Taxpayers or Investors Without a Choice?

by David Kline

Santa Clara Taxpayers Vote Themselves Out! That could be the headline if Measure J passes. Whether or not Santa Clara's stadium deal results in jobs and new revenue, it changes the City's character. Funds that belonged to taxpayers are given to a private corporation. Taxpayers who voted No become involuntary investors and, along with those voting Yes, lose control over their property. City revenues become dependent upon the profits of a corporation taxpayers do not own. That corporation has no obligation for City services, and its stadium construction and operation will bring environmental degradation. The focus shifts from neighborhoods and City services to the corporation's bottom line.

Participants in the stadium debate have focused primarily on economic arguments. The facts can be unambiguously verified. They fit within the widely prevalent ethos: Greed is good and money is all that matters. Profit seekers ignore externalized costs such as the Unavoidable Significant Impacts identified in the EIR. The City of Santa Clara did this when it filed a Statement of Overriding Concerns.

There have been perfunctory attempts to put a better face on it. The San Jose Mercury News editorial of April 18 tells us the stadium is a "rare opportunity to boost the entire region's civic pride, enhance its image and provide both economic benefits and ones that can't be fully measured in dollars and cents." A mailer by the 49ers extols Santa Clara's "tree-lined neighborhood streets" and "small town charm." Both the editorial and the mailer then launch into economic justifications for their positions. But profits do not justify noise, traffic and pollution, or the gift of $114 million taxpayer dollars to a private corporation.

I agree with the 49ers campaign mailer, saying Yes to our tree-lined neighborhood streets. There is a street sign nearby: Duck Crossing, 19 MPH. Ducks in our neighborhood, having learned from the kids, use the crosswalk. My neighbors, with children living nearby, have become grandparents. I know my customers, and people where I shop know me.. It's my town, with no stadium. I will vote No on J to keep it that way, and to have my say now and in the future..