As the city of Santa Clara struggles with legal disputes over the operation of the San Francisco 49ers Levi’s Stadium, five of seven council members met scores of times with team executives behind closed doors. Mayor Lisa Gillmor said she asked the members to share information from the meetings with no success,.”I am highly disappointed,” she said, “these elected officials have breached the trust of our community, and are putting special interests before the public and our taxpayers.” UC Hastings law professor Dave Owen, an expert in local government, said the episode raised “the question of whether most constituents would want their City Council members to have private meetings with corporations with interests opposed to those of the city, and then follow up those meetings by trying to advance the corporation’s interests.” (San Francisco Chronicle, November 13, 2021, by Lance Williams and Ron Kroichick)
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