By Robert Haugh

We were going to write a column about the City’s comprehensive survey of residents and their opinion of Levi’s Stadium,  but OaklandNewsNow.com beat us to the punch.   They did a comprehensive article summarizing the community engagement efforts.

The article dubbed the 49ers’ relations with the community as an “arrogant and endangered relationship with Santa Clara’s residents.” Seriously. And Oakland knows a thing or two about poor stadium management.

The story summarizes the 49ers’ poor management and connection to the community by saying:

But look at how things got so screwed up by the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara … data demonstrates how far the once great Niners Football Organization has fallen — both on the field and off the field … As difficult as the Oakland sports picture is, take a look across SF Bay at how the 49ers screwed up the simplest of relationship with the City of Santa Clara, neighbors and fans.

The community engagement efforts, which were reviewed at a special Stadium Authority board meeting last Thursday, showed residents are concerned about parking and traffic around the stadium; disruptive behavior like loitering, littering and other security issues; and poor communication between residents and the Stadium.

Recommendations spurred by the community outreach include:

• Increasing carpool activity – possibly with incentives
• Improving gameday traffic communication and parking options
• Enhancing post-game security, including neighborhood patrols
• Providing more options to alleviate loitering, littering and impacts to nearby communities
• Additional noise control monitoring, especially for areas closer to the Stadium
• Options for improving communication and trust between the 49ers and community – options mentioned include a community hotline, working with a community group and increasing neighborhood benefits.

The bottom line. The 49ers need to improve their management of Levi’s Stadium.

Councilman Pat Kolstad and Councilwoman Patty Mahan each phoned in to the meeting remotely. These are the two who refused to appoint numerous well-qualified candidates to the seat vacated by disgraced former Councilman Dominic Caserta. Since they were on the phone, they barely participated in the meeting. It was as if they weren’t really there.

Kolstad was at the Hilton New Orleans, while Mahan was at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico. Mahan missed the Thursday morning closed session meeting. Her absence was unexcused by the Council.