Locals sound off on Levi’s Stadium
Traffic, parking are main complaints of residents, new survey says
The results of a five-month study measuring the community’s views on Levi’s Stadium show that traffic, parking and loitering ranked as the highest concerns among residents and business owners.
And some who live near the stadium were particularly upset about sports and concert fans who urinate in their bushes and pass out drunk on their front yards.
Others also grumbled about feeling trapped in their homes or not being able to cut through heavy traffic before and after events.
These and other grievances were documented in a 155-page report released Thursday.
The report, conducted by the Lew Edwards Group, also indicates residents were split on the much-publicized 10 p.m. curfew for weeknight events, a rule that led singer Ed Sheeran to play his next Bay Area show in August at AT&T Park in San Francisco instead of Levi’s.
A majority of residents support “limited exceptions to the curfew,” which would allow three to four events each year to go past the weeknight curfew. In the past few years, major acts including U2, Beyonce and Coldplay did so.
The U2 performance in May 2017 generated heightened media attention when the City Council voted 4-3 to deny a request to allow the Irish rockers to play past the 10 p.m. curfew. U2 didn’t take the stage until after sundown and played until about 11 p.m.
In a statement issued Friday in response to the report, San Francisco 49ers spokesman Rahul Chandhok said: “We share the residents’ concerns about our city and we will continue to partner with our neighbors to bring world-class events to Santa Clara while continually enhancing the
stadium experience for all.”
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor said she wasn’t too surprised by the report’s findings because she and other members of the City Council have been hearing such complaints for four years now. Gillmor said she was heartened that most residents polled had positive feelings about the city and empathizes with those who feel otherwise.
“Although we are a larger city with 125,000 people, we still have been able to maintain our close-knit community and I think that was a very pleasant outcome,” she said.
While both she and Chandhok said they’ve yet to absorb the full report, which is intended to shape future policy recommendations, Gillmor offered some short-term solutions she said she’d like to see implemented ahead of the start of the 49ers preseason in August.
“For me, it’s the immediate impacts, the things the city has control over,” she said. “The policing, the enforcement, the predictability of the enforcement. I think of primary concern for me is we will have games and events where we enforce well and we don’t
the next time. We have to have predictability.”
Enforcement in this case means putting more police officers on residential streets before and after events to curb some of the problems, she said. Because parking at the stadium is expensive, people opt to seek spaces on the streets instead, and after knocking back alcoholic drinks at the stadium some engage in unruly and disruptive behavior on their
way back to their cars.
The survey, which cost the city $289,060, also asked residents what they liked the least about living in Santa Clara. Topping the list was traffic and the high cost of housing/living at 26 percent each, while 2 percent of the people named the stadium.
The research included a telephone survey, focus groups, digital outreach and community meetings
of local businesses and 600 registered Santa Clara voters by professional interviewers in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
Those who view the stadium positively expressed appreciation for the economic and entertainment benefits the stadium has brought.