As tensions rise, 49ers lose Santa Clara ally
The abrupt post- Super Bowl resignation of Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews has cost the San Francisco 49ers their most valuable player in their new hometown — and comes just as questions are being raised about costs associated with running Levi’s Stadium.
“Now it’s time for me to focus on my family and look forward to the next chapter of my life,” was the only explanation Matthews, 53, gave Monday for leaving with two years left in his mayoral term.
Matthews was the linchpin in the 4- 3 friendly majority that the 49ers had on the City Council. The team certainly recognized his value — Niners executives gave $ 5,750 to his 2014 election campaign.
His resignation, effective Tuesday, comes at an especially delicate moment — with tensions reaching the boiling point between City Manager Julio Fuentes and council members who have raised questions about the city’s share of security, traffic- control and parking expenses at Levi’s Stadium.
According to City Hall sources, Fuentes, who was an ally of Matthews and the board majority, had a heated exchange last week with Councilwoman Debi Davis over a closed- session performance review of the city manager, who is Latino.
“He apparently flipped the race card, so now we have to have an investigation,” said one council member, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the situation.
“The city manager now claims a hostile work environment as a result of the way he was treated,” said another source. “I think he is either going to be offered a severance package or he will sue the city.”
City spokeswoman Jennifer Yamaguma said Fuentes would not comment on what she called a personnel matter.
The flare- up caps a year of increasing tensions over management of Levi’s Stadium.
Matthews found himself on the hot seat when he unilaterally announced a plan to lease the town’s prized youth soccer fields to the Niners for use as a VIP parking lot. The deal was scuttled when youth soccer players and their parents descended on a council meeting to protest.
There were also increasing concerns among residents that Santa Clara was entering into too many big development deals and in the process changing the character of the city.
“It really started with the backroom deal over the soccer park,” said Councilwoman Lisa Gillmor.
“Jamie was of the opinion that we have to strike while the iron is hot, but there was a growing angst out there about how all of this was being handled by City Hall,” said Vice Mayor Teresa O’Neill.
One source who talked to Matthews on Monday said the mayor was sick of the political infighting — and that the attack on the city manager was “the final straw.”
Whether the council can agree on Matthews’ replacement or will have to call a special election remains to be seen. But whatever the outcome, it’s going to be a whole new ballgame in Santa Clara. Stun- gun city: The San Francisco police officers union, which has been under fire for defending the cops involved in the fatal shooting of Mario Woods, is upping the ante in the use- of- force debate — calling on the city to have every patrol officer undergo crisis intervention training, and then issue them a stun gun.
The Police Officers Association’s call for all cops to be equipped with stun guns is far broader than the limited pilot program being proposed by Chief Greg Suhr.
“We may well get to that,” Suhr said of the union’s call. “I just think that for starters I’m going to ask for 100” officers to be equipped with Tasers.
The chances of the Police Commission approving a wholesale program are slim. It has twice said “no” to stun guns.
“As with any new technology, we need to take it one step at a time,” Suhr said.
Suhr and the police union say that if officers had been equipped with stun guns in the confrontation with Woods on Dec. 2, chances are good that he would still be alive. Some members of the Board of Supervisors and advocates for the mentally ill oppose the stun guns as unsafe and prone to being overused.
The police union is responding to such concerns by calling for every squad car to be equipped with a defibrillator, in case a stun- gun jolt triggers a medical emergency.
“It’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is,” union President Martin Halloran said of Mayor Ed Lee and the commission.
“This is something we should have done two years ago.” San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7: 50 a. m. and 5: 50 p. m. Got a tip? Call ( 415) 777- 8815, or e- mail matierandross@ sfchronicle. com. Twitter: @ matierandross