Political news, Local politics and government news reporting in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.
A close call at the Santa Clara City Council meeting almost saw the city losing federal funding for bike improvements along three major corridors. At its Tuesday night meeting, the Santa Clara City Council almost failed to approve a bicycle improvement plan along De La Cruz, Lick Mill and Scott Boulevards. Micheal Liw, assistant director … Read more
In closed session tonight, the Santa Clara City Council will address a potential lawsuit filed by former City Manager Deanna Santana. From October 2017 — when Santana was hired — until one year after she was fired, the former city manager collected a total of $3.9 million from the City of Santa Clara in salary … Read more
Despite neighbors’ outcry, the Santa Clara City Council approved installation of three cell phone towers. After postponing the decision three times, the planning commission approved the towers, set to be installed at 3111 Benton St., last year. However, a man representing a group of more than 100 neighbors to the 40-foot poles appealed the matter … Read more
Campaign spending in the 2024 Santa Clara city election came close to $3.1 million, with PACs spending $2.9 million, dwarfing the $205,000 spent by individual candidates. 49ers Maintain Historical Spending, Related and Police Union Pull Back The 49ers’ $2.4 million in spending was similar to what they spent in the 2022 election. Related spent $115,000 … Read more
With Santa Clara’s power company’s boom in growth, the utility is ramping up a variety of projects this year. At its most recent meeting, the Santa Clara City Council heard a bi-annual update from Silicon Valley Power (SVP). In 2024, SVP saw two new peaks, topping out at 722 megawatts, nearly scratching the system’s 750-megawatt … Read more
Sunnyvale’s newest park will honor the city’s agricultural legacy. At its most recent meeting Feb. 4, the Sunnyvale City Council opted to name a new park, located at 1142 Dahlia Court, what everybody has been calling it for decades. From 1965 until 2015, the two-acre parcel played host to the Corn Palace farm stand. Jesus … Read more
On Jan. 15, the Santa Clara Planning Commission finally took action on a proposal to increase cell phone service for AT&T customers along Benton Street near Santa Clara High School. This is the fourth time the issue has gone before the Planning Commission; it was delayed the three previous times. In 2020, AT&T submitted plans … Read more
Santa Clara’s mayor is dissatisfied with the specifications in the FIFA World Cup documents. At the most recent meeting of the Santa Clara City Council Feb. 11, Mayor Lisa Gillmor told city employees she disliked how open-ended some of the contract parameters the city negotiated with the Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) are. The documents, released … Read more
At first glance, it appears the City of Santa Clara has done its best to insulate itself from the $11.4 million in expected costs associated with hosting the FIFA World Cup at Levi’s Stadium. At its Feb. 11 meeting, the council will discuss three agreements presented by the Forty-Niners Stadium Management Company LLC (ManCo) and … Read more
Sunnyvale has updated its land-use designations to accommodate future residential growth. At its Jan. 28 meeting, the Sunnyvale City Council changed designations on 27 properties. Doing so allows for residences to add self-contained living spaces on the footprint of a larger residence, called accessory dwelling units (ADUs) “There are some buildings with existing uses that … Read more