Team San Jose chief Dan Fenton resigned this week, following critical audits of TSJ’s financial management of city facilities. Team San Jose was formed in 2004 in a coalition between labor groups and the city’s hospitality sector. It serves as San Jose’s Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as the operator of the convention center and performing arts facilities, including the Center for Performing Arts, the Civic Auditorium and the California Theater. Exceprts from Fenton’s resignation letter follow.
Dear Friends,
I wanted to take this opportunity to inform you of a recent decision I have made. I have decided to step down as the CEO of Team San Jose. I have had 14 plus years in the San Jose community and it is time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life. I have thought about the wonderful accomplishments and experiences I have had and want to share some of them with you.
Before I do, I want to first say thank you. If you are receiving this email, I consider you a friend and have appreciated your support. I am grateful for the relationship we have and the support you have shown me not just over the past 14 years but, in some cases, for a majority of my life.
OK…back to reflection…
I remember, like it was yesterday, when I was a volunteer Board Member and at one point the Chairman of the Board of the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors as a hotel General Manager. I was passionate about helping support the “Bureau” as a volunteer.
One of the great memories at that time was being a founding Advisory Board Member for the then newly-formed Hospitality Program at San Jose State University. I went on to Chair that Board and drove the formation of one of the only 501(c) non-profits that directly supported a university program. We raised over half a million dollars and impacted both faculty and, most inspiring, the great students who are now graduates and leaders in our industry.
I joined the Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1996 and through a national search process was named CEO in 1998. I certainly want to thank Shirley Lewis and Phil Sims who were long-time Board members and part of the search committee. It was during that time that I realized the value of Collaboration within our community, and specifically how important the arts, hotels, labor and the business community were to our success.
In the area of the arts I will digress and tell you that I was raised in a house where I often saw my mother working in support of, or actually running, non-profit arts groups as a volunteer right at our kitchen table. I was the first Convention and Visitors Bureau leader to take an active role in supporting the Arts Roundtable and I remember a conversation where two local arts leaders (Andrew Bales and Bruce Davis) were asking why the passion I had for the arts existed. It turned out that Andrew knew of my family history and said “it’s in his blood.” That was true but I also recognized that the arts were a vital part of San Jose’s success as a destination and needed to be a strategic partner as long as I was involved.
This translated into a few milestones and accomplishments I am proud of. First, we had the first arts executive as a CVB Board Chair. While Alexandra Urbanowski was an exemplary leader in her own right, it also symbolized the importance of the arts in San Jose from my perspective.
I am proud of my service as the Vice-Chair of the Mexican Heritage Corporation. I am also very proud of my involvement with Zer01. Kim Walesh was an inspirational partner in this endeavor. I have been a member of the Executive Committee and am proud of the fact that we have just produced our third biannual. Team San Jose has played a very strategic role in Zer01 and I am confident that will continue. I am very bullish on the potential of Zer01 and its impact on San Jose and the region.
My arts journey continued when leaders of the arts community signed on to help lead Team San Jose. I remember Stew Slater (who was an early supporter) and I having several meetings with great arts leaders like Dennis Nahat, Irene Dalis and Andrew Bales to convince them that this model was designed to support them in their endeavors and get them directly involved in the decision-making of Team San Jose. I am proud to say that is exactly what has occurred over the past seven years and I am confident that we have benefited in many ways from their oversight and advocacy of Team San Jose. I am also proud of the relationship that we have with the Nederlander organization. We were quick to solidify a plan for what has been a very successful Broadway series and have clearly demonstrated the possibilities of the Civic with Nederlander Concerts.
Early on when I was looking at the leadership of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, before we formed Team San Jose, I realized we had another missing partner. I called John Neece and said I’d like him to consider being part of our leadership and I am thankful for his acceptance. I knew it was important. The real historic moment for me and the labor community was when I met with Phaedra Ellis Lampkins about the notion of Team San Jose and the partnership with labor, hotels, arts and the business community. As she listened, it was important to understand her interest and why she knew this was the right direction for the labor community and San Jose. She knew that we were losing bookings with the previous Convention Center management and needed everyone at the table working together to turn this around because it demonstrated real jobs for San Jose’s working families. For Phaedra and the labor movement to support privatization was groundbreaking. The Team San Jose model has also
been written about in national labor publications over the years.
Today there are over 1,000 “leaders” (my Senior Team and I believe that everyone that works at Team San Jose is a leader and that is their official title) that make up Team San Jose and their performance has been recognized in the industry with a recent induction into the “Hall of Fame” of a major trade publication called Meetings and Conventions. I can’t tell you how many key pieces of business have been solidified because the labor leaders are an integrated part of creating solutions for convention clients.
This is an important time to talk about our clients. I am very proud that our leaders have delivered a level of service that has caused over 95 percent of the decision-makers surveyed to convey that they received excellent service from our leaders. This tells me that not only is the model working but it is exceeding our customers’ expectations. We have done many focus groups on the Team San Jose model and hear praise consistently from clients all over the nation.
I have always been thankful to serve leaders of our business community over the 14 years. There are too many to name, but there were some memorable moments. Greg Jamison was a Chair of the CVB Board very early on in my tenure and he stood in front of the Board and said in referring to myself, that he “bleeds San Jose”. I also remember and am grateful to Jan Sweetnam and Marc Casto who were two transformational Chairs to the organization for many years. And Michael Mulcahy, who was the Campaign Chair for the first Convention Center Expansion effort which was a key catalyst for where San Jose is today.
Convention Center Expansion…...I have to digress again, so please bear with me. In 2002, the CVB Board of Directors and the hotel community determined that we needed to be aggressive about a ballot measure to get voter approval for a tax increase to fund Convention Center Expansion. The hotels were clear that they didn’t want to do this unless the money was dedicated solely to that expansion. We raised three quarters of a million dollars, received the unanimous support from the arts community, and on that fateful day in November, 65.2 percent of the voters said they felt it was the right direction for San Jose. While this didn’t get us there that day, it was the catalyst for keeping this in the forefront of many community leaders’ minds.
Fast forward to two years ago and I am proud to have led a successful campaign with our hotel community where all 90 San Jose hotels are now taxing themselves for the purposes of expanding and renovating a Convention Center that has suffered from a lack of deferred maintenance for over 20 years. The hotels did this because they believed in the Team San Jose model and the level of involvement in the Convention Center they have today. I am convinced that without our model we would not have been successful in raising the $120 million dollars that is now the sole funding source for this vital project.
The hotels made another historic investment four years ago when they agreed to form a Business Improvement District (now called San Jose Hotels, Inc.) that has been pivotal in driving San Jose’s destination marketing activities and making San Jose stay competitive with our customers. I led this campaign and am again convinced this would not have happened had the Team San Jose model been in place.
The hotel community is certainly the key partner in Team San Jose. Over the last 14 years, we have booked over 2.9 Million room nights into San Jose and made our sales goals or been within five percent 13 of the 14 years. I am extremely proud of our sales effort and what it has produced over the years for San Jose’s economy. There are many hotel leaders that I am thankful for, but certainly want to recognize Clif Clark, Cyril Isnard and John Southwell. Let me take an extra moment and thank John. We have been together for the entire 14 years and I am grateful for his forward thinking and overall support. By the way, the direct efforts of these 14 years translates into well over a billion dollars of direct spending in the San Jose economy. This last fiscal year was another strong performance as we received a 100.2 percent score on our contractual performance measures including over 200,000 room nights booked, while balancing the worst economic times we’ve ever seen.
Without a doubt, the most gratifying part of what I do is the opportunity to work with all of the great leaders within Team San Jose. We have assembled a wonderful group of leaders that demonstrate day in and day out a level of excellence and commitment of which I am very proud.
The other group of community leaders that I am grateful for is the many volunteers who have made up our Board of Directors over the past 14 years. I can also say that the newly re-formed Board is poised to continue the great work that has been accomplished thus far. It has been an honor to serve all of them over the years.
So now what? Denise and I (and Oliver) are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives. Until January 30th, I will continue to help the Board of Directors of Tam San Jose further our success. After that I can tell you that I will be doing everything I can to be helpful because I so strongly believe in the model we have created together in this community. Since Team San Jose was created, we have been approached by many destinations and have given our thoughts nationally around what we are trying to accomplish. Whenever we review our model with customers, they ask us why others aren’t adopting similar approaches around the nation. I am pleased to tell you that my friend Kevin Kane just won an RFP in Memphis to take over the Convention Center and publicly credits Team San Jose for the inspiration.
Speaking of the national scene…I have also had a great opportunity in being named the Chairman of the Board for one of our industry’s national associations. I was also honored to be named one of the Top 25 minds in the meetings industry by one of the leading industry publications. As the Chair of Destination Marketing Association International, I was able to establish national discussions and initiatives related to the arts and the relationship between Convention and Visitors Bureaus and Convention Centers. I also spearheaded the organization taking a hard look at some of its practices and believe it is stronger today because of it. There are also too many great industry minds that I have worked with to name, but I am grateful to and stimulated by such leaders as Richard Scharf, Stephen Perry, Scott Beck, Jeff Vassar, Steve Moore and so many others.
So, I want to say thanks and that I am proud of what has been accomplished over the last 14 years together. And again, I am thankful for all of your support.
Amazing. Absolutely amazing. You rape the City coffers for 14 years, destroy what little image this City had going for it with your unskilled, uncouth, and unethical mismanagment, destroyed many careers in your quest to be the King of All That, and you have the gall to send out this self-serving, unbelievably self-absorbed and unapologetic ode to yourself and your “accomplishments”. Shame on you, Dan, I’ve known you a very long time and I’m disgusted at what you have become. You have brought this completely on yourself because you thought you were the one who always knew best.
Former TSJer,
You hit the nail on the head. Thanks for telling it like it is.
FentonVictim
Fenton is sounding more and more like Rod Diridon Sr….
…
Dear Danny,
Your “goodbye” letter was so very typical of you. It was all about how wonderful you think you are, extremely long, and immensely boring.
You have been spouting your B—- S—- long enough now and everyone is getting wise to it. You believed it when the press began calling you Teflon Dan”. Well guess what Danny Boy, the “stuff” is starting to stick and you are covered in it.
You are not “stepping down” because it is time to move on; you are leaving before you get fired outright and / or possibly be arrested for misappropriation of City of San Jose funds at the very least.
How dare you say that you are proud of all your 1000+ TSJ employees and that they all hold the official title of “leader”? Your employees call working for you the “revolving door” due to the large number of people hired and fired on a regular basis since TSJ took over. Not to mention the dozens upon dozens of City employee positions you conned the City into eliminating. You kept saying this was done due to budget restraints, but you turned right around and hired others not as skilled or trained to take their places. What about the thousands of dollars you and your Senior Team bestowed on each other after your largest “over budget” year ($6.9 milllion I believe?!)You and the TSJ Senior Team put a lot of people on the Unemployment Line this Holiday Season due to your incompetence and greediness and it will not be forgotten any time soon.
Where is the repeat business from all the past clients that you say have give you such outstanding reviews? Try looking in Santa Clara or San Francisco perhaps.
Even though you were given millions in extra money by the City, the buidings you were in charge of were not properly maintained or repaired and are now in dismal condition, including a Fire Alarm System that has not functioned in years. How can you guarantee the safety of the people that are in these building?
Do everyone a favor and do not wait until January 30th to leave, do it NOW. Maybe you can get a job in Memphis with your pal Kane, but I wouldn’t wish you on the people of Memphis either.
Good Riddance Danny Boy, the fact that you are leaving has made the Holiday a little brighter for me and many others. Don’t forget to tell Costain that he will be next to go…..
Sorry folks, you can’t just dump on Fenton. A board of directors oversees TSJ’s management, and while Fenton made plenty of big mistakes, where was the board? In many states, directors of non-profits like Team San Jose are not only responsible but also liable for the organization and its fiduciary condition. I don’t for a minute believe TSJ’s board has done anything venal or criminal. TSJ’s directors come from four disparate special interests, but the organization must serve a greater good. Also, no amount of fiddling with the board’s structure has overcome its incompetence. This structure is abominable. It’s time for the city to take control of the its priciest real estate and run it professionally. The buck stops with the mayor and the council.
I say “recall” the entire City Council and Mayor. Cut the heads off all of the snakes and watch all the special groups die by the wayside and then start over.
Danny Boy … that’s a good one. Did anyone ever check to see if Dan ever really attended or graduated from Cornell Unioversity’s prestigious School of Hotel Management? I recall back in the early 90’s Dan serving as chair of the advisory board for the eductaional programs at SJ State and Oak Grove High School. When we had fund raisers Dan would NEVER account for receipts coming in or the expenses going out. His secrerary, at the Radisson where he was GM, was the “Treasurer”. It was small change back then … only wish I and my colleagues had blown the whistle on what appeared to be theft back then … perhaps we could have discredited him then and prevented this horrendous chapter for San Jose. It is truly a shame that he is so full of himself to not fade quietly into the sunset, but then again his Ego would bever allow for humbleness and recognition that he failed. It will all be someone else’s fault …typically of Danny Boy. I second the Good Riddence and the Board should accept the resignation effective immediately … if they don’t the Mayor & City Manager should demand no less. I hope his management is fully investigated and if criminal activity is found that restititution is not allowed to resolve the matter…
Agree with Downtown Girl Team San Jose Board and Dan Fenton are responsible for wasting millions in city taxes
After years mismanagement, excuse after excuse and lack of results / accountability for city money time to fire Team San Jose Board
Fenton:
I wanted to take this opportunity to inform you of a recent decision I have made. I have decided to step down as the CEO of Team San Jose. I have had 14 plus years in the San Jose community and it is time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life. I have thought about the wonderful accomplishments and experiences I have had and want to share some of them with you.
Frank:
Well first of all you were “FIRED” and you never accomplished anything except lining you wallet with my tax dollars for 6 yrs. The only one supporting you is Mayor Reed and his “Mini-Me Clone” Constant.
Fenton:
I remember, like it was yesterday, when I was a volunteer Board Member and at one point the Chairman of the Board of the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors as a hotel General Manager. I was passionate about helping support the “Bureau” as a volunteer.
Frank:
I’m glad you can remember so good Fenton, as when the Federal Investigation starts you can’t claim “I don’t recall?” It’s good to know this info as you never know when to shut up.
Fenton:
One of the great memories at that time was being a founding Advisory Board Member for the then newly-formed Hospitality Program at San Jose State University. I went on to Chair that Board and drove the formation of one of the only 501(c) non-profits that directly supported a university program. We raised over half a million dollars and impacted both faculty and, most inspiring, the great students who are now graduates and leaders in our industry.
Frank:
Is this when and where you first learned how to embezzle funds and not account for them?
Fenton:
I joined the Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1996 and through a national search process was named CEO in 1998. I certainly want to thank Shirley Lewis and Phil Sims who were long-time Board members and part of the search committee. It was during that time that I realized the value of Collaboration within our community, and specifically how important the arts, hotels, labor and the business community were to our success.
Frank:
This must be when your “Evil Empire” got it’s start… I can see the darkness and force growing stronger in this one. Using my best Master Yoda voice,
Fenton:
In the area of the arts I will digress and tell you that I was raised in a house where I often saw my mother working in support of, or actually running, non-profit arts groups as a volunteer right at our kitchen table. I remember a conversation where two local arts leaders (Andrew Bales and Bruce Davis) were asking why the passion I had for the arts existed. It turned out that Andrew knew of my family history and said “it’s in his blood.” That was true but I also recognized that the arts were a vital part of San Jose’s success as a destination and needed to be a strategic partner as long as I was involved.
Frank:
First off we really don’t care about how your mother and the her volunteerism plays into your ply for sympathy of how you got started in the “Biz”.
Second, you have done nothing but stand with your hand out, waiting for “Hand Outs” $$$$ from the Arts Community.
Third, Andrew and I have been friends in this community longer than you have been alive and he is a good man that cares deeply for the Arts. He actually was just placating you, by saying it’s in your blood. Bruce is a very competent man in the Arts community, I wonder why either of these fine gentlemen would align themselves with a Shy-lock Putz like you??? Success? As long as you were involved? What have you been smoking Fenton? You have not succeeded in anything, except defrauding the taxpayers of the City of San Jose.
Fenton:
I am proud of my service as the Vice-Chair of the Mexican Heritage Corporation. I am also very proud of my involvement with Zer01. Team San Jose has played a very strategic role in Zer01 and I am confident that will continue.
Frank:
You have done nothing to make things better for the CVB or the Mexican Heritage Corporation which also is a burden on the City of San Jose coffers. Again anything you have touched has turned to a “golden crap” and loses money at an alarming rate.
Fenton:
My arts journey continued when leaders of the arts community signed on to help lead Team San Jose. I remember Stew Slater (who was an early supporter) and I having several meetings with great arts leaders like Dennis Nahat, Irene Dalis and Andrew Bales to convince them that this model was designed to support them in their endeavors and get them directly involved in the decision-making of Team San Jose.
Early on when I was looking at the leadership of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, before we formed Team San Jose, I realized we had another missing partner. I called Phaedra Ellis Lampkins about the notion of Team San Jose and the partnership with labor, hotels, arts and the business community. As she listened, it was important to understand her interest and why she knew this was the right direction for the labor community and San Jose. She knew that we were losing bookings with the previous Convention Center management and needed everyone at the table working together to turn this around because it demonstrated real jobs for San Jose’s working families. For Phaedra and the labor movement to support privatization was groundbreaking. The Team San Jose model has also
been written about in national labor publications over the years.
Frank:
Again you have done absolutely nothing to improve the severely problematic Team San Jose Culture… You are dragging the names of these fine contributors under the bus with you, which is a classless thing to be doing. Your letter posted as a press release in nothing more than self serving and egotistical garbage. At this point your past supporters can care less about you or your aspirations of grandeur.
More to come….
Continued
Fenton:
This is an important time to talk about our clients. I am very proud that our leaders have delivered a level of service that has caused over 95 percent of the decision-makers surveyed to convey that they received excellent service from our leaders. This tells me that not only is the model working but it is exceeding our customers’ expectations. We have done many focus groups on the Team San Jose model and hear praise consistently from clients all over the nation.
I have always been thankful to serve leaders of our business community over the 14 years. There are too many to name, but there were some memorable moments. Greg Jamison was a Chair of the CVB Board very early on in my tenure and he stood in front of the Board and said in referring to myself, that he “bleeds San Jose”. I also remember and am grateful to Jan Sweetnam and Marc Casto who were two transformational Chairs to the organization for many years. And Michael Mulcahy, who was the Campaign Chair for the first Convention Center Expansion effort which was a key catalyst for where San Jose is today.
Frank:
Oh GOD…Please STOP “ASS” Kissing, these people are now walking away from you,not towards you. I wouldn’t be surprised if they booted out of the Down Town Rotary Club for being unethical amongst thieves.
By reading this 3 page diatribe of Bull Shit, I did my best to try and follow what you were saying but you was all over the place kissing ass here and there, looking for pats on the head over there, and basically looking like a fool.
It seems that Fenton writes just like he talks, (IN CIRCLES) with no definite end to his rambling line of crap.
First thing you need to do is shut up, at this point no one is going to listen to you from now on. As you have shown that you are nothing more than a charlatan and a schmuck, in the Yiddish sense of the definition.
Fenton:
So now what? Denise and I (and Oliver) are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.
Frank:
Who cares about what your going to do. Who the hell or what is Oliver..?
You have already screwed the City and it’s taxpayers out of millions of dollars. No one cares what your plans are, why would they you fool? You’re a crook!
It’s unfortunate that you live in my neighborhood in Willow Glen, guess I’m going to stay away from the Starbucks on Lincoln and Minnesota as all you political types, and want to be political ass clowns go there.
Oh Danny Boy, Oh Danny Boy, We Ain’t smiling!
Here’s a little Song for you as you leave us…. “Daydreamer”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQNqk54HPdE&feature=related
Old Frank
i have been in on gang fights in schools
i have seen the blues fight the reds and it is not pleasant
i’m a retired teacher
i can’t believe what the sjpd has to go through
i met one female cop who has been beaten and bruised at a local high school
she finally quit the schools
how anyone can gripe about sjpd
is beyond me
i have lived the danger and sjpd was like a savior to us teachers
Your Prozac is wearing off. This is the wrong topic for you.
Bravo Mr. Maggiano, We that had to deal with Fenton on a regular basis applaud your comments regarding this narcissitic little man.
The members of the Board and the City Council who followed Fenton like the “pied piper” and kept approving his “half baked” schemes should be ashamed of themselves. You were gullible enough to fall for Danny Boys illusions of grandure costing the City millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs. Folks, you need to redeem yourselves and rid this city of TSJ totally and immediately. Next, you need to assure that neither City properties nor City employees are ever placed under the jurisdiction of an outside entity again. I hope our civic leaders are now wise enough to see that TSJ is very flawed and has extremely costly to us all.
Thank you Mr. Jeffie,
The way I see it is the City of San Jose is liable for any and all of Fenton and Team San Jose’s idiotic ideas and failures.
The thought process by the Mayor and Council equates to allowing a 4 year old child to operate “Flame Thrower in a gasoline refinery” and actually handing him the match in which to light it with.
I blame the Mayor and Council who should be charged and held on racketeering and other charges by the Fed’s in conjunction to the criminal actions of Fenton, don’t leave out Mr. Vontress. Where did that weasel run off to?
I used to see him “snuggled up Fenton’s rear-end” as one of his “yes men”.
Who is Costain? What’s his function with Team San Jose? Is he going to help run the place further into the ground? By the way, I happened to be riding the VTA train yesterday and as it went by the Convention Center I looked at it and said to myself, What a nightmare that place is.
Upon seeing the place in so bad of shape I felt like Charlton Heston in the Planet of the Apes Movie. The part when he see’s the Statue of Liberty laying in the Ocean.
I think I was screaming “Why, Damn it, Why!???” Damn you all to Hell! Some of the other passengers on the train looked at me alarmed and moved away. I did apologize that my meds were wearing off.
It looks as if no one ever cleans the place. the front entrance had trash and garbage all over the concrete apron. It looks as if the place needs a lot of paint as well. It really looks run down and shabby, like there has been no up keep or maintenance to the facility at all.
Reminds me of some of the “shanty areas” of San Francisco. Such a waste of money by the City at the hands of Dan Fenton and Team San Jose.
Mr. Jeffie, it sounds like you work or had worked there at one time? If so I really feel bad for you. Working for a tyrant like Fenton.
It sounds like we have similar views of his “Napoleonic Reign” over the City Employees that were doomed to lose their jobs recently.
We all know what happened to Napoleon, pretty much the same thing that happened to you Fenton, run out of Town with a “Hot” Pointed Stick.
Good luck at the gates of Hell Fenton, I doubt if they will let you in though, as there can only be one “Devil” in charge down there. So I guess you’ll be doomed to all eternity in a “self important oblivion”.
Old Frank
Old Frank—I may not agree with your delivery but I appreciate most of your points. But you are way off on Jerry Von Tress—he was one of the few people at a level who tried, in vain as it turned out, to get Dan to understand the complexities of the CC&F and the necessity of trying to repair/rehab/maintain the facilities that Dan was intent on expanding. You have no idea of the hell that Jerry went through until he, too, like so many others had finally had enough. Please don’t throw everyone into the same quagmire that was Dan’s true legacy. The TSJ Board and a couple of his other “leaders” (Diana Ponton are you reading this?) and the co-conspirators in this “Casino-esque” house of cards.
In regards to my delivery, I’m an Old Man and have seen a lot of things and won’t apologize for being “Frank” with my way of pointing out the truth.
BTW,I attend all of the City meetings and have watched Mr. Vontress in action with Fenton for the last 6 yrs at the meetings.
I appreciate your views as we all are entitled our own views that should not be impeded by others.
Until you have served our country on the battlefield in combat as I have, please don’t tread on my first amendment rights.
But you know I didn’t work there but am retired military and can understand how things work at a place like TSJ.
To me from all of things that I have seen there is a conspiracy of sorts still looming.
Old Frank
Old Frank,
Yes, Mayor and Council share blame for Team San Jose and Dan Fenton’s wasting millions of city taxes but the people really responsible are City Manager, city administration and Economic Development Department who are very highly paid to run city for resident’s public good and make sure see that city is getting good value for taxes spent and taxes spent are accounted to public
Fenton, Team San Jose Board et all will never be responsible or accountable unless city administration demand accountability and City Attorney back up accountability demands with criminal complaints to DA and civil lawsuit for misuse of public funds
It all falls apart when city manager and administration don’t do the jobs they are paid to do and City Council does not demand accountability, oversight and city people should be fired for gross incompetence, lack of oversight and accountability
I agree with what your trying to say but am having a hard time following you? The process is simple to make the City and TSJ accountable for misusing millions of taxpayer dollars.
I agree with holding the Mayor, Council and City Manager accountable for Team San Jose fiscal and financial fiasco.
If the City won’t anything about accountability then the citizens of San Jose should make the City administrators follow through.
If they don’t do anything then jump to the next level and and get the Fed’s involved. I for one am very upset at how “We” as taxpayers have to pay for a contractors incompetence!?
While the entire time City Council and the Mayor had Stooge Constant sitting on TSJ’s Board play paddy-cake with Fenton and his group of misfits.
Let me ask you this, why would anyone who has been in the “Real” Business world work for a bottom feeding company like Team San Jose.
It’s obvious that if you had worked for benchmark corporations in the past and have made good money doing so why would you work for a crappy little group like Team San Jose?
I would say doing so is career suicide.
Old Frank
There are still a handful of quality people that are working for Team San Jose with ethics. Unfortunately, whenever a scandal is uncovered, everyone shares the blame. Although i believe a celebration is warranted for the recent toxic cleansing, we as tax payers and past employees need to remember that this corruption went on for a really long time. TSJ was at one time, a very short time, successful. Then Lord Farqua wanted more control, with no knowledge of unions, decorators, tradeshows, concerts etc. The cleansing isnt finished, there are still two co-conspirators still working side by side Honest Dan, that have caused the same damage to the organization, city and clients. The only way business will come back to San Jose is to put someone competent in charge, such as John Southwell or Michael Mulcahy. We need someone that has good marketing experience and industry knowledge.
Well, if you look at it differently,the only reason that this occurred is because of the few intelligent hoteliers that spoke up,including John Southwell and of course Sam Liccardo. Business wont come back unless you have someone smart at the helm.
I hope you are right. I am doubtful, though. It took the Board way too long to address this situation—if in fact they were at odds with Fenton.
Isn’t Southwell on the current Board? How could anyone from that Board be competent to now head up the organization?
The Board is just as responsible for the mismanagement as Fenton is.
Anita, I never said that TSJ had done anything venal or criminal, and I don’t know of anything unethical the group has done—except in the usual you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours stuff. That’s called “honest graft” and it happens everywhere, especially in smaller towns like San Jose. Old timers and old families run things because they are so much a part of the fabric of a place. They have so much invested here, financially and emotionally. There’s no room for serious change or new ideas, because “we’ve always done it this way.” This might be why San Jose has such a hard time getting conventions. Has TSJ really looked at downtown—especially on weekend nights. TSJ and others believe a ballpark will make it better. But the ballpark will have a negative impact on the quality of life downtown—more congestion, more “bars,” more ruffians. Who wants to live or go to a convention in that environment. Some downtowners already complain that the place has no place for adults to gather and listen to better music. Another of TSJ’s problems—failure to properly market San Jose. But what’s to market? I’m not sure anyone at TSJ, no matter their intentions, should be in charge. We need professional managers, who will be honest about what needs to be done—not boosters.
Thinking more about Anita’s and other comments. The issue isn’t about “firing” the TSJ and the Council. San Jose has a structural problem. A couple of blocks from City Hall is the Adobe campus. Would Adobe—or Acer or Cisco—hand the management of their prime real estate over to a non-profit organization with a board composed of sometimes competing interests? So-called conservatives often talk about having government run like a business. That’s nonsense, because the goal of business is to make a profit, and the goal of government is to serve the common good. But in this case, a business application is certainly relevant. Put TSJ’s mission where it belongs, in the hands of competent professionals, including some from outside San Jose and no one from the current TSJ board. (I don’t know any of them, but others on this blog have offered some names. These are clearly honorable people, who have volunteered their time, but they need to go back to their lives.) We can fire the Council—at the polls.
By the way, the term “honest graft” is an old one, from the turn-of-the-20th-century New York land developer and politician George Washington Plunkett. He drew a distinction between “dishonest graft”—machine politics that serve only self-interest—and “honest graft”—machine politics that serve a city’s, state’s and self-interest. He considered himself a principled, if cynical, practitioner of the latter.
Finally, what happens next also depends on public opinion. The Mercury-News is already suggesting that TSJ should be disbanded. In the interim, San Jose might think of borrowing a real estate manager from Adobe, Cisco or some other Silicon Valley company for a year or so. I understand the job is not just about real estate, but this is a solid place to start. In the permanent solution: if another half-cocked management system staffed with good old boys replaces it, we’ve just shuffled the chairs on the deck not of the Titanic but of a slow tugboat.
Stay tuned.
Old Frank,
Voters elected Mayor and Council who appoints City Manager to run city government as Chief Administrative to enforce laws and file lawsuits
Mayor “shall be the political leader within the community by providing guidance and leadership to the Council, by expressing and explaining to the community the City’s policies and programs and by assisting the Council in the informed, vigorous and effective exercise of its powers. Political leadership shall be concerned with the general development of the community and the general level of City services and activity programs. ”
Mayor Reed can not exercise political leadership because he does not control majority Council votes nor does Labor since 3-4 Council members swing back and forth depending on issues
Giving millions taxpayers money to Team San Jose is where both Mayor and Labor and their supporters agree since both politically benefit
City’s TSJ oversight and accountability has been lax or non existent but after TSJ wasted $1 million during budget crisis, Council could not politically ignore what happened as did many times in past so Fenton and Krupko were fired saving $600,000 per year
City Manager and City Attorney could file complaints or lawsuits but won’t
” The Council may make the violation of its ordinances a misdemeanor for which a violator may be prosecuted in the name of the People of the State of California and may prescribe punishment for each violation by a fine in an amount not to exceed that set by State law or by imprisonment not to exceed six (6) months, or by both fine and imprisonment. Such violations may also be redressed by civil actions.”
City will do nothing administratively because of Council politics
So next step is a citizens complaint to Santa Clara County Civil or Criminal Grand Jury since feds will not get involved unless clear misconduct or criminal charges
Citizen Complaint Form
http://www.sccsuperiorcourt.org/files/AD-1022.pdf
Old Frank,
Should the City Council Continue to Subsidize Team San Jose’s Increasing Losses?
http://www.sccsuperiorcourt.org/jury/GJreports/2010/TeamSanJoseSubsidy.pdf
City of San Jose Response
http://www.sccsuperiorcourt.org/jury/GJreports/2010/responses/city_council/SanJose.pdf
Voters elected Mayor and Council who appoints
a) City Manager to run city government as Chief Administrative
b) City Attorney to enforce laws and file lawsuits
Mayor “shall be the political leader within the community by providing guidance and leadership to the Council, by expressing and explaining to the community the City’s policies and programs and by assisting the Council in the informed, vigorous and effective exercise of its powers. Political leadership shall be concerned with the general development of the community and the general level of City services and activity programs. ”
Mayor Reed can not exercise political leadership because he does not control majority Council votes nor does Labor since 3-4 Council members swing back and forth depending on issues
Giving millions taxpayers money to Team San Jose is where both Mayor and Labor and their supporters agree since both politically benefit
City’s TSJ oversight and accountability has been lax or non existent but after TSJ wasted $1 million during budget crisis, Council could not politically ignore what happened as did many times in past so Fenton and Krupko were fired saving $600,000 per year
City Manager and City Attorney could file complaints or lawsuits but won’t
” The Council may make the violation of its ordinances a misdemeanor for which a violator may be prosecuted in the name of the People of the State of California and may prescribe punishment for each violation by a fine in an amount not to exceed that set by State law or by imprisonment not to exceed six (6) months, or by both fine and imprisonment. Such violations may also be redressed by civil actions.”
City will do nothing administratively because of Council politics
So next step is a citizens complaint to Santa Clara County Civil or Criminal Grand Jury since feds will not get involved unless clear misconduct or criminal charges
Citizen Complaint Form
http://www.sccsuperiorcourt.org/files/AD-1022.pdf
I do understand what your saying about how to file or report the wrong doing by Dan Fenton and others.
Unfortunately it was a little long winded with too much politically correct terminology at least for me. Things are not that complicated regarding how this happened.
No, The City should NOT continue to fund Team San Jose. The way I look at it is if you don’t have your own money pool, years of positive experience running a venture like a Convention Center, you shouldn’t be in the business of running a Convention Center.
Unfortunately The entire Team San Jose nightmare was concocted by Dan Fenton and past and present City Council and Mayoral members.
This entire mess would NOT have happened if the City had NOT chosen thrown together Team San Jose over other historically “successful” RFP applicants in the first place.
It’s that simple!
Our City leaders chose to have a scumbag like Fenton waste your tax dollars and then double talk and lie when asked what he was doing with the money. Now this just didn’t happen one or two years, this happened 6 years straight and every year the City let the issue go, giving Fenton and Team San Jose a pass to continue with losing money every time to empty more money from the city coffers.
City Hall was well aware of what was going on with TSJ and turned a blind eye to the mess. As I have said before I attend every meeting and have seen the political “grab ass” they played with Fenton first hand. It really makes you sick that adults would play such juvenile games.
By you posting the complaint form it seems that your suggesting that I or someone else report this criminal behavior to the Grand Jury.
There are a lot of people in San Jose, Lets see if any will actually follow through?
Old Frank
Name the Crook…. Loyal Fentonites and Lifer TSJ’rs Which one is next to fall?
http://www.teamsanjose.com/global/images/dave.jpg
http://www.teamsanjose.com/global/images/ponton.jpg
http://www.teamsanjose.com/global/images/madriz.jpg
http://www.teamsanjose.com/global/images/meghan.jpg
http://www.teamsanjose.com/global/images/southwell.jpg
http://www.teamsanjose.com/global/images/cindy.jpg
Karma—it’s all about karma. From the looks of it, TSJ was a “revolving door” very much like the Convention & Visitors Bureau. DF was not a man to be trusted. Would have a made a very good used car salesman.
Yep, what goes around comes around! Sadly, it took the Board years to figure out who Dan really was despite misgivings voiced from within his staff when he was itching to succeed Marian Holt McLain. He should have NEVER been appointed CEO back in 1999 (not 1998).
And the beat goes on.
The following is an excerpt from Dan’s goodbye letter that was not included in the above text.
“I certainly couldn’t end this without mentioning my long-term relationship with the taxi industry. Five years ago Taxi San Jose was formed as a partnership of cab owners, cab drivers and labor. This small non-profit has served well over 1.8 million travelers with a 99 plus percent on-time record. This means all of these travelers waited for less than five minutes. This model also supports a break-through in the taxi industry in San Jose where individual drivers have their own airport permits and keep these with them regardless of the company with which they are affiliated. I want to thank Tony Alexander who has been my partner in this for the last six years. I will continue to support this endeavor going forward”
About the time Team San Jose was putting together a severance package for Mr. Fenton, Dan was already positioning himself for his next opportunity. As CEO of Taxi San Jose (a non-profit organization that runs the Taxi/Shuttle service at San Jose Airport) he removed some members of that board and then handpicked their replacements. He then terminated the Operating Manager of Taxi San Jose who Dan himself praised as raising the bar in what he had achieved and immediately replaced him with someone with no previous experience in the business, someone that would be in need of Dan’s consulting.
Now the board of Taxi San Jose, which Dan and his buddy Tony Alexander hold almost a majority votes of, are working out a deal to offer Dan a paid position as Consultant to Taxi San Jose.
Quote from the San Jose Mercury news
“Asked what kind of consulting work Fenton might do, Alexander said he would “continue to do some of the things he is running right now, such as meeting with Taxi San Jose’s operations manager.”“
So he will now become a paid consultant for an organization that until his recent reorganization was not in need of his consulting.
Well played.
Mr. Fenton should be fired long time ago.I am not going to be surprised,that the Union will offer him a job!!!