when calculating the city’s budget.—Editor

My professional life has been filled with many ups and many downs. One big down moment came in a Jan. 9 email from District Attorney Jeff Rosen to Superintendent De La Torre, with a “cc” to the SCCOE Board of Education. In this email, Rosen said he had received a complaint that Darcie Green’s recent Board appointment was unlawful.

Washignton D.C. came to a halt today, but not because of the usual partisan gridlock. Along with almost every government worker in the nation getting the day off for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, President Barack Obama was also confirmed for his second term in the Oval Office. Enjoy the rest of the holiday and we’ll return Tuesday.—Editor

Last week, I attended the meeting of the Redevelopment Agency Successor Oversight Board for the City of Santa Clara. I urged the group to reject the California Finance Department’s move to “clawback” $1.25 million from Bill Wilson Center’s Peacock Commons housing project.

The state Senate race last year between Jim Beall and Joe Coto split local Democrats’ allegiances. In the end, Beall won easily. But last week, as Democrats held caucuses across the state to elect delegates, Beall faced off with up-and-comer Evan Low.