Internal Affairs: Hopes for City Hall Space Sunday, October 14, 2007 It's just coffee. While San Jose's pols last week were again debating the tedious details of why it's so difficult to open up a coffeehouse, restaurant or other retail outlet inside vacant City Hall space, Starbucks opened yet another coffeehouse - this time, just a block from City Hall. But council members aren't giving up hope yet. Mayor Chuck Reed is blasting a proposal from staffers to move city offices into vacant street-level space on the Fourth Street side of City Hall, saying the move would be a waste of money and prime real estate. Reed had hoped moving city workers out of space the city rents would save money. But staff proposed relocating the office of cultural affairs, currently housed in the city-owned McEnery Convention Center. Moving the office to City Hall would require as much as $1.7 million in renovation - plus nearly $400,000 to upgrade the space the cultural affairs office currently occupies so it could be leased out for retail. In sum, sez the mayor, it's a bad idea. And he has backup from Councilmen Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant. "I'd like to pursue other retail alternatives," Liccardo said of the City Hall space. "I'm also not eager to spend millions of dollars to play musical chairs with city office space." The council put the matter on hold for at least a week.