This interesting article appeared this morning in the San Jose Mercury News. There is a dispute about Redevelopment Agency funding for the 49ers projected stadium. Santa Clara County officials have taken away $30 million from the 49ers stadium project. It was earmarked for little televisions on the back of the seats, but now it’s going to schools, among other things. The 49ers were counting on redevelopment funds, but in December of last year California disbanded the Redevelopment Agency. The result in Santa Clara is that the redevelopment funds are now in play for other perceived needs, which compete with the stadium. Santa Clara officials are saying that because much of that redevelopment money has been reallocated to schools, they don’t want to have to pay that money.
To read the Merc article, please click here.
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The Merc’s editor needs to clean up that article. In several spots it is unclear whether the author means Santa Clara city or Santa Clara County.
The apparent leader of the county’s little coup is a tax collector. Need I say more?
It is the City of Santa Clara.
Neal:
I think the State gives the redevelopment $ to the Counties and the Counties distribute it to the Cities. I might be mistaken???
Either way,if the State is broke ,and it is,the State is the one witholding the funds from Santa Clara . The courts will decide if the County/City of Santa Clara still owes the $ they promised if the State doesn’t give it to them . If I were Jed and his lawyers I would have it binding on Santa Clara ,even if the State doesn’t send the $ to SC. But Jed had to get the votes of the council ,so maybe he couldn’t get their votes if they knew they would still need to come up with the $ ,even if the State kept it.
According to the article on ESPN it says the county surprised the city and the 49ers by pulling 30 million in tax funds.
It sounds like the 49ers loaned the county 30 million cuz the county only had 10 so the construction could begin. The 49ers thought they’d be repaid by this tax.
On sirius it said that the stadium was voted on by the people and this specific amount was earmarked from that vote. Now they’re reniggin on it. The voters should be pissed if this is the case!
TV behind seats? Frevilous spending. Glad It’s going toward schools.
It wasn’t going for tv’s in seats. That is just a silly quote from one of the politicians that are trying to withold the funds they promised the team. The extra $30 mill the County owes the team would be used for the overall stadium expenses.
It is all probably going to be in court for years and the lawyers are all going to get rich(er).
I am sure Jed got the promise in writing,since he knows politicians can’t be trusted on a handshake. The court will decide what is binding on the County and what was only required if the State kept the redevelopment funds flowing. (which the State can’t do,because the State of California is BROKE ! ).
As a frequent flyer I must disagree. The little TV sets behind the seats are mandatory. Much more important than a “modern lifestyles” teacher.
I don’t think the point is what it’s being spent on but the fact that it was already promised to go to the 49ers for the stadium that they’ve already begun construction on.
It’s a pretty gutless move to yank the funds when the 49ers already reached a point of no return on the stadium and than shrug your shoulders and say “It’s going to get built anyways.”
Than just use education as an excuse for yanking the funds because they’ll receive less criticism that way when the reality is that most of that cash is going to get lost in the bureaucracy of the school districts and teacher’s union with the kids seeing little benefit from it.
Had the state of put education first, many of the problems this 7th largest economy in the world facesvfor decades down the road would be erased.
Instead, the world continues to promote entertainment instead of education. We’ve rebuilt the collasium of Rome here in Amercia. Instead of throwing christians into the lions, we’re throwing our future American children into slavery for Japan.
Our biggest hope here in America is that the world’s demise precedes the interest payment of us kicking the proverbial can down the road to a later worry. At least we’ll have entertainment until the bitter end!
California already spends more than the rest of the developed countries in the world. The problem is not the amount of money, but how it’s spent.
http://mat.usc.edu/u-s-education-versus-the-world-infographic/
The state does a fairly decent job of teaching kids. A fair number of them thrive in the system. That’s NOT the problem.
The problem is not a failure of teaching but a failure of parenting. When people, like some of my kids’ classmates’ parents, send their kids to school for kindergarten unable to read or even identify letters, and without any self-control or discipline whatsoever, or the ability to count to ten, and expect the school system to perform the miracle of the loaves and fishes, guess what? Those kids are destined for jobs at McDonald’s. Or worse.
When parents abdicate their responsibility to their kids, to be the main enablers of their education and growth into functional adults… you get a generation of non-functional, illiterate, spoiled brats.
A generation later: wash, rinse, repeat.
This is the problem with our schools: too many kids from families where the parents cannot be bothered to make an effort. Because it’s easier to push the problem on the schools, then rant about how they aren’t fixing their terrible brats.
I made sure my kids were prepared for school before they got there. My son is now in the gifted program, and my daughter, despite her autism, is at or above grade level in all subjects.
Choices, consequences…
Grumpy
What you say is very true, bad parenting is a huge problem. But the schools/teachers are not angels either. I wanted the teachers that taught my kids, to teach them how to think, not what to think. Also in coaching/teaching, the talented motivated athlete/student is much easier to coach/teach. I suspect the good coaches/teachers are able to reach out to the borderline kids and bring their level of play/education to a higher level. Then there are the kids you cant do nothing with. My girls thank goodness are contributing to society not milking it. One is a chemo nurse, another is doing very well with State Farm, and my third is in college. All went to public schools. I was lucky but I had huge issue with the schools and teachers.
There are definitely some people who excel at teaching and some who should be in another line of work. But taken as a whole, I think the profession in California is decent. I see enough good kids thrive to feel like the great preponderance of the blame for the failures lies elsewhere. With most of the problem kids, they are already behind in Kindergarten, in terms of academics and discipline. Kids who simply are not even ready to start learning to read, who can’t sit still and listen, not doing homework, whose parents cannot even get them to school on time – I see the same families roaring up to the school as I am leaving every day. When you make it clear to everyone, including your kids, that school is not a priority, you cannot expect the schools to somehow fix that.
O’C,Undercenter,Grumpy:
You guys just about said it all,I agree !!!
Not to worry. I will definitely be sitting in the seats I paid $4,000 for last week. And I don’t really care if there are little TVs on them. Two huge Jumbotrons will do just fine.
At the very least this is an example of unethical business practices as they are not making good on a promise. They saw they could take the money “legally” so they did but they did it without thinking if it was right or wrong in doing so. The 49ers will probably eat it at first but their lawyers got to be drooling over the litigation about to unfold. The county will have to pay back at least some if not all of the promised monies. Mark my words, this will cost the county more in the long run.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the team had to cover that $30M up front, but then got legal entitlement to withhold revenues to the City/County until the monies are made up. No doubt though, a goodly chunk of the settlement will go to the hired guns.
With Eddie as Jed’s mentor, I’ve got to believe there were warnings against handshake deals or negotiations with politicians not in writing.
Grant,
I read several longer articles on this and did not get a very good understanding of what was happening or why. Your very short article here answered every question I had and left me understanding exactly what happened and why. Thank you for having a succinct and clear writing style.
I see how the 49ers are going to win the Super Bowl. I’ve sat on top of Mount Olympus drinking a Hams with my legs crossed doing an extreme vertical crouching grasshopper in my full tantric glory, and I’ve received total consciousness. So I’ve got that going for me….. which is nice. I am currently one hundred thousand and twenty six percent sure now the 49ers are going to win the Super Bowl, IF Jim Harbaugh follows my advice below. The keys to the city of Canton and all its HOF legacy glory lie in last year’s situational football and a few other indicators we must pay attention to while drinking our Hams from atop the great Mount Olympus.
First off, Josh Johnson and Jim Harbaugh. Jim Harbaugh put on a quarterback coaching clinic while he was in San Diego. It was posted on Youtube and Harbaugh said -”The area where a qb’s athleticism is the most important is in the red zone.” And what has Harbaugh been quoted as saying JJ is? He’s said JJ is the most athletic qb he’s ever coached, and that’s saying something considering he’s coached Andrew Luck. But connect the dots. Alex Smith stinks in the red zone, Harbaugh thinks a qb’s athleticism is the most valued in the red zone, and JJ is conveniently on the roster and is the his most athletic qb ever coached by Jimbo. It doesn’t take a rocket sturgeon to connect those dots. I don’t buy the Alex Smith growth argument. Not for a second. He’ll stink in the red zone and on third downs next year. Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman are going to need to create red zone plays for JJ. And if they’re smart, JJ will be the designated red zone qb, and Harbaugh won’t worry so much about hurting and protecting his precious Alex. In addition to all of this overwhelming evidence, go back and watch the Bucs / Niner game last year. JJ came in to the game in a red zone situation and ran the Tebow option against the 49ers. He handed the ball off, but even his coach, Morris, saw what me and my boy Jimbo are talkin’ about – JJ is destined for red zone greatness.
But what about 3rd down conversions? Kaep needs a role in 2012, doesn’t he? In Kaep, Harbaugh has a kid with laser of an arm. He might not be able to throw deep or throw a touch pass yet, but Kaep can complete a 30 yard out. He’s got the arm strength that Alex doesn’t. So I believe, if Harbaugh can stop protecting his beloved caddy, Harbaugh has all the pieces now on this team to truly, TRULY compete for Super Bowls. He can make a Frankenstein-like qb. Call him Alex KaeperJohnson. Smith can’t win a Super Bowl on his own as the full time starter, but he can win a Super Bowl with this defense if Harbaugh gives the red zone to Johnson and 3rd downs to Kaep.
The key with Alex KaeperJohnson will be momentum and involvement. To win the Super Bowl with this formula, Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman need to commit to the formula and religiously bring in JJ in the red zone and Kaep in on 3rd and long situations so that defenses ARE (not aren’t) prepared and JJ and Kaep still beat them. If Roman and Harbaugh play the game of – “We’re only going to bring them in occasionally,” Kaep and JJ won’t be big enough parts of the offense, and in big situations they will falter because of the lack experience and inability to get into the flow of the game. To make both qbs a big part of the 49ers’ offense in 2012, Jim Harbaugh needs to get unstuck on stupid with Alex Smith.
Nice dream there Spit BUT…one of these 4 guys will need to step up to the plate before too long and become THE guy. So far it is not Alex,that is for sure,but even he could make a huge leap of performance and surprise us.
I remember when Hill was the QB and didn’t have an arm but had “it”,he was a winner ,I would always say I wish we could blend Alex with Hill and we would finally have one good QB. I said the same about Davis and Alex (would have been even better than Hill/Alex!). Sounds like you are dreaming about the same type of fantasy,which can never happen in the real World. Yep,Alex/Kaep/Johnson/Tolzien would be THE starting Pro Bowl QB for the next decade BUT it is only a dream :( . Like I said,one of these 4 will need to step up and be the guy,if not then the QB spot will continue to be the weak spot on the team,like it has been for years,last year included.
I think we’ll see incremental progress this year. Having Moss and Manningham should help, if early reports from the OTAs are valid.
Barring injuries that wreck the season, just boosting our third down conversion rate from the 30 range to 36-38 would give us an excellent shot to win it all. One or two more third down conversions against the Giants at critical moments and we would have won in regulation.
I trust in Harbaugh’s vision and his decisiveness. He will either “teach the horse to sing” and finally get consistent play out of Alex…. or he will get himself a new horse. He is not the sentimental type.
I think this could be a very interesting year.
More misguided wisdom from Spit. Weren’t you banned? Anyway your idea is nonsense as biased opinions usually are, and you seem to forget that Alex Smith was excellent in the Redzone the year before, and that maybe…just maybe the lack of an offseason may have played a role in the team struggling in these areas seeing as how Roman alluded to that very point several times.
But you just keep on hating and making asinine suggestions pal. We all have our jobs to do in life.
JJ and SDSU success was a long time ago. If a QB cant read a defense then all the athleticism in the world wont help. It all starts with whats between the ears, the big arm and quick feet get you to a career of holding a clip board if you dont have the ability to read NFL defenses.
And somebody needs to get unstuck on the stupid of 3-way QB sharing.
We’ll get better QB play this year, by hook or by crook.
Alex will start Game One. Alex will produce. If not, Alex will sit, and Harbaugh will move on to Plan B or Plan C.
Harbaugh knows he has a window with Justin Smith and the LBs here to get over the top. I do not see him screwing around if results do not meet expectations.
Some thoughts from Jaworski, courtesy of ESPN’s Allison Stoneberg:
“Two statistics speak to Smith’s play in 2011. He threw the fewest passes of any 16-game starter, and he had the lowest interception percentage in the National Football League. Smith was managed brilliantly by first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh perfectly understood his quarterback’s strengths and limitations.
“The majority of Smith’s 20-plus-yard completions came on first down, primarily out of base personnel. Play-action was also utilized. The 49ers got a lot of single-high safety coverages. That defined the reads for Smith. Here [refers to video highlight], he initially looked left; he saw the safety match up to Vernon Davis. He knew he had Michael Crabtree man-to-man on the crosser. The shot plays also came on first-and-10; the result of great design, attacking and breaking down anticipated coverages. Again, it was single high. When the safety jumped the crossing route, Smith hit Crabtree over the top. The wheel route was featured in the 49ers pass game. That played to Smith’s passing strengths. He throws with excellent touch and consistent accuracy.
“I was really impressed with Smith in the playoff win against the Saints. He read the blitz, he was decisive and accurate. He pulled the trigger on the tight-window throws. The winning touchdown showed his development as a quarterback. Davis was in the tight slot. Smith’s throw had to beat the deep safety to that side. You have to throw it early with great anticipation.
“Right here [more video], Smith began his delivery. That is as good as it gets, folks. The throw made this touchdown. You know what offensive coaches always emphasize? Run the offense the way it is structured and designed. Alex Smith did that with great efficiency. He’s not the most physically gifted and talented thrower in the league, but he played at a very high level in 2011, and I expect the same in 2012.”
Troy Smith released from Steelers’ 90 man roster today…
I think Jack broke the blog.
@ Claude
It was a slow news day until I heard that Alex Smith pinched a baby and kicked a puppy! Or was it pinched a puppy and……….?
Discuss among yourselves.
Actually, he went to pinch the baby but checked down to the dog and still missed low.
But the baby was complaining about how he hurt his foot on SJS’s turf and wasn’t in position to accept the pinch in the first place.
(see Jack, this works in all kinds of ways ;)
Played like a true Smither…
Voila! : >)
Jack, I say nothing about Alex except in response to Hater’s non sequiturs.
I suppose that makes me a Smither. Maybe a Smother, as I thought those brothers were awesome. :)
I sure am getting sick and tired of Santa Clara trying to weasel out of a situation that has been voted on and passed twice by their constituency. Who does the County think they are GW Bush or the Republican Nazi Party of America; all of their Heroes with a track record of doing whatever they want regardless of what the people, whom they supposedly represent tell them to do? Pay up jerks!
With regards to the teachers in Santa Clara County, they make an estimated $60k per year teaching over privileged white kids who want to be rappers how not to do math, read, spell or know anything about any kind of history. Which pretty much guarantees them jobs at Google and Facebook where they can continue to make this World a gigantic pot of wretched stupidity.
@ Jon B
I feel for you, Jon, cuz it seems like this REALLY p*#&#* you off!
While I agree that these dweebs on this stupid little unelected oversight board had their ‘power’ go their heads, I don’t think its about “W” or Republicans. More about pathetic bureaucrats with delusions of grandeur who because they weren’t elected, and thus can’t be fired by the wrath of the electorate, feel like they aren’t accountable. IMO its not about educators either, that fool Assessor is blowing smoke out his hindquarters. These Redevelopment funds were earmarked by the voters.