According to Santa Clara City Council October calendars, it appears as if Santa Clara’s elected officials are starting to wind down their activities for the year. Outside of a number of public meetings and events, there were few notable finds, but here’s how October looked for City Council.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor
Gillmor kept a relatively light October, straying from her usual busy schedule somewhat and, although she participated in a few fun events like meeting with Don Callejon’s Lego League Student Club and providing a City Hall tour for a Cub Scouts Webelos Pack, there were a few notable meetings.
Her first notable meeting wasn’t until Oct. 10 when she met with the Triton Museum of Art’s Jill Meyers and Preston Metcalf to discuss the Triton’s luncheon. Her next meeting of interest was on Oct. 24 when she had a meeting regarding a TCS application for signage with S5 Advisory, JLL, PGIM and Digitate. A day later, she met with resident Hansol Kim to discuss a massage establishment ordinance. Two resident meetings on Oct. 28 followed, one with Mr. and Mrs. Mark Shaw about Saint Claire school matters and one with Mario Samora about Santa Clara Unified School District field user fees. Gillmor ended her month by meeting with Sanjeev Acharya of SiliconSage Builders about the North San Jose development on Oct. 31.
Kathy Watanabe (D1)
Watanabe also participated in some community activities like the rally to save Rivermark’s Posh Bagel and giving a City Hall tour to a Girl Scout troop, but she, too, had a few meetings to note.
On Oct. 1, she met with John Cordes of Bike Silicon Valley about the El Camino Real plan and on the 9th she met with business owner Ron Patrick about neighborhood issues. She followed those appointments by meeting with a representative from Congressman Ro Khanna’s office about the Quiet Skies Caucus on Oct. 11 and with Posh Bagel’s Terry Eng about Eng’s lease on Oct. 12. Her last meeting of note was Oct. 20 when she met with resident Tom Freitas regarding an airport roundtable.
Raj Chahal (D2)
Chahal had no notable meetings in October.
Karen Hardy (D3)
Hardy’s only mentionable meeting occurred on Oct. 25 when she met with Rahul Chandhok with the San Francisco 49ers to discuss stadium operations.
Teresa O’Neill (D4)
O’Neill started her October meeting with Damien Newton of Streetsblog about VTA on the 2nd. She participated in an introduction meeting with Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s Vince Rocha on Oct. 10 and met with members of VTA regarding affordable housing and transit-oriented development on Oct. 21. Most of her remaining meetings were public.
Vice Mayor Patricia Mahan (D5)
Mahan met with Rahul Chandhok with the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 25 to discuss stadium operations. All other meetings were public.
Debi Davis (D6)
Davis only participated in public meetings and events in October.
Is alarm permits, and alarm response, and program management, another demonstration of “quid-pro-quo”, aka “something-for-something”, “collusion”? Think about it…. The city is providing local police resources to a private interest group (alarm industry) in exchange for a source of revenue (false alarm fines/fees/permits for their private deterrent alarm customers). Now planning to outsource management tasks to the private interest group in exchange for higher fines and fees. This “quid-pro-quo” can also compromise municipal sovereign immunity (greater liability and insurance costs). Most of the Santa Clara remote-monitored alarm customers are unaware of their participation. Of course, Santa Clara is not alone, it is a nationwide disruption, but Santa Clara government, Silicon Valley, the global leader of the future, is still selling antiques.
Source: Lee Jones: Support Services Group