It wasn’t so long ago that Santa Clara public officials had nothing but love and kisses for the 49ers. In 2010 Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Council Members Debi Davis and Kathy Watanabe were among the roster of influential Santa Clara citizens who appeared in Yes on J television ads.
Measure J was the referendum on building Levi’s Stadium and creating a legal entity separate from the City, the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, to finance the construction and pay off that debt through revenues – including, seat licenses, naming rights and, yes, stadium rent.
To take a trip down memory lane visit YouTube: youtu.be/57F4_X2PIJU, youtu.be/-DohwKTYB5g and youtu.be/UBKN4j38L9U. You can also go back in time and watch the City Council meetings. SantaClaraCa.gov has meeting agendas back to 2003, and videos back to 2008, but you need to have the patience to manually search out the stadium discussions.
