City of Cupertino on Planning for Measurex zone

I attended the Cupertino city planning meeting for the suggested plan for the previous Measurex zone tonight at 01/24/06.

This was the first time I went to any city-related meeting and here is my observation on the four commissioners based on what they analyzed and said:

Taghi Saadati: he said he wasn't greatly concerned about the traffic or the school impact without going into any substantiated details and analysis.

=> Why is this guy, unable to provide critical and believable analysis and arguments on this important case, even in the City of Cupertino office and voting to affect our lives?

Gilbert Wong: he said during his initial vote (I may be paraphrasing a word or so; you can check the recorded video): "It is difficult for me to say no even though the project goes against the principles I just outlined."

=> Gilbert offered a good analysis on his principles and what he believed in. But when the time came for voting and acting, he couldn't act on his principles! My goodness, isn't this dangerous to see that a person affecting the city's -- yours and my -- living quality cannot act on his principles? He talked smoothly and convincingly about his analysis and his principles but then when the time came to act, he acted against his principles!! My goodness; who do we have here?

Lisa Giefer and Marty Miller were the other two commissioners that elaborated, analyzed clearly on their beliefs and principles, and acted accordingly.

Also, one question I raised during the meeting was that: how did the number of people assumption, on which all the planning, analysis and mitigation was based on, be so under-estimated: that 94 three-bedroom and four-bedroom family houses will send only 34 kids to a school in total each year? We all know that when an assumption is wrong, everything else falls apart -- just like one is proving a mathematical theory, and in this case, presenting a case and plan. If such core assumption is so grossly incorrect, how would the staff, in particular, Steve Piasecki, the Community Development Director, even let the plan proceed? This just so glaringly tells people of Cupertino what kind of bias he and the staff possess and what kind of job he is doing for us. What is sad is that when you see into a person's bias, you know the rest regarding a particular case/argument is just his spin on things -- and all that is recorded.

City of Cupertino: there are very capable and wise eyes watching you and rest assured that there will be much more -- as there will be more, much easier and faster information dissemination channels in the years to come.

Introduction

Over the last few months, starting with the Measures A, B and C movement, some friends and I started to pay attention to the city planning and development activities in the city we live, Cupertino, CA. Perhaps like many city residents across the States, my friends, neighbors and I haven't spent much time paying attention to the issues affecting every day life around us -- because there is so much about career, friends and family that divert attention from people of my age and generation that we typically care much less about city development and planning activities; we tend to put a bit more faith and like to trust a bit more of the public officials to do the right thing. Like many others, we were content on ensuring that we set a good foundation in life first for the years ahead and not spending too much time on handling the public and civic activities -- after all, that's why we elected people into the public office as civic servants to serve us.

Of note a few years ago was that sudden dense high-rise development on the corner of Stevens Creek Blvd and De Anza Blvd. If you have been in or visited Cupertino a few more years back, before the crazy bubble was upon the Valley, that corner gave rise to a beautiful, open skyline. When it was first developed, I thought the city would develop something artistic and clean to match the quality of life and design around the city -- just like many conscientious, American design and public planning, at least that was my impression of the supposedly "good" American value. To my and many people's dismay, what ended up was a big, hulky, rectangular box design that any third-grader can see exist solely to maximize room and space occupancy. It was simply ugly.

What prompted me to start this blog, though, was the recent activities surrounding Measure A, B and C that was narrowly defeated in the Nov. election last year. The measures were aiming to limit the insane and reckless growth and development. I wasn't involved early on to examine the wording and issues surrouding the measures. In the few days and weeks before the elctions, suddenly there were a slew of suspicious, advertised objections from politicians, even those that don't reside in the city, that came forward to urge residents to turn the measures down. Even the San Jose Mercury News wrote an opinon column on this measure (now, why would "San Jose" writers be writing about it?). What was also alarming was that a few Chinese-speaking politicians started sending letters and posting newspapers ads to urge residents to turn down the measures. The facts, quoted in those letters and ads, were at best vague and often misleading. Being someone that can read Chinese and understand Chinese culture well, I was dismayed by this series of suspcious activity.

What transpired after the narrow defeat of Measures A, B and C became so alarming that prompted me to start this grass-root effort to publicize and report on what my friends and I see happening at the city planning and development as we speak.

This blog will be about Cupertino, CA — the headquarter of Apple. About the life, the surroundings, the city council, the city government, and the city planning and development that is affecting the quality of life of everyone here involved. Seeing the city operation with a pair of fresh eyes, I will report the facts that I recieve and see. Hope that you get to see an interesting side of city operations here in the United States, in California, and particularly in Cuperitno.