Outside of the City’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Arbor Day Celebration, there were few major public events in Santa Clara in April. Santa Clara’s City Council, however, stayed busy. Here’s how April shaped up for many of Santa Clara’s elected officials.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor
Santa Clara’s Mayor began her month with a park fees meeting with Pat Sausedo and Dennis Martin of BIA Bay Area, a building industry advocate, on April 2. She and Council Member Teresa O’Neill met with Jennifer Roman, the mother of the winner of the Miss Santa Clara scholarship, Caroline Roman, about the Miss Santa Clara Organization on April 3. Later that day Gillmor met with resident Jerry Patrigani about lawn bowling and on the 4th she met with residents Christiane Brown and Robin Schiessl about a Neighborhood Conservation and Improvement Program issue. Also on the 4th, Gillmor and Council Member Debi Davis met with Magical Bridge Foundation Executive Director Okenka Villarreal about Magical Bridge, which develops innovative and inclusive playgrounds.
On April 15, Gillmor met with residents Howard Myers and Rich Bonito regarding “El Camino Real updated and current legislation,” and on the 17th she and Davis met with Council Members from Saratoga (Mary-Lynne Bernald), Campbell (Liz Gibbons) and Los Gatos (Marico Sayoc) about “regional updates.” A day later, Gillmor met with resident Ritz Zorian for an “Armenian Community introduction.” She ended her month with representatives from Hunter Properties — President Deke Hunter, Chairman of the Board Ed Storm and Director of Development Josh Rupert — about the Gateway Crossings project.
Vice Mayor Patricia Mahan
Mahan only recorded two public meetings — a Council and Authorities Concurrent Meeting on the 23rd and Santa Clara Stadium Authority meeting on the 30th.
Council Member Kathy Watanabe
On April 4, Watanabe met with landlord Mark Katz regarding “tenant eviction,” but gives no additional details. A Google search came up with a “Mark Katz” as the founder, broker and property manager at CM Property Management in San Jose, but it is unclear as to if it’s the same Katz who met with Watanabe.
Watanabe spoke with NBC Bay Area reporter Roz Planter about street racing and side shows in Santa Clara on April 9 and only attended public meetings and events until the 26th when she had a meeting regarding Bloom Energy with Bloom Energy representatives Sam Schabaker, Josh Richman and Shane Peters. She ended her month on April 29 with an interview by Santa Clara University Student Catherine Newcomb about Santa Clara’s renewable energy program.
Council Member Raj Chahal
Chahal’s recorded meetings have slowly begun picking up with March and April proving to be busy months for the new Council Member. Chahal and new Council Member Karen Hardy teamed up for an introductory meeting with Rahul Chandhok, vice president of public affairs and strategic communications with the San Francisco 49ers on April 4.
He and Hardy again joined forces to meet with Related Executive Vice President Steve Eimer and Related’s lobbyist, Jude Barry of Catapult Strategies for a Related office visit on April 10. Additionally, Chahal had an introductory meeting with Congressman Ro Khanna on April 15. Chahal ended his month with a Bloom Energy meeting on April 26 that included Bloom Energy representatives Vipul Bhatnagar, Shabir Chowdhry, Richman, Bruce Kennedy, Suthitham Kusolasak and Schabacker.
Council Member Karen Hardy
The freshman Council Member only had one meeting of note not previously reported. She met with Ben Field of the South Bay Labor Council and Bill Fairweather of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees on April 17 regarding the Santa Clara Convention Center.
Council Member Teresa O’Neill
O’Neill began her April with a meeting on the 2nd with the Triton Museum of Art’s Jill Meyers and Preston Metcalf to discuss a grant received by the museum to promote arts in the community. O’Neill is an advisory member of the museum’s board of directors and has long supported the museum’s outreach and educational efforts.
Later that day, she met with residents Jim Crouch, Frank Lemmon, Donna West and Mary Grizzle about the “Downtown Specific Plan Request for Proposal.” On April 3, O’Neill met with Nicole Soultanov with SPUR (San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research) about the organization’s research for “the transformation of Diridon Station,” and a day later she recorded a meeting with resident Venicio Navarro to discuss volunteer opportunities in Santa Clara. Also on April 4, O’Neill recorded a meeting with Sunnyvale resident and candidate for County Supervisor Otto Lee about his upcoming campaign and resident Bob Brascher about traffic congestion.
A day later, O’Neill and San Jose Council Member Raul Peralez and Patrick Le of Tripshot met to discuss transportation management applications and on April 7 she held her monthly open meeting with residents.
O’Neill recorded two meeting with Barry — one on April 11 at 11 a.m. to tour the Related offices with Eimer and a lunch meeting at noon on that same day to discuss “Related City Place project progress and transportation issues.”
On April 15 she met with “local resident” Roland Lebrun about BART Phase II, BART Phase III and Transportation Options and Milligan Land Company, LLC’s Shawn Milligan and KT Urban’s Mark Tersini about the Patrick Henry specific plan. O’Neill also notched a meeting regarding the Santa Clara Convention Center with Field and Leo Wandlig of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees on April 18.
Four days later she met with Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, his policy aide Chris Zanardi and Santa Clara Unified School District Trustee Mark Richardson about the assessment appeal ruling on the 49ers property tax and later that day she met with Altamont Corridor Express’ Dan Leavitt and Corinne Winter of Winter and Associates for a presentation on the Silicon Valley Regional Rail Working Group. A day later she met with residents Saskia and Peter Feain and Assistant Police Chief Dan Winter about issues in “the community neighborhoods” and she ended her notable meetings on April 26 with Bloom Energy representatives.
Council Member Debi Davis
Davis’ only meeting not previously listed was one with Meyers and Metcalf to discuss the Triton Museum on April 4.
Visit http://santaclaraca.gov/government/public-calendars-of-certain-city-officials for a complete listing of all recorded meetings of Santa Clara’s City Council.