Dave Cortese’s announcement this week that he is running for mayor of San Jose, more or less, sets the field for next year’s race. Campaign fundraising can’t officially start until December, but endorsements are right around the corner. In fact, the South Bay Labor Council has taken an unusually quick approach to finishing its endorsement process for mayor. Today, questionnaires for the SBLC’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) were due today. San Jose Inside has attained a copy of that questionnaire.

Mayor Chuck Reed is a good lawyer. That’s why his pension reform proposal for the city of San Jose made no sense. And that’s also why he’s moving forward with a statewide petition to change the state Constitution. It is the biggest admission we have to date that Reed understands the legal flaws to San Jose’s pension reform initiative, which voters passed last year.

San Jose Inside takes a quick look at what some of the candidates for the 2014 mayor’s race in San Jose have been up to and what political insiders are saying.

After failed past attempts to regulate medical marijuana collectives in San Jose, the city should take up the issue again, says Councilman Don Rocha—just as a voter initiative to legalize the stuff cleared for signature gathering. Other items on the agenda for Wednesday’s Rules and Open Government Committee meeting include Councilman Xavier Campos asking for the city to sponsor a gun buyback event, Voice Mayor Madison Nguyen wanting some pension reform clarification and David Wall doing his best David Wall impersonation.

When the economy tanked, metal theft increased along with the price of non-ferrous alloys. Thieves haven’t slowed down since, snatching up copper wire, aluminum, fire hydrant parts, manhole covers, streetlights and other metal parts to trade in for cash at recycling centers. San Jose’s Rules and Open Government Committee will consider endorsing legislation to combat metal theft when it meets Wednesday. Other items on the agenda include firework regulation and defending mobile home residents from rent hikes.

The San Jose Environmental Innovation Center (EIC) has been in the news a lot recently, due to the fact that it is $1.6 million over budget and six months behind schedule. This project was always risky, as it utilized complicated tax credits that expose the general fund—the guarantor of the project—to future risk. So, being in the position to avoid future financial risk, why would I support yet another project such as the EIC, which could imperil our general fund? When this issue came to the council, I voted “no” several times, where was I often the only “no” vote. When there is a single dissenting vote, this automatically means that any substitute motion would die for a lack of a second. This is true in all cases.

Developers will break ground Wednesday on a Whole Foods Market on The Alameda, one that comes with a rooftop microbrewery.

Pete Constant became the second San Jose councilmember to file forms that he intends to run for mayor of San Jose in 2014, joining Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen, who announced her intentions in December of last year. Downtown Councilman Sam Liccardo is also expected to file forms today.

It was Will Durst’s kind of crowd, as most of the audience could read—or knew someone who could. It was a special addition of the annual event where local politicians poke fun at themselves and each other: Monday Night Live. Held at the San Jose Athletic Center late last month, and on a Friday night instead of the standard Monday, the San Jose Stage Company also celebrated 30 years of local theater. It was a night to remember.

Since their advent in the mid-80s, enterprise zones have sparked economic development. But, in some cases, these geographic areas that provide companies a litany of tax breaks have also granted corporations a chance to game the system. Two competing bills in the state legislature could either eliminate these zones or modify their scope. On Wednesday, San Jose’s Rules and Open Government Committee will consider taking a stance on the bills, as well as discuss the future of the Willow Glen trestle.

Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio proposes pushing back the City Council’s start times to 4:30pm, at least, while still keeping meetings on Tuesdays. His plan goes before the Rules and Open Government Committee today. Other items include a review of the city auditor’s contract and an odd letter from City Hall gadfly David Wall about Councilman Pete Constant.

When it rains it pours, and the month of March has flooded San Jose’s 2014 mayoral race with new candidates. On Thursday, fellow Councilman Pete Constant confirmed with San Jose Inside that he will make a run to become the top elected official in San Jose. That brings the total number of contenders to an unofficial count of five.

The 2014 mayor’s race in San Jose won’t officially start until later this year, but a new contender has emerged in what’s expected to be a massive field. Pierluigi Oliverio, a councilman for the Willow Glen/Rose Garden districts (and SJI columnist), tells Fly that he will indeed join the race to replace Mr. Burns—ahem, we mean Mayor Chuck Reed.

Tomorrow is a big day for District 6. After 13 years of waiting—the past three of which were spent staring down a fully-functional yet sadly dormant shell—we finally get to see the Bascom Library and Community Center open all of its doors to the public. For residents of Blackford, Buena Vista, Burbank, Del Monte, Shasta/Hanchett Park, Sherman Oaks, and Winchester, the 2pm ribbon cutting at 1000 South Bascom Ave. will be the culmination of a protracted struggle with City Hall, and the district’s own councilmember.

Jim Beall neither forgives nor forgets. After soundly squashing Joe Coto in last November’s election, Silicon Valley’s state senator has gone scorched-earth on anyone who failed to show adequate fealty during the campaign.

Much has been said recently about law enforcement budgeting. One of the shared community goals is to increase the actual number of police officers. In addition, another shared community goal is for pension reform. In my opinion, these two objectives are inextricably linked.