49ers' Subsidies: The Private Investment Myth

Dear Santa Clarans,


It's time for a Subsidy Fact.

The real truth about the 49ers' subsidy was unfortunately obfuscated by Mayor Matthews in a KGO-TV interview here. Mayor Matthews states: "What we're funding is a municipal stadium that has a very small public contribution when we have a one billion dollar private investment."

I'm sorry, but that is simply not the case. There is nowhere near one billion dollars in private money going into any stadium in our city. In fact, the Agenda Reports of our own City Council make abundantly clear that the public "contribution" is really a massive subsidy totalling $444,000,000 and which amounts to 47% of the the stadium's construction costs alone.

The $114M upfront plus the $330M to be raised by the Stadium Authority doesn't even include what it will cost us to operate the stadium for the 49ers.

"Investment"? The stadium creates jobs which will pay less than $7,000 a year**, and it generates less economic activity than the Training Center itself. The use of the word "investment" should imply some return - returns which are sadly lacking with this "deal."

"Municipal Stadium" is precisely what the 49ers stadium isn't. We aren't building a stadium for Santa Clarans - we're subsidizing one for the 49ers. You'll find out how true that really is as we get deeper into the Development Agreement process. The stadium will barely be useful - much less profitable - to our new Stadium Authority. In fact, the 49ers have virtually assured that Santa Clara won't even make a fair return from the NFL games themselves.

With the RDA Amendment, and later with the Development Agreement, there will be a huge volume of blather designed to persuade us that subsidizing a millionaire's NFL team is in the interest of the city of Santa Clara. It simply is not.

Please. Speak out. Demand more "Stadium Facts."

If you have any questions about what you're getting in the press, ask anytime. What we don't yet know, we'll find out.



Thanks for all of your support,
Bill Bailey, Treasurer,
Santa Clara Plays Fair

-=0=-
** The 49ers themselves managed to blow their own case in May of 2010 when they admitted in one of their slick Measure J brochures that they were creating 2,600 (!) stadium jobs. That and an annual payroll of $17M gets you jobs working about 8 hours a week and paying less than seven grand a year. There will be no benefits, and certainly no bargaining units, for those workers. The "jobs" claim is merely a buzzword for the 49ers and the stadium boosters - nothing more.

The "Final Word" before the November 2nd Election...

Santa Clarans, please do turn out at City Hall on Monday evening. This will be one last opportunity to hear our candidates for City Council and for Mayor before we go to the polls on Tuesday morning.

Final Word Forum
Date: 11/1/2010 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Cost: FREE

Location: City of Santa Clara - Council Chambers
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, California 95050

Also, here is the latest release from City Hall concerning the ongoing fiscal problems we Santa Clarans face:

http://santaclaraca.gov//index.aspx?recordid=560&page=50

We encourage all residents to stay informed on just these issues - and to decide if they're a fair yardstick by which to evaluate the candidates on Monday evening.



Thanks for your support and best regards,
Bill Bailey, Treasurer

-=0=-

Candidates' Forum for Council and SCUSD Trustees this Saturday!

Saturday, Oct. 16 10:00 am -12:00 pm

Rivermark Community Candidates Forum

Don Callejon School ~ Multipurpose Room

4176 Lick Mill Blvd, Santa Clara

Santa Clarans, please turn out this Saturday to meet all of the candidates - and please vote on November 2nd!

City Council Candidate Meet & Greet: Teresa O'Neill, 10/14 at 5 pm

Meet & Greet with Teresa O’ Neill

Santa Clara City Council Candidate Seat #5

Come and meet with candidate Teresa O'Neill

Host Ms. Pat Rupel

Thursday, Oct. 14th 5 pm- 7 pm

2877 Taper Ave, Santa Clara

RSVP

Check out my website: http://teresaoneill.org

City Council Candidate Meet & Greet: Teresa O'Neill, 10/9 at 4pm

Meet & Greet with Teresa O' Neill

Santa Clara City Council Candidate Seat #5

Saturday, Oct. 9

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Come and join your neighbors for an afternoon with candidate Teresa

Host Alice Pivacek & Frank Kadlecek

597 Bancroft St, Santa Clara

Please RSVP

Check out my Calendar of Events http://teresaoneill.org

Televised City Council Candidates Forum: Monday, 7-9 pm, City Council Chambers

Santa Clarans, if you can attend, please come to the:

Televised Candidates Forum 2010

Date: Monday evening, 9/20/2010 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Cost: FREE

Location: City of Santa Clara - Council Chambers
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, California 95050

The Forum will also be simulcast on Comcast Cable Channel 15.

Newsrelease (PDF)

Agenda (PDF)

Best regards,

Bill Bailey, Treasurer,

Santa Clara Plays Fair

-=0=-

The 49ers Stadium: Subsidizing a Bad Project

Dear Santa Clarans,


This Wednesday, September 8th, our Planning Commission takes up the Rezoning and Tentative Subdivision Map which will allow the San Francisco to use City lands for their stadium - nearly half the cost of which will be paid or raised by Santa Clara agencies. The four-part report to the Planning Commission may be found here.

The DEIR for the stadium was released last July 30th, meaning that the stadium project has now been separated from its first Environmental Impact Report by over a year! However, the gross faults with that EIR process - and with the final document, certified by the City Council on December 8th, 2009 - still remain. Virtually none of the stadium's impacts on our community will be mitigated in any way.

Santa Clara Plays Fair urges interested Santa Clarans - especially if you live north of U.S. 101 - to attend the Planning Commission meeting this Wednesday evening and speak out on the stadium project. To quickly locate bullet items you're interested in, here is a quick two-page index.

Please share this with your neighbors: The 49ers stadium subsidy is a fiscal issue for all of us - but it's also a quality-of-life issue for those of us who live in Zip Code 95054.



Thanks for your continuing support,

Bill Bailey, Treasurer,
Santa Clara Plays Fair

-=0=-