Showing off their multiple talents on the field, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
They did it all with running, passing, and a determined defense destined to decimate and dominate.
The weather was cool, and the 49ers were hot, knocking off the conference-leading Chargers, demonstrating they are contenders against the best. In the football world, they are foes to be feared. In politics, well, they are better at football.
Meanwhile, in the Santa Clara election for mayor, the outcome will be like making a field goal as the clock expired.
Council Member Anthony Becker’s race for Mayor against incumbent Lisa Gillmor has been so close we are now into overtime.
Becker received heavy support from the 49ers PAC as he had demonstrated a willingness to work with them on stadium issues.
Gillmor, having become a household name over the past 30 years, was not denied, and it looks like she will return to the council and the mayor’s job for another four years. But it would be a mistake to ignore that a determined adversary with only two years on the council has come so close to winning the mayor’s office.
Now, it would be gracious of Gillmor to end her grudge against the 49ers, enjoy her victory and take up her role as a partner with them as the city contracts state.
Working with a partner is much healthier and more productive than being an adversary. Gillmor has demonstrated she is the voter’s choice. However, with a handful of votes separating her and Becker in this win, there is a message. Santa Clara wants Gillmor as Mayor and residents want collaboration.
This vote was not a mandate for malice. It was more for peace within the partnership.
It appears this is a great opportunity for both sides. Gillmor holds the City gavel, but residents have made clear they want cooperation.
The numbers in this election tell the story and provide both sides with opportunities.
It is time for the olive branch of cooperation to be offered up by both Mayor Gillmor and the 49ers.
Find a mutual objective, perhaps a project, and work jointly to make it successful. The election is over. Time to drop the hatchet, identify some common ground (like fixing the City budget) and jointly work together to make that happen.
Could you please lick the Niners’ cleats some more? The hatchet will be buried when the York family – not the 49ers – stops acting like they bought the city. No more closed-door meetings, no more trying to but city offices.
Miles,
Everything you have said to urge Gillmor to work as a partner with the Forty Niners should at least also be directed toward the Forty Niners. You have never done this and neither has your publication.
We had to go to arbitration to defend the rent that was owed to us and even got an increase. Instead of seeing this as a sign of the Forty Niners overreaching you ran an article that tried to defend the Forty Niners rent claim even after they lost it.
Will the Forty Niners finally be acting like true partners and sharing complete and original financial data access in a way that shows they respect the city as full partners in managing the stadium? Or will they still be forcing the city to trust whatever data they give to us to evaluate their management of the stadium?
With 90% of the vote counted, it appears Gillmor will win the election with less than 3% advantage. If Becker had walked his own district more maybe it could have swung in his favor and closed the gap. One thing is certain, Gillmor is no longer a cherished city-wide surname.
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All eyes are on 2024 when four city council districts will be up for election, Watanabe (Dist. 1), Park (Dist. 4), Jain (Dist. 5), and Becker (Dist. 6). Majority of the districts represented by Watanabe and Becker (1,6) voted for Gillmor; combination of the two districts represented by Park and Jain (4,5) appears to have been split evenly between the two mayoral candidates. A few things need to improve if positive change is to make an appearance by 2024…
• While maintaining already established good relations with his neighbors, Raj Chahal needs to become more influential in the north part of his district that was a tie for Gillmor in 2022.
• Becker should get his 10,000 steps in at least twice a week and make friends in his district that went to Gillmor (and work on his charm).
• There has got to be a business person living in District 1, possibly working in finance or accounting at a large reputable company (like Intel, Nvidia, AMD, ServiceNow), who can bring a lot more social grace, intelligence, independence, and professionalism to the council seat currently occupied by Watanabe. Hopefully such a person will come forward to represent ethnic equity and financial interests of his/her fellow community members. https://sanjosespotlight.com/asian-lawmaker-in-santa-clara-gets-snubbed-at-anti-asian-hate-event-by-his-colleague/
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And probably the most important item that needs to be put to vote before 2024 is amending the city’s charter from an elected police chief to an appointed police chief. We’ve seen locally the corruption, arrogance, and flippant attitude from now convicted Laurie Smith who, for decades, refused internally to investigate complaints against deputies which resulted in lowered morale, diminished community confidence, catastrophic injuries, death, and large financial settlements to victims and their families and, as a politician-chief-of-police (Sheriff), she refused to implement directives from the County Board of Supervisors and Blue Ribbon Commission. In replacing Smith’s resigned/convicted position, City of Santa Clara voters have done their part by selecting the outside candidate for our county’s next top cop over an internal candidate who came up through the same dishonored system residents are rejecting. Also lead by a politician-cop, Santa Clara Police Department has had the highest number of convicted cops (per police employment percentage) in the Bay Area, if not in all of Northern California or the State, and employs the least qualified police chief – this needs to change. An appointed police chief usually comes with an employment contract clearly defining objectives and benchmark’s to ensure the community’s needs are met. And unlike an elected chief/sheriff, when an appointed police chief runs afoul of the law or established policy it’s relative easy to fire them saving the community resources…
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2022 Police Chiefs Fired (or retired before they could be fired)
• https://mendovoice.com/2022/06/police-chief-noble-waidelich-fired-by-city-of-ukiah-but-criminal-allegations-remain-a-mystery/
• https://www.ktvu.com/news/police-chief-of-troubled-vallejo-police-department-resigns
• https://eastcountytoday.net/city-of-oakley-says-former-police-chief-fired-over-alleged-sexual-harrasment/
• https://account.sanluisobispo.com/paywall/subscriber-only?resume=265835146&intcid=ab_archive
• https://www.sgvtribune.com/2022/07/25/irwindale-police-chief-retires-ahead-of-personnel-investigation/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/21/mississippi-police-chief-recording-fired-dobbins/