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Is Santa Clara loosing the battle with Graffiti taggers? There has been an increase of Graffiti in the last few months.
Previously it seemed that Graffiti was under control and only visible in areas around Cabrillo. Now it seems that it’s all over. It was noticeable on the old Marina Playa buildings before the developers bulldozed that site. (Perhaps there is a good side to developers).
Santa Clara city along with the SC Police Department have a policy of no tolerance and even have an assigned officer. To read more you can go to the SC Council website and learn how you as a local can even earn a ‘bounty’ if you turn in a tagger.
When I first came to the US I had an expectation to see more Graffiti as it seemed to be an issue in Sydney and Melbourne. In fact a Graffiti artist would call it a ‘badge of honor’ if he could tag something that seemed impossible to reach. An example of that would be a Bridge or a prominent statue. The only area I ever really noticed tagging here were many of the fly overs on 101 as you headed into San Jose area – notably around Tully.
I always found Santa Clara to be ‘clean’ from Graffiti but since the increase of empty lots and clearly the lack of surveillance of some of these lots Graffiti has increased and encroached on other private property.
Why an increase? No surveillance is obvious of the properties in question ie the Marina Playa project before it was bulldozed, the old Kaiser building on 900 Kiely. These are obvious but if you look closer and carefully you will see it on the tops of the Safeway on Homestead, you will learn that there are some truck owners around Victoria are regularly targeted.
Clearly these taggers have too much time on their hand and obviously money – because thier spray paint must cost money. Their ability to draw and create is not being funneled in the right area. Imagine if we were to give these creative kids an avenue to channel their art into something that either is profitable or of use to the city? Brighten up public spaces? Come on Patricia Mahan you must care about the youth of this city. Rather than offer a ‘bounty’ for these kids – have the money go towards programs that give these kids an outlet a space to create – a city funded art program for teenagers. Does something like that exist? If not why not. Mr Caserta is a teacher he must know how to go about communicating with kids like this. Mr Kolstadt is a former cop – he must know how to find these ‘lost kids’. Mr Moore is always looking for a new idea that has his seal of approval.
Why do you think in Santa Clara vs say Los Altos we have such a high incidents of Graffiti – could it be that we have working class parents that are so busy trying to pay their bills that they can’t be at home with their kids? sigh… doesn’t that then justify us a little more assistance? Oh I guess not, for after all isn’t it the unspoken rule that the city can ask you for assistance, tax you and speak for you but you can’t ask for assistance for the city because they are too busy doing work for you that has already been budgeted for and there is not budget to create something new that the residents might actually see might assist the residents. After all we are just children of the city and really don’t know what we need but the people in office/management/administration know more than us. We the residents are just the children. Mum and Dad know better …. sigh
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
From time to time at resident gatherings I have heard residents surprised to learn that Dominic Caserta has a real estate license. Yes it seems to be that he continually forgets to mention that he has an active license. In fact his license is held at the Gillmor Real Estate company. This is the same company that another Santa Clara City council hangs his license, Kevin Moore. It’s not as though Dominic has let his license lapse or that it’s old because he’s had this since 2003 and it is current till 2011 for memory.
I’m surprised that with his various political advertising for when he ran for Assembly I have not found to-date a clip that has him mention his real estate license. There are a number on YouTube that his organization has posted. I particularly like the one where he discusses how he has been a teacher for the past 11 years and how he talks in a way that makes him look like the main person responsible for many great initiatives in Santa Clara. ohhh well, sigh … illusions of grandeur come to mind.
Here is another youtube clip that Mr Caserta where he was advertised by Comcast (I wonder if this is a paid for advertising interview?)
Perhaps Mr Caserta should be a little more mindful of the fact he holds a license and his respect to his constituents. Or do you think that perhaps this little clip again on youtube is really how he views the Santa Clara residents.
It makes me shudder that we put people in office who door knock claiming to be a poor teacher kid who just wants to make a difference for residents when in truth that is something that seems far from the truth.
I know it doesn’t seem PC (politically correct) in America to do the tall poppy syndrome treatment on a wannabe politician but it seems to me that Mr Caserta’s lack of memory and what appears to be his contempt for his constituents should be pointed out. Perhaps it is just a case of being a bit too young to be having such a position of power. After all, let us not forget that this young man has for his political campaign accepted donations from the various developers that are either building or attempting to build in Santa Clara. At the same time this young man has, it appears, not excused himself from any of the voting on council that relate to these developers or real estate deals. When in fact you would think he has a morale right to abstain from such votes given he has accepted financial backing and also holds a somewhat forgotten but current Real Estate license. sigh…. oh to be young ….
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
It’s well know that many of the major developers work their magic by getting their developments accepted at planning and city council by donating to the council. Donations are varied as I see it.
You have the donation to the cities capital fund for projects like, parks and recreation, sewers, roads. You know something that the city feels needs to be addressed – that’s probably why Santa Clara and Dominic Caserata can say we don’t have a pothole in Santa Clara. The city gets the developers to contribute towards the ‘pothole’ fund. It’s worth noting that Fairfield Residential has not contributed to the ‘pothole’ fund as yet but I’m sure they will find the appropriate ‘pothole’ – personally if I was them I would make a contribution to the largest ‘pothole’ the ‘International Swim Center’ I’m sure Mrs Mahan would love that being built in her time perhaps they could even call it the Mahan Swim Center? Though in my humble opinion it should be the Mark Spitz Swim Center given he really ‘begun’ his career in that very swim center. And Mark is a one of my favorite swimmers – along with a bunch of great Aussie Atheletes, Gould, Thorpe, Fraser, Rose, Perkins and the wonderful gentle giant Klim! But Mark had the guts to state what he wanted and win the gold everytime. He also is someone you can look up to – he managed to win all those medals during a very difficult and trying game. To understand these games read this at wikipedia.
A second way Developers donate to cities is to make part of their plans is to build affordable housing in the development. So for instance in the million dollar plus development on Prunridge and Lawrence that boasts Cupertino schools. Also known as the Enclave there are four units in there that are not as large or expensive that have been made available through a system to those that could not afford to normally buy into an area like that. Great concept – something that the Dutch have done for years – nothing new. But what does annoy me is that the developers have this hoity toity attitude that they are doing us all a favor – what a lie. The council deems it part of the agreement to build and the average joe blow knows that the developer factors in the cost of everyone of those units into the bottom price of the other units so the middle class Joe blow pays for this puppy. Give me a break I wasn’t born yesterday. One way the developers look better to the council is that instead of giving the minimum per cent in affordable housing they give more so instead of say 10% they give 15% – how sweet is that? Sweet to whom?
The third way they give money is to pay for different city councilmen/women’s political campaigns – legal donations to campaigns. Ask Mr Caserta he knows how that works – and then ask him how he voted on each and everyone of those developments of the developers that supported him. I’m sure as we go into an election this year we might see developers supporting other city council candidates. Oh and developers are tricky – to deflect the controversy over this they get company individuals to donate. Heck that’s totally legal right – so if you have a big family – say you are one of 100 family members – each member gives the minimum dollar amount which let’s say is $100 you now have 100×100 – you do the math! Then when you look at the list of who contributed and you see $100 from every Wong or Smith – you know why. What’s worse is that that same city council member now does not excuse themself from the vote on that development. That’s just WRONG and STINKS in my book. I wonder if I were to get 1000 voters to campaign against high rise development and each of them to ‘pay’ oops I mean donate towards a council persons campaign could I now ’sway’ their vote? hmmm food for thought – no that just smells of good old fashioned bribery. Doesn’t it to you?
Meanwhile I came across this article in one of the Australian Newspapers on line – the Developers are now saying that they feel the controversy of supporting political campaigns. The public is creating a back lash against the developer and they are feeling the heat and the developers are not going to fund political campaigns. About time – I think developers should be held accountable for their actions and that citizens should start to question their involvement in city politics. Good for the Aussie developers for taking the lead – I predict the same will start to happen here. Developers should rightly keep their money and their nose our of politics and do what they said they would do develop. As it’s been said to me many times – the developer comes, makes a mess in a city and then leaves. Leaving the havoc and the mess to those that now live in the city to clean up. A lot of this mess is because they think they are doing great things but never really look at the bigger picture. Here is the article.
PS Fairfield Residential if you are looking to ‘donate’ to Santa Clara City Council ‘pothole’ fund I recommend $400,000 because that’s how short the city was in rebuilding the Swim Center and as a result the project got shelved another year! And we all know by next year that $400K will be $600K!
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
One thing the city of Santa Clara gets right is the 4th of July Fireworks in Central Park. People come from all over to sit and enjoy the fireworks. Since we live in walking distance to the park our family leaves late in the evening to find our spot and wait. We have this ’secret’ little spot.
This years events were spectacular and the police definitely had the whole thing under control. This year they had Kiely drive completely closed off. With Kaiser closed there was no need to have the street open except for residents with parking passes or a drivers license with the same street address. This made navigating the area on foot much easier than in the past.
Just before the fireworks started someone came to the podium and welcomed everyone to Santa Clara. I was surprised he didn’t do an advertisement for over 2,000 proposed new apartments and homes. Hey here was a chance to really sell Santa Clara – the city is always wanting to let people know what a great city it is, they had thousands of people there why not some unashamed blatant promotion? Are they not always looking for more people to come and live here and pay taxes?
I was also a little surprised that our Major Ms Mahan was not there to say something or perhaps some other City Councilmen/women. Heck what would it take to be there and say a dozen words at one of the cities biggest events that brings out most of it’s residents and people from other cities. I’m okay if you promote yourself – George Bush does it, Obama would do it, Mclean would jump at it. I’m surprised our star wannabe politician Mr Caserta wasn’t there promoting his favorite developers – he could have said something about the Fairfield Residential complex – in fact the city could have had someone from Fairfield tell all these residents about the wonderful 806 proposed residents they are going to build and the 536 of them that will be for rent that will over look the park. Man what a golden opportunity to sell your product. Or maybe they just aren’t proud of this development …. makes you wonder.
The fireworks were fabulous and clearly the city knows how to turn on a good show. Well done to the company who put on the show was Fireworks America - the music was great. And I guess as my first 4th of July as a citizen I found it all so more inspiring and patriotic.
Great Job!
PS Rick if what you say is true – then all I can say is she has a deep voice and sounded just like a man – perhaps she needs to take voice lessons.
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
The city has taken it open themselves to hold open discussion with residents about the future of Santa Clara – what a shame so few people attended these events. Perhaps it’s because their is a general acceptance by a lot of old timers in the city that there is no way to have the city planners, administrators or council people hear what we want. Years ago I heard that there was public outcry about the proposed changes to the old quad downtown.
I observed tonight that the public relations company that ran the meeting has obviously been instructed to get the residents to start thinking about where they would like the ‘downtown’ of Santa Clara to be. Funny I always thought a downtown was where the streets were called “Main Street” “1st Street” “High Street” “2nd Street” or streets named after the founders of the city “Harrison” “Lafayette” – why would you now want Lawrence and El Camino to be the heart of our downtown? It’s practically the border of Sunnyvale – makes no sense to me. But then again I’m just a resident their is no money in any of this for me! Oh, what’s worse I’m not a Mahan, Caserta, Kennedy or other city councilman/women who owns property in the old quad where the old downtown used to be – I don’t have a vested interest in where downtown should be.
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
Yesterday I had cause to go to Santa Clara Post office on Kiely. Today I had cause to go to Cupertino Post office on Stevens Creek. Talk about a night and day experience. I happen to know some of the people working at Kiely because I’ve been going there for a number of years. So they are always very courteous and very helpful and have something to share with y’all. Even at Cupertino that lady that helped me had a good chuckle when we discussed the ‘pressure of today’s society’ vs ‘life when we were growing up’. She happened to say well I guess life changed when we got color TV and I laughed and told her in our house we waited for years before we had a color TV because my dad was color blind. He didn’t see the point of a color TV. Mind you once we had it he couldn’t understand why we hadn’t had one earlier.
Well Santa Clara as nice as it is – is such an inconvenient place to go. You can’t park easily, you have to wait on Kiely most times before you can enter the site. You sit there on Kiely praying some maniac doesn’t plow into you! And then when you do finally leave the parking area you pray that you don’t reverse into someone else reversing! It’s a GEICO nightmare.
I’m sure this really doesn’t affect the Santa Clara City Council, after all why would they care? Why would they care about anything that doesn’t affect the main city councilors directly like: Mahan, Caserta or Moore? Every time I go in there and talk with locals you can hear the frustration in their voice about the parking and the wait to be served.
Now let me tell you about the office on Stevens Creek in Cupertino. Talk about a breeze where it comes to parking! No problem mate – take your pick of endless parking spots. Head to the line and wait approximately 1 minute before one of the five clerks are ready to serve you. Every station waiting to help you out. This is NO SANTA CLARA Kiely post office. I love my attendants at Kiely but Stevens Creek in Cupertino was a winner today! They rock.
What do we have to do in Santa Clara to get some great amentities? I know be like a five year old – rant and scream, kick and pout, wave and stomp, shout and point! Sour grapes for Santa Clara!
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
Clearly the issue of affordable housing and big developers buying city councils “love” for developers has come up before. As I’ve said before the Internet is a wonderful way to educate yourself and learn more about what’s going on outside your own backyard. So today I started to look outside my own Santa Clara Backyard and I discovered the LA has had some similar issues. Wouldn’t it be great if the Santa Clara City council current members: Mayor Patricia Mahan, Dominic Caserta, Will Kennedy, Kevin Moore, Joe Kornder, Pat Kolstadt, Jamie McLeod started to have a look at what is going out there in the community?
I came across Zuma Dogg on YouTube – he’s clearly a character – someone who is attempting to speak for the ordinary folk – someone who isn’t getting paid by a developer, or receiving a pay packet from a council member to write or speak out on what is going on in the community. Imagine a person who thinks for themselves and has the guts to speak out! I notice though that Zuma Dogg does seem to ‘hide’ his true identity. Something to think about – given I’ve noticed there is one blog out there that has hammered and made personal attacks on people who have spoken out about some of the council men and women I listed above! Wow imagine being Zuma Dogg and being that radical and speaking some of the truths that are affecting the little guy who pays the mortgage, sends the kids to local schools, pays the PG&E on time, who is struggling to put $80 a week aside to pay the gas for their car and knows that there is no public transport to get them to their job. You go Zuma! Bravo! Keep speaking out about the people in ‘power’ spending the tax payers money!
Here is something to get a taste of Zuma – he’s a bit out there but I think he is making a point!
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
