By Robert Haugh
Tonight, the City will kick off plans for paid parking at Franklin Mall. Notices were sent out to property owners a few weeks ago that informed them that the City will be contacting vendors for proposals to install paid parking.
Interestingly, the surrounding neighbors like the Old Quad weren’t informed at all. They are the homeowners who will be directly impacted when parking gets pushed into neighborhoods.
But most interestingly, the man behind this whole thing, Councilmember Suds Jain, isn’t even mentioned in the notices. And paid parking has been Jain’s obsession for a few years.
Jain’s push for paid parking began in 2022, when he first floated the idea of charging for parking at various city facilities.
In a City Council meeting that year, he proposed studying paid parking at locations like the Convention Center, Community Center, and Library.
Jain’s vague proposal had little detail and was met with confusion by City staff, but it set the stage for his ongoing interest in paid parking.
Then, in May 2024, Jain revived his efforts for paid parking. This time, specifically targeted at the Franklin Mall.
Jain argued that the City was losing $138,000 a year to maintain the parking lot, while the mall property owners paid only $14,000 under an existing long-term agreement. Jain lashed out, calling the property owners “greedy” for not paying more. He suggested the mall owners could just “raise their prices” to help cover the City’s costs.
Of course, Jain ignored City staff who told him that the property owners were voluntarily paying the City to offset the City’s cost for upkeep. And the parking lot is a municipal facility that’s also used for important city events.
Jain didn’t care and pushed for terminating the contract with the owners, even though City staff warned that doing so could result in a loss of revenue for the City. His motion to terminate the contract failed, so Jain pivoted and called for a paid parking study.
(Editor’s Note: Mayor Lisa Gillmor owns one building in the Franklin Square property, so she could not participate in the discussion or vote on the issue.)
City staff has made it clear that they do not support the paid parking proposal. They expressed concern that paid parking would hurt the Farmers Market, a popular event at the Franklin Mall. Jain’s move could drive away customers who rely on free parking.
City Staff also warned that the move could result in more cars parking in surrounding residential neighborhoods like in the Old Quad, creating parking headaches for residents.
Despite these concerns, Jain is continuing to push forward with his plan, ignoring the staff’s objections.
Santa Clara News Online reached out to Jain for clarification in May 2024 on his push for paid parking. Jain’s email responses that were printed verbatim in the story were vague and evasive.
Jain was also asked about the impact on local businesses and residents. His response? “I pay for parking when I visit downtown San Jose, Redwood City, San Francisco, and Berkeley.”
When questioned about nearby cities like Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, and Campbell, that offer free parking and are the model for Reclaiming Our Downtown, Jain did not answer.
Unfortunately, Jain won’t answer these questions tonight. He will be at a City Council meeting. Of course, it would have made sense for Jain to schedule this meeting when he could attend. But nothing about Jain’s effort makes sense.
Here’s the notice and the meeting details:
Here is another dumb idea coming out of a city council member. Who is going to pay to go there? Ideas like this is why Santa Clara does not have a downtown, now completely kill Franklin Mall, ignorant idea.
[…] Tuesday, City staff met with property owners to discuss the Suds Jain Paid Parking Plan at Santa Clara’s Franklin […]
Very premature to charge for parking when there is not much going on in and around Franklin Mall. While we try to support the businesses there, to pay for parking just to run into UPS, the Post Office, or even for dinner is a deterrent. This will also force parking onto nearby streets, impacting the residents. Oh wait, that never really matters to them anyway!
Is Suds Jain the most dishonest politician in Santa Clara history?
I’ll say this for Suds, once he gets his head firmly planted in his rear end, he doesn’t come up for air. That is, once he becomes obsessed with something he doesn’t seem to be able to see anything else.
Direct Questiom to Robert Haugh
Please name one business downtown put in by Suds Jain
Al Ruffo, who was he?
Ruffo was the son of the founder of 49ers. Ruffo Properties was located in Franklin Square. They pledged to their tenants
Free Parking
I was not put in by Suds Jains. We have owned one of the building since 1965 and I located my office in it in order to take care of it. Al Ruffo was my father. “Goggle” him if you want to know who he was.
James
1965 business owners were promised free parking in Franklin Square. Jackson Street Plaza business owners promised free parking.
Restaurant planners in 1990s encouraged to come to Franklin Square with guarantees of free parking.
Join has pledged to go after parking for transit advicates.
We were promised we wouldn’t have to pay for our permits for resident only parking when it was implemented in my neighborhood. That lasted 1 year. Now we pay $31.00 per vehicle and I’m in a constant battle to even get the police to get out here and ticket unpermitted cars
To James Ruffo. I apologize. But, do you favor charging for parking? Your patents were great people as are you. Why would we want to charge for parking? It would kill Franklin Square.
So just to “tap the brakes”.
If I am reading this correctly, every business in this area is voluntarily chipping in to pay the City $14K a year to help maintain this small parking lot.
Sounds like a good, arrangements for both parties.
Our City gets revenue and our Business District gets patrons.
Isn’t that the #1 goal of any Business District?
My advice here is to let Suds do his best to showcase his vast intelligence, and at the same time, his true allegiance.
The “Stadium Authority” is where our City needs to be looking to increase our Cities revenue. Not some small commercial parking lot, that is already doing more for our City than Levi Stadium has ever done.
Time is not our Friend here. So given that, let’s spend our valuable time to make our City better for the residence, and the guest who visit us.
Burt Field
78′ Buchser High Grad
I believe Suds is also the one that pushed to have the fountain turned off at Franklin Square. The fountain made the area so inviting, especially during the Farmer’s Market. We want to draw more people to Santa Clara, and an empty fountain just doesn’t help.
Palo Alto, free parking in downtown. 2012 Jain insisted in downtown plans for Santa Clara to mimic Palo Alto. 1965, sc residents promised free parking for Franklin Square
We do not favor paid parking. We have kept our rents” below market” in order to keep our tenants in business. Charging for parking could create all kinds of secondary problem.
This will kill any future historical downtown we have in mind for Santa Clara. It’s also putting the cart before the horse if we ever break ground on a new downtown. Much like paving the street then having to rip it up for a water project that was known about beforehand. Who would be getting these contracts and how much “kickback” will Jain get?
Personally, I won’t go places that I have to pay to park unless it’s state or national parks.