Saturday, May 7, 2016

BetterCupertino News: Sunday Information Meeting and Empty Promises in Vallco Initiative


Topics: (scroll down for details)
>> Sunday Information Meeting by BetterCupertino
>> Better Cupertino Library Booth Continues
>> Empty Promises in Vallco Initiative: "may include", "will spearheat", "strongly encouraged"
>> CCSGI Does Not Support Any Developer-Sponsored Initiative Because...
>> City Council Did Not Give CCSGI a Fair Chance on April 5 and Still Won't One Month Later.
>> Launch "Speak Up on Growth" Blog Site.
>> The Effort to Recall Barry Chang (more on RecallBarryChang.org)

>> Sunday Information Meeting by BetterCupertino
When:          Sunday, 8 May 2016, from 2 PM to 4 PM
Location:      O-mei Academy, 10070 Imperial Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014
Note:            It's Moms' Day. Bring  your mom to chat with our volunteers and share stories about Cupertino!
Content:
- CCSG Initiative maintains existing building scale, such as building heights in Cupertino.
- What's the ballot question? What dramatic events led to the adoption of deceptive ballot question meant to prejudice voters against Elections Code and City Attorney's advice.
- Impact of massive office space and uncontrolled growth on Cupertino without CCSG Initiative.

>> Better Cupertino Library Booth Continues
When:          Saturday, 7 May 2016, from 2 PM to 3 PM and
                     Sunday, 8 May 2016, from 3 PM to 5 PM
Location:      Entrance of Cupertino Library
- Come by to pick up flyers for distribution. Ask questions and find out how you can help and join our wonderful team of volunteers to help protect Cupertino, our home town.

>> Empty Promises in Vallco Initiative: "may include", "will spearhead", "strongly encouraged"
Sand Hill's Vallco office park Initiative has submitted 3,700 signatures for verification. However, how many of the voters who signed the Vallco petition knows that most community benefits are not locked in as a requirement in Sand Hill's Vallco Initiative.
Below is just a partial list of commonly mentioned benefits that are NOT locked in by the Vallco Initiative, as RevitalizeVallco.com might imply. Sand Hill won't be required to provide any of these benefits.
  • "will spearhead": free shuttles.
  • "may include": pedestrian trails, a playground, vineyards, orchards, organic gardens, an amphitheater, pavilion buildings, community hub, student union and a nature area. A refuge for native species of plants and birds.
  • "may include": a general purpose community hub, an approximately 1,000 seat banquet hall, and a 300-seat outdoor amphitheater.
  • "strongly encouraged": 10,000 high school innovation center. 700-student elementary school on 3.5 acre Nan Alan site.For more details based on Vallco Initiative text: http://bettercupertino.blogspot.com/2016/05/truth-on-vallco-initiative-mostbenefits-not-promised-nor-locked-in.html

>> CCSGI Does Not Support Any Developer-Sponsored Initiative Because...
  • By signing any developer-sponsored initiative, you agree and encourage developers to take a shortcut to project approval through the initiative process. The developers get to skip environmental review process, public comment and hearing and Planning Commission and City Council approval.
  • By signing any developer-sponsored initiative, you agree for the taxpayers to pay for a superficial 9212 report for a development project so that the developers can skip a comprehensive multi-faceted environmental impact study under CEQA.
  • By signing any developer-sponsored initiative, you agree to allow developers to wow voters with fancy marketing materials with promises while hiding project details that requests special treatment or exceptions in hundreds of pages of legalese.
  • If any one project gets speedy approval through the initiative process, more developers will follow the success story. Cupertino voters won't be fooled.
NOTE: The North De Anza Gateway Initiative for the Goodyear Tire site, near 280 and De Anza, is not compatible with CCSGI. The project applicant should follow the normal project approval process.

>> City Council Did Not Give CCSGI a Fair Chance on April 5 and Still Won't One Month Later.
Despite numerous emails to request to put the ballot question of CCSGI on May 3rd agenda, Cupertino City Council did nothing. Mayor Barry Chang met with a few people from BetterCupertino on Sunday, but he was not willing to listen to reason and insists to blindly trust EC 9212 Report without rational explanation. Other Councilmembers did not respond at all to either requests for a meeting nor request to discuss the matter during May 3 Council meeting.

The Council would rather to stick to a deceptive ballot question, which even City Attorney does not feel comfortable with, since it doesn't conform to Elections Code 9051. The City Council refuses to comply with Elections Code 9051 to adopt a true and impartial ballot question so that it does not prejudice voters against CCSGI.
>> Launch "Speak Up on Growth" Blog Site.
We have created a "Speak Up on Growth" blog to collect good posts or letters from any concerned citizens to share with a  wider audience:

If any one wrote a great post or come across a great post, please send it to speak.up.on.growth@gmail.com. If you are not the original poster, that's fine. We'll contact the original author for permission to post. The blog welcomes post from anyone in the Bay Area that write about any city in the Bay Area


>> The Effort to Recall Barry Chang (more on RecallBarryChang.org)
The effort to recall Barry Chang is driven mainly by a group of individuals who were long-time Barry supporters. Some campaigned tirelessly for Barry Chang in 2014 and some have been Barry's friends since Barry started his political career.   This group of former supporters of Barry Chang felt betrayed by Barry because of his unprofessional behavior and anti-resident actions dating back to just after the 2014 election.The events leading up to the April 5 meeting to forcefully adopt the deceptive ballot question of CCSGI to completely align with the request of Sand Hill's attorney was simply the last straw that broke the camel's back. The CCSGI committee and BetterCupertino are not fully involved with the effort of Recall Barry Chang group, except a few members who are involved as individuals.
Nevertheless, the CCSGI committee and BetterCupertino do support the goals of the Recall Barry Chang group and will help the recall effort, as needed.

Home Page: BetterCupertino.org and CCSensibleGrowth.org
Paid for by Committee supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC# 1381645.


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