Video
Transcript
Segment 1
[00:00:09] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So let's call the September 3rd... special City Council... I think it's a regular City Council meeting to order. Roll call please.
[00:00:23] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh. Do we do... yeah. So we do the pledge of allegiance first. Thank you.
[00:00:40] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[00:01:45] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Fruen?
[00:01:47] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Here.
[00:01:48] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Mohan?
[00:01:49] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Here.
[00:01:50] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Wang?
[00:01:51] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Here, and in person.
[00:01:52] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Vice Mayor Moore?
[00:01:53] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Here.
[00:01:54] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor Chao.
[00:01:55] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Here. So first of all, during we took a break in August... during the break the Community Hall was under construction and we have made some audio, video equipment updates. All the council dais we have new buttons so we are all getting used to the new gadget we have available. So bear with us if we are still trying to figure some things out. I'd like to thank the staff who have really worked overtime. They have torn apart almost all the wires in the Community Hall and put them back together so now they have the ability to control the cameras in a control room. So thank the staff for making this all happen within such a short time.
[00:02:58] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And another matter is we are very sad to hear the passing of former Mayor Hung Wei. This happened last week and... she has touched a lot of lives. I think we all remember her wonderful smile and her many social media posts everywhere she goes. And just very sad to learn that after one year fighting with cancer she left us. I think we learned, many people have asked, there will be a service tomorrow at 12:30 to 2. She... so if... I'm not sure, the service is open to public but I'm not sure if we are at the liberty to disclose the location so if you would like to attend the service please reach out to someone maybe at the Rotary to find out the location. And her family members let everyone know that they would like you to all dress in bright colors to celebrate her life. Just like how she has brightened up all of our lives. Thank you. And then tonight at the end of this meeting we will adjourn in memory of former Mayor Hung Wei.
[00:04:05] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Next, do we have closed session report?
[00:04:10] City Attorney Floy Andrews: The Council met in closed session and discussed the item on the agenda and no reportable action was taken. Thank you.
[00:04:20] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. Next, Item 4. It's recognition of September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. We have oral recognition for childhood cancer awareness month. I'd like to honor the organizations that have been serving children and family who are affected by childhood cancer. We have proclamation to recognize Jacob's Heart Children's Cancer Support Services. They have been a lifeline for families in our community offering care, support and compassion during the most difficult times. And their work is deeply appreciated.
[00:05:10] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: We also recognize Niamh Calke and the Brave Romil Foundation whose dedication to raising awareness and helping others is both inspiring and admirable. This proclamation is our small gesture of our appreciation for all of the work that you have done and the lives that you have touched. Thank you for all that you do and the recipients will receive the proclamation by mail.
[00:06:00] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Next, Item 5. We recognize September as National Preparedness Month. For this one we have a presenter from CADRE which is Collaborating Agencies' Disaster Relief Effort. So... Marsha Hovey, Executive Director of CADRE. Welcome.
[00:06:40] Marsha Hovey: Mayor Chao and members of the Council, thank you for this opportunity to be here today and to receive your proclamation on behalf of all those that are preparing the community for disasters. We know that local government has a very big job trying to prepare its staff and coordinate with all of the other cities for their portion of disaster response. CADRE fills the other void which is coordinating the community organizations. So we have two initiatives right now for preparedness month that involve Cupertino... we're encouraging organizations from each city to convene within the cities... but then also that they are part of a greater group.
[00:07:30] Marsha Hovey: So we're creating community support networks. They are profession specific in areas like children, mass care, advocacy... business and economics, veterans... I never remember them all... but our website, cadresv.org, has a list of all of them. And so the purpose of these meetings is not to take away from anyone else's work, but to actually create a plug-in that's related to disaster preparedness because that's our job is to worry about every organization being prepared.
[00:08:20] Marsha Hovey: So we want people to come to the table to share their brains essentially. There is no homework. They come to the meeting, they network with those that are in the same profession around the county. We pick their brains about what common issues related to preparedness might be and then we'll go back and try to do their research to solve them. So the idea is that we'll become more resilient over time.
[00:08:50] Marsha Hovey: In conjunction with that, the reason that we're creating these 20 networks at this time is that we just received a grant from AmeriCorps to recruit 1,000 volunteers over the age of 55. Now I used to be the emergency manager for Cupertino for 10 years and I know the power of volunteers because you did and I know you still have an amazing group of volunteers that truly make a difference because they live here, they care about what's going on... So I'm calling on them as well as everyone that they know to come in and to offer at least one hour of service for CADRE to better the entire county and build that resilience. Can I invite my colleague Antonia Bradford up? She is our volunteer engagement coordinator to talk a little bit more about how to get involved with that program.
[00:09:55] Antonia Bradford: Hi. I'm so happy to be here. I'm actually... I was raised in Cupertino... I just attended my 30th high school reunion from Cupertino High so Go Pioneers. So I'm the volunteer engagement coordinator and basically my job is to connect with a thousand volunteers across Santa Clara County that are 55 and older. And really what that is is we're tapping into a ridiculously unused resource which is knowledge and wisdom that comes with age.
[00:10:30] Antonia Bradford: So the CSN meetings, they are organizations that come in, people that are within the wheelhouse of veterans, unhoused, or one of the other 20 CSNs, but we want people that are 55 and older to also come to the table because all of that collaboration makes community stronger. And so we want their wisdom, we want their professional expertise, we want them to be a part of the conversation. And so that's what I'm doing is connecting across the county with people that fit within those demographics so that we can bring them in to the table to the conversation and have them be part of the solution.
[00:11:05] Antonia Bradford: You can email if you want to be involved at volunteer@cadresv.org. You can visit our website to contact us through there as well.
[00:11:25] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah. Thank you so much. And I'd like to also mention that... thanks to Vice Mayor I learned about CADRE and I think no matter how the city try to reach out we cannot reach out to everyone. So we do rely on community organizations to help us get the community prepared. So thank you CADRE for filling in that void.
[00:11:50] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And also because of Vice Mayor we signed up for the CERT training in August and in October there will be a CERT training happening right here in Cupertino. So I'd like to encourage everyone to sign up. You learn how to get yourself, your family prepared first and then learn how to help your community to be prepared. So thank you for encouraging many seniors to also get involved. So let's have... present the proclamation. Would you come up?
[00:13:50] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So sign up for the CERT training in August... in October. I think the speaker is... it seems more sensitive than before.
[00:14:05] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Next we have a presentation from our Cupertino Sister City Student Delegation. Thank you.
[00:14:15] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Video, would you please cue the presentation slides? Can you tune the lectern microphone please?
[00:14:25] Helene Davis: Good evening Mayor Chao, Council Members and staff. My name is Helene Davis and I am the President of the Cupertino-Copertino Sister Cities Association. Unfortunately the students and the chaperone could not be here this evening because it's the start of a new school year and the students have dispersed to other campuses now. In the future I would just request that it would be great if the presentation could be scheduled in May right after the exchange happens... typically happens in April. I'm sure you'd rather hear from the students than from me. They have a completely unique perspective and experience.
[00:15:20] Helene Davis: We are the oldest sister city relationship. Our MOU was signed in 1963 by our respective mayors and we did start our student exchange in 2016. We skipped a few years because of the pandemic of course and restarted our exchange in 2024. If I had a visual I could show you that Copertino is in the Puglia region of Italy. It's in the heel of the boot... It is nestled between the Ionian and Adriatic Seas and we do have a unique bond with this sister city because we are named after their patron saint, Saint Joseph of Cupertino.
[00:16:25] Helene Davis: This year we sent six students and one chaperone, Dawn McCloud from St. Joseph of Cupertino School, to Copertino, Italy. Our students travel to Rome either before or after the visit to Copertino. This year they went before and it was special for them because it was a jubilee year in Rome... They typically stay in a convent or a monastery. This year they stayed at a convent and if you can believe it that picture on the left is the view from where they were staying. It was just amazing.
[00:17:10] Helene Davis: So they attend school in Copertino and they have a chance to tour the town, meet with the locals, get to know their families. They explore the coast and the countryside. Here they are in Copertino, there's a Norman era castle... and then they're exploring the countryside... It is a reciprocal exchange. So we hosted seven students and one chaperone here in Cupertino. The chaperone was Valentina De Paolis and they attended school here, they toured the Google and Apple Visitors Center of course, visited Cupertino City Hall. Thank you Mayor Chao for welcoming them. They really enjoyed it, they sat right where you're sitting... Of course they took field trips to San Francisco and Santa Cruz and I think one of the big highlights for them was Great America because they don't have something like that with all the rides and then a huge firework display at the end.
[00:18:45] Helene Davis: And then we had an actual unofficial adult delegation visit to Copertino in June. We wanted to meet the new mayor... it's always good to meet face to face with the people that you deal with halfway across the world. So we also had nine travelers from Cupertino and two Italian travelers who used to live in Cupertino that joined us so it was really fun. So that's the end of my presentation and I want to thank the city for your support of all of our sister cities. We look forward to next year's exchange and hope to have the students present to you sometime next May. Thank you. Oh, one last thing. I have a present from... it's not an official present, I'm going to give it to Deputy City Manager Tina Kapoor and then you can decide what you want to do with it, display it out in City Hall or what have you.
[00:19:28] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. Thank you for all your effort to keep the longest running Sister City Association going and then recover after COVID and it's really great to see that this is happening again. And in fact I happened to run into a group of doctors from Copertino right in the City Hall when I was taking the CPR training at that time. So by luck they visited the City Hall and it was amazing. Yeah. Thank you. So please work with the staff to make the arrangement for next year.
[00:20:15] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So next Item 7, we have under postponement... We would postpone an appeal to the likely November 18th City Council meeting. It seems more sensitive than before. So we are postponing an appeal to... Do we want to set the specific date or... I think maybe let's have a motion to postpone the appeal for a business license renewal fee to a meeting in November 18th or after. Because the city staff is working on a proposal that would be applicable for all businesses who might need to renew their business license.
[00:21:25] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Mayor, just a note that we have confirmed the hearing date with the appellant but we can certainly work with the appellant to change it to a different date.
[00:21:35] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh you need to announce the date?
[00:21:38] City Attorney Floy Andrews: Yes, we would notice the public hearing date in the newspaper and on...
[00:21:45] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. So then we should postpone to November 18th then in case necessary we can postpone.
[00:21:55] City Attorney Floy Andrews: There is plenty of time to notice but just to let you know that we did coordinate with the appellant so but if Council wishes I'm sure they're willing to push it out to a later date.
[00:22:16] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: So moved. Mayor, I think the date uncertain is okay and then we can confirm with...
[00:22:20] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So postpone to a date uncertain.
[00:22:28] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: So I'll withdraw my first motion and I so move.
[00:22:34] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Second.
[00:22:40] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. Let's vote. I think... okay, so we will use our panel to vote.
[00:22:54] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: The motion carries unanimously.
[00:22:56] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So did the vote display on the screen? Yes it is. So that's a new feature we can see the vote.
[00:23:08] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. Next we have Oral Communications. City Clerk.
[00:31:24] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Yes, thank you. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the Council on any matter within the jurisdiction of the Council and not on the agenda for discussion. The total time for oral communications will ordinarily be limited to one hour. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes. As necessary the chair may further limit the time allowed to individual speakers or reschedule remaining comments to the end of the meeting on a first come first served basis with priority given to students. In most cases state law will prohibit the Council from discussing or making decisions with respect to a matter not listed on the agenda. A Council member may however briefly respond to statements made or questions posed by speakers. A Council member may also ask a question for clarification, provide a reference for factual information, request staff to report back concerning a matter or request that an item be added to a future City Council agenda in response to public comment.
[00:32:24] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Anyone wishing to provide comments on this item please have your request to speak submitted in the next nine minutes. And Mayor, I currently have six requests to speak in Community Hall and I see three requests to speak virtually which would bring us to 27 minutes approximately.
[00:32:44] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, I think that's okay.
[00:32:48] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay. We will begin with Rajiv I believe... followed by no name but regarding Mary Avenue Villas... followed by Jennifer Griffin.
[00:33:05] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Is there a Ranjoy perhaps regarding Mary Avenue project? Yes. You may approach the lectern. Thank you.
[00:33:14] Rajiv: Hello. Can you hear me? Hi. So I have come here many times... I've approached the Council Members and I've talked about the Mary Avenue Villas many times here. And then still I feel... we also met couple of Council Members and also city staff too to talk about our grievances about the Mary Avenue Villas. Looks like they are not being heard or not being taken care of properly... I'd like to invite the other Council Members also... who we have not met... if we can have a personal private conversation with the residents around here. I'd really appreciate if you would understand the problems that we are facing there with the new Mary Avenue Villas.
[00:34:40] Rajiv: It's a gridlock system there with a lot of apartments and houses... and the only out from there to the nearest freeway is from the Mary Avenue. It's actually a very narrow road right now and it's very crowded. And I'm not sure if there are only 12 festivals allowed there in the Memorial Park but there might be many... we as Asian community have festivals all around the year... every time the festivals happen in the Memorial Park it's all crowded there... and just imagine if some emergency happens there... like earthquake or something there... the only exit out of the freeway, the nearest one for about hundreds of houses around that place is Mary Avenue.
[00:35:30] Rajiv: And I'm not sure how it will happen if you have like another 40 houses and... so that's one of the main concerns that we have. And then I'm not sure if that's been taken into account... the other exits that you have is very outside to Stelling but then the nearest one to the freeway is only Mary Avenue. I think instead of increasing the Mary Avenue to two lanes... to address the problems in the future we are aimed at decreasing the Mary Avenue right now and increasing the space with having a lot of other people there... We are not against the project as such but then the location is not the right one. And I've come here and talked to in front of the Council Members many times about this and I'm not sure what's happening here.
[00:36:19] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. That is your time.
[00:36:25] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Next we have a request to speak regarding Mary Avenue Villas however I do not have a name... then I will read the rest of the requests... Jennifer Griffin, Joe Houser, Brian Avery, Luthern Williams and Jean Bedord. So if your name was not included in that list... I will move you to the end of the queue and try again. Welcome Jennifer.
[00:37:25] Jennifer Griffin: Good evening. Can you guys hear me? Okay... Sorry I'm not sure... can you hear me? Okay. Hi, I'm Jennifer Griffin. I'm scared to move because I am assuming that you can hear me now. I wanted to talk tonight about SB 79 which is a proposed new housing bill from Senator Wiener. This bill is currently supposed to go to the floor of the Assembly for a vote and then it will go back to the Senate for another floor vote.
[00:37:55] Jennifer Griffin: My home is within one half mile of Stevens Creek Boulevard which means that if this bill passes people can build eight story high rises anywhere one half mile from Stevens Creek Boulevard. It is frightening. I will tell you that this is... this bill has completely changed who I am voting for for President, Governor, Assembly, Senate and who I support in the future.
[00:38:25] Jennifer Griffin: The Mayor of Los Angeles... has proposed... the whole City Council of LA was against this bill unless they eliminate... they will take out cities that have valid housing elements. Now I think that is a smart move because Cupertino spent two to three years to get a valid housing element. We got that last summer. It was not fun, it cost a lot of money and to me it was a great waste of time. If we have a bill like SB 79 coming out of the legislature from a Senator that is not directly involved with Santa Clara County that is going to be overriding our housing element, we have massive problems in the California legislature.
[00:39:20] Jennifer Griffin: There is a new group called Abundance Network... no one explained what they were they just appeared on the scene. And I can tell you there are some big power players in it. The ex mayor of Oakland, other former elected mayors and we want to know what they're doing, where their money is coming from. This group is being funded, it's an Astroturf group and what they're doing is they're training other elected officials across this country to put in missing middle. They have apparently merged with YIMBY, the Governor, Scott Wiener, Buffy Wicks, everyone has embraced it. It is frightening. I will tell you that I have never been so on guard and nervous about the President, the Governor and politics. The only people we have are our local City Council. Thank you.
[00:39:58] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Jennifer. Next we have Joe Houser followed by Brian Avery followed by Luthern Williams.
[00:40:10] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Welcome Joe.
[00:40:12] Joe Houser: Thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. Mayor Chao and City Council Members and staff. My name is Joe Houser. I'm a 50 year resident of Cupertino. I have deep concerns regarding the safety of occupants and of the neighborhood problems that would result if the proposed construction of housing for challenged individuals on Mary Avenue is approved. The site is probably the densest and therefore the most dangerous area in the city for challenged individuals. If the proposed housing is built, the residents will have a very difficult time crossing Mary Avenue, the only pedestrian crossings are at Lubeck Street and near Memorial Park and that is a distance of close to half a mile.
[00:41:05] Joe Houser: The nearest retail is on the other side of Memorial Park. Since some of these challenged individuals will need walkers, canes or wheelchairs it presents a safety issue for all these people. Besides dodging cars there are also bicycles and individuals on motorized bikes and skateboards. Even the city vehicles from the city yard will present problems. Furthermore during the major activities at Memorial Park parking and large crowds will cause difficult situations for all. The immediate area that I'm talking about includes Memorial Park, the Senior Center, bicycle lanes to the Mary Avenue Bridge, the De Anza College main entrance, the Mary Avenue Dog Park, the Cupertino City Yard, Stevens Creek entrance to the 280 85 Freeway, a storage facility near the Cupertino termination of Mary Avenue, new condos that are now built on the Oaks site and existing homes, condos and apartments. Mary Avenue is the only main artery to accommodate these residents. The alternative consists of two residential streets that empty into Stelling Road.
[00:42:10] Joe Houser: This presents a major problem during the morning and evening rush hour. Since the only street that has a traffic light into Stelling is an S shaped narrow road that goes by Garden Gate Elementary School. During the morning and mid afternoon commute access to this street is almost impossible in that parents bring their children to school, they park along the narrow street or block the street entirely. The other street ending has a stop sign to Stelling Road. During the rush hour commute it is almost impossible at times to get onto Stelling Road. Many residents therefore use Mary Avenue instead. Also since most residents use the freeway Mary Avenue is the only logical choice. Consider the problems if there were an emergency during rush hour. In addition to the problems outlined above pollution and noise from the adjacent freeway can be very detrimental to the already compromised individuals. As a resident I have seen several accidents and close calls in the area especially during Memorial Park events. I personally have...
[00:43:18] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. That is your time. Next we have Brian Avery followed by Luthern Williams followed by Jean Bedord.
[00:43:25] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Welcome Brian.
[00:43:28] Brian Avery: Hi. I'm Brian Avery. Thanks to the Council and staff for everything they do for Cupertino. Our family company operates in 12 cities and I always say that Cupertino is our favorite because of the dedication to education that I've seen over the 47 years that I've worked in my job and it's relentless and it's fun to see and I tell any other city that. We designed, built and maintain the Glenbrook property on Mary Avenue with our own crews from maintenance to paint to plumbing etc etc. So for 47 years I've worked 7 days a week and I'm at Glenbrook four days a week walking on Mary Avenue perhaps more than most people in this room.
[00:44:20] Brian Avery: And if I were to just say one thing if you could trust me my engineering background and knowing the entire street... I know how many of the courtyard trucks from Cupertino are going one way, I know how many bike riders are going the other way. I know about the festivals, the festivals are growing. I have to pay for security when they're festivals... If I were to just say one thing if you could trust me, it's that putting a building in the street like this directly across from our driveway... we have 1100 residents, two driveways... is making a situation worse that's already getting worse. You know it's getting worse by taking away 89 parking stalls. I've never seen that in my career.
Segment 2
[00:45:00] Jean Bedord: He went to all of the Little League games and was a very enthusiastic fan. He did fundraising for the Heart Association and other charities. He enjoyed life. But then his mother died. He and his dad muddled along. Then his father died. Michael couldn't live alone so his sister had to find a place for him to go. There was nothing here in Cupertino, so eventually an opening was found for him in the Sierra Foothills. While he is not homeless, he lost his home, his friends, an entire community, everything that was meaningful in his life. The city made a commitment years ago to facilitating this type of housing represented by the Mary Avenue Villas. It has taken too many years to get this approval... this project approved. I am here to urge you to expedite the final steps so it doesn't get bogged down in yet another... in even more delays and higher construction costs. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
Segment 1
[00:45:20] Brian Avery: But how can I prove that it's already getting worse? We had our first person resident hit by people coming out of Westport... and we are now once a week having confrontations with the under parked Westport development which is only 50 percent developed... there's hardly any guest parking for over there so they're parking in our property because it looks safe. And that'll continue. So you take away 90 stalls you're obviously going to force us to try to gate the community. And so the festivals are getting bigger... the Westport development when it's done is going to really have an impact. So that's the only thing I would leave you with is making a situation worse when it's already getting worse might cause a reason for some pause to look at some of the factors. Thank you.
Segment 2
[00:46:14] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you, Jean. And I will give one last call for the person who requested to speak but did not leave their name on the topic of Mary Villas. Okay, welcome.
[00:46:33] Brian Avery: Hi, thank you. Homeowner at Casa de Anza, right next door to the proposed 40 unit complex. My big concern is the parking and I noticed on the August 25th meeting, believe it was Brian of Glenbrook was saying that they're getting more and more people in from Westport and other places events. We have at Casa de Anza... we have an overflow parking lot. We're already getting people going in there parking. It's ours. It's for our residents. We're starting to get invaded and I cannot believe that you think you can put Westport in without adequate parking, then you can take 89 used spaces, parking spaces on Mary Avenue, that are used, and then you're going to put in 40 more units with I think net you're going to add 22 parking spaces. Do you really even think that's enough? They're going to start coming into our community, Casa de Anza. We're... we already have problems. We probably spend 300 dollars a month removing trash from the dumpster areas that probably half of it's put there by outside forces. So I... I can't believe that you want to take a roadway and call it a parcel and build a 40 unit... a nice complex, but let's face it, it's kind of a feel good thing. It's not an appropriate location. You're taking away probably over net a hundred parking spaces. They're going to come into Casa de Anza. Why should your project make our lives a little more miserable? I... I just don't understand it. That you can't in this big city find some other more appropriate place. So, thank you.
Segment 1
[00:46:38] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Brian. Next we have Luthern Williams followed by Jean Bedord followed by a request that did not leave their name but the topic is Mary Avenue Villas.
[00:46:50] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Welcome Luthern.
[00:46:55] Luthern Williams: Good evening Council Members. My name is Luthern Williams and I'm the head of Tessellations School. Tessellations is honored to be a part of Cupertino. We are only one of two schools in the Bay Area dedicated to gifted asynchronous learners. Students who often struggle to fit in traditional classrooms and thrive yet have incredible potential to give back to the world in significant ways. Because of their academic, social, emotional and intellectual needs they require modifications in education, teaching and parenting. We provide special education that is largely not addressed by public or private schools. Cupertino is a city known for the quality of the education, innovation and excellence and we believe it is fitting that Tessellations has its home here.
[00:47:50] Luthern Williams: Our presence brings to Cupertino many community benefits. Strengthening public education... by renting from the Cupertino Union School District we contribute over 3 million dollars each year to the district. That is money that directly strengthens local public schools. Two, supporting local businesses... our families and staff shop in Cupertino, dine in Cupertino and invest in Cupertino every single day. Some of our families have even moved to Cupertino for the school. Three, we increase the neighborhood and real estate value. By keeping our campus vibrant and active we've invested over a million dollars in this property. We not only prevent the decline that often comes with a vacant site but also add value to the neighborhood as a whole.
[00:48:30] Luthern Williams: We want you to know that we hear our neighbors' concerns about traffic and safety matters and we have put in place measures to help. Staggered drop offs and pick ups, carpooling programs and on site directing traffic to keep it safe. On June 3rd we welcomed 33 neighbors to our school to share information and explore a path forward. While the meeting was productive and a neighborhood partnership committee was formed... the committee has stalled as some volunteer neighbors appeared to have been dissuaded from participating. Despite our efforts in sharing details about our small high school program misinformation has been presented to the Planning Commission about our five students in grades 9 and 10. Even with a clear timeline in our CUP application to move the program off this campus by 2029-30 and by adding a no driving clause in our contracts, these students who just want to learn alongside their friends and their community have been made to feel unwelcome. Being told they cannot return has devastated them.
Segment 2
[00:48:40] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you and now we will move to those requesting to speak virtually. We have Nori followed by Lina followed by Connie Cunningham.
[00:48:55] Nori: Hello, can you hear me? [City Clerk: Yes we can.] Thank you please start two minutes. Bicycle is considered a vehicle as it is a machine used to transport people and is subject the same traffic law as a motor vehicle under the California law. For the reason, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk is prohibited because unsafe for both cyclists and pedestrians. City Memorial Park specific plan says since the park does not feature any designated bicycle trails, bicycle riding in the park is discouraged due to the potential conflict with pedestrians. Pedestrians were injured by bicycle in Memorial Park. I know people who were injured by bicycles. Our Uma was taken to hospital. I was almost hit by bicycle a few times. There are many families with small children, seniors, senior who use walker or cane, and people with baby stroller in the park. Those people cannot move quickly when the bicycle comes fast. Building a bicycle rack in front of the gazebo in the middle of the park encourages more people to ride a bicycle anywhere in the park, even near playground. Park is no longer safe place for the people and the children who are walking, jogging, and playing. The bicycle rack should be placed in the Memorial Park parking lot behind the Quinlan Center or behind the pickleball court bleachers because bicycle is considered as a vehicle. Cyclist and pedestrian cannot share the narrow walkway in the park unless city built a bike lane just like the street to protect pedestrians. Otherwise it might cause more injuries. Small children riding a tricycle or small bicycle are exception because their parents are always watching. There are many cycling trails in the Cupertino or near Cupertino area. Mary Avenue bridge over 280, Rancho San Antonio, Foothill Boulevard, Stevens Creek, Canyon Road, Linda Vista trail, and many more. Please consider pedestrians' safety first. Thank you for listening.
Segment 1
[00:49:02] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. That is your time.
[00:49:05] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Next we have Jean Bedord and then we will move to those requested to speak virtually. Welcome Jean.
[00:49:15] Jean Bedord: Good evening Mayor Chao, Vice Mayor Moore and Council Members Fruen, Mohan, Wong and staff. Welcome back. I hope you had a chance to relax. My name is Jean Bedord and I'm a long time Cupertino resident. Tonight I want you to address an overlooked aspect of senior housing. There are many parents in our community who have intellectually and developmentally disabled or IDD children living with them. These parents probably moved to Cupertino because our school districts have excellent programs for these children. But what happens when IDD children grow up and age out of the school system? Most continue to live at home but they along with their parents age. There are 70 and 80 year old parents providing caregiving for their dependent adult children. Their parents are stuck in their family homes and unable to move to senior communities which better suit their needs. Their dependent children can't move with them. So where do these children go? Let's talk about Michael who was educated and grew up in Cupertino and lived in my neighborhood. He was a 40 year old with a 12 year old mental age. Michael walked the neighborhood and everyone knew him.
Segment 2
[00:51:39] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Nori. And next we have Lina. Welcome Lina.
[00:51:48] Lina: Thank you. Can you hear me? [City Clerk: Yes we can.] I have a slide show tonight. Maybe I'll just wait to see it's brought online. Thank you. Okay, you should hear it, I mean see it momentarily. Okay, I can see it. Great. [Unintelligible] by the way. Okay. Good evening Mayor Chao, City Council members, Deputy City Manager and City Staff. Thank you for allowing me to present tonight. I'd like to supplement the excellent written and oral comments and concerns from my fellow Garden Gate neighbors with photos this time to illustrate why Mary Ave is an unsuitable site for the Villas housing project. Next slide please. Over one... next slide please. Thank you. Over 350 residents and visitors from the impacted area, shown in this circled map, have signed a petition opposing this project due to significant negative impacts it would have on community safety, traffic and overall quality of life. Next slide. I urge the city council to recognize the overwhelming voice. Mary Ave is a bustling artery, serving as a main route for school/family traffic, and a key recreational path. Next slide please. It serves as a main route for school traffic and the truck route for the Cupertino Public Works Service Center that Julie had mentioned. Next slide. Mary Ave also serves a diverse set of uses from cyclists, pedestrians, joggers, young children that all utilize the bike paths to Don Burnett Bridge. Next slide. On a daily basis, multimodal transportation routes are fully utilized. This is taken during rush hour outside the Glenbrook apartments. Next slide. Homestead High School track and field students also train along Mary Avenue every day. Next slide. The plan has flaws too. It poses significant pedestrian and bike safety hazards. It has poor ingress and egress, looking at the figure to the right, the parking driveways as Brian mentioned are placed directly opposite of Glenbrook's two-way driveway. That does not make sense. There's no loading zones for Amazon trucks or service vehicles that are likely for to appear for IDD populations. There is no bypass lane, and with narrowing that's going to pose safety issues. And there's going to be more of a jaywalking problem when you put parallel parking only on one side of Mary Ave between two high density housing units. Next slide. The narrowed roads and lack of bypass lanes will pose safety hazards for emergency vehicles as well. Next slide. Mary Ave is the main route out to Stevens Creek Boulevard and I-85 for over 1,000 Garden Gate residents. And that's a correction to Ranjan's quote of only a few hundred. It's actually over a thousand. Below is shown... below you see Greenleaf Drive...
[00:55:05] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Lina that is your time. Thank you. And next we next we have Connie Cunningham followed by San R. Welcome Connie.
[00:55:34] Connie Cunningham: Good evening Mayor Chao, Vice Mayor Moore, Councilmembers, and City Manager. My name is Connie Cunningham, I'm a 38-year resident and currently Chair of the Housing Commission, speaking for myself only. I am speaking tonight to thank the City Council for its vote on July 15, 2025 to move this project forward after the study session. I was excited to see that vote. I am supportive of the application to develop new extremely low income homes for intellectually developmentally disabled individuals and also other below market rate housing units on city owned property along Mary Avenue. This is much needed housing that has been on the council's work program for many years. I remember 2019 when former Mayor Scharf made it a priority and I was new to the Housing Commission. I have attended the Housing Commission and City Council meetings for this project. I have also attended the Housing Element meetings at which this site was identified for this purpose. It is hard to find land in Cupertino. I applaud the council and the city planners for their working hard to find this very special place. Many families and individuals will be helped with this housing. It will also facilitate the city's goal to keep individuals from falling into homelessness. Many individuals who are intellectually developmentally disabled live with aging parents. Therefore these apartments will help these individuals, their aging parents and our community. It was good to see that the issue of parking was discussed at the study session and that the plans for Mary Avenue have been published so the details can be more fully understood by the community. When this project comes forward for signature, I urge you to vote yes. Thank you for this chance to speak tonight.
[00:57:38] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Connie. Next we have San R. Welcome San.
[00:57:50] San R: Good evening Mayor Chao and Councilmembers. I would like to firstly thank Mayor Chao and Councilmember Wong for making time to meet with the residents of the Garden Gate neighborhood and I would welcome the remaining three councilmembers to please make time to meet likewise with the Garden Gate neighborhood. What we learned from the 2024 election was that elections are won and lost based on what happens between elections, based on what votes are cast and based on councilmembers listening to residents. We learned that from neighborhoods that voted against incumbents living in their own neighborhoods. And I think we have more of that coming in 2026 as you clearly saw from the Garden Gate neighborhood. The councilmembers that are up for reelection in November 2026 hopefully are paying attention to this because Garden Gate neighborhood knows and understands who is voting in support of them and who is voting against them. I would like to reiterate my comments that I made at the previous council meeting on a number of questions that I since sent in as written comments that I have not seen a response back on. Mayor Chao I urge you to please have those comments tabled for a study session. These are worthy of the city's time to deliberate and understand the legal implications and the financial implications and obligations to the city. Specifically, I urge you to research the implications to the city from inverse condemnation claims that may be potentially filed against the city by any of those that spoke today including Glenbrook. And I want to thank Brian Avery from Glenbrook for speaking today because for far too often our city has ignored our commercial property owners in these matters. Not only are our residents ignored but our commercial property owners are ignored. And the Glenbrook is a fantastic location for affordable housing. It's a place that I wanted to move into 20 years ago. It's a place I would move into again if I had to. And we have ignored the needs of Glenbrook whether it be the sounds of pickleball coming from the adjacent courts or whether it be the impact from taking away street access and putting in housing there. So please research inverse condemnation claims. There is a number of... there are a number of cases that give you precedent for what happens when public access is impacted and what property owner claims have occurred and how those were ruled against. I've raised a number of questions on financial obligations. You have an obligation to understand whether this will be a recurring cost to the city beyond the VMR funds that have been allocated one time. We have already seen the cost to the county from its attempt to do good socially. Please look into that. Thank you.
[01:00:54] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you San that is your time. And Mayor that concludes the speakers for this item.
[01:01:01] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Mayor apologies as we're running if we could take a bio break.
[01:01:16] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Mayor if I could just make one quick comment that I've also met with the neighbors of the Garden Gate community on the Mary Avenue Villas.
[01:01:24] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh. Okay. Yeah. So thank you. And I guess so we allow some brief comments or any refer refer to the staff is anyone would like to make that... Okay. Then oh well let's take... how much time... 10 minutes? We'll come back at 8 o'clock.