Community Rumblings: SummerHill Homes and the Curfew (Again)
By Robert Haugh
This weekend a flyer was distributed around Santa Clara opposing the SummerHill Homes development that’s on tonight’s council agenda.
As we reported yesterday, there’s some controversy brewing about the existing tenants. Some of them have moved out. Others feel they’re being squeezed out.
This flyer goes further, saying the development is “evil.” That’s right. Evil.
The language in the flyer is over the top. But there is one interesting issue the opponents raise. Apparently, Kevin Moore, the former councilman turned lobbyist, told the Planning Commission in September that seniors could sell their homes and rent in the new development.
Moore’s statement is being used by the project’s opponents to highlight how there’s no rent control, no assisted living support, no on-site medical care and no affordable units for seniors as part of this project. Will this be the first Santa Clara residential development project in years not to require affordable housing? It should an interesting council meeting.
Curfew
Stand Up for Santa Clara has posted a new video about the weekday stadium curfew battle. It’s well done and should get some good play on social media.
It highlights how Vice Mayor Dominic Caserta and Councilwoman Patty Mahan supported the 10 p.m. weekday curfew in 2010. But after that, they received direct and indirect financial support from the 49ers and the infamous BluPac dark money group. Then they flip flopped. They now want to allow 11 p.m. weekday concerts to accommodate major acts like U2, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran.
Until this debate, we didn’t even know Ed Sheeran was a major act. But if you’re dying to see him, he’s playing with Taylor Swift at the SAP Center on December 2. They can play past 10 p.m. because it’s a Saturday, it’s indoors and it’s in San Jose. But they may not want to, because then they’ll have to stay in San Jose where the airport curfew is 11 p.m. Maybe the Mercury News who argued Santa Clara should extend the weekday stadium curfew will ask for flight exemptions to the airport curfew for big name music acts so that San Jose can make some extra money. But that might be too consistent for a major newspaper.
How do we change the housing paradigm?
Is everyone else tired of hearing developers say “It doesn’t pencil out” to anything that they do not want to do.
When will the City Council ever be leaders instead of typical politicians only interested in getting reelected?
Summerhill has axed off a floor of the development which doesn’t help the lack of housing or the lack of affordable housing. It is meant to silence the most vocal critics that have the ear of the City Council.
But it does precious little to “move the needle!” (yes, another cliche)
Credit Summerhill for trying their heart out. It’s a lot better than most of the POS developments that are generically ugly and crazy expensive!
It’s not just former (and future) Mayor Mahan and the appointed Vice Mayor Caserta that are corrupted. Pat Kolstad has been corrupted as well. And his main residence is in Washington State and yet the city will not seek charges against the former cop.
Santa Clara has been rotten for a long time. The 49ers are the latest folks paying them off and definitely not the first!
Not only have they hired a lobbyist, but people in the community know that they will be doing a fundraiser for a city councilman who’s running for supervisor and they have bought a lot of lunches and dinners for a city councilwoman to get her to change her vote. Disgusting and sleazy developer tactics. We can’t let them succeed.
Good summary, Robert. The video could do with a lower music volume and higher verbal audio. It is hard to hear what is being said. And the quotes aren’t there long enough to read, but very dramatic.
Speaking of dramatic; like the project or not, to say it will bring a ‘Winter of homelessness to Santa Clara seniors’ is a little bit of a stretch.
But yes, Kevin Moore might be like-able enough personally, but do we trust him enough to sell our house and rent an apartment? Maybe not so much.
Charlene T is right. When developers get a break it’s because of political contributions and lunches and dinners. Maybe this site could report who SummerHill contributed to and who they’re taking to lunch and dinner. That would tell us the REAL story.
Stand Up for Santa Clara saved the Soccer Park. I’m glad they’re taking a position on other community issues too.
If the Council doesn’t demand affordable housing in this project they are just hypocrits for demanding it in other projects. We have a serious affordable housing problem people.