By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara residents and business leaders had strong reactions to the latest Civil Grand Jury Reports. Santa Clara News Online (SCNO) received a lot of direct communication. The feelings about City Hall in the Mission City is the worst SCNO has seen in decades of reporting.
Following are summary of the major themes with comments from individuals. Some asked for anonymity because of their relationship with certain City Councilmembers or because of their positions on commissions or nonprofit organizations.
Santa Clarans Give the City Council Low Marks
“The 49er Five are awful. They have cost the city millions with their backroom deals. They are putting the interest and loyalty ahead of the public they are supposed to serve.” – Lee Broughman (Library Trustee — commenting as an individual)
“You have to judge the effectiveness of a council as a whole and rating the councils I have seen and worked with on a scale of 1 – 10, the average would be 7.5 – 8.0, This council would be 3.5.” – Howard Myers (Neighborhood Leader)
“It is clear the 49er Five represents their own personal interests and the interests of the 49ers. It’s not the only thing they care about, but it is a huge credibility issue. The 49er Five can tell stories of the Mayor bringing the team to the city, or how poorly the contracts were written. But the fact is, when this current council had the ability to modify the contracts (twice!), they blew it.” – Kirk Vartan (Business Leader)
I would give them a “1”. Their inability to get things done and agree with the residents is nonexistent. How can an indicted member (Anthony Becker) still be able to vote on items involving the 49ers? The reason he is indicted is because of his relationship with them. – Debbie Tryforos (Library Trustee — commenting as an individual)
“I have to deal with other cities. The 49er Five make Santa Clara the most embarrassing place. Even Cupertino looks professional compared to our Council.” – Anonymous business owner
“I look at the mailers and if the 49ers support someone I automatically vote against them. It’s that simple.” – Anonymous Old Quad resident
“An ethics professor said that Santa Clara is corrupt. And one person is on trial for corruption. Let’s hope there’s more.” – Anonymous Northside resident
Santa Clara Residents Also Blame Others
“Let’s look at the past two council majorities. Look at when Patty Mahan or Jamie Matthews led the council with their majorities. I have personal, first-hand knowledge where Mahan shut down public engagement with her aggressive words and would antagonize members of the public. She did it to me and to others that came to the council to speak. Matthews and others were students of this approach, albeit not as bad. Contrast that to when Mathews walked off the job as Mayor in the first year of his reelection in 2016 and Lisa Gillmor took over as mayor. She led the council with a majority of people who didn’t want to attack her. They didn’t always agree, and they were civil.” – Vartan
“The last (Grand Jury) report was bad. But nothing happened. They (49er Five) disagreed with all the findings of the Civil Grand Jury, and nothing came of it. This report is twice as bad, with examples on video to show what happened. They can’t deny these findings. The residents need to see some action taken by the City to start to fix things. The City Manager (Jovan Grogan) and City Attorney (Glen Googins) need to wake up.” – Tryforos
“With council members whose loyalty is to the 49ers more than the city, voting on 49er and stadium issues, it is more than unethical. It is illegal. We need more than civil action, District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office needs to be more involved.” – Myers
“I stopped getting the Mercury News and Santa Clara Weekly (Silicon Valley Voice). They are mouthpieces for the 49ers and are just covering up the corruption in Santa Clara. The Grand Jury should look into how the 49ers bought off the papers, not just the 49er Five.” – Anonymous business owner
“A pollster called me and asked if I would vote for a city bond to fund the Swim Center and roads and sewers. No way I’m supporting any more money going to the City that’s run by a corrupt and incompetent bunch.” – Anonymous Pomeroy Neighborhood
Santa Clarans Have Some Hope
“Up until the last election I really worried that most voters were uninformed/misinformed. But when they saw through the trick to give control of the police dept over to Jed York it really improved my outlook.” – Myers
“I hope that council members Kevin Park, Anthony Becker, and Suds Jain are replaced in this fall election by knowledgeable, experienced citizens who put city interest ahead of their personal interest and loyalties.” – Broughman
Don’t give them one damned cent on this dubious bond measure until there is an adequate guarantee of open public discussion and citizen oversight to ensure accountability of how the funds are spent. And, more importantly, ensure a mechanism whereby the city will amortize these capital infrastructure investments. We need to know the plan, for now and for the future!
You cannot build essentially Cold War infrastructure and expect it to last more than a few generations. Our city is crumbling down around us. The reason it’s in this sad state is that we collective allowed ourselves to be built into this corner, by people “who knew what was best for us” and we went along with it and didn’t ask questions. Because back then, they probably DID know best and more importantly could be trusted with their vision for the city and their duty to the public. Gone are the days of the long-tenured city managers w/ extended vision like a Von Raesfed or even a Sparacino. Now we have the hired guns attempting to build their resume in the short time they have to clean up Dodge City. They have little time for what’s best for the city and the citizens. We have a council that can’t tend to normal city business because they are too busy squabbling to get the items of daily consequence to the quality of citizens’ lives handled. Point to the person(s) you trust right now to lead us into the future, with your best interests and the best interests of your neighbors and of the overall city first and foremost in their mind? I’ll wait …
We need to ensure absolute and total transparency. This infrastructure bond cannot be handled like the great and successful Stadium Authority partnership (sarcasm). No more closed door council sessions deciding where your millions will best be spent (squandered?). No more dark money, no more Jed York. I’m sick of the 49 Five. I’m sick of the 49ers and their influence in the council chambers. I’m sick of Jed York attempting to buy our elections. Are you sick of it, too? We pushed back with their play to try to change the charter to an appointed police chief so the 49er front office could control the police department and lower their security costs for their monstrous modern Colosseum. They thought that the rabble would stay distracted by the bread and circuses they peddled. However, the majority banded together and pushed them back. We need to keep pushing!
The time has come for all concerned citizens to get skin in the game. Tired of the direction the city is headed in? Tired of this once functional and safe place to lay your head and raise your family turning into place people can’t wait to move away from? The “Center of What’s Possible” shifting to the “Center of Daily Uncertainty?” Get informed. Get involved. Show up. Vote. Tell the council, the city manager, the city staff, and the department heads what you want in this town to make it better. They work for us!!! Remind them the fox does not guard the henhouse, and the tail does not wag the dog. Not in this town. Not any longer.
https://sfstandard.com/2024/06/17/matt-haney-campaign-49ers-warriors-broadway-tickets/
LG CAMPAIGNS
CLIENTS
MATT HANEY
KEVIN PARK
ANTHONY BECKER
SUDS. JAIN
Outstanding Grand Jury report:
Now let’s see who side our city manger and city attorney represents. Non bias report should tell the truth. Hopefully the citizens of Santa Clara will vote out any future and present 49er loyalist politician. And get back on electing true Santa Clarans. A good start can be Burt and Brain Doyle our former city attorney. We need people like our mayor and council person Watanbe that stands up for the residents and not put them down. We can only hope.
Actually Doyle would be better as a city council member than attorney. I could support this. Burt is a yes. I may be convinced about Doyle. We have to work things out. I am willing to listen
Kw and bf are a yes
NEWS FLASH
SF LEGISLATOR MATT HANEY, CLUENT OF 49ER POLITICAL CONSULTANT, BEARSTAR STRATEGIES, IS BEING ACCUSED OF USING 49ER TICKETS AS CAMPAGN REWARDS.
Haney wjo has worked with Becker usee campaign money to buy blicks of attacks from 49ers.
His consultant, Bearstar, ran the IE campaigns for Becker and against LG.
Bearstar was a grand jury witness in Becker felony investigation. Bearstar has heen hired to do an IE for Jain
The narrative put foward by Mr Vartan leaves out 2018. No big deal. But in 2018. JAIN AND BECKER MADE A DEAL
2016 Gillmor led a campaign against Blupac, the McGovern and 49er dark money group, which ran negative ads against Jain and Becker. The poa went after blupac. 2018, jain and becker sell their souls thr 49ers. We see in 2020, jain and becker get in with park. December 5th, jain brings those two with him to chandhok.