By Carolyn McAllister
The 49er Five (Suds Jain, Raj Chahal, Kevin Park, Karen Hardy and Anthony Becker) voted to change the curfew at Levi’s Stadium from 10PM to 11PM on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Editor’s Note: the curfew was actually changed Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.
The 49ers agreed to a 10PM weekday curfew when approval was adopted in 2010.
Why wasn’t public presentation allowed before the vote?
Councilmember Becker said he doesn’t hear complaints about stadium noise or other problems. Mr. Becker’s district is on the other side of Santa Clara.
Why don’t the 49er Five come to North Santa Clara and ask us what we think?
Even our own District 2 representative (Chahal) doesn’t listen to us.
I want Councilmembers Hardy, Park and Chahal to answer why they were getting a tour of Levi Stadium by Jim Mercurio the day before the curfew vote?
I also want to know who paid for the field access tickets for Councilmembers Hardy, Chahal and Park to be on the field during the National Anthem of that game? Were they gifts from Jed York?
These same Councilmembers, plus Jain and Becker voted not to extend funding for the police. Who is going to monitor the late problems at Levi?
The Police are already short staffed. Crime is on the increase. We see a local shoe store at Scott and El Camino burglarized twice in a week.
I’ve lived in Santa Clara since 1974. In that time, there have been a few Councilmembers that I felt lacked integrity and professionalism to represent Santa Clara.
Never have I seen five members of the same council, (Jain, Hardy, Becker, Park and Chahal) who all seem to lack the integrity and commitment to the people that is necessary.
These Councilmembers are representing the 49ers.
They voted to fire City Attorney Brian Doyle because Mr. Doyle was attempting to make the 49ers live up to their responsibilities and contracts.
Who will these 49er Five go after next?
I hope these pro-49er Councilmembers realize that we the voters are watching and some of you will want to run for re-election or even mayor.
Many of us will be asking tough questions of your actions and decisions.
Even the 49er money may not be able to help you.
Editor’s Note: This message was submitted to the City Council meeting on Tuesday and posted as a comment on this site yesterday. It has been slightly edited for clarity.
[…] was an opinion piece on this site by a Santa Clara […]
Burt, I agree with you 100 percent. Why is it taking so long for us to get rid of these 5 idiots ? They are getting away with murder. I thought I was hearing things when Hardy offered to hold Becker’s hand. What strong city council people we have. !!!!!!! ( They sound like ten year old kids ) When are we going to get rid of them //////
Carolyn
Well written, well spoken. Thank you for taking the time to show how much you care for our City.
How all this happened is one truly sad story.
I guess my concern now, is how do we rectify these series of mistakes?
I think it’s a fairly safe call to say that our City is no longer our City.
Our Mayor and City Councilperson are out gunned at every meeting…… every vote. And for what? What are these people really gaining when they sell out their neighbors?
How can they look in their neighbors eyes and tell them that they have their best interest at heart?
I just have one minor correction, and it is just making sure the right term is used or not used.
Our City Attorney was not fired. He was not offered a new contract.
Being fired would have meant that a reason (Good / Bad) would have been needed to actually get rid of him.
Instead, they figured out that just writing down on a piece of paper two words were enough to not merit bringing him back.
The now infamous term “No Reason” is given for him not being offered a new contract.
Really… “No Reason” is why he was not asked to come back to continue his fine work in legally protecting us from lawsuits. Lawsuits that seem to be flying at us almost on a monthly basis.
So let’s see who might benefit the most once Mr. Doyle is gone.
What company has sued the City more times than anyone else?
What company to date is still winless in any lawsuit brought against our City? I think 0-10 at this point!
Who just spend Millions to alter our local election?
Who is working to alter Measure “J” at every step of the way?
Man, this is a tough one… who could it be?
So we have roughly at this point 32 to 33 more years of this. The 49ers are a tenant of ours. That’s it.
I’m open to ideas about what we can do to remind them of this fact.
Burt Field
it is refreshing to see people speak their minds about what this majority council is doing (or not doing) for our city. jed sure knows how to pick them. based on the handling of the city attorney’s departure it sure seems he was fired for no cause. that could be the biggest lawsuit of all and who will benefit from that? are the 49ers going to pay that bill?
Burt Field,
How do you know wether Doyle was fired or his contract was not renewed. That decision was made behind closed doors. You would have no knowledge of the action in closed session.
You also complain endlessly about law suits filed by the 49ers. How else can they argue their point when the Council makes decisions that affect their operations?
Ed, good, well thought out solid points. You sound like an intelligent, un-bias fan. Let me check and get back to you.
If you have not already, you could reach out to the 49ers and maybe make a run at City Council. All it takes is some money and a willingness to give up your right to think for yourself. After reading your short comment, I know for a fact you would be an upgrade over any of the Fab Five currently in place right now.
Go Niners!!
Burt Field
I honestly like the 49ers team
The coaches / players have never tried to hurt our City
Ok, I checked
1. Mr. Doyle would have by now already been in litigation with The City of Santa Clara for a wrongful termination case. In California it is very easy to hire someone. Not so easy to fire someone. It would have been worth a lot of money to him, and I know he could find an attorney to represent him on this case, if he had a case that was winnable. .
He is a smart man, but as a contractor with the City, it was as simple as not renewing his contract for….”No Reason”.
As for Lawsuits
You might be the only person I know that thinks they are a good idea to begin with. There are lots of ways to talk and deal with people waaaaaaaaaaaaay before you jump to lawsuits as the answer to everything.
Why are lawsuits even effective if you loose?
The answer is TIME
In business as a survival tactic when you have a lot of money, but are short of time, brains or common sense, you play the Lawsuit card. That’s what buys you the buffer you need to try and think of other ways to screw whomever you are dealing with.
2. So here is a unique concept
How about the 49ers actually doing what is required by the City and that is opening up the “Real” Books so we can see how much money the 49ers actually owe us. By the way I’m ok if we are owed truly zero dollars. I just need for them to be accountable.
3. Conflicts of Interest are so abundant, they are now more the norm, than the exception. Turns out a lot of bad judgment was spent right in this one little area. You are not suppose to put yourself in position that could compromise your judgment. Getting paid by company B as an Advisor when you are also part of company A is to be against the law.
4. So how about dealing in good faith?
5. So how about doing what you agreed to do?
6. So how about not trying to cheat the residents of Santa Clara out of the money that was agreed upon at the start of the whole process?
7. So how about following Measure “J” which the residents made law, as we agreed to take on the 49ers as tenants.
8. Do I really need to keep going on, to me this is like picking low hanging fruit???????
Burt Field
.
Ed!
Maybe Suds told Burt!
What a motormouth
he is. Read SFChron.
Niners don’t like being told
what to do so they whine
and sue.
They don’t own
stadium.
End of story.
Thank for your well written comments. Obviously, unless you can pay with large campaign donations or freebies the targets of the comments won’t listen but we do and we agree.
The city council meetings should have gone back to in-person, public meetings, months ago. The “49’er 5” avoid public scrutiny by hiding behind computer screens, with patronizing city views in the background, and never having to face live speakers in person. The community and Santa Clara citizens are being stifled from personally interacting with the council. Whereas citizens of Santa Clara were able to gather in person at council meetings and share common concerns with both each other and the city council, the majority of the council now hiding behind zoom meetings, which has totally stifled community input and the ability of citizens to interact at a public meeting. This is just another attempt to splinter the community and avoid public criticism. This is the complete opposite of public transparency, and also has had the effect of stifling both democracy and free speech. The “49’er 5”, with little community input, can make any decision they want with little community scrutiny, and are completely detached from the will of most Santa Clara citizens. Make the city council meetings in-person once again immediately.