Dear Editor, 

On November 6th, 2025, following a city council meeting, I filed a public records request with the City of Santa Clara to get records in relation to the statements that Mayor Gillmor made as well as former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe made when she called in remote to the meeting as a member of the public. Mayor Gillmor as well as Kathy Watanabe, stated that both of them had received numerous complaints regarding the stadium over the years. So I thought, well, let’s see those “numerous complaints”. 

Here is the records request word for word, PRA#25-1462, it remains unpublished to the public on the city’s public records website. 

 “At the last City Council meeting Mayor Gillmor from the dais and Former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe as a phone-in public comment stated they have received numerous complaints of stadium issues over the years.

I would like to request all records (if any) texts, emails and notes centering on all complaints/issues/noise about Levi’s Stadium sent to Mayor Lisa Gillmor from March 7th, 2016 to present. This includes all additional correspondence Mayor Gillmor had sent back and forth regarding those stadium complaints/issues/noise.

In addition I would like all records (if any) texts, emails, notes, or centering on all complaints/issues/noise about Levi’s Stadium sent to Councilmember Kathy Watanabe from March 7th, 2016 to December 17th, 2024. This also includes all additional correspondence former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe sent back and forth regarding those stadium complaints/issues/noise.”

Following filing the records request the city responded back asking for ‘clarification’ as stated in their response here, “At this time, we request clarification of your PRA request. To assist you in making a focused request that will allow the City to make an effective search for responsive records, please respond in writing and identify the specific government records sought so that we may process your request. Please clarify whether the request seeks records sent by residents to Mayor Lisa Gillmor and former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe and their responses during the respective time periods.

I responded with, “To clarify, Yes, I am requesting all records sent by residents/constituents to Mayor Lisa Gillmor and former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe and their responses during the respective time periods regarding what both Mayor Gillmor and former Councilmember Watanabe have stated they have gotten complaints about the stadium during the respective time periods.

In the city’s defense they did release one batch of records 7 days later after the obvious clarification but the records received are limited to the following 5 emails, 9/28/2024- 49ers influence over Santa Clara politics; 10/3/2024- complaints about police not enforcing parking rules in northside neighborhoods and should require permit parking on gamedays; 10/2/25- parking for residents in neighborhoods with fear of constantly getting tickets or towing where only one point is on stadium events parking ban, but also focuses on issuances of street sweeping tickets, parking limitation of 2 hour and mentioning the lack of parking at their complex of 200 units and with only 170 parking spaces. Something that is coming back to haunt city council decisions on the future of developments. 10/19/25- police helicopter noise during game days; 8/20/2025- complaints about ACE and Capitol Corridor commuters that have been struggling with parking problems at Great America and Levi stadium personnel had been blocking lots of parking spaces at random times during stadium event times. In the last decade it is just those 5 emails at the moment.

The City of Santa Clara said it will continue to search for the records. After this, the city then started with delays, “The City is continuing its search of City servers to locate additional responsive documents in a manner consistent with the PRA, and respectfully extends the response fourteen (14) days until December 1, 2025 provided that we will timely notify you if this is not possible”. Then it was extended until December 15, 2025,  then January 2, 2026,  and now January 16, 2026. The City of Santa Clara states the reason for the multiple extensions is because“(1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request”. 

This answer from the city makes no sense, because it is solely: Does Gillmor and Watanabe who both on video claimed they have numerous complaints they received over the years?It is Gillmor and Watanabe, not field facilities or other establishments. This is solely the former Councilmember and current Mayor. If they claim to have it they should turn them all over. It is starting to remind me and others in the community about Gillmor and Watanabe’s crusade on the stadium noise and noise monitors. As soon as a new council was elected in 2020 there was detailed follow through on the noise monitor issue that Gillmor and Watanabe raved about for years. Only then did Gillmor and Watanabe’s narrative disappear into thin air when the data they hired didn’t back up their claims. Remember folks, these are the two same people who said the stadium was a great idea and ignored the people of the city who had concerns about some of these exact issues and complaints they say they receive. 

This really makes me wonder, and poses these questions: Is this the city’s way of stalling for Gillmor and Watanabe because there really is no Gillmor-Watanabe claimed numerous complaints for the last decade? Is it that Gillmor and Watanabe are consistently misleading the public about the stadium by crying wolf?  And will the City of Santa Clara, when ready, provide records that are outside of the window of the request to add “weight” to the Gillmor-Watanabe narrative. Meaning the City will publish bunches of records with no relevance to the actual written complaints Mayor Gillmor and Kathy Watanabe said they received personally over the last 10 years. For example, the one record released was about “49ers influence on the city council”, how is that relevant to stadium complaints?  One would think at how aggressive and vocal Gillmor and Watanabe were with the claims of the numerous complaints over the past decade that they would have archived them as proof to support what they said they have received. Then again, it is known around city hall and the community that Mayor Gillmor does not take the laws regarding the PRA’s seriously. At city hall it is no secret that Gillmor does not comply and deletes records. Just look how she deleted records with San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lance Williams and the Signal phone application when she was searched by the District Attorney. That was not a red flag to them?  

You can guarantee there are no reportable communications between the Mayor and Kathy Watanabe on any topic. If you look over bunches of PRA’s filed over the years there is never any correspondence between them. They are not transparent because if they were it would prove their coordination and corruption. Imagine what other communications the public is being denied access to. 

Roger Kint