By Robert Haugh
On Tuesday night, the 49er Five approved the team’s request to send three 49er employees on two junkets. And the Stadium Authority will pay almost $8,000 for them.
This adds to the long list of financial requests that the 49ers have made that Councilmembers Anthony Becker, Raj Chahal, Suds Jain, Karen Hardy, and Kevin Park have approved. It’s really adding up.
The first junket is for two 49ers employees to go to Los Angeles from May 28 to 29, 2022 in order to attend Grupo Firme at SoFi Stadium.
The purpose is not to persuade the band to come to Santa Clara. They’re already booked for Saturday, July 2, 2022. Wow.
Here’s the 49ers’ rationale that the 49er Five bought:
“As this booking taps into a genre of music that is unlike any concert that has been previously hosted, this advance trip allows the Stadium Manager to appropriately prepare for the upcoming July event. This trip will also be used to cultivate the current relationship with the bands manager, promoter and agent.
The budget to attend the concert and wine and dine is $2,900.
The second junket is for the Event and Arena Marketing Conference. It’s scheduled from June 15-18, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Here’s the rationale:
“Stadium Manager will use this Conference as a key networking opportunity. In addition, Stadium Manager will also use this opportunity to stay educated on the trends and best practices of the industry as a whole.”
For this the 49ers want $4,800 for one team employee. Of that amount, $2,000 is budgeted for “entertainment.” Hmmm.
At the Tuesday Council meeting, the 49er Five voted for both junkets. Mayor Lisa Gillmor voted against them. Councilwoman Kathy Watanabe did not attend the meeting because of a family emergency and was excused.
I honestly hoped the filthy five would be ashamed to steal from us when they had to meet face to face. Is it the high pressure from their bosses or just that after selling out the first few times it gets easier and easier?
Either way, it gets uglier and uglier.
The voters need to start showing up in person again and voice their displeasure with the Councilmembers selling out our city. Make these jokers squirm in their seats.
Why should Santa Clara taxpayers pay for billionaire Jed York’s employees to use our stadium?
These five votes are taking money out of Santa Clara’s pockets and giving it to the 49ers to reward their employees. Your family needs come second.
How can these five hold their head up high? Their thievery is an embarrassment to Santa Clara.