Sunday Night at the Movies

There was a spirited crowd at Peterson Middle School on Wednesday night, eager to learn more about the most important City-wide initiative of the century -- Measure J, the Stadium Subsidy.

And, learn they did. Kolstad & Kennedy covered topics as varied as the technical minutia of redevelopment law, school financing, game-day public safety measures and the stadium's potential impact on our perilously overdrawn City budget.

They even discussed campaign finance reform:



While we were not able to capture every moment of the evening's proceedings, we have posted as much as we could on youtube, where you will find discussions on:

• Stadium jobs
• Traffic
• School funding
• Taxes
  
• Economy & economic stimulus
  
• Public safety
• Stadium financing
  

Sit back, grab a bag of popcorn & let the good times roll!

Environmental Impact Process

The long-awaited Environmental Impact process for the proposed SF 49ers stdium has begun. You have until Sept. 15th to voice specific concerns with the proposed stadium's impact to the environment and our quality of life.

The first step in the EIR is for the public and interested agencies to provide input on specific concerns they have with the physical aspects of the stadium. These concerns can include noise, traffic, parking, light pollution, visual concerns, impact to the environment.

There will be two public scoping meetings held on Sept. 2. These meetings are an opportunity for the public to provide verbal input on specific areas the EIR should cover. Written input can also be provided. All input is due by Sept. 15th, 2008.

This input, together with regulatory requirements and input from staff, will form the basis for the EIR. The EIR will assess the risks and impacts of the identified concerns, and propose ways to mitigate those concerns.

The outline for the EIR is posted at:

http://santaclaraca.gov/pdf/collateral/49ers-20080818-Stadium-Project.pdf

Now is your time to act.

Read the outline, write down all your concerns. In addition to the meetings on Sept. 2nd, comments or questions may be directed to the project manager, Jeffrey Schwilk, at 408-615-2450 or jschwilk@santaclaraca.gov or by postal mail at:

City of Santa Clara
Planning Department
c/o Jeffrey Schwilk, AICP
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050

What about the intangibles?

"Your lovin' gives me such a thrill. But your lovin' don't pay my bills."

"Money (That's What I Want)" Written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford; made famous by four Englishmen from Liverpool

So far, most of us who are opponents of the stadium subsidy have focused exclusively on the financials, because it is after all our money, and it is a lot of our money -- about $2000 per resident!

At the SCPF press conference, we were asked "What about the intangibles?" In other words, what about the supposed prestige ^* of having an NFL team in our city.

In a nutshell, "Intangibles don't pay my bills!"

But as long as we're examining non-economic impacts, there are are plenty of other issues that we have not looked at. Here are just two:

1. Crime: two weeks ago, there were two shootings in the parking lot of a Bay Area football stadium, one before and one after a game.
   
   Our neighbors in Sunnyvale looked at potential impacts of a stadium, back in February. Their report can be found here. They found that at Monster Park on 49er game days, the police have to deal with
   

   ... drunk in public, fights, and auto burglaries. During an average game, SFPD makes six arrests, issues three misdemeanor and 25 infraction citations, and reports one traffic collision. (page 7)
   

   Is this what we want with a family-oriented amusement park next door? Or in the so-called entertainment district?
   
   
2. Traffic: Sunnyvale's report also found that:
   

   Tasman Drive and Lawrence Expressway ... would likely operate at Level of Service “F” with severe traffic delays... Access between ... side streets and westbound Tasman Drive would be severely congested. (page 6)

   If it's this bad a mile down the road in Sunnyvale, imagine what it will be like at the stadium gates. Forget about coming to or going from Great America, Mission College, the Mercado, or Rivermark.
   

Of course, all this additional crime and traffic will cost money. Sunnyvale concluded that

An increased need for traffic and public safety services is likely. (page 8)

The hit song "Money (That's What I Want)" is an interesting parallel to the stadium subsidy, on a couple of different levels.

1. It neatly sums up the uselessness of intangible benefits.
   
   
2. The people who put the most into it are not the ones who got the most out of it. Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford wrote it. The Beatles got all fame and fortune.
   

--

^* It's arguable there is no prestige because Santa Clara's name will not get top billing. The San Francisco 49ers have already said they will not change their name. This is not surprising -- the Arizona Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys did not change their names either when they got new stadiums (in Glendale, AZ and Arlington, TX respectively.) If Santa Clara were known for anything then, it would be as a bunch of gullible patsies.

From our email inbox

It's Wednesday, and that means it's time once again to open up the Stadium Facts inbox and see what our readers have to say!

Today's letter comes from Santa Clara resident Daniel L.

He writes . . .

I have enjoyed working with several Niner players and staff, particularly those from the Walsh era that came from Stanford. Many have been a big positive for the community. Yet this stadium will only bring pain to the residents.

I grew up living in Palo Alto just a couple blocks from the Stanford football stadium. On game day our streets were barricaded to keep traffic out... and us in. The major streets were gridlock with police directing traffic at the intersections. So called "special events" (such as the Olympics and World Cup Soccer) were even worse. Police and military helicopters would circle the area for days (and nights) in advance. Areas of interest to terrorists would feature police with automatic weapons along with bomb sniffing dogs.

Meanwhile, drunks and lowly individuals would wander through the neighborhoods looking for crimes of opportunity since the police were busy directing traffic and handling crowd control. The same thing occurs in Oakland, South San Francisco, Berkeley, etc.

Have you ever noticed how football stadiums are seldom ever in [the] nice part of town???

If owning a stadium is such a great financial opportunity then why are not Alviso and East Palo Alto fighting to get a stadium?

Considering that Santa Clara cannot afford to repair the streets in several neighborhoods, staff a library east of highway 101, repair the international swim center, fill 30 or so vacant city positions... and has been reducing services by cutting library and police station hours... we clearly cannot afford to be in the stadium business.

Daniel raises an important issue that we haven't yet discussed in great detail here at Stadium Facts — how the stadium will impact the residential and commercial areas near the stadium. From the information the San Francisco 49ers have presented to the City Council, Santa Clara residents who live near the stadium can expect the same traffic congestion and controls Daniel experienced living near the Stanford stadium.

In their presentation to the City Council on April 24, Larry MacNeil, the 49ers CFO, addressed the issue of traffic controls around the stadium on event days. According to their plans (please see their report for the full details) traffic on all of the streets surrounding this area would be severely limited on game days. In fact, a portion of Tasman Drive would be completely closed, and other surrounding streets would be closed post-game. (Unless you live in those areas, in which case you'll have to get permission from a police officer to pass into your own neighborhood.)

And these traffic restrictions aren't just an issue for residents living near the stadium. Who would brave the stadium traffic to go to a movie at the AMC Mercado on an event day? Unless you live close enough to Rivermark Plaza to walk there, would you even consider trying to shop there on an event day?

And, of course, there's the continuing issue of misplaced priorities. Daniel identifies several more pressing concerns he sees for the city — street repairs, library services, swim center improvements, a hiring freeze — and we all may have ideas on how the city should spend that money. Or NOT spend it, for that matter.

How would you like the city to invest $180 million?

Better cross your legs...

Would you spend almost 3000 buckaroonies to remodel a bathroom that you can only use once every 10 days? And if you tried to use it more often, the toilet would back up?

I didn't think so.

Yet that's exactly what the proposed 49ers stadium would be like. It would cost close to $3000 for every man, woman, and child in Santa Clara. By the most optimistic estimates (the 49ers' of course) the stadium would see action about 30 days a year (10 home games, plus 20 "special events.")

"A couple more days if we make the playoffs," says Lisa Lang, the 49ers' VP of communications.

So the only way to make this investment pay off is to increase the number of events. But wait! If you think the neighbors are up in arms about traffic etc now, wait until we try to put on even more events! There goes that overflowing toilet...

So to recap, 30 days out of 365 days a year, that's not even 10% utilization, folks!

Compare this to other investments we can make:

• A school would resound with the pitty-patter of little feet at least 9 months out of the year, or about 53% utilization. (We don't count weekends, 'cause the little tykes ought to have time off for Little League, etc.)
• A typical Silicon Valley office building would be in use 5-6 days a week (7 if it's Yahoo's -- they gotta catch up to Google.) Minus a couple of weeks off for Diwali and Chinese New Year, etc, that's still easily 65% utilization.
• A library like the cool new one on Homestead can be open 7 days a week -- if the city hasn't already blown its wad subsidizing billionaires.

What does that utilization look like?

Stadium: 10%	School: 53%
Office: 65%	Library: 100%

The moral of the story? If we're going to invest in something big, let's invest in something that will get a lot of use.

PS. Also, don't forget, that's $2900 per head, so for the average Santa Clara household with 2.58 :-) persons, that's just about $7500. That ought to pay for marble vanities and a heated toilet seat.