Dear Santa Clarans,
This writer asked at the July 5 meeting of the City Council and Agencies that any dollar amounts taken in by the Santa Clara Stadium Authority in the sale of stadium Personal Seat Licenses, or PSLs, be public information. Santa Clarans in Chambers that evening, plus television viewers on Channel 15, were told by City Staff that this is confidential information - even though those PSLs are being sold by a Santa Clara City Agency and not by the 49ers.
Some months ago, I asked in Chambers that the dollar amounts actually committed to in any Letters of Intent for the parking overlay on private lots be disclosed publicly. Santa Clarans were denied that information also. But what was most disturbing on that occasion was that we were refused not by our own City Staff, but by Lisa Lang, VP of Communications for the San Francisco 49ers - who had no business even speaking for the Stadium Authority.
A few weeks ago, CalAware petitioned City Hall for the release of the public safety report for gameday security in a billion-dollar-stadium paid for mostly by us.
And they were refused.
This is a big deal. After the shootings, beating and parking lot brawl at Candlestick Park on August 20th and September 18th, we as residents are absolutely entitled to know that, of 160 police officers handling a massive traffic jam of over 20,000 vehicles, some portion of them will be protecting members of the public, and in particular residents on the north side of our city.
The refusal of the Stadium Authority even to tell us how they're going to protect us during NFL events at a stadium we're paying for simply isn't acceptable. The 49ers - and the NFL - have no business telling us what we can and cannot see.
The use of the Closed Sessions of our Council and our Agencies to conceal this as well as the true costs of the stadium subsidies from us is simply another nail in the coffin of open government. We have a culture of secrecy that's rapidly becoming a cult.
Surely, the All-American City deserves much better. Will you please speak out? Contact the Council directly .
Demand more.
Thanks for all of your support,
Bill Bailey, Treasurer
-=0=-
1 comment:
It seems obvious to me that the council/49ers are determined to conceal all information possible until the stadium is built.
It doesn't matter to the city whether releasing information is compromising to its negotiations with the 49ers; this modus operandi is simply telling citizens that this isn't their business--stay out.
I've seen this happen at other levels of government and this secrecy or secrecy's sake leads to disaster.
I'd like to think that there's a Daniel Ellsberg in Santa Clara city government, but I wouldn't count on anyone having the courage to put a nice pension in danger...
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