We dream of the perfect candidate in our business. The right person, at the right time, with resources to win and the perfect fit for the populace and the times. Barack Obama in President 2008, Jerry Brown Governor in 2010, Willie Brown for San Francisco Mayor 1995, and Sheriff Laurie Smith for San Jose Mayor 2014. Only the last scenario won’t happen.

An audit of the San Jose Fire Department didn’t include enough analysis of staffing, councilmembers Ash Kalra and Xavier Campos argue in a memo. They want to look into whether the shorter staffing levels are what led to longer response times and loss in overall service. Other items on the council agenda for Tuesday include a settlement with the family of a young child killed by a falling tree and a proposed ordinance to allow street vendors to sell fresh produce in low-income neighborhoods.

Former San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore has a new job as senior vice president for Rivada Networks, a company that designs broadband public safety communications for state and local government agencies. Moore retired from SJPD in January after serving the city of San Jose for more than 27 years. It was assumed Moore wouldn’t stay unemployed for long, but his new digs have an interesting backstory.

A Sacramento lobbying firm appears to be playing a game of snooker when it comes to misleading San Jose residents about crime and casinos. The “Consumer Alliance for a Strong Economy” has been scaring residents into believing the city wants to deregulate card club oversight through robocalls, provocative mailers and even a Mercury News op-ed.

Marijane Hamann Park is a spacious green expanse of 10.5 acres ensconced in a suburban enclave of San Jose that borders the city of Campbell. The park’s amenities include a children’s playground, a large green carpet of lawn, picnic tables and barbecues. But not too long ago, neighbors of Hamann Park had some tough choices to make to reclaim the park.

As lawmakers around the county urge Congress to create a constitutional amendment to overturn the controversial Citizens United decision, the City Council on Tuesday may vote in favor of supporting a resolution to overturn the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case. Other items on Tuesday’s agenda include lawsuit settlements, a new contract for Microsoft software and state taxes.

City Manager Debra Figone released her 2013-14 budget proposal, which was balanced, she says, through fiscal reforms, layoffs and switching to cheaper retiree healthcare. Still, the city remains in “a fragile situation,” partly because of litigation it faces over Measure B pension reforms.

County ambulance provider Rural Metro missed its monthly response times for emergencies in Sunnyvale all but once during a 17-month period ending Novemebr 2012, according to internal documents. This and other system failures have placed the company’s contract in jeopardy.

Should it be easier to impose new taxes? Or is it a recipe to tax fatigue, given the voting public’s recent support for a water district parcel tax, county sales tax and Prop. 30 for school funding? This and other matters go before the Rules and Open Government Committee on Wednesday.

San Jose’s police union filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s authority to impose pension reform. The complaint was filed Monday, a little more than a week after Attorney General Kamala Harris agreed to let the Police Officers Association file for a judicial review.

Despite an uptick in crime and a top brass changing of the guard, fewer people logged complaints against the San Jose Police Department in 2012 compared to previous years. There was a 7-percent drop in citizen complaints last year, according to an annual report by the Independent Police Auditor’s office, which is on the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Other items on the agenda include additional expenses for the Environmental Innovation Center project.

A fake crime lab report that already cost the city of San Jose years of court battles and lost time will now take $150,000 to settle. San Jose will likely use cash from its liability claims reserve fund to pay off Michael Kerkeles, who in 2005 was accused of raping a mentally disabled woman with the cognitive capacity of an 8-year-old.

UPDATE: The city of San Jose came to an agreement on tier-2 retirement benefits with the POlice Officers Association on Thursday afternoon, avoiding Friday’s arbitration hearing.

San Jose faces a $2.9 billion unfunded liability in pension and retiree healthcare costs. The figure is mind-boggling. The city still has to figure out how to afford those unfunded obligations. But that’s another story for another time. On Friday morning, the public—for the first time—will have a chance to sit in on arbitration hearings that have been held previously behind closed doors, when the city negotiators sits across the table from San Jose’s police union.

It is time downtown San Jose residents took back Saint James Park. Unlike the glory days of almost a century ago, when presidents and unions held massive rallies in the square, neighbors and downtown workers now describe the park as an unfortunate eyesore.

San Jose’s top casino cop has had enough. In his first interview since Casino M8trix filed lawsuits in February against the city of San Jose, Richard Teng, the San Jose Police Department’s gaming administrator, called accusations against him “a political nightmare.” There is history in this dispute.

The office of Attorney General Kamala Harris granted the San Jose police union’s request for a judicial review of Measure B, the controversial pension reform ballot measure voters passed last year.