By Robert Haugh
The Franklin Mall paid parking controversy is back.
Tonight, the Santa Clara City Council is scheduled to consider budget amendments that would move $180,000 into a new “Public Facilities Paid Parking” project for a parking study at Franklin Square.
That means an idea many downtown business owners, shoppers, and nearby residents already fought over is not gone. It is back in front of the Council, this time buried inside a budget amendment.
In a Santa Clara News Online op-ed, District 5 resident David Kertes blasted the effort and warned it could hurt both Franklin Mall and the Farmers Market.
“Just as foot traffic is returning to these vital community spaces, implementing paid parking could significantly deter visitors,” Kertes wrote.
SCNO previously reported that Councilmember Suds Jain pushed for paid parking at Franklin Mall and later public meetings on the proposal.
At one meeting, Jain would not take responsibility for the idea and remained quiet when residents criticized City staff at a public meeting.
A lot of Jain’s residents signed a recall petition against him, citing his paid parking push and ignoring neighborhood issues as a major reason.
Kertes, who was organizing the recall, stopped the effort to run for mayor.
The item was pulled from the March 10 consent calendar and continued to tonight’s meeting.
Staff says the funding would pay for a study of paid parking options for the City-owned lots at Franklin Square.
Five yes votes are required to approve it.
[…] The item had already been pulled from the March 10 consent calendar and continued once before. […]
Suds aka Roger Kint is on a writing spree.
Can’t even use his own name for fear of
attacks or allow responses.
You’ve lost your friends, you attack the city manager and city attorney. There’s no one you like. Especially the Mayor.
Honestly. Just move. No one is going to like you if this parking project is put through tonight.
No one.
can’t make this stuff up.
read suds/roger’s diatribe
on all the people they
hate, the claims against
people with no proof.
must be good to be you,
suds/roger.
NO! WHO’s paying for all the studies?
Your tax dollars.
Will the council and Suds Jain ever learn? Why will many on the council not listen to residents? Some just want to keep wasting money.
Back in October 2025, more than 100 residents attended the meeting and overwhelmingly said “No” to paid parking. Only one person supported it — Councilmember Suds Jain — and even he did not speak in favor of it.
This proposal is a bad deal for Santa Clara. It will lose money, push overflow parking into surrounding neighborhoods, and hurt the small businesses at Franklin Mall and the Saturday Farmers Market. And despite the impact on residents, the City never conducted a proper survey to gather community feedback.
What makes this even more frustrating is the inconsistency. Councilmember Jain is willing to spend $180,000 on a parking plan residents do not want, yet he opposed spending a similar amount to return the Fourth of July fireworks to Central Park — something residents overwhelmingly did want.
Tonight, the Council has an opportunity to correct course. Several members failed to listen to residents on the fireworks location and on the $20 million decision to move City Hall. That pattern of not listening is exactly why I am running for Mayor of Santa Clara this November.
The Council now have the chance to show residents that their voices matter.
Vote No on paid parking at Franklin Mall.
Show the community that you hear them — and that their input still counts in this city.
Just show up and say No!
Let’s learn from the mistakes
of Suds Jain and his 49er 5
cronies and the greedy 49ers
who stacked the deck with
them to control our city.
No to paid parking!
Use that $180k and invest in
what residents want! A DOWNTOWN!