By Robert Haugh
It was another long and dysfunctional meeting. We’re getting used to it.
The City Council spent a long time trying to figure out what the 49ers want with their new endzone seats. But they couldn’t because no one showed up from the team, again.
So Councilman Suds Jain explained in detail what the 49ers wanted. Jain is one of five Councilmembers who meets with the team regularly. We did a special report after reviewing their calendars.
The others are Vice Mayor Raj Chahal and Councilmembers Anthony Becker, Karen Hardy and Kevin Park.
They all deny that they’re carrying water from the team. But when Councilwoman Kathy Watanabe moved that the Council support the City staff’s effort to increase City revenue from the endzone seats, they all voted against it.
Only Mayor Lisa Gillmor supported Watanabe’s motion and it failed 5-2.
But the issue will be revisited. We doubt the 49ers will show up. They don’t really need to. Since they meet with a majority of the City Council regularly, at least one of them will carry the team’s water.
After midnight, the City Council began discussing the censure of Watanabe for offending Park.
Park asked to speak at the last minute at a Stop Asian Hate rally. But Watanabe said the event was wrapping up.
Hardy introduced the resolution. It passed 4-3 with Becker, Chahal, Hardy and Park voting yes.
Jain, Gillmor and Watanabe voted no.
Hardy also introduced a resolution to admonish Gillmor for defending Watanabe. It passed 4-3.
It passed 4-3 with Becker, Chahal, Hardy and Park voting yes.
Jain, Gillmor and Watanabe voted no.
We’ll have more on this issue in the coming days.
[…] According to our sources, the last straw for City staff happened on June 8, 2021. That’s the meeting that Santana is talking about in her email above. That’s when Park was carrying water for the 49ers on the stadium end zone seats issue. […]
[…] at the June 8th Council meeting, Jain carried the team’s water on the field seat issue. No one from the team showed up to the meeting. But Jain explained the 49ers’ argument in […]
Went through an inordinate amount of popcorn and soda watching the 💩 show. Has anyone thought about censuring chahal park hardy jain and becker for their verbal abuse and bullying of the other two council who seem to be crucified at every council meeting. Don’t get me started on the City staff. They should get sainthood. Better yet lock up the five offenders and throw away the key!
49ers doesn’t care about Santa Clara, they have removed our city flag that flew over our stadium and replaced it with a Black Live Matter flag. The 49er five meets with the 49ers even though they have five law suites against the city (us) the people of Santa Clara. And they even ague with city staff while our city manager lays out a outstanding report and history lesson Of past practices what the 49ers mis information. 49ers needs to come to Council meeting and stop sending their 5 stooges doing their dirty work. Great presentation by the city manager and staff. Lousy rebuttal by council person Raj and wife abuser Park.
Why is it o.k. for Becher, Chahal, Harty, Park and Sudds to meet with the 49ers before Tuesday meetings, but GOD help us if our Mayer or Kathy does something you do not like , all hell brakes loose.. I thought the council was suppose to help the people of Santa Clara. Instead you need to find out what Jed York wants, before the meetings so that you can get it for him. That is not hard to do, seeing Jed bought out three of you and the two other idiots joined Jed”s team. You are nothing but –mean,– rotten –horrible people
I thought Donald Trump was bad, but you all have him beat.
JB is a tipsy old guy living in the past. He doesn’t care about Santa Clara one bit, just the cash flow.
JB doesn’t care that they sue us and refuse to pay us what we’re owed. Hey JB, remember when gumballs were a penny. Just have another pop and wait for the checks to come in the mail.
It’s hard to believe, but the CFH* members (Jain, Park and Becker – and Hardy and Chahal) have only been in office for SEVEN MONTHS! Not even a full year has passed, and already I am sick to death of watching, listening, hearing, and being enraged by this gang-of-five 49er goon squad doing their best to give the 49ers anything and everything they demand at the cost of hurting our city, our city finances and our daily lives. By the time their four years are up, we’ll have been picked clean by the 49er vultures. Are these council people EVER going to get it through their heads that they’re being used to ruin Santa Clara? Can’t we recall these people?
Mr. Fleck’s memory seems extremely faulty. Although Gillmor and Watanabe may have supported the stadium, the council actually responsible for putting the 49er stadium on the ballot included (Mayor) Patricia Mahan, Dominic Caserta, Will Kennedy, Joe Kornder, Jamie Mathews, Jamie McLeod, and Kevin Moore (2/9/2010).
That the 49ers continually sue the city, throw millions at our elections to “pack” the council with toadies who will do their bidding, and show no interest whatsoever in the residents around the stadium (much less the remainder of Santa Clara) is reminder enough of what a bad corporate resident they are.
And ever since the 49ers tried to take the Youth Soccer Park for extra stadium parking (without replacing the facility as had been promised in a letter signed by Jed York), Lisa Gillmor and Kathy Watanabe have been fighting to have York and the 49er organization live up to their promises and abide by the letter of the contract made with Santa Clarans in Measure J.
Mayor Gillmor and Ms. Watanabe may have been a little late to the party with respect to realizing the 49ers are hurting Santa Clara, but at least they’re making the effort to protect our city and us.
If Mr. Fleck is so concerned about Santa Clara and the 49ers, perhaps he should start doing what he can to help see that the 49ers live up to their promises, instead of constantly harping on something that (an entirely different) council did in 2010.
49er City Council? Now, I’d say that’s funny, but it’s actually disgusting. Along with the fact that this “Fab 5” have proven that they don’t care about the Children in their city or the seniors getting a decent night’s sleep, they know have shown in a very clear way why IQ matters, because theirs are very low. They of course have placed their own greed before the common sense the rest of us see. I’d even venture to say they are evil.
All this while their VERY INTELLIGENT MAYOR is trying to do what’s right for her city while they try to hurt her!
I pray in the end that intelligence will win.
IQ Matters!
Enough said.
The 5 CFH* members were elected by the people, 3 with Jed York’s money. This conflict with the stadium has got to stop! They need to be accountable to the taxpayers for their actions against the City, and favoring Jed York!
Censure this!
* Council From Hell
Robert, I wish I could laugh but I just can’t right now. Did the 49er City Council give any reason why they opposed any new revenue being generated for our City?
Is our tenant planning on giving away these seats to the underserved in our community, and not planning on charging for these new seats? That would be the only reason I could say would justify zero new revenue heading our way. Last I checked the City financial coffers were being tapped into, and a new revenue stream would make absolute sense.
Maybe other people should be invited into these closed private meetings with our tenant so we can better understand why 5 of our 6 City Council representatives are not pursuing this “Low Hanging Fruit” financial gain for Santa Clara.
But what do we know… I mean none of us even want to sit in any meeting with the 49ers, and the ones who do sure seem to have their back at every turn. Maybe that is just a coincidence.
As bad as it looks, it is even worse when you are not willing to give the table scraps to a hungry dog.
Hate to compare Santa Clara to a hungry dog, but it sure feels that way right now. We could have used the extra revenue for so many programs that have been cut short.
Would that money possibly helped us to get the Art and Wine Festival back on line this year…? I guess we will never know.
So next time you see any of the “Fab 5”, or 49er City Council, let them know how much you appreciate their support in getting our City back up and running.
Burt Field
Only two members of the current City Council supported giving a resident taxpayer subsidy to a billionaire NFL owner. Lisa and Kathy. You voted in favor of the subsidy. Why? Do you feel complicit for the 49er mess?