☆ Santa Clara Councilmember votes “no” on Measure A resolution
“Cities should stay in their lane,” says Santa Clara CM Karen Hardy, who is “horribly uncomfortable” with the city’s 4-1 decision to put a resolution on the agenda to endorse Measure A. Voters should make up their own minds, she says, while pointing out the threat of federal spending cuts is speculative. She adds that SC County made a dubious decision to buy up more hospitals: now the regressive sales tax could hurt those it claims to help. An Opportunity Now exclusive commentary.
I was the lone “no” vote when the Santa Clara City Council voted 4–1 to put on the agenda a resolution to endorse Measure A. I’m horribly uncomfortable with the city’s decision. This is an individual voter’s choice, not the city’s. The county Board of Supervisors isn’t even allowed to endorse.
Cities should stay in their lane. Years ago, I drove through Berkeley just after its council had passed a resolution about another country. But up and down their main road, all the street trees were dying. That stuck with me.
Let’s take care of what’s ours, and that includes our own budget. When people say Measure A could undercut the city’s ability to raise funds later, that’s a fair statement. We just passed our first general obligation bond since 1959 to tackle $600 million in unfunded needs. We had to come down to asking for only $400 million. I’m praying the city of Santa Clara doesn’t have to go to a sales tax, because when everybody eventually buys a car, that’s where it really hits you.
I go to church in Spanish, and when I said to Supervisor Ellenberg that a sales tax is a regressive tax, she said, “These are the very people we’re trying to help.” I said, I understand that but now they’re being asked to pay for the county’s decision to buy failing hospitals.
Supervisor Ellenberg said 45 percent of Santa Clara’s emergency traffic goes to county hospitals. I’d like to know how many were actually admitted. Many are transported, assessed, and then sent to Kaiser. And now Sutter Health is opening a large facility on Mission Boulevard, which is proof that private healthcare hasn’t disappeared.
The county says it’s losing federal funding, but that’s speculative. I once heard an economist say that once you talk about any amount over five million, people can’t grasp it. To understand the true impact, divide it by the population. At the height of the space race, NASA only cost about .20 cents per person. Social services cost hundreds of dollars.
When you want to govern, it’s easy to govern in fear. To tell taxpayers they have to cut into the bone instead of trimming the fat. In reality, there’s a lot of fat that can be trimmed. Was it a good idea to expand the county hospital system? They could still sell a hospital. Decisions made in fear are usually bad decisions.
I believe in leading with information and education, not fear. It’s very easy to be generous with other people’s money, but we should be focusing on what’s essential, not just what’s nice to have.
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