By the time this column gets to press, the votes should be counted and the results will be in. Congratulations to our just-elected candidates. You have chosen to run at a challenging time, and you will need all of your skills to make it a successful term.
Like most every municipality, you will be faced with dozens of decisions demanding time, thought, planning and money.
And quite frankly, money ranks pretty high on that list. Like maybe … first place.
It is a complement to prior councils who had the patience, vision, and tenacity to give Santa Clara a swim center, multiple parks, great streets, a convention center, and a great stadium with international appeal and, for the most part, a balanced budget. Our former councils also brought electronics to our city. Companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and many others have put us in the spotlight of success.
At one time, Santa Clara was just another suburb of San Jose. And, while San Jose still continues to attract business, leading companies, their local competition could be and should be Santa Clara.
It is disturbing to see the national news doing interviews about major events taking place
in Santa Clara and being covered in San Jose instead of here on our turf.
There are a couple of reasons for this. Santa Clara city has ignored keeping pace with our competition. Our convention center is old, needs refurbishing, and needs the right team to run the place.
And think about this. Santa Clara is home to one of the leading stadiums in the United States. We could be, should be, making millions more than we do. Our stadium should be booked solid every available week outside the football season. Santa Clara should plan for downtime to refurbish, renew, and keep our mega million-dollar stadium in A-plus condition. It is overdue for a facelift. Ignore Levi’s, and it could soon look shabby, like our convention center or even worse, like our Swim Center.
So, council, you have some heavy lifting to do.
Don’t bother looking back. Keep focused on the future and what can be and should be. The opportunities to generate millions for our city are already here. Spend a little to make a lot.
Updating our money-producing properties is prudent, powerful and profitable.
Previous Milestones:
Milestones – A Great Choice is Critical – Opinion
Milestones – When Losing … Just LIE! – Opinion
Milestones – Hip, Hip Hypocrisy – Opinion
Milestones – A Mayor for the Majority – Opinion