Cupertino needs overhaul. Elect Fruen, Mohan and Bono
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Cupertino has change into the Silicon Valley poster little one for metropolis mismanagement for the reason that election of a majority of Higher Cupertino members to the Metropolis Council in 2018.
Unchecked Nimbyism. Ongoing fights with the state over housing initiatives. Fixed turnover of metropolis employees on the highest ranges. And the fiasco that’s Vallco, the 50-acre wasteland within the coronary heart of town that has stood for years as a logo of the council’s incompetence.
In the meantime, because the Metropolis Council retains blocking inexpensive housing for younger households, lecturers and staff, Cupertino’s prized colleges proceed to endure. Enrollment is dropping at alarming charges, forcing the Cupertino Union College District to take the prudent step of closing two colleges this yr.
But the Higher Cupertino members of the Metropolis Council, which has no jurisdiction over the college district, fought that, too, believing the council ought to have a say in choices relating to colleges.
Cupertino deserves higher.
Eight candidates are looking for to fill three seats on the Metropolis Council which are at present held by Higher Cupertino supporters.
Mayor Darcy Paul is termed out. Councilman Jon Willey isn’t looking for reelection. Vice Mayor Liang-Fang Chao, one in all Higher Cupertino’s founders, is working for a second time period in workplace.
Voters ought to finish Higher Cupertino’s maintain on the Metropolis Council by electing J.R. Fruen, Sheila Mohan and Claudio Bono.
Troubled metropolis
Cupertino, inhabitants 60,000, is finest identified for being the house of Apple. It’s one of many wealthiest Bay Space cities, with the median value of a house hovering within the $2.5 million vary. It has constructed solely 249 new housing models and 48 inexpensive housing models since 2019.
Town has had 4 metropolis managers within the final 4 years, with the newest, Pamela Wu, taking on in August. Her predecessor, Jim Throop, lasted simply six months on the job. Town can be affected by turnover in different key employees positions, together with deputy metropolis supervisor following the current departure of Katy Nomura.
Then there’s the Vallco debacle.
In 2018, the Cupertino Metropolis Council authorized the Vallco City Heart beneath the circumstances of Senate Invoice 35 — a regulation that requires cities not constructing sufficient housing to fast-track qualifying initiatives.
The plan referred to as for about 2,500 housing models, workplace and retail area and $270 million value of group advantages that would come with a serious performing arts middle, a brand new Metropolis Corridor and emergency response middle and a multimillion-dollar reward to town’s elementary and highschool districts. However after the election of a pro-Higher Cupertino council in November, the plan went awry. Higher Cupertino finally filed a lawsuit towards town in 2019, claiming the redevelopment didn’t qualify for approval beneath SB 35.
A Santa Clara Superior Courtroom choose dominated towards Higher Cupertino in Could, saying that the challenge certified for SB 35 standing. In the meantime, the plan modified. The newest, large model requires seven 20-story towers with 2,400 models of housing (half inexpensive housing), roughly 1.9 million sq. ft of workplace area and about 400,000 sq. ft of retail makes use of. No Metropolis Corridor. No Performing Arts middle. No items to the college district.
Fruen, Mohan and Bono
Fruen and Mohan are the standout candidates within the race.
Fruen practically received a seat on the council in 2020 when he completed 1,300 votes behind Councilwoman Kitty Moore. He’s an legal professional who’s the coverage director for Cupertino for All, the nonprofit he cofounded that’s targeted on housing and transportation in Cupertino. Fruen advocates using native management and the state-mandated Regional Housing Want Allocation course of to extend manufacturing of all ranges of housing close to job facilities and main thoroughfares.
He’s educated concerning the metropolis’s funds and needs to finish the micromanaging of metropolis employees that has contributed to extreme turnover.
Mohan’s 25 years of expertise working in native authorities is a serious plus. She is a retired Santa Clara County senior finance supervisor who beforehand served as Union Metropolis’s Director of Administrative Providers. Her information of Cupertino’s monetary challenges is just exceeded by her sense of how the council and metropolis employees ought to work together. Her highest precedence is to make sure that each tax greenback generated in Cupertino goes towards the betterment of town somewhat than “on unproductive litigation.” She has served on town’s Positive Arts Fee and Library Fee.
Bono’s connections to builders are troubling. However his election would stand as an enchancment over any of the opposite candidates. Bono is basic supervisor of the Cupertino Inn and president of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. He lacks Fruen and Mohan’s information of Cupertino’s funds or political expertise, however he would put an finish to the NIMBY strategy that has damage town for much too lengthy.
Remainder of the sphere
Along with Chao, the opposite candidates embrace former Councilman Steven Scharf, Yuko Shima and Govind Tatachari. Moon Kyu Choe didn’t reply to our interview request and shouldn’t be thought-about a critical candidate.
Chao and Scharf had been co-founders of Higher Cupertino. They’re working with Tatachari in an effort to retain their group’s dominance of Cupertino points. They’ve performed sufficient injury. Don’t give them one other 4 years to devastate Cupertino.
Shima, whose major curiosity is in environmental sustainability, is a newcomer to Cupertino’s political scene. We wish to see her keep concerned in Cupertino and acquire extra expertise.
Fruen, Mohan and Bono are the higher selections. Voters ought to select them within the Nov. 8 election.
