Political news, Local politics and government news reporting in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.
If there’s one thing you need to know about Arlyne Diamond, Republican candidate for California’s new state assembly seat 25, it’s that this multi-faceted woman – who does more in a day than most of us do in a month – doesn’t let anyone put her in a box and stick a label on her. … Read more
What can you buy with one shiny, silver quarter a day? Not much? Think again. For a quarter a day—actually, for just 23 cents a day—invested over a five-year period, you can buy something priceless. You can buy shares in the educational futures of the 14,609 K – 12 students and the approximately 5,000 Educational … Read more
In 1985, after a rocky and highly contentious two-year effort, Santa Clara completed a deal that made the city owner of the 188 acres of land under Great America amusement park. It wasn’t long after that the 49ers indicated their interest in becoming next-door neighbors. Santa Clara was the leading contender for the NFL team’s … Read more
Santa Clara politics often stumps observers. Libertarians are frequently the strongest voices for government action, while liberals are equally likely to favor non-involvement. The key to the puzzle is “progressivism;” defined in one dictionary as “making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities.” This bypasses conventional left/right political labels. Today’s stadium project … Read more
Thomas Edison famously said that genius is five percent inspiration and 95 percent perspiration. So too, the new Santa Clara stadium beginning life this week. Its history could be said to begin with a 2001 Mercury News headline: “49ers’ Contract With 3Com [Candlestick] Park Up For Renewal.” As efforts to build a new stadium in … Read more
“This project was thought-about before I was born,” San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York told a group gathered for breakfast at Santa Clara’s Convention Center by the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce Political Action Group last Thursday. He was speaking about Santa Clara’s new football stadium, groundbreaking which takes place this week. “If you look … Read more
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
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
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