Wear RED to Support CCSGI and Oppose Vallco Initiative - Your Presence Is Essential

​CCSensibleGrowth.org

Wear RED to Support CCSGI and Oppose Vallco Initiative - Your Presence Is Essential

Attend March 31, 2016 Cupertino City Council Meeting

Time: 6:45pm March 31, 2016

Location: Community Hall (next to Cupertino Library)

Sand Hill has sent a call-to-action to implore Vallco Town Center Initiative supporters (could include paid out-of-town "supporters") to attend the March 31, 2016 City Council meeting to oppose the Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative (CCSG Initiative). We need all CCSG Initiative supporters to attend the City Council meeting to object to the developer-sponsored Vallco office park initiative that will replace a shopping center with a massive office park. It's a show down. Your presence is essential to protect Cupertino from being turned into Manhattan West.

The CCSG Initiative will allow Vallco to be revitalized in a manner that is aligned with the community's vision and will allow Cupertino to grow sensibly in accordance with the community's vision. Don't let the future of Vallco be locked down by one developer's proposal of a massive office park without an environmental impact review or the City Council's approval. Don't let Cupertino fall into a long nightmare of traffic congestion and more and more state-mandated housing requirements due to more massive office construction. Attend the March 31, 2016 City Council meeting to oppose the Vallco office park initiative.

On Thursday March 31, 2016, the City Council will decide whether or not (1) to adopt the CCSG Initiative immediately, (2) to add the CCSG Initiative the November ballot, or (3) to identify roadblocks they will use to prevent the CCSG Initiative from moving forward. The CCSG Initiative Election Code 9212 Impact Report (9212 report)  is not only biased, but also contains false accusations and impossible, worst-case assumptions for the CCSG Initiative. Our attorney has written a letter to the City to refute the most egregious and false assertions in the CCSG Initiative 9212 report: 

Important Information About the CCSG Initiative correcting Misrepresentations in the CCSG Initiative Section 9212 Report:

•     The CCSG Initiative will not increase any existing building height limit set by zoning in any area in Cupertino. Anyone who claims the CCSG Initiative will raise building height limits in some areas, including Neighborhoods, lacks a basic understanding of the function of the General Plan and what it mandates or prohibits.  Based on the language in the CCSG Initiative, only zoning that set height limits above those in the initiative would need to be changed.

•     In places where the CCSG Initiative removes a requirement from the General Plan, such as the requirement for projects to identify a master developer or draft a town-center layout, neither the developer nor the City is prevented or prohibited from appointing a master developer, adopting a town-center layout, or providing any deliverable that was previously required.

•     Both Housing Element Scenarios A and B were adopted by the City and are part of the General Plan in December 2014. Any inconsistency resulting from a transition from Scenario A to Scenario B can be resolved by the City using its normal processes. Actions required by the City to harmonize the transition from Scenario A to Scenario B are legal and outside the scope of the CCSG Initiative.

The CCSG Initiative 9212 report is full of other unreasonable and biased characterizations of the CCSG Initiative. We will do our best address the most serious errors during Thursday's Council meeting.

Home: CCSensibleGrowth.org and BetterCupertino.org
Questions: CCSensibleGrowth@gmail.com

Paid for by Committee supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC# 1381645. 

​CCSensibleGrowth.org

Thank You Donors for More Than $6000 in 24 Hours. Attend March 31 Council Meeting to Oppose Vallco Initiative and Support CCSGI

​CCSensibleGrowth.org

Thank You for Doubling Our 24-Hour Goal

The 24-Hour Fund Matching Campaign has raised $4426 dollars in 24 hours double our goal of $2000. Together we've raised $6426 within just 24 hours. Thank you to the generous donation of every donor. And special thanks for the anonymous donor for providing the $2000 matching fund. Every dollar of your donation will be put into attorney fees or outreach to more voters to protect our beloved Cupertino.

$100 Per Household Campaign Ends on March 31

If you have not donated to CCSGI, we encourage you to donate by March 31. Each round of mailers to all registered voters will cost $10,000. The more donation would enable us to reach more voters so that they are not confused by developers' empty promises on their glossy flyers.

Attend March 31 Council Meeting to Oppose Vallco Initiative and Support CCSGI

On Thursday, March 31, 2016 at 6:45pm, a special City Council Meeting will be held for the Council to take the next action on CCSGI after reviewing the Election Code 9212 Impact Report. The Council can either adopt CCSGI right away or put CCSGI on the November ballot. In the same meeting, the Council will also order 9212 Impact Report for Sand Hill's Vallco Town Center Specific Plan Initiative.

It is important for all who strongly oppose Sand Hill's Vallco Town Center Specific Plan Initiative to speak up to object the developers for abusing the initiative process for their personal financial gain. Speak up on issues that should be covered in the 9212 Impact Report. All those who object to the Council's allocation of 2 million square feet of office at Vallco without sufficient public input in Dec. 2014 should also speak up because it was that massive office allocation that put Cupertino on the path of urbanization, with The Hills of Vallco leading the way.

A - Proposed Vallco Initiative (334 page Initiative to be adopted into law)
B - Title and Summary

The 9212 Impact Report for CCSGI is very biasd and full of misinformation as expected, just as what other community groups have warned. The 9212 Impact Report is supposed to be impartial and the City is supposed to be neutral. Unfortunately, more often than not, impartiality and neutrality are hard when a citizens' initiative is proposed due to an unresponsive government. For all who are concerned about the successful passage of CCSGI, we would like you to exercise judgement when reading the 9212 Impact Report authored by paid consultants whose clients also include cities as well as real estate developers.

Here is the packets for Agenda Item 2: 9212 Impact Report for CCSGI
https://cupertino.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2676096&GUID=1273C787-DBA1-40D9-9793-264D26DAC861&Options=&Search=

In the mean time, the CCSGI committee and their attorneys stand by the content posted on CCSensibleGrowth.org:

What the initiative WILL Do:

• It WILL encourage projects that adhere to the Cupertino General Plan.

• It WILL require voters’ approval for over-sized projects that violate the standards in the Cupertino General Plan that are set by the initiative.

• It WILL affirm the City's goal of enhancing Vallco as a regional and community destination for retail, dining, and entertainment.
• It WILL increase sales tax revenue by retaining Vallco as a regional shopping mall.
• It WILL retain the existing height limits, to preserve the character of Cupertino, while promoting balanced growth.

• It WILL help prevent further traffic gridlock through sensible and balanced growth that respects the City’s infrastructure limits.

• It WILL help prevent additional overcrowding of public schools through sensible and balanced growth that respects the City’s infrastructure limits.

What the initiative WILL NOT Do:

• It WILL NOT stop any development project that abides by the limits it sets within the General Plan.
• It WILL NOT stop any project. It only requires that City Council approval of over-sized projects be confirmed by Cupertino’s voters.
• It WILL NOT take away City Council’s ability to increase citywide office allocation, residential allocation or hotel or retail allocation.
• It WILL NOT change the existing maximum height, except at Vallco.  At Vallco  there are currently no height guidelines.

• It WILL NOT prevent Vallco from having housing or office.  Housing or office at Vallco would be allowed if approved by a majority of voters.

• It WILL NOT prevent growth.  The initiative just re-enforces the City’s current plan so that growth is sustainable.

Home: CCSensibleGrowth.org and BetterCupertino.org

Questions: CCSensibleGrowth@gmail.com

Paid for by Committee supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC# 1381645. 

​CCSensibleGrowth.org

DONATE BY NOON MONDAY to Get Matching Fund from Anonymous Donor

 Newsupdate for BetterCupertino.org and CCSensibleGrowth.org 

Information Booth Cancellation: The BetterCupertino/CCSGI Information Booth at the Cupertino Library is cancelled today because the Cupertino Library is closed in observance of the Easter holiday. Please emailBetterCupertino@gmail.com to get more flyers for distribution.

Exciting Fundraising News: An anonymous donor will match up to $2,000 for contributions donated in support of CCSGI between noon Sunday (3/27) and noon Monday (3/28). 

Donate online at http://tiny.cc/ccsgi-donate or donate by check. Your check can be mailed in after filling out an online donation form before noon on Monday.

Thank you to all CCSGI supporters for your generous donations. We depend on donor funding to pay our attorney to scrutinize the very biased Election Code 9212 Impact Report that will be presented to the City Council Thursday, 3/31. Stay tuned for more information about the EC 9212 Impact Report.

Watch out for Paid Circulators for Developers' Initiatives:Paid circulators hired by developers are attempting to collect petition signatures right now. With approximately 2,700 valid signatures, developer-sponsored initiatives that will change Cupertino's General Plan could be added to the ballot in 2016 without any environmental impact review for traffic, schools, emergency, police, sewage and other infrastructures. Your signatures on the developers' Initiative encourage more developers' to take the shortcut of project approval by abusing the initiative process. By NOT signing the developers' initiative to put their project on the ballot, Cupertino City can negotiate even better community benefits than the developers are offering now.

What's inside the developer-sponsored initiatives?

Under the Vallco office park initiative, the Vallco Shopping District will become 50% office, 34% apartments and ONLY 16% retail. The 2-million-square-foot office park is expected to employ 10,000 workers (200 sq.ft./worker), while only 389 are included in the plan, further exacerbating the area's housing-to-office deficit by providing enough housing for 5% of the employees who will work in the offices on the site.

Under the Oaks initiative, the Oaks Shopping Center will become 45% office, 31% apartments, 16% hotel and ONLY 8% retail. The 280,000-square-foot office is expected to employ 1,400 workers, where the project includes enough housing (270 apartments) for just 20% of the employees who will work in the offices on the site.

Both the initiatives for the Oaks and Vallco projects will turn Cupertino an urbanized city by adding:

• More traffic congestion
• More crowded schools
• Much less retail space
• Worse housing crisis
• Less civil services
• Less safety and emergency services.

If you have signed ANY developer-sponsored initiatives by mistake, you can revoke your signatures. Contact BetterCupertino@gmail.com to find out how.

Here are the flyers for distribution:

DO NOT SIGN - more detailed project info (some info on CCSGI):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7RMc9DXGhUAN3NtUUxJYW9jR1E/view?usp=sharing

(CCSGI = Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative)

DO NOT SIGN - Urbanized City: (No information on CCSGI)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7RMc9DXGhUAYWxoZUtVUGlNU0k/view?usp=sharing

Home: BetterCupertino.org
Questions: BetterCupertino@gmail.com

Paid for by Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC #1376003.

DO NOT SIGN Developers' Initiatives. Revoke Your Signatures if Signed by Mistake.

 Newsupdate for BetterCupertino.org and CCSensibleGrowth.org 

DO NOT SIGN Developer's Initiatives.

No matter how attractive their projects may sound. The initiative process should not be abused as a shortcut to allow oversized high density projects in Cupertino.

A large number of paid circulators for Vallco Town Center Initiative are going door to door to collect signatures from Cupertino voters.
The Vallco Town Center Initiative contains a spiral bound of 334-page Vallco Specific Plan that's NOT reviewed and NOT approved by the Council nor the Planning Commission nor the Planning Staff.

Some voters have already signed Vallco or Oaks initiatives due to misleading information provided by the circulators. If you have signed the developers' initiatives by mistake, you can still revoke your signatures. It is important that you contact BetterCupertino@gmail.org to revoke your signatures.

By signing on the petition for Vallco Town Center Initiative, you agree to the following:

• Lock in 2 million square feet of office allocation to Vallco, which raises the property value of Vallco immediately even if nothing is built.
• Rezone the last shopping mall in Cupertino to a massive office park with only 16% of the total square footage as retail. (much less space than total occupied retail space at Vallco in 2014.)
• Allow a massive project like Vallco Town Center to BYPASS Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and SKIP required mitigation measures for all impacts normally identified in EIR.
• Allow a massive project like Vallco Town Center to be approved by the voters even if there might be significant unavoidable impacts on traffic, schools, police, emergency, sewage and other infrastructures.
• Open the door for more developers to take shortcut to project approvals by abusing the initiative process.

Here are the flyers for distribution:

DO NOT SIGN - more detailed project info (some info on CCSGI):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7RMc9DXGhUAN3NtUUxJYW9jR1E/view?usp=sharing

(CCSGI = Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative)

DO NOT SIGN - Urbanized City: (No information on CCSGI)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7RMc9DXGhUAYWxoZUtVUGlNU0k/view?usp=sharing

BetterCupertino will host information booth at the library this weekend. You are welcome to stop by to get some flyers for distribution. Or send email to BetterCupertino@gmail.com to have someone contact you on how to get flyers.

Library Information Booth this weekend:

Saturday March 26 from 2pm to 4pm
Sunday March 27 from 3pm to 4:30pm 

Together we would be able to protect our beloved Cupertino from being exploited by developers and their overseas investors for huge financial profits.

Join our team of volunteers and donate to help us reach more citizens.

Home: BetterCupertino.org

Questions: BetterCupertino@gmail.com

Paid for by Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC #1376003

Stand Up to Protect Cupertino - $100 per household for our quality of life

​CCSensibleGrowth.org

Dear Cupertino Community Members:

Now is the time to stand up for ourselves and our community. 

Developers have a keen eye on Cupertino and will build whatever is most profitable for their bottom line, no matter the concerns of the residents.

As a result, we must act now to pass the Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative and to defeat unapproved, developer-supported initiatives, including the Oaks and Vallco initiatives.

We are battling to save the quality of life that drew us to Cupertino when we moved here.

Battles are costly. Experienced attorneys are essential and expensive. Outreach in the form of mailers, newspaper advertisements and yard signs are essential and expensive.

To keep our fight for our community alive, we need monetary donations from every household of supporters.  We need $100 from each household by Thursday, March 31, 2016 to continue our campaign.

Donate today at www.CCSensibleGrowth.org. Click "Donate".

Stand up for our community in one more essential way: Do NOT sign petitions to add unapproved, developer-sponsored General Plan amendments, including the Oaks initiative and the Vallco office park initiative, to the ballot in 2016.   

And, we need more supporters. 

Forward this message to everyone you know with an interest in keeping runaway growth and mega projects out of our community.

Thank you,

Committee supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative 

CCSensibleGrowth.org and BetterCupertino.org

Questions: CCSensibleGrowth@gmail.com

Note: Donations to political organizations, such as the CCSG Initiative, are not tax-deductible.              

Paid for by Committee supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC# 1381645. 

​CCSensibleGrowth.org

CALL TO ACTION: Request June Election for CCSGI. Wear RED to Attend March 1 Council Meeting

ccSensibleGrowth.org

CALL TO ACTION: Wear RED to attend March 1, 2016 Cupertino City Council Meeting.

REQUEST: Put CCSGI on June ballot.

Time & Location: 6:45pm Cupertino Community Hall (next to Cupertino Library), 10800 Torre Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014

Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative (CCSGI) is grateful for your outpouring support at the Feb. 2 Council meeting. Wonderful speeches by CCSGI supporters.
We will need your presence at the March 1, 2016 City Council meeting once more to give Cupertino voters a chance to have a frank and open discussion on CCSGI by putting it on June ballot, instead of November.

Although CCSG initiative qualifies for the next regular election, which June election, per California Election Code, the City of Cupertino won't put CCSGI on June election before the March 11 deadline.

Good News: The Registrar of Voters has completed the verification of all 4,204 petition signatures. The submitted petitions included 3,759 valid signatures, which is about 14% of registered voters, well over the minimum number required to qualify the CCSGI for the ballot.

Bad News: Per California Election Code, CCSGI qualifies for the municipal's next regular election, which is June election. But the City would only allow CCSGI to be put on Nov. election, by misinterpreting Cupertino Municipal Code for City Council general election as "regular election". The attorneys of CCSGI have written to point out that California Election Code does distinguish "general election" for electing representatives from "regular election".

The proponents of CCSGI felt compelled to submit the initiative because the Council has not done its job of openly communicating with its constituents on the direction of growth in Cupertino before rushing to make decisions that will have permanent negative impacts in the quality of life of everyone of its residents. Over 4000 residents rushed out to sign the petition for CCSGI in just 5 weeks because they felt the same way and want to join the conversation on growth. By pushing CCSGI to November election, the Council will once again prevent a chance for open communication with its constituents.

A decision on CCSGI will ensure a serious citywide discussion about growth and our City’s future. The appropriate time to have that discussion is this period leading up to the June ballot, when the distractions from all other local, state and national voting issues and candidates will be fewer.

Many Cupertino residents – we believe most – see the huge current and proposed projects as having a potentially profound negative impact on traffic, our schools, our neighborhoods and our community in general. With CCSGI we have done our part as responsible citizens to see that we have a community-wide discussion about what kind of Cupertino we want. The City should not put barriers in front of an open and frank exploration of these critically important questions during the period leading up to June election.

The CCSGI committee urges everyone to write to the Council at citycouncil@cupertino,org to clear the barriers for putting CCSGI on June election. Most importantly, the committee urges everyone to come to the Council meeting on Tuesday, March 1 to express the wishes of the people. Your physical presence tomorrow speaks plenty that Cupertino voters want to be heard in June.

Home Page: ccSensibleGrowth.org

Paid for by Committee supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC# 1381645.