By Brian Doyle
Although I have been critical of Suds Jain in the past, I did not sign the original recall notice to start the recall campaign to remove him as the Santa Clara District 5 Council representative.
Now that the signature gathering has begun, I have decided to add my name to the petition. My decision-making is quite straightforward: Mr. Jain has utterly failed to represent the interests of the residents of his district.
One of the main issues that the district has focused on is the restoration of the City’s original downtown. Although Mr. Jain will point to his efforts to promote the rezoning of the area, he is clueless about how to actually get anything done. At the same time, he has wasted tens of thousands of City dollars on his vindictive efforts to make the current few business owners in what’s left of downtown pay more for the public parking lots located there.
Reviving downtown requires understanding the financing of commercial and residential development. Instead of listening to the downtown businesses about how they have been able to survive in the area, he persists in throwing up roadblocks to creating a financially welcoming environment.
Mr. Jain has also consistently facilitated the 49ers in their efforts to minimize their share of the financial burdens that their management of publicly owned Levi’s Stadium has required. In an effort to provide him with a better understanding of the 49ers’ shortcomings, I met with him. In that meeting, whenever I began to express my views, he cut me off with canned 49er talking points. When I discussed other areas that the district residents were interested in, such as the downtown, the senior center, the libraries, and the swim center re-opening, he similarly dismissed my remarks with an “I know better” attitude.
In addition to fundamentally rejecting his duty to actually represent the residents of his district, Mr. Jain, I believe, has no recognizable ethical compass. His coverup and then defense of Anthony Becker’s crime, his refusal to question the serious conflicts of interest that the 49ers have committed, and his thwarting of any kind of independent ethics commission are all failures to ethically represent District 5 residents.
Brian Doyle is the former Santa Clara City Attorney.
Reply to Adam Thompson, (the blog doesn’t always allow a liked reply)
We disagree on many things but you do make some solid points, such as:
-Super Bowl that will held in Santa Clara but celebrated in San Francisco
-the city doesn’t hold developers accountable and won’t let even a bad one fail.
-FIFA, something that will most likely cost the city more than it brings in
-bonds (loans from taxpayers) to complete millions of deferred maintenance
-and the police and fire being an uncontrolled sponge sucking up the budge
-gutting SVP and allowing adjacent cities time to compete with data center and power demands.
Thank you Brian. Wish I could sign but don;t live in district 5. But things Suds has done and not done has affected the whole city. For instance, his giving in to what ever the 49ers wanted. Those moves have cost the city millions. Sincerely, Lee B
I have been involved in Santa Clara, specifically the downtown and District 5 issues for over a decade. I led the effort with The Old Quad Residents Association to negotiate a land swap with the Prometheus to return Franklin and Washington St. to the City, helped develop the Precise Plan and Form Based code that will guide development in the downtown and create a community gathering place, worked to improve recent developments (by increasing Park Land dedications, increasing affordable unit counts, improved the architecture, etc.).
Suds has been accessible responsive and collaborative at every point during that time to help Santa Clara get the BEST it could from each effort. He has pushed back with VTA/BART to get much needed design changes to improve the station and make it work for Santa Clara. We don’t always agree but he is in no way disconnected from his community and the issues they struggle with.
When Mr. Doyle was the city attorney he was not responsive or collaborative with me on the effort of the easement agreement. He in fact never responded to multiple follow-ups on the topic and I was fortunate enough to be able to work with council and other city leaders to get the deal finalized. Although, I do not doubt he has a good moral compass (I have seen it in council), I just don’t think he liked working with the residents to work through issues. Mr. Doyle has not been involved in the Downtown prior, during, or after his tenure as City Attorney per my experience and discussions with the decision makers.
Suds has been donating his time for as long as I have known him to make things better in Santa Clara. He has his opinions, priorities, and objectives as a Santa Clara City Council member (that’s politics) but I can garauntee they all involve what is “BEST” for Santa Clara as the center focus.
We should be helping each other achieve the common goal of rebuilding Santa Clara’s downtown and making Santa Clara a better place overall. This inward fighting only allows outside entities like developers, 49ers, and others to take our value from us for themselves.
We need to move past the “Santa Clara Way” family politics that continue to strangle our city and its goverment . . .
Mr. Thompson, I believe your criticism of my efforts with respect to the easements for the downtown grid are misplaced. I promptly provided appropriate legal services at the direction of Council and staff. I am surprised that you have a different perception. Be that as it may, my point was that Downtown is no closer to being built, and Mr Jain’s hostility toward the current business owners has not helped foster an appropriate environment towards its viability and has diverted too much of staff’s resources to that could have been more beneficially used toward accomplishing a goal which you and I both share. There is much that you don’t know about my efforts with respect to downtown development. If you would like to learn, I would be happy to get together with you.
My perception of effort is based on my experiences and interactions with you during negotiations for the street easements and the Republic Metropolitan development at the train station. I sent multiple requests for confirmation on entitlement rights about the approved Irvine proposal vs Prometheus’ rights at that time. I did not receive a response from you over (5) requests and about a year of time. For Metropolitain you at least responded but dodged the question and stayed quite through the council session.
I know you were Council’s council and not the people but the questions asked only helped to protect and improve the city and ultimately put the city in zero legal jeopardy.
City Managment since Julio has overcharged and underserved our city. Their lack of vision, passion, and ability to get things done does not align with thier inflated salaries. The current city managment is no different, in fact it is worse IMO, a lot.
You want to know why downtown isn’t done?
Because the city Manager is out trying to buy/trade for the Oracle site at the old Agnews Hospital to relocate City Hall!!
https://santaclara.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7708659&GUID=0A471676-B588-4CFA-8D6B-35961FB5AE5A&Options=&Search=
They are focused to on a Super Bowl that will held in Santa Clara but celebrated in San Francisco.
They are focused on renegotiating development agreements for the Agrihiod property and Gateway Crossings because the city doesn’t hold developers accountable and won’t let even a bad one fail.
They are focused on FIFA, something that will most likely cost the city more than it brings in due to a lack of places to stay, shop, and eat. Most attendees of the events will stay, party, and spend outside the city limits where there are more ammenities.
They are focused on getting bonds (loans from taxpayers) to complete millions of deferred maintenance and overfund our police and fire budgets that already consume over 50% of the city’s annual operating budget.
They are focused on gutting SVP and allowing adjacent cities time to compete with data center and power demands.
Not to mention there is still some political resistance to rebuilding downtown.
I know why the downtown isn’t done, it has nothing to do with Suds.
The parking fee fiasco to my understanding was not Suds idea. It was staffs because there is a larger parking analysis being completed for other areas of the city and this was included. It is something that will need to happen but it is more important to create the demand and place first before gouging potential attendees.
I am always willing to meet with anyone that wants to talk and work on Downtown. Almost everyone in town has my number and email, reach out if you really care about downtown. I am sure we can learn more from one another to help the cause.
No hard feelings just want to stop fighting internally and get a win for Santa Clara.
Adam – based on your statement it seems you are equally responsible for the lack of a downtown. And form base code? That put the nail in the coffin to downtown growth! No developer is going to come near especially if you and the ROD are controlling the development.
One thing we agree on is the 49er influenced city manager and attorney with stars in their eyes.
Btw didn’t you move?
To “The Other Adam” . . . It is hard to take a comment or opinion from someone who is not willing to identify themselves properly. I don’t know of another Adam that has been involved in the Downtown effort or even one that has attended meetings or provided input along the way . . . So it is more likely you are a “plant” to spin the narrative that having a plan is a BAD thing. Sounds like the “Santa Clara Way” of giving away value parcel by parcel vs holding to a plan that builds and strengthens our community.
It easy to throw doubt on a processes that has not been completed. The city council approved both the Precise Plan and Form Based code on December 4th 2023. In the two years since what has been done?
The short answer is not much . . . They have not completed the infrastructure impact fee analysis, they have not completed the NEXUS for the density bonus plan, and they have not written/posted the RFP for the city of need land along Lafyette. They have ended the lease for the office structure and moved the businesses in peddlers plaza to shorter terms.
The only reason some movement was finally made was by ROD pushing council and staff to follow through with the commitment and priority to rebuild Downtown. Thanks Dan & Mary + Team!!
We need to proceed with the plan to offer the city owned land in the DT up for development to see if the market conditions will allow it to get built. If we do not receive responses or do not get what we need/want then we can internally discuss and adjust or wait until a better time. If you think allowing developers to submit what “works best” for them is a better strategy then you don’t have Santa Clara’s interest as a priority.
I am open to a bigger discussion about the challenges and steps to get Downtown going but need to understand who I am having the discussion with. I am open about who I am and am not afraid of the criticism since I have put in the work and time to understand the market, what is needed to make it a success, and the process to get there.
Yes, Brian doesn’t take the gloves off often, he doesn’t have to. But when he does…
Ahhh….Adam Thompson responds: It easy to throw doubt on a processes that has not been completed. The city council approved both the Precise Plan and Form Based code on December 4th 2023. In the two years since what has been done?
The short answer is not much . . .
So he agrees Suds has done zero, zilch, nada.
Mr. Thompson hasn’t confirmed that he DOES NOT live in Santa Clara.
When Mr. Doyle speaks… he will always have my ear.
Both he and Mrs. Santana always had Santa Clara’s BEST Interest at the core of their decisions.
So remind me why they were both fired?
What were the reasons?
Yea, sadly that reason is now laughable. They were saving us money….imagine that, they were actually working for our City.
Just The Facts Ma’am
Mr Doyle was treated unfairly and contrary to the law.
In December 2020. Jain and Caserta texted each other about how to fire Doyle
I stand by my comments regarding this.
Mr. Doyle has rights and they were violated.
Jain committed numerous acts if councilmanic interference. Civil Grand is reviewing my complaint filed several weeks ago.
Jain is a living violation of ethics and values.
Well said.