Political news, Local politics and government news reporting in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.
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
Last week Santa Clara Plays Fair filed its answer to the Santa Clara Stadium Authority’s and the 49ers Stadium LLC lawsuits. The opponents of a Santa Clara 49ers stadium are fighting Santa Clara’s assertion that the actions in question – the financing agreements for stadium construction – are administrative rather than legislative. In their brief … Read more
As the City Council considers changes in the way its members are elected, it’s a good time to reflect that this isn’t the first time Santa Clara has considered the governance issues that have come under scrutiny in the past year. In 1971 there was considerable discussion about whether Santa Clara’s then 20 year-old charter … Read more
By filing suit against Santa Clara Plays Fair’s (SCPF) petition for a referendum on the 49ers stadium agreements, Santa Clara jumped into California’s muddy waters of what’s legislation and what’s administration. “The [California] courts have never held that every action following a legislative act is administrative,” says attorney Matthew Zinn of Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger … Read more
More than 30 City Clerk professionals from across the state recently met in the Santa Clara City Council Chambers for the second California Ethics and Democracy Summit. Their effort was a unique collaboration to share community and voter engagement strategies and hear from some of the top City Clerk and political ethics professionals. “The California … Read more
Here’s a short primer of court rulings that are relevant to the current SA lawsuit. Impartial reading indicates that the county superior court is likely to rule in favor of Santa Clara. San Diego v. Dunkl This 2001 case is strikingly similar to Santa Clara’s. In 1998 San Diego voters approved Proposition C for a … Read more
California’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state legislature’s dissolution (AB1X 26) of California’s redevelopment agencies (RDAs). “The legislative power vested in the Legislature by the state Constitution,” said Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar writing for the majority, “…. includes the authority to create entities, such as redevelopment agencies…and the corollary power to dissolve those same entities … Read more
If you’ve been to a Santa Clara supermarket recently you may have seen the anti-stadium group Santa Clara Plays Fair (www.santaclaraplaysfair.org) asking for petition signatures. The group aims to force the City Council to either repeal recent actions approving the proposed 49ers stadium project and its financing, or submit these agreements to a second citywide … Read more
In upholding the RDA dissolution law, the justices took a dim view of the California Redevelopment Association’s argument that 2010’s Proposition 22 barred the Legislature from shuttering the RDAs it created; finding nothing to indicate that voters’ intended the constitutional amendment to assure RDA existence in perpetuity. The legislative power vested in the Legislature by … Read more