Isn’t it interesting to sift through the embers of the candidate bonfire and see who went down in flames and who wound up on top?

Congratulations to our winners who will restore and expand Santa Clara’s powerful position in Silicon Valley.

While the votes are not all counted as I write this, enough have arrived to send off a round of applause for our winners.

Folks, there is going to be a new sheriff in town. I kind of like the sound of Karen Hardy, Mayor of Santa Clara.

There are only about a dozen or two major issues that have to be dealt with in the coming days.

Just one of these projects leaped out as an attention-getter. Under the banner of addressing housing needs, there is a proposal to eliminate Pruneridge Golf Course and turn it into high-rise apartments and condos.

For those of you who are new to town, and even for those who are old-timers, here’s a bit of Gillmor History. 

More than a decade ago (retired mayor to be) Lisa Gillmor cut a “spectacular” deal with the Related Companies. This is the organization that built the Hudson Yards project in New York. The arrangement was that Santa Clara would give Related our 240-acre golf course in exchange for a fabulous build-out.

So, the golf course was closed, David’s outstanding restaurant was forced out by eminent domain and the property was turned over to Related. The “improvements” in more than a decade have been a fence put up around the 240-acre property. Ohhh, there was one benefit. Mayor Gillmor received tens of thousands of dollars every election from Related to support her candidates.

This “arrangement” will probably be recorded as the boondoggle of the decade.

The new proposal is a different developer singing the same song. “I’ll turn Pruneridge into beautiful housing.”

It is a nine-hole golf course with about ninety reasons it should not happen.

When reading the proposal and noting they would remove EIGHTY centuries-old Redwood trees, my whole body said, “No way!”

This is one of the last major open spaces left in Santa Clara. Let the builder cut a deal with Gillmor and Related on our former city golf course property that has been useless for years.

With the closing of Great America, more housing will be built. Santa Clara will never have enough property to satisfy developers, but there is not enough money anywhere to replace our spectacular Redwood trees.

Previous Milestones:
Milestones – Investing, Not Spending! – Opinion
Milestones – A Great Choice is Critical – Opinion
Milestones – When Losing … Just LIE! – Opinion
Milestones – Hip, Hip Hypocrisy – Opinion