The planning commission is advising the City Council to take a less rigid approach in capping medical marijuana collectives. Included in recommendations voted on in July, the planning commission suggests a cap of 25 instead of the council’s preferred number of 10. As of this spring, there were more than 100 medical marijuana collectives operating in San Jose.

Polling done in July indicates voters aren’t especially interested in raising taxes until the city negotiates true pension reform, which is why the City Council decided on Tuesday to delay any action on revenue ballot measures.

Practically everyone in the San Jose political community recently received an email asking for financial assistance from a faraway land—but it didn’t come from a Nigerian prince. Instead, it came from a scammer posing as local political consultant and aspiring lawyer Rolando Bonilla, whose email account was hacked. “It’s me Rolando—I really don’t mean to inconvenience you right now, I made a trip to Scotland and I misplaced my passport and credit cards,” the imposter wrote.

America has resolved the raising of the national debt ceiling through bipartisan legislation and averted catastrophic economic consequences, or so we are told.  However, like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, is it once again government smoke and mirrors?

After months of political wrangling that has left the public weary, a compromise to raise the debt ceiling appears to have been reached. On Monday, the House of Representatives voted to prevent the nation from defaulting on its loans and having its credit rating downgraded. Everyone seems less than thrilled with the compromise, and some Bay Area politicians have different opinions on whether the right decision was made.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom made an appearance Friday at an event hosted here in San Jose by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. At the event, he proposed several plans to boost the state’s economy while also eliminating agencies that he says are redundant.

About twice a month, I get an inquiry from someone who is considering purchasing a home in my council district. I think it is good idea as it shows they are doing their due diligence.

Councilmembers are often the conduit in which information flows about neighborhoods. We are on the receiving end of emails, phone calls and conversations at the grocery store where residents share information and perspectives that they often do not want to vent in a public forum amongst their neighbors. Thus councilmembers are able to have both a top-level and detail-oriented perspective of the neighborhoods in their districts.

While it might not signal a real truce in the endless, tedious factional conflict that is San Jose politics, the business community extended an olive branch to local unions last week. The setting was a soiree introducing Matt Mahood, the new CEO of the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The first City Council session of the new fiscal year won’t be nearly as significant as expected. The council is planning to defer any action on declaring a fiscal emergency from Aug. 2 to Sept. 20. This is the second time the matter will be deferred.

In 1996, The Compassionate Use Act, Proposition 215, passed with 66 percent of the vote,allowing for the launch of medical marijuana clubs in the state. The Act itself dictates that “governments implement a plan to provide the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need.” Oakland, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco were the first local cities to provide safe access to medical marijuana for those in need.

Until a few days ago, the city of San Jose and its employee unions appeared to be a lot friendlier than they were at the beginning of the month—when City Manager Debra Figone and police union president George Beattie were squabbling about why the city punted on a federal grant. But this week, as the pension-reform plan inches forward, the unions are back to voicing outrage.

Rocketship’s Silicon Valley expansion is becoming more and more a compelling story. The Wall Street Journal’s Vauhini Vaha for the Bay Area edition wrote on July 14, “While the organization’s initial efforts are yielding strong test results among elementary students, the expansion plan is drawing opposition from the superintendent and teachers’ union in the county’s biggest district, who say the Palo Alto nonprofit is cutting out local officials who were elected by voters to oversee education. They also say the charter’s rapid growth might come at the expense of the region’s tradition public schools.” UPDATED: July 21, 1:20pm

A few weeks ago, there seemed to be a greater sense of cooperation between the city and five public employee unions over pension reform. Agreements were made to extend negotiations and work together on ballot measures. But last week, the city sent out its first draft of proposed measures. The ideas did not sit well with more than a few unions.

Last week, “the Feds” visited Pioneer High School to present an initiative collaborating with cities to prevent a terrorist action. They distributed a brochure titled “Building Communities of Trust.” The Feds included the Department of Justice and the FBI. I attended to hear first-hand the details and the comments from attendees that were assembled.

A recent NBC Bay Area report on the increase in prostitution downtown—and the disbanding of the city’s vice squad—has gone viral, and spawned a Twitter debate over the cause. Protect San Jose, a blog run by the police union, Tweeted that city manager Deb Figone was to blame for the downtown hookers, drawing a response from Daily Fetch, an anonymous political blog.

Since being elected in November, Gov. Jerry Brown pushed for a special election to extend several taxes, including a motor vehicle tax, to help balance the state budget. He received little to no support from Republicans, and the result was a budget compromise that many panned for including gimmicks. On Wednesday, the city of San Jose announced that Brown’s inability to get motor vehicle taxes extended will cost the city $2.8 million, which will have to be accounted for next budget season.