r/santaclara • u/vanzini • 17h ago
Impressions from a City Council Meeting
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I went to that 5+ hour Santa Clara City Council meeting on 10/6/26 in order to put in my 2cents about the data center moratorium. I'd never been to a city council meeting anywhere, and it was an eye-opening (and often yawn-inducing) experience. For those who haven't been to one, I strongly encourage you to go at least once. And bring snacks, a pillow for your chair, maybe even a thermos of coffee.
I'm not a reporter, so I don't feel obliged to provide a full description of what actually happened. Instead, here are some random impressions that may benefit folks who are now considering who to vote for on their mayoral ballot.
- I love Suds Jain. That guy is right on target with his questions and recommendations for how to really solve problems. Never tell me anything bad about him.
- Kevin Park is a blowhard. He's that guy who when you see that he's going to be in your meeting at work you know that nothing is going to get decided on because he's going to hog the call to voice his opinion on stuff, won't listen to anything anybody else says other than to shoot it down, and never actually make any actionable suggestions. Please don't vote for him for Mayor, folks!
- Lisa Gillmore seems pretty neat. I wouldn't rank her in the stars yet like I would Jain, but I thought she handled the meeting well, making sure that everyone had opportunities to share their thoughts, ask questions, keeping Park in check as much as possible (even when he was interrupting the opening procedures just to accuse her of texting on her phone!)
- Raj Chahal seems okay but conservative. Not in a maga way, but in the old school Republicans-before-newt-gingrich kind of way that I miss sooo much. I can't believe I'm admitting that in public. Why can't we go back to arguing about fiscal conservatism vs. social safety nets type of arguments?
- Karen Hardy seems sensible but cautious. Very concerned about taking on liability and promising investments we can't afford. But seems to be on the good side as far as the NDA ban goes.
- Kelly Cox also seems sensible. Didn't talk much but when she did it was clear she was paying attention to what everyone was saying and only chimed in when she had more to add that hadn't been said already.
- Albert Gonzalez (vice mayor) seemed really checked out. He was always looking down at his laptop, barely spoke other than being asked to by Gillmore, and when he did, it wasn't very clear what his points were.
- I'm new to Santa Clara so I don't know much about the whole 49ers saga but even I can tell it was hovering in the subtext of the meeting.
- I think I picked out at least a couple of the regulars. Interesting hobby. I might take it up when I retire someday.
- Sidewalks on San Tomas and Lawrence expressway were really the headliner of the evening. Hours of going around and around on this. Attached is a picture of a slide that a citizen brought into the meeting. This guy has been showing up for something like 8 meetings to get a chance to talk about this. And you know what? This was FASCINATING! And completely confusing. Here's what I think the issue is: the expressways were built by the county in the 1960s. Pedestrians are prohibited from using them. But in the 1990s, Santa Clara City passed a rule allowing pedestrians on the parts that go through our city. But there are still places that have signs saying pedestrians are prohibited, and parts of the expressways really are very unsafe for walking along (especially underpasses). I think everyone agrees that encouraging walking and biking is a Good Thing. And that Santa Clara is apparently broke and can't afford to put in proper bike lanes, sidewalks or trails. But! these are owned by the County. So we should make the county pay for them. Hey, there's a guy from the county here tonight - let's ask him about it (2.5 hours into the discussions). The county guy says that yes they will add sidewalks if the city asks for them nicely, and that bike lanes are planned but come from some special fund (from the state? not sure). So in the end, they voted to do more research and will have to discuss it again at a future meeting.
- Data centers didn't come up until 10pm. Started with a very interesting presentation by the city guy on how awesome they are and how awesome the city is at covering the demand for water and electricity. Charts with fun little clip art highlighting how green our electricity sources are. No charts that projected in to the future how things are likely to grow. Fancy architectural renderings of how beautiful the data centers will be. I learned about "purple pipes" which are a parallel water system that delivers reclaimed water for industrial purposes and lawns. That guy's pro-data center bias was a little embarrassing to see. He made it sound like the data centers are the reason Santa Clara has low utility bills, not the other way around. Data centers pay for soccer fields and parks and all sorts of lovely amenities.
- Makes me wonder: why can't the data centers pay for the damn sidewalks and bike lanes on the expressways?
- Suds Jain sliced right to the heart of the matter: if the city doesn't set a moratorium now, any current submissions will be able to claim to be grandfathered in and not have to follow any new regulations that the council might pass. There has already been a de facto pause in place since 2023 due to not having enough power to allocate to new data centers. The moratorium will make the current pause official.
Sorry this was so long. But I spent five hours of my life in that meeting, so just putting it here makes it feel a little bit worth it.
tl;dr: Suds Jain rocks. Kevin Park is a blowhard. Get the county to pay for proper sidewalks on the expressway. Put a moratorium on data centers until new guidelines can be written. And if you plan to go to a council meeting, bring snacks.
