July proved to be a busy month for Santa Clara’s elected officials and included a review of City Manager Deanna Santana, the return of Related Lobbyist Jude Barry and the start of Pat Nikolai’s campaign to be appointed police chief.
Each Santa Clara Council Member participated in a governance session check-in and City Manager performance review with Jan Perkins of Management Partners in July. Additionally, Barry had a solo meetings with Mayor Lisa Gillmor on July 12 regarding City Place. Nikolai, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for police chief against Mike Sellers in 2016, met with multiple Council Members regarding the upcoming police chief vacancy including: Kathy Watanabe on July 8, Raj Chahal on July 17 and Teresa O’Neill on July 2.
Missing was a meeting with Gillmor, who was Nikolai’s strongest supporter during the 2016 election; notably saying at a campaign event that he would remove the “stench” from Santa Clara.
Here’s how the rest of July shaped up for City Council.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor
On July 7, Gillmor met with Old Quad Association President Adam Thompson about the massive Gateway Crossing project. A day later, she had a second meeting about the project with Hunter Properties’ Josh Rupert and Ed Storm.
Gillmor recorded a meeting with Santana, San Jose Vice Mayor Chappie Jones and staff regarding the Innovation Zone/Stevens Creek corridor on July 12. She had meetings with resident Dan Ondrasek about the “downtown train station area” on July 18 and July 31. The Mayor met with the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, South Bay Labor Council and UA Local Union 393 about the City Place/Related project on July 29 and had a meeting with Catalyze SV’s Executive Director Alex Shoor about the advocacy group on July 31.
Vice Mayor Patricia Mahan, District 5
No meetings of note.
Katha Watanabe, District 1
Watanabe’s meetings included one on July 12 with Common Networks’ Business Development Director Hala Hijazi about the company and a City Place tour with Related Companies’ Steve Eimer. Korean delegates, including the Mayor of Icheon, Consul and Consul General of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea, as well as members of the Silicon Valley Korean American Federation met with Watanabe on July 17. The group also took a tour of Nvidia and Nvidia’s Endeavor campus and participated in an Icheon Friendship City Dinner attended by Gillmor, Davis, Chahal, O’Neill, Assemblymember Kansen Chu, City staff, and Santa Clara County’s Undersheriff Rick Sung.
Additionally, Watanabe had a meeting on July 17 with the River Terrace Apartments, located off Montague Expressway and Agnew Road, about Levi’s Stadium events. Home First Shelter’s Kelcy Fleming met with the Council Member about policies and procedures for residents on July 20. She also had a meeting with Abode Services Program Manager Tu Voung regarding new projects for homeless housing on July 24. Watanabe notched a meeting with Charter Review Committee District 1 member Ben Cooley about the Charter Review Committee and community survey on July 26 and met with Gillmor, Santana and Chu to discuss legislative updates, state budget and the cryptic “matters of mutual interest” on July 30.
Raj Chahal, District 2
Chahal had a busier than usual calendar that included a meeting with Hunter Storm’s Rupert and Santa Clara Police Activities League (PAL) Board Member — and Vice President of Operations for developer Rudolph and Sletten — John Elwood about the Hunter Storm development on July 9. He had a meeting with Santa Clara’s Assistant Chief of Police Dan Winter about the police chief opening on July 11 and a meeting with resident Michael Bierman regarding car break-ins and neighborhood issues on July 19. Chahal had an “introduction meeting” with a resident listed only as “M. Kumar” on July 23 and meeting with the Building and Construction Trades Council regarding Related Companies and labor relations on July 25.
Karen Hardy, District 3
Hardy began her July with a Gateway Crossings site visit with Rupert on July 1. She followed it with a meeting with Revitalizing our Downtown’s Ondrasek, Skip Pearson, Ana Vargas-Smith and Mary Grizzle about the organization on July 2. She met with Santa Clara business owner Paul Mann regarding the City’s sign ordinance on July 6. Hardy had a meeting regarding “city issues” with President of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce Nick Kasper on July 15. On July 26, she met with Santa Clara Unified School District’s new Superintendent Dr. Stella Kemp and met with resident Kevin Park about “city issues” on the same day.
Teresa O’Neill, District 4
O’Neil, as in months’ past, kept a busy July that included multiple Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority (VTA) meetings and began with a July 2 meeting with Revitalizing Our Downtown members.
She additionally met with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition to discuss the El Camino Real Plan, Bicycle Master Plan and VTA Measure B on July 3. She held her monthly resident meeting on July 7 and had phone calls regarding Gateway Crossings with Old Quad Residents Association’s Thompson on July 7 and 9. She also met with Tanvi Gupta of EndPlasticBottles.org regarding sustainability on July 15.
On July 18, O’Neill met with former City Clerk Rod Diridon, Jr., now government affairs manager at Apple, to discuss “private sector’s role in helping manage community issues.” Ten days later, on July 28, O’Neill had a meeting with consultant Corinne Winter of Winter and Associates regarding regional and Santa Clara County transportation planning efforts. O’Neill ended her July with a meeting with the members of the Building and Construction Trades Council regarding Related Santa Clara/City Place on July 30.
Debi Davis, District 6
No meetings of note.
For a complete list of Council Member meetings, visit http://santaclaraca.gov/government/public-calendars-of-certain-city-officials