Reflecting on 2025
 I made it through year one. It didn’t go gently. I got my butt kicked. I kicked a little butt too. Mostly, I learned quickly how demanding this work is, how much it matters, and how much responsibility comes with helping guide a city like Santa Clara. I am deeply grateful for the chance to serve and for the support I’ve felt from our community. I’ve been reminded that good governance isn’t much more complicated than grade school rules: tell the truth, treat people with respect, don’t talk about others behind their backs, and pay attention to those who do. Show up. Share credit. Take responsibility when things go wrong. Look out for people who don’t yet have a seat at the table. These aren’t lofty political ideals. They’re basic human ones, and when we practice them, we build trust and make better decisions together.
These lessons didn’t come from spreadsheets or slide decks. They came from hard conversations and uncomfortable moments. After one year, I’m realistic about the work ahead and genuinely hopeful about what the next three can bring. This newsletter reflects what I learned, what mattered, and how I plan to keep growing, with clear commitments for the year ahead.
Thank you for reading along and for supporting this shared journey of Santa Clara.
 This year reinforced that leadership is not positional. It is relational. Much of the most meaningful progress in 2025 did not happen behind a dais. It happened in neighborhood meetings, over coffee with retired police officers, alongside PAL youth programs, at community festivals, and in moments where residents organized thoughtfully and spoke with one voice. Cross-city collaboration, youth leadership programs, and consistent presence in District 6 showed that trust grows when people feel heard rather than managed.
My commitment for the year ahead:
In the coming year, I commit to deepening this work by expanding resident engagement through advocacy and agency programs. My goal is to support residents not just as commenters at meetings, but as organized partners in shaping their neighborhoods. Strong cities are built from the block level up, and I will continue prioritizing structures that make participation accessible, meaningful, and ongoing.
Santa Clara is growing quickly, and 2025 made clear that growth only works when it is paired with responsibility.
This year, the City laid significant groundwork for long-term success. Major infrastructure investments moved forward, including a $400 million infrastructure bond supporting fire stations, transportation, stormwater, parks, libraries, police facilities, and historic buildings. Silicon Valley Power advanced plans to more than double capacity through over $425 million in capital improvements, reinforcing Santa Clara’s ability to support advanced manufacturing, AI, healthcare, and technology growth while maintaining some of the lowest energy rates in the region. At the same time, major developments and data center expansion underscored the importance of balancing fiscal strength, environmental stewardship, and community benefit.
My commitment for the year ahead:
I commit to continuing to ask hard questions about scale, impact, and accountability. Growth must strengthen the general fund, protect ratepayers, and deliver tangible benefits to residents. Standards must be held the same for all businesses and partners. I will continue to advocate for transparency, environmental responsibility, and long-term thinking in every development decision.
 This year reaffirmed that joy is not peripheral to civic life. It is foundational. Concerts in the Park, the Art and Wine Festival, movie nights, cultural celebrations, and neighborhood gatherings reminded us that cities are not just systems to be optimized. They are places to belong. These moments build social trust, shared identity, and the connective tissue that makes democratic participation possible. Santa Clara’s ability to host both global events and deeply local traditions showed that civic pride and civic responsibility can coexist.
My commitment for the year ahead:
I commit to protecting and investing in the programs, public spaces, and events that bring people together. As Santa Clara prepares for major international events, I will continue to center residents and ensure that celebration enhances, rather than displaces, neighborhood life.
Time was a constant presence to consider this year. From honoring long-serving community members to celebrating Eagle Scouts, student athletes, and youth leaders, 2025 reminded us that cities are built across generations. Investments in parks, libraries, aquatics facilities, and public safety infrastructure are not just about today’s needs, but about what we leave behind. Major planning efforts such as the Clara District, Santa Clara Park Station Area, and Related Santa Clara reflect this long view, reshaping how people will live, work, and connect for decades to come.
My commitment for the year ahead:
I commit to keeping generational impact at the center of decision-making. That means asking not just what works now, but what will serve residents twenty and fifty years from today. Stewardship requires patience, memory, and restraint, especially when the pace of change accelerates.
This year also brought loss, reminding us that leadership is not insulated from grief. Moments of heartbreak and loss revealed the depth of Santa Clara’s care for one another. In those moments, the role of public leadership is not to perform strength, but to create space for connection, compassion, and shared humanity. The way a city responds to loss says as much about its values as how it celebrates success.
My commitment for the year ahead:
I commit to leading with humility and care, especially in difficult moments. Accountability, transparency, and compassion are not competing values. They are mutually reinforcing, and I will continue to hold space for all three.
 As we look ahead, Santa Clara continues to live at every scale at once. While NVIDIA considers its next expansion, the largest company in the world growing right here, Westside Little League looks to rebuild the snack shack at Carmichael Park. While global games approach and Related Santa Clara begins again, reshaping our city for generations, neighbors debate green space at Wilson Park, youth sports fees return before Council, and families ask how growth will touch their daily lives. While the State advances housing solutions we will feel block by block, the ISC breaks ground to reimagine the rebirth of a historic landmark. And while Silicon Valley Power prepares for a major expansion in energy access, residents argue late fees at the library, plant strawberries in a community plot, and celebrate fifth-grade crossing guards on Safety Patrol Day.
All of this is Santa Clara.
Big and small. Global and local. Ambitious and intimate. These are not competing realities. They are happening at the same time, often in the same week, sometimes in the same meeting. Leadership in a city like this requires the capacity to dream both ways; outward toward opportunity and inward toward community. It means understanding that a billion-dollar decision and a neighborhood snack shack carry the same responsibility: to care for this place like it is your own.
I look forward to seeing you all in 2026,
Kelly
|
