San Jose Inside

In a near-unanimous vote Thursday, the county’s Democratic Central Committee agreed to move its endorsement decision for the San Jose mayor’s race from April to February. Moving the schedule up a couple months gives the party more time to mobilize a campaign behind its preferred candidate, who many presume to be county Supervisor Dave Cortese.

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

The county’s Democratic Central Committee will vote Thursday night on whether to advance its endorsement process by a month, and the result could have a dramatic impact on the San Jose mayor’s race.

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.

An initiative to reverse a San Jose-wide ban on polystyrene food take-out containers failed after election officials found that more than half the signatures endorsing the measure were made-up or otherwise unusable.

While families bit into churros and navigated the winter carnival that is downtown San Jose during the holidays, the season of giving became a little less magnanimous around Christmas in the Park. And no, we’re not talking about the shooting. Ryan Sebastian, the entrepreneur behind Moveable Feast, approached organizers months ago about providing some food options for the December event. They—well, specifically Christmas in the Park director Jason Minsky—apparently blew him off.

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.

Neither Mayor Chuck Reed nor his union opponents liked the way California Attorney General Kamala Harris worded the official description of a polarizing pension reform ballot measure, which on Monday was cleared for signature-gathering to place it on the November ballot.

An effort to save the outdated Century 21 dome theater on Winchester Boulevard goes before a city commission this week. Preservationists want it designated as a historic landmark.

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.

City officials want to explore the option of giving both male and female employees a month of paid parental leave. The perk could help attract new hires and give existing workers more incentive to stay, according to a plan by Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen and Councilman Don Rocha going before the Rules and Open Government Committee meeting this week. Also on the agenda: an ordinance to clarify disability benefits and a ream of letters from town crier David Wall.

Business groups worry that San Jose could scare away developers if it imposes a fee on new home construction to pay for more affordable housing, an effort to recoup a fraction of the money lost when the state closed all redevelopment agencies. The City Council, which was supposed to talk about the inclusionary housing fee in December, decided to table the discussion until the new year.

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.

Reached by phone, Rosa Campos, mother of San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos, said she had no recollection of fictitious business filings related to her son’s campaigns. The business filing for “Xavier Campos for School Board,” created in July 2004, lists her, Xavier Campos and incarcerated former county supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. as copartners. When asked why the filing was created—none of the dozen elected officials, campaign consultants and county and state election officials reached by San Jose Inside had heard of such a practice—Rosa Campos said she wasn’t sure. “I need to talk to my son,” she said. “He caught me off guard. I don’t even remember. Like I said, that was 2004.

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