49ers Stadium: Joint Session, June 2nd

We'd like to thank our neighbors, our members, and every concerned Santa Claran who took time on Tuesday evening, June 2, to comment publicly on the Stadium Term Sheet.

Regrettably, the "proceed" option was approved, and by a vote of 5-2. But we encourage Santa Clarans to keep speaking out on this issue - loudly and repeatedly.

At the meeting, this writer heard Jed York tell an interviewer that the only way a stadium deal works is by a public-private partnership.

I could not disagree more. The financing for an NFL stadium in Santa Clara still includes a demand for a handout. And if our technology companies in our city do well without a handout, so can the San Francisco 49ers.

The handout, in this case, is for a stadium which will gives us only 500 jobs paying less than $35,000 a year.

The next step in the process: Preparing the Disposition and Development Agreement and finishing the EIR.

The final step (maybe) is the vote of Santa Clarans, probably in March of 2010.

We're certainly aware that the details of the stadium financing in Santa Clara are complex - which may just be the way "stadium subsidizers" like it.

But if there are any questions that residents have, any of us at Santa Clara Plays Fair will be happy to share what we learned while we spent a weekend and most of a Monday reading and re-reading the many pages of supporting material for the Term Sheet.

Please post comments, email us at the addresses on the home site, or telephone us at 1(877)703-4300.



Thanks for all of your encouragement and support,

Bill Bailey, Treasurer,
Santa Clara Plays Fair

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