“They just imbue you with such a sense of compassion for the community ... the higher values and the better values of why you’re doing what you’re being trained to do. It’s not to make a million dollars a year. It’s to be of service.”
Mahan's actions in recent City Council meetings, however, speak far louder than her words.
On several occasions in City Council meetings over the last few months, Mahan has used her position as Mayor to attempt to silence, demean, and disrespect Santa Clara residents who have taken the initiative to come forward and speak publicly about their concerns regarding the proposal to spend $287,000,000 in public assets on a football stadium for the San Francisco 49ers.
Usually, her biases are quite evident to everyone in attendance.
At the City Council meeting on July 17, however, the Mayor made an additional comment that was not heard in the Council chambers, but was quite audible to those watching from home.
"You're wasting your time."
The comment was directed at a resident who had wanted to speak to a report, but the Mayor rushed through the call for public comment without a pause. Instead of acknowledging that she had missed the resident's request, the Mayor blamed the resident.
You can see the full clip here:
Not only is such a reaction from the Mayor disrespectful, it's also a clear violation of Santa Clara's Code of Ethics & Values, which requires "all elected and appointed officials, City employees, volunteers, and others who participate in the city's government" to agree, in part, that:
3. As a Representative of the City of Santa Clara, I will be service-oriented. . . . :
a. I provide friendly, receptive, courteous service to everyone.
b . I am attuned to, and care about, the needs and issues of citizens, public officials, and city workers.
c. In my interactions with constituents, I am interested, engaged, and responsive.
6. As a Representative of the City of Santa Clara, I will be communicative. . . . :
a. I convey the City's care for and commitment to its citizens.
b. I communicate in various ways that I am approachable, open-minded and willing to participate in dialog.
c. I engage in effective two-way communication, by listening carefully, asking questions, and determining an appropriate response which adds value to conversations.
7. As a Representative of the City of Santa Clara, I will be collaborative.
In practice, this value looks like:
a. I act in a cooperative manner with groups and other individuals, working together in a spirit of tolerance and understanding. . . .
The real test of the City's commitment to ethics will be how they respond to the Mayor's actions, which certainly do not demonstrate "a sense of compassion for the community."
3 comments:
Why is it that the most ethically challenged members of this present city council are graduates of Santa Clara University? The moral misdeeds of Patricia Mahan, Dominic Caserta and Kevin Moore are well documented, especially as it relates to this stadium imbroglio.
They are an embarassment to all Santa Clara alums who truly put words into action, and carry the Jesuit educational heritage beyond the classroom.
This is really quite amazing because it happened right after a report to the Council on ethics. We wasted money on those ethics consultants.
Stadium boosters wasted no time in co-opting the statistic stating that 80% of Santa Clarans think that 'the city is on the right track' - further claiming that, 'ergo', the stadium is a 'good idea'.
Sorry, Forty-Whiners - non sequitur.
The polling was done between Dec. 29, 2006 and Jan. 11, 2007 - a time when people are pretty much in an upbeat mood. And in the first week of January, how many Santa Clarans were critically analyzing the stadium proposal and the $160M payoff to the York family?
This city council blithely rolls along, certain that it's doing the 'ethical' thing for the city.
The ethical thing: Coming clean about the stadium financing and committing to put a binding resolution on the stadium to a ballot.
Acting ethically, under some circumstances, requires us to refrain from acting for others. The City Council should in no event attempt to unilaterally approve any kind of stadium deal. They certainly should not be attempting to stifle debate in Chambers when responsible dissent is presented.
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