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I see an article in the San Jose Mercury news today where a group of residents in Palo Alto are holding up a project that involves a developer. The developer is wishing to build a new plaza. The residents have taken legal action to fight this proposed development.
Clearly the ‘little people’ are starting to say enough is enough and looking for ways to fight councils and developers. These residents have taken legal action. To read more about what they are doing here is a link to the article in the SJ Mercury . I think it is worth noting that home owners are seeing that these developments affect their property prices. In this case this development is a plaza with stores and businesses associated with it. It is worth noting that the residents are attempting to completely block this project but that their voices are heard and that they have some say in the feel and look of this project.
The argument that project reflect the cities ordinances and the plan are no long really relevant as I see it. Many years ago when some of these ‘plans’ were set life looked different. We didn’t have many of the issues we have today as we write. We didn’t have 8% unemployment, we didn’t have words like ‘recession and depression’ used in the same sentence. We didn’t have the strength of the internet spreading news and bloggers out there writing opinions and becoming watchdogs of our governments. Many bloggers out there are just individuals with opinions not ‘paid’ employees of newspapers, PR organizations or lobbyists.
Santa Clara city council has argued for a long time that we need more housing for the jobs around the city? What jobs? Sun Microsystems announced two fridays ago that they would be letting 18% of their work force go, Along with Sun, there are other Santa Clara tech companies following suit. Thanksgiving is a time when comes tradional lay off HR feels it’s a time people will be around family and they will be ’safe’ to send them home with out a job. Nice.
I would continue to ask the city rather than focus on more housing focus on updating our section of El Camino – clean up the ’strip’ please. I know it’s very boring to hear me say this again, but I would rather this than a 49ers Stadium or another 806 residential units – such as the Fairfield Residential project. Find some developers that will give us something to be proud of and that brings true business to our city. As we loose tech companies we need to look at other forms of businesses. With the car industry in turmoil some of our Stevens Creek car lots will disappear and with it big dollars from taxes.
So as a country looks towards change is it not fair to say that cities should look towards change.
CNN (constant negative news) has done a survey of some of the States that were leaning toward the Republicans before the Wall Street Turmoil and found that those voters are now favoring Democrats.
There are certainly enough candidates in this Santa Clara election to give you reason to look towards change – unfortunately some candidates are either more of the same or been here done that type candidates and don’t necessarily give you the Change that you might be looking for.
Without endorsing any of them I would recommend asking them what is the change they see is needed in Santa Clara? Is it in housing, is it in having the 49ers, is it in cleaning up El Camino …
whatever the change does it warrant them representing you? I may not agree with Jamie McLeod on some of her view points but I rather a person like her that asks questions and thinks than someone who blindly votes as the ‘caucus’ recommends. There are other candidates like Jamie McLeod running who I feel will also ask questions, inquire, disagree and think for themselves rather than be the party ‘hack’.
And remember one vote can make a difference.
©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
I remember when I first came here from Australia as a new bride I asked my husband. So where is downtown Santa Clara? You know like downtown Malvern, Toorak, South Yarra or Armadale? You know darling where you can go and have lunch, or do some shopping or have a beer at the end of day? He said “oh it’s down in the old quad”. So when we eventually went to check it out I was still saying “so where is downtown Santa Clara?” He honestly couldn’t tell me – all he could say was ‘you’ll get used to it”. Used to what?
A block of shops / stores that involve a couple of bars, a drycleaners, a stamp shop, a photo store (which is long gone), a well known bakery which closed up shop last year over night and a few other insignificant shops. Sad actually, I guess those that live around the old quad are happy because no-one goes down there and it means it’s a pretty quiet area. How convenient for those that live down that way. I believe that most of the current and past city council members live either in or around the quad. How convenient for them to live in a quiet part of town.
Oh the penny just dropped. I need to move to the old quad area because then I’ll be further away from the hustle and bustle of the soon to be center of Santa Clara, which will be the El Camino / Lawrence intersection where the city has over 2000 residential properties on it’s books for development. Part of their “master plan”. Anyone else heard of a master plan before? Memories of HSC (high school certificate) European History lessons! Kind of creepy!
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
Do you think Santa Clara City Council will ever look at El Camino and notice that it looks different once you leave Sunnyvale?
Have you ever noticed that as you exit Sunnyvale you leave behind the tree lined part of El Camino and the rather large set back? Have you ever noticed that there are no $49 dollar meth labs along that part of El Camino? I don’t think there are any tattoo stores along there either. Perhaps the House of Pain needs to move up a few blocks! Have you ever noticed that there are no after hour porn stores, oops sorry I mean ‘book stores’. Book stores my goodness! Do you think they have a copy of War and Peace in there? It’s no wonder we have a store called “The Starving Musician” along that part of town – how can they make a living in that neighborhood. I hope their rent is low.
As for the couple times I’ve tried to eat along El Camino one time at one of the ‘faster food’ chains I had something in my chili that wasn’t food, and no it wasn’t a finger, rather a sugar wrapper. Another time we were at a restaurant and we asked about the poor state of the salad bar – the waiter told us it was fresh at lunch time – it was now 7pm. We left and that place has sinced closed down. We do like Andy’s though – fortunately they came to town because there are very few good or descent restaurants in Santa Clara. Have you ever tried to take someone out to lunch in Santa Clara it involves going to Cupertino or Sunnyvale.
Imagine with all this high rise building going on we won’t even get anything commercial – which leaves the question why do these developers want to come to Santa Clara? ah’vey – there must be something in it for them – what do we not know?
Wow last night I attended the City of Santa Clara council meeting. This was a first for me. As some of you may or may not know my background in Australia was politics. I was involved in politics at a student level and later at a State and Federal level and still call some members of parliament close friends. In fact one of the senior party members has visited the U.S. and spent time with our family. In leaving Australia I really was happy to leave behind my political involvement and any political desires I might have had or been requested to pursue. Love it or hate it, I was happy to leave it!
These past weeks I inadvertedly got involved in discussions with a number of residents over the planned building of a site on the old Kaiser hospital on Kaiser Drive. I learnt that the property had been sold to a developer – fine that’s groovy – until you discover the plan and the ‘accommodations’ the city planners are making to allow such a development.
This project is called the Fairfield Project and this was not why I went to city council last night but it was a catalyst for me attending. I went to here about the Marina Playa project. Boy politically was this an eye opener. Here are some of the things I witnessed.
I saw Dominic Caserta acknowledge openly one of the head developers for the Marina Playa project. I also witnessed him looking completely bored, half asleep, walk out of the room more than five times (yes I counted), one time returning munching on food. Clearly Mr Caserta had voted in his mind on the proposals that were to be put forward that evening. His vote had been caste before he was asked to vote. I heard a Doctor point out that Mr Caserta should ‘excuse’ himself from voting on the Marina Playa project because he had legally accepted donation money from the builder of this project to fund his political aspirations. I heard that Mr Caserta did not take the decision to ‘abstain’ in fact he voted in favor of the project. Suprise Suprise. The Santa Clara weekly calls him young – I suspect he’s more foolish than young. I’m sure Shakespeare had something to say about that when he wrote the stages of man.
I saw Mayor Patricia Mahan look away with embarrasment when one of the local residents pointed out that her father would be ashamed of her associations with the planning projects that were currently on the table. Mayor Mahan clearly was ‘uncomfortable’ with the statement that this elderly Santa Clara resident had to say about her lack of support for city as a whole. I heard Mayor Mahan be defensive with another resident when he challenged her over where these projects were being built in relation to her own property in Santa Clara. The Mayor felt it was unfair to be personal yet she herself had made comments that these projects were no-where near where she lives.
Pat Kolstad had nothing to say all night except press forward the proposal to pass the Environmental report that allows the planning department to allow the builder to build Marina Playa. Wow perhaps he did this because he wanted to go home – it was getting close to midnight when this matter on the agenda was being discussed by council. Perhaps the meeting was getting past his bed time? just a thought given it seems he’s been on the council a few too many years. Fortunately his term is up – time for some fresh blood – perhaps someone who knows how to ask questions of importance and listen to residents. After all more than a dozen residents talked against Marina Playa, noteably most about the traffic issues and the discrepencies between what the CHP and the city contractor had to say. Mr Kolstad is a former cop – you think he of all people might have some thoughts on the fact that the yards of these proposed townhomes are going to be 10×12 feet. This size yard reminds me of a prison yard – hmmm food for thought.
Jamie McLeod had a lot to say regarding the traffic reports in fact she suggested that the city take more action and reviews in this area but ALAS Jamie was knocked down and eventually voted in favor of Marina Playa. Though I did observe that even Jamie was not comfortable with the size of the yards of these units and how the traffic around this project, along with the other to be submitted projects in the same area, will in turn affect the Lawrence/El Camino cross street. Jamie was alone in a crowd of wolves! Sorry Jamie I heard your cry but your ‘buddies’ took you down. My only question is: why did you vote in favor of it?
Kevin Moore – hmm can’t say he had much to say though. I guess Kevin feels that the 10×12 yard is sufficient for any good person given his concentration is parks and recs and he did well because the builder gave parks and recs $200,000 to sweeten the deal. Ahh I see – he swims with sharks.
Joe Kordner attempted to align himself with Jamie and ride in on her amendment to have the planning department review the traffic conditions in that area. But sometimes yah just gotta do what the boss says Missum! You know how it goes ….and after-all given he’s on the financing authority of the city you know that the money the builder is going to give to fix the sewer line has to be his sweetener.
Bottom line I smell a rats – rats that finked out their residents. To learn more about how you can help and what’s going on in the city according to residents versus according to the city planners and the city council visit http://liveforeverodt.com/santaclara/ - through this website I started to realize that what was going on was not all kosher at the Santa Clara City Hall.
In talking to an old time Santa Clara resident I discovered today that a lot of this has been going on for years. This accounts for why we don’t have a proper downtown, why our public schools are some of the worst in the area, why once you enter our part of El Camino there is nothing more than brothels, $49 motels, tattoo stores, and sleazy seedy sex shops! Yep something to proud of Mayor Mahan! You have served your city well – may you and your crowd move on to better cause. May Mr Caserta find his place in the Assembly and be brought to more scrutiny.
You gotta love a day in the life of Santa Clara Politics! I’m so proud that I can vote this year because as it stands I’m not going to vote for one of these guys or one that they wish to endorse – their records speak for themselves after what I witnessed last night. In 1975 Gough Whitlam was voted out of Australian politics – and in the words of the Liberal Campaign I have three words for most of the Santa Clara city council:
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME
©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008
