Part of a new plan by the business community to rebrand downtown is to staff the city’s core with two patrolling officers. However, how these security guards will be paid has kicked off a new fight between police and city officials.

Madison Nguyen’s plan to run for mayor of San Jose appears to be the worst kept secret at City Hall these days—mainly because she keeps telling everyone before adding that it’s “a secret.” Three of Nguyen’s colleagues confirmed that the District 7 councilmember started spreading word of her plan to run before the June 5 primaries.

The territory war between San Jose and the San Francisco Giants got a bit more heated Thursday, with the minor league Giants caught in the fray. San Jose councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant said in a memo that before the city spends $85,000 on maintenance for the San Jose Giants’ stadium, they would like to know how much Giants owners are spending to sue the city over land being saved for a potential move to San Jose by the Oakland A’s.

Few classified the pension reform debate in San Jose as partisan. Only one member of the 10-person City Council—Pete Constant—is a registered Republican. But in the lead-up and aftermath of voters decisively passing Measure B, which will cut back public employee retirement benefits if it withstands legal challenges, Mayor Chuck Reed took at least four interviews last week with FOX News and its affiliates, leaving his media calendar a little less than fair and balanced.

A well attended Rules and Open Government Committee meeting Wednesday dealt with an uncommon topic at City Hall these days: love. Or, to be more precise, love between a couple that doesn’t consist of a man and a woman. After more than an hour of public comments where many people framed marriage as a civil rights issue and others called it a sacred religious institution, Mayor Chuck Reed, Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen and Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio unanimously agreed to delay any action on a memo from Councilmember Ash Kalra that wanted the City Council to form a resolution in support of gay marriage.

The June 5 primary slugfest wages on for two more weeks, but that hasn’t stopped some people from putting out feelers for the 2014 election. Pete Furman, chief of staff for San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, was the first person we heard might be interested in running for the District 3 City Council seat, which will be left vacant by a termed-out Sam Liccardo. Many believe Liccardo plans to continue up the City Hall ladder in a bid for mayor. Furman isn’t alone in weighing a run for the downtown council seat.

What if someone held an election and one side didn’t show up? Well, that is happening in the ill-advised pension reform campaign called Measure B. While proponents are raising money to pay for the Mayor’s under-employed—yet now overpaid—political consultant, organized opposition to the measure has evaporated. The reason is simple and economical.

Despite the city’s stated commitment to sunshine and open government, city officials and proponents of a proposal to permanently close a block of South First Street concealed critical documents from affected parties for a year—until the eve of a council vote. Promoters of the “pavement to plaza” conversion say a $500,000 grant from ArtPlace requires the street’s full closure. San Jose will contribute $98,000 in park and economic development funds, under the plan, which goes to the City Council at today’s 1:30pm meeting.

Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmember Sam Liccardo authored a memo last week that would give high-rise builders in downtown San Jose new incentives to start constructing towers before the end of next year. At its meeting Tuesday, the City Council will discuss the incentives as well as last week’s budget hearings, restricting payday lending offices, targeting parents who let their teenagers throw parties with alcohol, and a potential park expansion that could alter the view from San Jose Inside’s office.

Less than a month until the June 5 primary, labor unions fired off several accusations Tuesday that Councilmember Rose Herrera lied to voters during her 2008 campaign and may have even committed perjury in the mid-1990s. Herrera responded by calling the unions “bullies” using “misrepresentations and lies.”

The San Jose Police Officers Association started its attack ad blitz for the June 5 primary election, and the cops aren’t just doing mailers and push polls—they’re also pulling out all the social-media stops.

Metro Silicon Valley’s issue this week looks at possible candidates to succeed Mayor Chuck Reed when he terms out in less than two years. Invariably, in every discussion, two names pop up: San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo and Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese. Below is an excerpt focusing on Liccardo’s upbringing, what made him go into politics, and his interest in running for mayor in 2014.—Editor

Metro Silicon Valley’s issue this week looks at possible candidates to succeed Mayor Chuck Reed when he terms out in less than two years. Invariably, in every discussion, two names pop up: San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo and Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese. Below is an excerpt focusing on Cortese’s roots, how he got into office, and who he aligns himself with.—Editor

San Jose’s incubator program will not be audited as Councilmember Sam Liccardo was hoping, meaning questions about how millions of dollars were spent, or misspent, will likely go unanswered. The Rules and Open Government Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to dismiss Liccardo’s request that city staff look into the business start-up programs that were funded by the Redevelopment Agency and continue to be managed by San Jose State University’s Research Foundation.

San Jose’s city council established guidelines Tuesday for the city’s medical marijuana regulatory program. As expected, the council stuck to many of its earlier ideas—a cap of 10 collectives, on-site cultivation of cannabis only and strict zoning regulations—and will move toward finalizing its decision at a Sept. 27 session. The city’s program would then go into effect a month later.

The City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to determine if the city should conduct an audit of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency’s incubator programs. As San Jose Inside first reported, a study buried for two years shows the RDA spent more than $30 million on start-up companies that often provided a poor return on investment.