As election season heats up, Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Councilmember Kathy Watanabe want voters to believe the 49ers are solely to blame for every financial issue tied to Levi’s Stadium. But this narrative conveniently omits Gillmor’s own role in saddling Santa Clara taxpayers with ballooning stadium costs. Even more galling, Gillmor and her council colleagues didn’t just sign a bad deal in 2011—they also tried to silence public opposition when they faced backlash. In 2012, after residents gathered enough signatures to demand a public vote on the agreement, Gillmor and her allies sued their own constituents to prevent that vote, disregarding the voices of those she was elected to represent.
Back in 2007, when the 49ers first approached Santa Clara seeking a public subsidy for the stadium, many residents raised alarms about the risks of such a deal. Several of us formed a grassroots organization, Santa Clara Plays Fair, to oppose a public subsidy for a football stadium, and I chaired this organization for many years. Our fears proved justified. In December 2011, then-Councilmember Gillmor and her colleagues approved a stadium lease that capped public safety reimbursement at a paltry $170,000 per game, with only a 4% increase each year. This lowball cap was set before the stadium had even hosted a single event—without any basis in the real costs of managing a full stadium. And to make matters worse, Gillmor’s council didn’t include any provision to renegotiate that figure if costs exceeded the cap, which they immediately did. For years, Santa Clara has borne the brunt of these skyrocketing expenses.
Then, when residents acted to address these failures by gathering signatures to put the issue to a public vote, Gillmor’s response was not to listen but to litigate. Instead of heeding their voices, she and her council chose to sue her constituents to avoid facing the ballot box, disregarding their concerns and doubling down on a flawed deal.
In stark contrast, today’s City Council majority has taken concrete steps to mitigate the damage of the 2011 agreement. They renegotiated with the 49ers to more than double the reimbursement for public safety—a crucial improvement, though the figure still doesn’t cover every expense. This council also capped the costly buffet charges for stadium catering that, under the original deal, could have included anything from caviar to lobster, with Santa Clara footing the bill. Thanks to the diligence of this council majority, residents are finally getting some relief from the reckless deal Gillmor championed.
Gillmor and Watanabe, however, continue to stoke anti-49ers sentiment, ignoring their own central role in creating the problem. They conveniently forget that the current council majority has stepped up to fix these issues, demonstrating what responsible leadership looks like by protecting the city’s financial interests where Gillmor and her allies failed.
Santa Clara deserves leaders willing to listen to their constituents and accept accountability for past mistakes. While the current City Council majority has delivered substantial improvements through hard-won negotiations, Gillmor and Watanabe have remained mired in deflection, blaming others for a mess they helped create. If they truly cared about Santa Clara’s future, they’d acknowledge the hard work of the council majority that’s finally correcting course on the stadium deal.
Our city deserves leaders who embrace public input instead of suing to silence it. Thanks to the current City Council majority, we now have a stadium deal that’s better aligned with our community’s needs and interests—a responsible approach Gillmor and Watanabe refused to take when they had the chance.
*Michele Ryan is the former chair of Santa Clara Plays Fair.