Would you rather spend an afternoon strolling the Champs Elysees or the El Camino Real? Imagining the El Camino reaching the heights of Paris’ grand boulevard is hard. But its central place in California history – “the royal road” connecting the 21 Franciscan Missions, and the first paved highway on the Peninsula – deserves better … Read more
On March 23 the Santa Clara Redevelopment Agency (RDA) Successor Agency convened its first meeting. And if it accomplished nothing else, it offered an important civics lesson: It takes as much time, effort and tedium – even more of the latter – to bury a public agency as to give birth to it. And it … Read more
If you were asked to name the technology company with the most impact on your daily life, you might answer Google, Intel, Microsoft or another consumer technology company. You probably wouldn’t answer, ST Microelectronics (STM). Yet there are probably few moments of your waking life that you don’t have a device with STM technology close … Read more
Now the Santa Clara stadium construction financing is in place, what’s the long term plan for paying off that debt? The short answer is that any loans outstanding when the construction is finished will be refinanced into long-term debt. The timeline looks like this: 2012: Initial construction loan 2012 – 2014: Seat licenses and naming … Read more
It was a full house last Friday night at Santa Clara University’s Mayer Theater, where inclement weather didn’t do anything to dampen the appetites of the audience for Washington-based political humor troupe, the Capitol Steps. With a portfolio of timely political humor, much of it from the group’s newest collection, “Desperate Housemembers,” these versatile performers … Read more
Although some critics have called the Weekly’s discussion of the differences between legislative and administrative acts by governing bodies “interesting but irrelevant,” last week’s court hearing on Santa Clara’s lawsuit against stadium opponent Santa Clara Plays Fair (SCPF) focused on that question almost exclusively. In rejecting Santa Clara Plays Fair’s bid for a referendum on … Read more
At last week’s meeting, the Santa Clara City Council took another action to advance construction on the much-anticipated 49ers stadium, releasing eight now-unneeded utility and other easements at the site. While this action seems unexceptionable, a testy exchange between Mayor Jamie Matthews and Council Member Jamie McLeod previewed some Council Kabuki Theater likely to re-play … Read more
On Monday Judge Peter Kirwan cleared the way for construction to move forward on the 49ers stadium in Santa Clara. The Santa Clara County Superior Court judge ruled that the stadium financing agreements in question were “clearly administrative, not legislative” acts and, thus, could not be put up for a referendum. In rejecting Santa Clara … Read more
It’s only natural that Intel’s first smartphone should call Santa Clara home. Santa Clara was, after all, the birthplace of the world’s first commercially available microprocessor*, the Intel 4004. At last week’s Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona – the world’s top tech conference focused on all things mobile – some of the loudest buzz … Read more
The fun overflowed at last weekend’s 30th annual Showtime fundraiser for senior health services. “The whole thing was well done,” said former Santa Clara Mayor Larry Marsalli, who emceed the first Showtime in 1982. “I see a lot of new faces up there [this year] and that means it’ll keep going another 30 years.” Turnout … Read more