Answering fans’ questions at an online town hall for the All-Star game, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig made a rare comment regarding the Oakland A’s potential relocation to San Jose. He was asked what is the latest news on San Jose becoming the new home for the A’s. At face value, Selig used 90 words to say absolutely nothing. But a closer inspection of his answer tells the whole story.

Unfortunately, there is more evidence that the “audacity of hope” is a bust and “fierce urgency of now” is just rhetorical flourish without meaning. I say that as one of the millions who stood on the U.S. Capitol lawn proudly cheering with teary eyes at the inauguration of our 44th President. The Obama administration has proposed a 20 percent reduction in its fiscal 2012 budget for career and technical education. Just as we were beginning to make significant headway in raising the stature of vocation education for the 21st Century we cut the proverbial legs out from underneath the effort.

At the June 21 Council meeting, a city employee (who was about to be laid off) spoke during the open forum section of the meeting. “Thank you Mayor and Council. My name Michael Medlin.

On Wednesday, the city sent a draft of proposed ballot measures addressing pension reform to each public employee union. Only two of those letters went to union groups that have agreed to set times to continue negotiations: the police and firefighters, which recently joined together in negotiations, and the unions representing architects and engineers (AEA), mid-level managers (CAMP) and maintenance supervisors (AMSP).

On June 26, in the “Internal Affairs” column, the Mercury News reported on the San Jose City Councils’ decision to approve the transfer of the old city hall property site to Santa Clara County. Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio was the only member to vote No.  He said, “‘The old City Hall could have been sold to benefit the general fund.’”

Several weeks prior to the council vote, and after having learned that the City of San Jose was planning to eliminate a $106,000 subsidy to the Health Trust’s Meals On Wheels Program for needy seniors, I sent a letter to the Merc in an effort to bring attention to the fact that the money could easily be found if the city would simply re-examine the land swap deal with the County of Santa Clara.

Editor’s Note: Police union president George Beattie wrote an op-ed blaming city officials for police layoffs. City Manager Debra Figone responded by sending a memo to the mayor and city council detailing why layoffs occurred and San Jose passed on a federal police grant that would have saved jobs. Beattie has now provided San Jose Inside with a response to Figone’s memo.

An analysis of the Santa Clara County Office of Education Bullying task force found a lack of awareness, lack of commitment, and lack of skills to respond, among a long list of local weaknesses. I fervently believe we can and must do better. A country that treasures its guiding documents called the Charters of Freedom must work to ensure every child is free to learn without harassment and intimidation.

Campaigning against Measures V&W last November, police union leader George Beattie issued numerous thinly-veiled warnings: If San Jose voters allowed the city to renegotiate contracts with cops and firefighters, he said, people might die. That strategy failed—V&W passed with an almost 80 percent majority—but Beattie is sticking to his guns.

Back in July 1776, the Continental Congress voted to declare independence from England and adopt the Declaration of Independence. However, there were several votes before the final vote that were not unanimous as some colonies voted no or chose to abstain. Voting is an opportunity not everyone across the globe is afforded. We know that in close elections every vote counts. We also know that in our respective legislative bodies (at different levels of government) that each vote casted by an elected official has a magnified impact.

City manager Debra Figone didn’t let the police get the last word of the fiscal year regarding contentious labor negotiations and first layoffs of officers for the first time in the city’s history. On Thursday, she sent a memo to the mayor and city council countering an op-ed written by Police Officers Association president George Beattie, which blamed city officials for the layoffs of 70 officers.

Councilmember Ash Kalra won’t serve any jail time after pleading guilty today to misdemeanor DUI, but he will take part in a jail work-detail program for five days, pay $2,000 in fines, receive alcohol counseling for 90 days and be put on probation for three years.

Running a deficit for the 10th straight year, San Jose was forced to cut $115 million through a mix of program cuts, layoffs and salary and benefit reductions. It’s no surprise then that public employee morale, according to a just-released survey, has dropped dramatically compared to pre-recession survey in 2006.

It’s the final day of the fiscal year, which means many people who work for the county and city will be out of a job starting tomorrow. It also means lawsuits are on the way.

District 8 Councilmember Rose Herrera, whose seat comes up for renewal in 2012, has suddenly gotten popular with the union leaders representing the city’s public employees. Her sudden popularity might be due to the fact that Herrera could be fighting for her political life in next year’s election.

More than a few eyebrows lifted last week when Councilmember Sam Liccardo proposed raising the city’s sales tax to help fund police and firefighter jobs. With 73 officers expected to lose their jobs on July 1, according to police union VP Jim Unland, Liccardo showed the kind of political savvy that was conspicuously absent this spring, when he voted against approving union concessions because he said they didn’t go far enough

A bill authored by Nora Campos, a former San Jose city councilmember who is now in her first term in the State Assembly, would give unions far more power in their dealings with top city and county officials. It would even allow them to determine elected officials pay in some cities.