Related’s Day
The Related Companies’ Executive Vice President Steve Eimer and President and CEO Ken Himmel met with most of City Council in October, and City Manager Deanna Santana — who maintains biweekly meetings with the developer — and Assistant City Manager Ruth Shikada sat in on those meetings. All meetings with Related occurred on Oct. 10 with Santana and Shikada meeting with the developer alone at 9 a.m. followed by a meeting with Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Council Member Debi Davis at 10 a.m., one with Council Member Patricia Mahan at 11 a.m. and Vice Mayor Kathy Watanabe at 1 p.m.
According to Watanabe’s calendar Council Member Teresa O’Neill attended her meeting, but she was left off of Santana’s recording of the event. O’Neill’s calendar also records the meeting. Related lobbyist Jude Barry was missing from all records of the Related meetings despite occasionally being included in project updates.
Outside of “Related Day,” most Council Members maintained light calendars in comparison to prior months.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor
Gillmor recorded a phone conversation with the City of Santa Clara’s Chief Operating Officer Walter C. Rossmann and Santa Clara Swim Club (SCSC) Board President Niko Meadors on Oct. 3 to discuss SCSC on Oct. 3. The call came a day after Head Coach and CEO John Bitter was accused of embezzling more than $600,000 dollars from the club.
On Oct. 9, the Mayor had a meeting regarding updates on the Muslim Community Association (MCA) as well as one with Santa Clara Youth Commissioner Carolin Kloes about a recommendation letter. Seven days later, on Oct. 16, Gillmor and President and CEO of SiliconSage Builders Sanjeev Archarya met to discuss Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) support, although there is no mention of what that would entail. Later that day, Gillmor, Santana and Assistant City Manager Manuel Pineda met with Igor Brovamy — listed as a business owner — to discuss permitting issues. There is no mention of which business Brovamy owns, and an internet search for his name only returns a single result — as the buyer for 340-346 Martin Ave. in Santa Clara, a 22,960 square foot building sold by Martin Avenue Associates through Colliers International in 2017. The building location is on Martin between De La Cruz Boulevard and Reed Street.
The majority of Gillmor’s remaining meetings were public meetings or events.
Vice Mayor Kathy Watanabe
Watanabe began her October with an introductory meeting with Santa Clara University’s (SCU) Assistant President for University Operations Chris Shay and Vice President of Finance and Administration Michael Crowley on Oct. 1. Two days later, the Vice Mayor notched a meeting about Agrihood with the CORE Companies’ Vice President of Development Paul Ring and Senior Development Manager Vince Cantore. Later that day, she met with resident Ricci Herro about openings on the Planning Commission and members of the River Oaks Homeowners Association regarding the Agnews campus, which will be the site of a 600 student elementary school and 1,000 student middle school scheduled to open fall 2020 and a 1,600 student high school scheduled to open fall 2022 at 3500 Zanker Rd.
The Vice Mayor recorded a meeting with Congressman Ro Khanna’s Director of Constituent Services Tom Pyke under the catchall “community issues” and updates reason on Oct. 4 and met with SCU journalism student Catherine Newcomb for an interview about City programs and citizen engagement on Oct. 17.
Watanabe and O’Neill met with Yvette Sessions and Lou Pellegrini of Mission Trail Waste on Oct. 19 for a S.A.F.E. facility tour and “new legislation updates.” Watanabe followed that meeting by speaking to residents Richard Evangelista, Linda Evangelista and Eileen Esposo on “community issues.”
She ended her month with a meeting on Oct. 29 regarding a Friendships City Opportunity with Icheon, South Korea. The meeting occurred with Santa Clara Sister Cities Association President Tedra Nikoali, Silicon Valley Korean American Federation President Sang Ahn, Vice President John Chung and Director of International Affairs/Translator Hillary Yoo, Consulate General of the Republic of Korea Wonseok Choi, and Kwak Byeng-Doo, Jong Won Lee and Lim Gyu Seok of South Korea.
She also met with Davis, O’Neill, Gita Dev of the Sustainable Land Use Committee of the Loma Prieta Sierra Club, Alice Kaufman of Green Foothills and Santa Clara Audubon Society Environmental Advocate Shani Kleinhaus regarding the Tasman East Specific Plan that same day.
Council Member Debi Davis
Davis lists herself as attending the Oct. 16 meeting with Santana, Gillmor, Pineda and Brovamy, although she was not listed on the Mayor’s calendar. She was, however, listed as attending on Santana’s calendar.
The majority of the Council Member’s other October meetings were public meetings, public events or already reported.
Council Member Teresa O’Neill
O’Neill’s October began with a meeting with residents Lavelle Souza and John Lesnick about the proposed 1540 Pomeroy Ave. project, in which the owner had planned to develop eight townhomes. Both residents recently spoke out about the project at the Nov. 13 City Council meeting in which the proposal was rejected 4-2.
Two days later, on Oct. 3, O’Neill participated in a Measure BB campaign status call with the “extended campaign team.” A second campaign call occurred Oct. 10. Additional calls were recorded Oct. 17, Oct. 24 and Oct. 31. She also met with SCUSD Trustee Andy Ratermann and SCU’s Crowley and Shay regarding SCUSD initiatives and bond progress on Oct. 16. Measure BB, the measure asking for a $720 million general obligation bond, passed on Nov. 6.
On Oct. 7, O’Neill continued her monthly resident Q&A meeting, a public meeting she schedules to allow residents the ability to access and receive face time with the Council Member. The following day, she met with resident Rob Meyer regarding the “development plan for Santa Clara Caltrain parking lot.”
O’Neill recorded a meeting with David Bini of the Building Trades Council on Oct. 9 to discuss union labor in CORE Companies projects. On Oct. 16, she also met with Newcomb of SCU for an interview about City programs and citizen engagement.
On Oct. 19 O’Neill and Corinne Winter of Winter & Associates met for lunch to discuss regional rail transit options. Two days following, on Oct. 21, the Council Member met with resident Jerie Campi regarding “Air BnB housing uses in neighborhoods” and on Oct. 23 she met with then-candidate for District 2 Nancy Biagini “regarding city election issue.”
Finally, on Oct. 29, O’Neill sat down with Booster Fuel’s Public Policy Manager Irene Koularis to discuss permits for Booster Fuel business in Santa Clara.
The majority of the Council Member’s meetings not mentioned were public events, public meetings or meetings for boards in which she sits.
Council Members Patricia Mahan and Pat Kolstad
Mahan’s only non-public meeting was the one she recorded with Related, while Council Member Pat Kolstad only listed three public meetings on his calendar.
View Council Calendars at http://santaclaraca.gov/government/public-calendars-of-certain-city-officials
