Oct. 10--If you want a say in the kind of place San Jose will become over the next two decades, go to City Hall on Saturday morning. The task force assigned to update the city's blueprint for growth -- its general plan -- will be taking notes.

This communitywide workshop is critical because it will help shape the task force's agenda for the first general plan review in more than a decade. And power players know that if you're fighting for an idea or an ideal, setting the agenda is half the battle.

General plans sum up a city's philosophy of growth, highlight what's important to the community and prescribe where different kinds of development should go. San Jose's plan ...