Team San Jose, the quasi-public, hotel tax-funded labor-business coalition that that runs city-owned entertainment facilities, has lost its access to public money after overrunning its budget by more than $750,000.
On Wednesday, Scott P. Johnson, the city’s finance chief, sent a notice of default to Team San Jose CEO Dan Fenton. The notice says the organization is being cut off and audited for consistently failing to meet the financial goals laid out in its contract.
“As a result of this Default, the City will restructure TSJ’s account access of the Convention Facilities Bank Accounts,” Johnson writes in the notice. “This restructuring, effective immediately, will limit TSJ’s access to the Receipts Account…Pending the results of the Audits, the city reserves the right to notify Team San Jose of any further corrective action.”
In a courtesy “heads-up” e-mail sent to Fenton by the finance director the same day, he wrote that he had made contact with Team San Jose Chief Financial Officer Janette Divoll the day the default was issued.
Johnson wrote that Divoll is currently “pro-actively working through an internal review of TSJ’s policies, procedures, management reports and financial transactions.”
“It is important that the partnership between the City and TSJ continue in a collaborative manner with strong fiscal controls and procedures in place,” Johnson wrote in the e-mail. “It is imperative that the City is assured that TSJ, per the Agreement, has complete understanding and appropriate technical skills necessary to operate the City’s Convention Center and cultural facilities in addition to appropriate controls, procedures, policies and reports to account for and report on the operations.”
This is not the first time that Team San Jose has been chastised for not complying to its contract with the city. In 2007 a civil grand jury found that the city failed to hold Team San Jose accountable. Earlier this year, the civil grand jury again questioned the city for continuing to give money to Team San Jose.
Is Team San Jose the organization led by Dan Fenton whose salary is 320,000 dollars a year?
The organization that is tasked with taking San Jose taxpayers to the cleaners?
Public-private enterprises like Team San Jose or the Hayes Mansion rarely work out well for the taxpayers. The concept looks good on paper and looks good as a way to harness private and innovative energies, but there are always serious flaws in outcomes.
Well….. What did I tell you? Old Frank is always right. Finally the truth is starting to come out. What a waste of taxpayers money, Team San Jose has “no money” of their own. A little closer look needs to be done to those “City Officials” associated with Team San Jose who gave Fenton a blank check for his Circus Act. As I have said before, I’m smelling corruption and cover up’s.
In the old days guys like Mayor Greed, Constant and Fenton would be exposed and charged with money laundering and racketeering while using San Jose Citizens tax dollars for their own use.
Yes, Fenton makes over $353,000 dollars a year, and that was in 2007, so my guess he makes closer to $500K in 2010…. I for one am not OK with this.
Fenton is full of excuses, always has some deflection thing going on. Let me see, Grand Jury Report X3 or 4, blah blah blah, Fenton has excuses for every GJ report… of course the Grand Jury is always wrong.
He’s a Flimflam man. A real life Grifter, using others money and assets for his personal gain. After the latest Grand Jury Report, Fenton’s CFO is given the BOOT… FIRED!
Hmmmmm are the “COOKED” books the GJ found showing what is really going on at Team San Jose?
Mayor Greed, Fenton and Constant are the only ones who know for sure, and they are not talking.
I go to all the Council meetings and watch very closely how these guys are glad handing each other when Fenton approaches the podium with his greedy little clammy hand out.
This is a real travesty for the Citizens of San Jose. Millions of Tax $$$$$$$$$‘s being wasted by this clown.
Frank
It is a nightmare working for these guys. You can only put so much lipstick on a “PIG” but, it’s still going to be a pig. Odds are my job will be cut next if I speak up about this. Dan Fenton fired Dan Cunningham, Dan C. didn’t know he was on the chopping block. We are all in fear of losing our jobs. I would work someplace else but jobs are hard to come by. I really didn’t like the fact almost all of the City Employees were laid off. They were the only ones who knew what to do or what was going on, in how to run the Convention Center. Now they are all gone! I fear I’m next!
TSJ Insider, you better look out and I mean aggressively for your next job. I’m sure you do a good job but you should know, they (Dan/Diana) have no soul about firing people and if you work for DP directly; God help you. She will fire you in a nano-second for whatevah! If you work directly for Dan, same thing. He is a crook of the greatest magnitude and a out-of-control egomaniac. These two people left whatever souls they had back at the deal with the devil. You people need to speak up but have another job in the wings. You will need it anyway.
If you have worked under Dan for more than six months you’ll understand what the first TSJ Insider is speaking about and as well as the rest of the team.
And if Dan Fenton is so transparent why doesn’t he tell the Citizens of San Jose what he really makes? While he was cutting his staff down, did he get a raise? While members of his staff had pay reductions was his own pay reduced?
Team San Jose equals taxpayer subsidy to maintain union jobs.
Dan Fenton is one of the biggest crooks in San Jose. He needs to be put behind bars. There has been no oversight of Team San Jose. He’s not the only crook but he is leader of the pack. Michael Miller, formerly of AMTSJ and the reason it closed is another one. He stole money, sold off assets that were offered as collateral for loans, and pocketed huge sums as the theater he ran filed for bankruptcy.
Why does the city put up with this?
You don’t know the half of it… its not just 320k. It was 358k three years ago in 2007. God only knows what he makes now in 2010.
No sh*t you don’t know the half of it, this guy thinks he can run a convention center and he can’t. Bad contracts with promotors, bad design for the “new” part of the center and the old part is falling down. If city won’t fix the old part DO NOT BUILD A NEW PART! The guy is a walking disaster and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the buldings. Why he keeps getting away w/murder is beyond me. The teamsters thing was a disaster and all his idea. He won’t listen to anyone and if they do speak out they are gone! Why his hand-picked board of directors and the city don’t give him the boot is beyond me.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Chuck Reed the City Council’s liasion to Team San Jose at one point? Pete Constant is the current liason. Wonder what they have to say??..
Speaking of Pete Constant, the former San Jose Police Officer who went out on a lifetime disability for a work injury, there are numerous pictures of him on his public Facebook page of his recent deep sea fishing trip to Mexico holding very large, heavy fish in each hand, including a shark in one picture. He looks in pretty good shape for someone collecting disability, especially since he seems to be the first one now talking about the need to reform pensions. Seems like he could be working in some capacity at the police department still and not drawing from the pension fund himself.
Yet another big FAIL for the Mayor and City Council! I’m damn sick and tired of throwing money down a rat hole for the pretense of having a vibrant downtown community. Spend a dollar in downtown and you get ten cents of value; spend it anywhere else and you get the full measure.
TSJ Insider…If you think Jerry is an idiot, you are wrong. You personally might have
not gotten along with him, but he is no idiot. He left because he couldn’t stand the
bullshit anymore. He was only doing Dan’s bidding and he agreed with none of it. But what could he do? He had to have a job. He looked for a job for two years before he left.
Also, FYI, one of Dan’s faithful used to text Pete during council meetings to tell him what to say when TSJ was on the agenda. Same with Nora et al. They probably e-mail them now. They got caught when Phadera accidentally texted the whole council and Sam found out. She’s another idiot good riddance.
Time for Fenton to fall on his sword
Sounda like Team San Jose needs to be run by the Mexican Heritage Center.
Team San Jose has missed all of it’s agreed benchmarks with the City of San Jose’s contract.
The reasons you may ask? “The leadership” of this so called non-profit is very greedy. They lie about everything, watch the City Council meetings from November 2009 forward.
Dan Fenton is trying to hide that Team San Jose is hemorrhaging money weekly. Now someone is actually seeing it on the City side finally. The fact that they violate local,state, federal laws continuously without regard to the thought of what the end result is for the workers or the city.
As someone who knows what happens on a daily basis, I can tell you that people fear for their jobs all the time. Team San Jose management is horrible they abuse the staff, and are very shady,I’d rather work for Tony Soprano.
They cut corners anywhere they can making an unsafe working environment. Did you know that the Fire Safety System has not worked in 6 years… If there is a fire, there is no way to know where it is. On top of that Dan Fenton has laid off more than half of the very professional and competent City of San Jose Security Staff.
From what I understand they only have “One” Security guy per shift for the Main Convention Center and other buildings covering many blocks… This was not a good move, but Dan Fenton said they were expendable and not worth the money he called them fools.
Don’t let the Mayor or the other fast talkers fool you. A lot of the shows are leaving because of the labor issues, the failure to supply what is promised in the contract, over charging clients instead of comping for TSJ screw up’s…
Team San Jose is a failing venture and is an embarrassment to the City of San Jose and a burden to the taxpayers in general. Do Not listen to the Mayor or ANY Council member that is for Team San Jose or an expansion of the Convention Center. We need REAL management that knows how to treat staff and clients and not waste money.
All in all, Team San Jose is a joke, a waste of time, a serious waste of Taxpayers money.
When the economy changes, I will be looking for a reputable job. Team San Jose has shown me what it’s like to be the worst car salesman in history at the worst car dealership.
I do know of DP and her tactics… Very EVIL person. Don’t worry TSJ Insider II, Dirty Di and Dan and their evil minions will get theirs soon enough.
As for me I’m looking at Craigslist on Team San Jose’s time and computers for new job. These guys a bogus and full of empty promises.
Oh yeah, what happened to that idiot Jerry Vontress? That guy was as incompetent as they come.
The truth hurts!
Put the convention center out to bid. No union or “fare-wage” conditions. No special deals for labor insiders. Let the market tell us what the true value is. At that point, we will honestly know where our investment is at. Returning this to city workers would only increase the loss and decrease the public information.
Sunny you are very very wrong about Jerry. He would lie about everything and then refer things off to you after he just lied to someone. But I assume you are not a woman and have never had Jerry look down your top or stared at your breast during an entire meeting, he did every chance he got on a daily basis to me. But Sunny I do agree with the rest of your evaluation of how Dan keeps things stacked in his favor about Team San Jose with Council. You are entitled to your views.
San Jose politicians set direction for San Jose tax spending based on politics and campaign supporters paybacks so expect more tax spending and subsidies to support money losing disaster called San Jose downtown and 100’s city owned properties
We spend 100’s million’s taxes to subsidize downtown and get little to nothing back
Follow the money and see who benefits from wasted millions downtown spending and who loses – residents, small businesses and neighborhoods
Downtown property owners, hotels, businesses, sport team owners whose taxes each year are LESS than taxes spent on downtown benefits wuith greater private profits
Rest of San Jose makes up different with less city services
San Jose should sell off most of it’s property not used for city services since after decades of city government property mismanagement
Have you seen a list of hundreds of city properties leased out at $0, $1 or very low below market rents?
The city property rental list and lose million in rentals is well hidden from Public by city government
$10-40 million in city revenues is lost each year to city sweet heart rental deals to political insiders
Only those insiders that benefit from sweet heart city contracts will argue that San Jose should continue gross mismanagement of publicly owned Convention Center California Theater, Hayes Mansion, Mexican Heritage boondoggle, golf courses and dozens of other properties requiring $ 10’s million yearly tax subsidies
The remaining city properties should be contracted out with open competitive bidding not typical San Jose political paybacks contracts to politically favored individuals, union groups, former elected officials and city staff
> “Have you seen a list of hundreds of city properties leased out at $0, $1 or very low below market rents?”
I have not, but would love to see the list. Is there any way you can provide us readers with more information on this?
Do you believe that the list could be made public via the Freedom of Information Act?
If you want a list of city properties which are leased at $0 or very low below market rents, start with the Redevelopment Agency. Ask the Agency for a list of properties that it owns downtown and the amount of rent being paid for each one. I guess that the redevelopment agency forgot to post this information on it’s web site.
While it is not true that all the money spent downtown is wasted, it is true that we need to completely overhaul and bid out the management of these various city properties.
It is outrageous that a majority of city council takes their orders from labor on these issues. After the Hayes debacle I was shocked that the city considered pouring more money into the Mexican Heritage Center.
The fact that it is a failure is a sunk cost. We don’t need to compound the problem. These things need to be in the hands of private developers, non-union if necessary.
Sixty percent of the city council is still living in a bubble in which they think they have resources to spend. They need to listen to the mayor. “We must stop spending money we don’t have.”
I have worked with year for many years and never once have I heard him described as an “idiot” or “incompetent”. I’m sorry you had a bad experience with him but be more responsible about what you put out on the internet.
The Team San Jose mucky mucks and the California School Board mucky mucks (See J. DiSalvo’s post above) seem to be cut from the same cloth.
TSJ has NEVER met the goals it set for itself. Yet those folks running it make big bucks. The Civil Grand Jury has criticized TSJ’s performance more than once, yet the mayors and councils keep giving them a pass.
It’s like the GI Forum that ran Cinco de Mayo for years getting a $500k “loan” from the city, which it never paid back.
What is this place , anyway, Chicago!!!
What’s their motto @ TSJ—“Screw up and get a raise”?
How much tax money does Team San Jose have to lose and city make up before they are fired ?
Anyone know how many millions taxes were given to Tean San Jose for mismangement of Convention Center and Theaters that could have been better uses to fix up Conventions Center or provide more police, fire and city services
What is millions taxes was lost $ 25-50 million or more ?
Does anyone know or is it hidden like many other San Jose city financial mismanagement disasters?
Uh huh, Sunny / SJC Resident/Employee,One in the same person you are…
Please Explain in detail your view of the City of San Jose Taxpayers loss of millions of dollars at the hands of Team San Jose? This answer should be a fantastic fantasy! I bet your Dirty Di herself,Shame on you.
It also appears that you must approve of a guy like Jerry looking down your blouse all the time while you do your work and staring at your breasts all the time. You have known him for many years? He had only been here for 5 years, so you worked with him someplace else?
I am entitled to my opinion and Yes,he was and is an “Old” perverted, incompetent idiot. You must be one of those young 20’s something giggly girls who works a couple of cubicles down from me if your not DP. I really enjoyed the Murky News story this morning, I can’t take the backstabbing any longer. I may have a new job soon so I can leave TSJ before they self-destruct.
Tean San Jose has inadequately managed Convention Center for City of San Jose for many years requiring unknown to most public millions in bailouts and extra tax subsidies
1) In 1st or 2nd year
– TSJ made mistakes or poorly estimated costs and revenues typically called inadequate management and did not communicate to city government problems with estimates or city contract
– City management and contract staff inadequately administrated the TSJ contract
So Council told TSJ and city administration to work together to fix reporting and estimate problems but gave TSJ more millions
2) In 3rd and 4th years TSJ gave monthly estimates to city management and contract staff but TSJ estimates were still off and Council was suprised again with request for more millions to TSJ
Where is Tean San Jose accountability for poor estimates and yearly asking city for more tax subsidies –
FIRE Dan Fenton who poorly manages Team San Jose and comees back to city for millions each year in tax subsidies
The City Council and Mayor Greed messed up big time on this one. They gave Dan Fenton / Team San Jose a “BLANK CHECK” for which Fenton used to DRAIN the City of San Jose coffers for the last 6 years to the tune of $20 Million PLUS!. Now the city is asking for proof of where the money is going? Your kidding me,It’s a little late for that don’t you think???? And that’s after 4 Grand Jury investigations.
But you know what’s going to happen to Team San Jose on Sept. 14, 2010… Absolutely NOTHING bad will happen to Team San Jose.
Council and Mayor Greed will approve more money to BAIL Fenton out at the removal of more City positions to save Fenton. I would like to make $500K a year off of the city and NOT have to show the city that why I need that kind of money.
Money Laundering, Fraud, Racketeering, Corruption, Embezzlement, Ponzie Scheme,I think all of these apply to the Team San Jose / City situation while using the PUBLIC’S money.
Time for the FED’S to step in and clean house!