Milestones – Sanity Returns! – Opinion

When voters said they endured enough of the rogue actions of Mayor Lisa Gillmor and her council majority, voters responded. Residents were riled up and decided they were not going to take any more dumb decisions.

Voters changed the dynamic in Santa Clara and the drain on our City budget where the plug was pulled on Gillmor and her council majority.

The new council brought a remarkable result. For the last two years, the council has worked to restore fiscal integrity.

The current council majority is made up of Raj Chahal, Suds Jain, Kevin Park, Karen Hardy and Anthony Becker. They took almost immediate action upon obtaining the majority. They terminated the overpaid, autocratic City Manager Deanna Santana, terminated controversial attorney Brian Doyle, who cost the city millions, and began work on the budget.

Holding onto a vision of the past, however, is the mayor and her faithful follower Kathy Watanabe. We could not find any item ever voted on where Watanabe took an opposing position to Mayor Gillmor.

Watanabe is not a collaborator, nor is she a team player. She is a Gillmor follower and reliably votes the same way as the mayor. What is really disturbing is her actions and behavior toward her fellow council members. She does not acknowledge them, no friendly greeting at council meetings and no indication that she has any appreciation for any council member not in the Gillmor camp.

This is most unfortunate. Watanabe’s surliness is a detraction at council meetings and not representative of her constituency. There are some great folks in her district on the Northside. They deserve better representation.

While Levi’s Stadium continues to be an item as to noise, parking and people, the stadium does sit empty more than it’s active. Watanabe speaks loudly for the anti-stadium group as if this was the only issue in her district.

The Northside has the last open land to be developed in the City. Residents deserve collaborative and objective representation on city council.

With her fixation on the stadium and the 49ers, it does not appear that Watanabe is the best choice for visualizing the opportunities available in the Northside build out.

Her unwillingness to work with her colleagues speaks of a personal bias that does not reflect what is best for Santa Clara.

Over the coming decade, the Northside will become home to billions being spent on new projects and infrastructure.

Santa Clara needs council representation that can work with other council members and staff, collaborate and apply a vision that works for the entire community.