Santa Clara City Council: How Members Spent March

March was light for most Council Members, but there are a few notable items to report.

Related Companies
One interesting tidbit on Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s calendar is the two-day trip, March 13-15, she, City Manager Deanna Santana and Assistant City Manager Ruth Shikada took to tour New York’s Hudson Yards, a Related Companies project that will serve as the model for Santa Clara’s City Place.

The issue isn’t that Gillmor took the trip; it’s that her calendar lists a vague “The Related Companies Staff” and “City Place Architects” instead of naming names. As such, this calendar listing violates City Ordinance 1950 which states, “Each non-internal city-related appointment must include the following information: name(s), title(s) and affiliated organization(s) and a general statement of the issues discussed.” Because Related is a developer with business in Santa Clara, and lobbyist(s) registered on its behalf, it’s vital to City Hall transparency that names of attendees be listed. Neither Gillmor nor Santana’s calendar lists the names of non-staff who accompanied the Mayor and City Manager on this trip.

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Mayor Lisa Gillmor
The Mayor met with Nick Kaspar, President and CEO of the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce and Board Member Christian Pellechia regarding “Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce Events” on March 8, and Parks and Recreation Director James Teixeira along with Recreation Supervisor Maureen Grzan-Pieracci and Cultural Commissioner Debra Von Huene on March 18 to discuss the Cultural Commission Arts and Culture Master Plan Update. She also notched a meeting with Adam Thompson, president of the Old Quad Association and resident Rob Mayer about the Gateway Crossings project on March 18, Santa Clara High School student Vincent Nguyen for an interview on Santa Clara’s diversity and sanctuary cities on March 25 and Shen Wenzu of the Chinese Delegation for a debrief after the THRIVE Innovation Summit on March 27.

Council Member Kathy Watanabe
Watanabe kept a busy calendar, meeting with Police Activities League board members regarding the BMX track on March 1, and with Council Member Debi Davis and Santa Clara Sister Cities Association’s (SCSCA) Chigusa Katoku about SCSCA programs on March 7 (not listed on Davis’ calendar). On March 11 she met with Hunter Properties for a Gateway Crossings project update and three days later had a meeting with Kylli, Inc. to discuss the proposed mixed use development project at 3005 Democracy Way.

Watanabe backed those two developer meetings with two meetings with residents on March 16 when she met with Megan Swartzwelder about the Planning Commission vacancy and Vandana Vpadhaya about “city issues.” She met with SCSCA’s Tino Silva about interviews for the Japan trip with SCSCA and Youth Commission on March 16 and with John Cordes with the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition about the Santa Clara Bike Master Plan on March 21. A day later she ended her non-public meeting and event items by meeting with residents Jim Crouch, Ron Dunham and Donna West about Reclaiming Our Downtown.

Council Member Raj Chahal
After getting a bit of a slow start and almost exclusively recording public meetings and events his first few months on Council, Chahal had a couple meetings of note for March, starting with his March 11 meeting with former-Council Member Kevin Moore, attorney Rob Mezzetti and Bom Mendelsohn of Republic Metropolitan about the Santa Clara Station project. He also had an introductory meeting with Sunnyvale’s Mayor Larry Klien on March 12 and notched a meeting with Kylli, Inc. on the 14th about the 3005 Democracy Way project.

Council Member Karen Hardy
Hardy maintained a calendar of only public meetings and events in March.

Council Member Teresa O’Neill
Many of O’Neill’s non-public meetings and events continued to focus on Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), of which she sits on the board, and a variety of committees. O’Neill began March with a meeting on the 3rd with Civil Service Commissioner John Casey and resident Dolores Ramos for a “general discussion,” and recorded a meeting with Hunter Properties on the 11th regarding Gateway Crossings.

She also met with Silva, who sits on the Parks and Recreation Commission, about “Santa Clara government” and the Executive Director of Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority (SVACA), Dan Sozynski about SVACA programs and management on March 25. She was interviewed by Boy Scout member Patrick Scott and his father, Gregory, about the “local government merit badge” on the 26th and ended her March with a Santa Clara Schools Foundation (SCSF) meeting on the 28th with Santa Clara Unified School District’s (SCUSD) Steve Neese and SCSF Board Member Kevin Heller.

Vice Mayor Patricia Mahan
Mahan’s only meeting of note occurred on March 25 when she met with Hunter Properties for a Gateway Crossings project update.

Council Member Debi Davis
Davis kept busy with public meetings, committee meetings and events, but reported no additional meetings of note for March.

View all calendars at http://santaclaraca.gov/government/public-calendars-of-certain-city-officials

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