Richard Lowenthal, Orrin Mahoney and Dolly Sandoval

The latest news are in. Richard Lowenthal, Orrin Mahoney and Dolly Sandoval continued to support massive, tight condo development in the remaining land in Cuperitno.

After Vallco's 100+ units, the project at Finch Avenue and Stevens Creek Boulevard was approved by the above three, adding another 300+ units. Honestly, tour around Vallco and the land close to the intersection of Stevens Creek Blvd and Wolfe Rd., and you will see massive high-rise buildings with boxed condo designs, aimed to maximize space without any regard for aesthetics. It is obvious that Richard Lowenthal, Orrin Mahoney and Dolly Sandoval loved putting condos of ugly boxed design in Cupertino, hundreds of them, because, they would say: traffic would be fine, schools would be fine and we -- as in the city staff -- would get more needed revenue to support our operations. (Furthermore, they will quote: By California law, we can't vote on a proposal because of school concerns. Dear councilpersons, just because it is legal, it does not mean it is ethical and conscientious. Otherwise, why does a legal case need a judge and jury -- humans -- to decide on humane concerns, that is?)

The concerned residents are now working together to place referendums on the ballot to stop these approved units development (1000+ of them) in the general Vallco and Stevens Creek Blvd area. Residents, let's work on this and let the councilpersons know: Shame on you, you do not represent us! Shame on not keeping your promise to ensure good design and sensible growth in Cupertino! Read your own words back in 2002 again, Richard Lowenthal!

Measurex Zoning and Development Decision

These last two entries are about events that has occurred in the last month -- I just didn't have time to update the blog.

After sending Cupertino Courier my last letter, readers can still see that the Courier allows Mr. Paul Fong to publish long exposition on his bias and, what's worse, bashing of Cuperitno residents. After seeing that the Courier would continue to allow a dishonest politician and resident to publish biased and bashing opinions, frankly, I was disappointed in the integrity of the Courier. I wonder whether they are concerned about donations from the special interest in order to keep the paper and staff running happily.

Regarding the Measurex planning and development: the city council, because Mayor Richard Lowenthal decided to withdraw, reached a 2-2 decision regarding the re-zoning of the site from light-industrial to residential, effectively vetoing the new residential development proposal on the site. Councilperson Orrin Mahoney and Dolly Sandoval voted for the project while Patrick Kwok and Vice Mayor Kris Wang opposed.

Kwok, in particular, cited the strong opposition from the community as one of his strong reasons to oppose, while Wang opposed because she didn't feel comfortable about an irreversible design at this point and that the density was great cause of concern as well. Mahoney and Sandoval basically stated general opinions about growth is good, traffic should be fine, we are for growth as their reasons for supporting. Look up Cuperitno City Council's meeting minutes, and judge for yourself whether you find Sandoval and Mahoney as honest and conscientious councilpersons that offered convining and critical analysis on their support -- or whether, they are simply just for growth no matter what. I don't find them believable at all and was frustrated to find that they never addressed residents' concerns (then why hold public hearing?) and simply voiced their own strongly-held beliefs about "we are for growth!" as the major theme.