With a full slate of candidates, The Weekly wanted to give voters insight into each candidate’s position on a slew of issues we believe matter most to Santa Clarans.
Consequently, we asked them seven questions, giving them the flexibility to answer as many as they wanted. We limited their responses to 1,000 words (allowing a bit of flexibility for how disparate word processors count words). Their responses appear verbatim.
The Silicon Valley Voice will roll out each candidate’s answers in the days leading up to the election.
How do you think the city handled the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup this year? If you were on the city council, what would you have done differently? How would you balance the desire to have more events like these at Levi’s Stadium with neighborhood impacts?
I think the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup were a great success for Santa Clara. Hosting events of this magnitude at Levi’s Stadium puts our city on an international stage and demonstrates what Santa Clara is capable of doing.
My question is much simpler: did Santa Clara make money?
Residents deserve a clear accounting of what these events cost the City and what revenue they generated. It is not enough to say an event was successful because the stadium was full and the television coverage looked great. We need to know whether it was also a good deal for the people of Santa Clara.
I want Levi’s Stadium to continue attracting major events while minimizing traffic, parking, noise and other impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. That requires advance planning, listening to affected residents and learning from each event.
Over the past ten years, the city has added lots of housing but has floundered with respect to public amenities and infrastructure (the swim center is in disrepair, the convention center is falling apart and the BMX Park is slated to move, just to name a few). What more should the city be doing to prevent the loss of — or add more — public amenities and find a better balance between housing and public amenities, without asking residents to approve another $400 million bond measure?
I lived for 26 years with the International Swim Center practically in my backyard. I watched generations of families and athletes use it, and I cannot believe it has been closed since 2024.
What concerns me even more is that a facility that served Santa Clara for roughly 60 years reached this point without the City adequately planning and setting aside money for its eventual renovation or replacement.
Buildings, pools, parks and other public facilities do not suddenly become old. We need long-term capital plans and reserves for their repair and eventual replacement.
I support adding housing, including higher-density housing where appropriate, but successful growth means building a community, not simply adding housing units. Parks, recreation facilities and infrastructure have to grow with us.
According to Silicon Valley At Home, while Santa Clara does well to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers for Low Income and Above Moderate Income households, it struggles to create housing for low-income households. What should the city do to create PERMANENT spaces for the poorest Santa Clara residents?
This is one of the most difficult challenges facing Santa Clara and the entire Bay Area. I do not believe rent control is the best long-term solution. We need to increase the permanent supply of housing that people at the lowest income levels can actually afford.
I believe the community as a whole has a responsibility to provide opportunities for people of different income levels to live here. Santa Clara should work with the County, nonprofit housing organizations and responsible developers and make maximum use of available state and federal housing funds.
We should also examine City-owned land and partnerships that could produce permanent affordable housing without placing the entire financial burden on Santa Clara taxpayers.
Silicon Valley Power has increased rates six times since January 2022 as the utility continues to expand. Would you like to see this expansion continue? With more data centers than ever, do you think SVP’s trajectory is in the best interest of residents?
I believe data centers are here to stay, and Santa Clara is uniquely positioned to benefit from them. Silicon Valley Power is one of our City’s greatest assets, and I support its continued growth — but that growth has to benefit the residents who own the utility.
SVP has reported that 11 additional large data centers are waiting for approval to connect. That represents enormous additional demand.
Data centers can provide significant utility revenue, investment and tax revenue while requiring relatively few additional City services. But if we are making major electrical infrastructure investments to accommodate that growth, residents deserve to know exactly what the return is.
After repeated electric rate increases, I would ask a simple question: Are Santa Clara residents getting their fair share of the benefit?
Companies creating this demand should pay their fair share of infrastructure costs, and residents should see a clear financial benefit.
Name some issues on which you would have voted differently from your predecessor and some that you would have voted the same. Explain why.
I would have voted with Mayor Gillmor on Measure I. Santa Clara needed to make a major investment in its aging infrastructure, and I supported doing so.
Where I would have voted differently is on many issues involving Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers. For too long, the relationship between the City, Stadium Authority and 49ers has been defined by lawsuits, political divisions and personal conflict. I do not believe continuing that approach is in Santa Clara’s best interest.
We also cannot ignore the enormous independent political spending associated with the 49ers in Santa Clara elections, supporting or opposing Council and mayoral candidates. Even when that spending is legally independent of candidates, it creates a perception that stadium politics and City politics are intertwined.
I want to take as much day-to-day stadium conflict as possible out of the political arena. I would explore using an independent, professional third party to oversee appropriate stadium-related matters, with clear responsibilities, financial accountability and public reporting.
The Council should establish policy and protect Santa Clara’s financial interests, but it should not spend meeting after meeting fighting over the 49ers.
I would rather work toward a 7-0 compromise than celebrate a 4-3 victory. I am not running to lead a faction of the City Council. I am running to be Mayor of Santa Clara.
How do you plan to balance neighborhood-specific advocacy with citywide budget and policy tradeoffs?
Every neighborhood deserves to be heard, but the Mayor has to represent the entire city.
I would listen carefully when neighborhoods bring forward problems because the people who live there often understand them best. But listening does not mean promising everyone everything they ask for. We have one city budget, and every dollar spent in one place is unavailable somewhere else.
My decisions would be based on need, fairness and what provides the greatest benefit to Santa Clara as a whole. Councilmembers should advocate strongly for their districts. The Mayor’s responsibility is to bring those interests together..
What would you do to ensure that the Related project does not see another several years of delay?
The Related project was originally approved ten years ago. Santa Clara cannot afford another ten years of delays.
As Mayor, I would sit down with Related and City staff and identify exactly what is preventing the next phase from moving forward. Both the City and developer should have clear responsibilities and timelines, with regular public updates.
The City should streamline permitting and other approval processes wherever possible. That does not mean lowering our standards. It means eliminating unnecessary delays, coordinating City departments and giving the developer clear answers about what is required.
If an obstacle is on the City’s side, we should fix it. If it is on Related’s side, we should hold them accountable for fixing it.
After ten years, I want to see shovels in the ground and progress Santa Clara residents can actually see.
Previous Mayoral Candidate Posts:
Gary Ferraris
Karen Hardy
David Kertes
Kevin Park
Kathy Watanabe