Video
Transcript
Segment 1
[00:00:01] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Given the time, I am going to propose another reordering of the agenda. So, we will reorder it so that the public hearing on wireless facility would be postponed, would be after so, okay.
[00:00:30] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: The motion would be we already have item 19 next. And then we will consider item 22 after the vision study. And then we would do the item 20 if we have time and then item 21, the council procedures manual, which likely we won't get to.
[00:00:54] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So the motion is to move item 22 right after item 19. I think that's the motion.
[00:01:47] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: To just clarify, Mayor, so it'll go 19, 22, 21, 20?
[00:01:53] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh, 20, 22, 20 19, 22, 20, 21. 20, 21. Yeah.
[00:02:02] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Mayor, I'd love to make sure we get through item 20. We've been working on that for five years. So...
[00:02:07] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: I know, that's why it's not really time sensitive. I know it's last time I was thinking, oh, I've wanted to talk about transportation since May or earlier, so I want to get through it. So anyway.
[00:02:20] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So I think that's not really time sensitive and I want to get through the two transportation items today. And so the motion is just to move item 22 to be right after 19. And then the other remain their order. That means 20 and 21 remain the same order. Okay? Is that clear? Okay. Um, more, second?
[00:03:44] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, so I know that we have been waiting to talk about the wireless item for years. It should have been come to the council last year or the year before.
[00:03:56] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And but if we do that, we might not get to the transportation matter again, and I really don't hate for that to happen. So, yeah. Okay.
[00:04:11] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: The motion carries unanimously. Okay, now 19. So, I think Councilmember Mohan pulled the item. Would you like to state and make any comment before we...?
[00:05:11] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Sure. Thank you, Mayor. The reason I pulled this item was I felt we hadn't had a full discussion of this subject. It was sort of late in the evening and and I think you and I discussed it and you said that we'd get an another opportunity to talk about it at this meeting. So this is that's why I would like a complete discussion.
[00:05:35] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay, thank you. And I believe that there has been a meeting of the steering committee last since our last meeting. So maybe we can hear from staff, report from that, and then we can hear a report from our representative, Vice Mayor, on the steering committee.
[00:06:41] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: But should we go to public comment first before we do that? Um, yeah, I think let's go to public comment first before we go to staff and the Vice Mayor. And I hope that given that we hope we can get through the two items transportation related items today, if you have made a comment last time on this item, I would hope you might choose not to make it again or make a very short comment.
[00:07:24] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: But I'm trying to not cut anyone's time for any item so I'm not favoring any one item. So but if everyone speaks for three minutes, we might be here until midnight again. I hope we don't have that. Thank you. So public comment.
[00:08:24] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay, yes, Mayor, for item 19 we have three requests in Community Hall and two three requests virtually. So that would bring us to 18 minutes.
[00:08:36] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: 18 minutes. Yes, see that's already 18 minutes. So please, if you have made the same point last time, make it short.
[00:08:48] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: So we have Emily Poon, followed by Harry Neil, followed by Jennifer Griffin. Emily?
[00:08:58] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Welcome.
[00:09:04] Emily Poon: Hello. Is the noise, is the voice right now, or is it too loud?
[00:09:10] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: We can hear you fine.
[00:09:11] Emily Poon: Yes. Good. Greetings City Council members. My name is Emily and I have been a resident here for 18 years. The vision study was something I knew about only towards the end. It lasted for two years and I observed the second to last meeting as well and then attended personally the very last meeting.
[00:10:21] Emily Poon: From 2022 to 24, a series of meetings was held by the VTA and three cities: San Jose, Santa Clara, and Cupertino, to discuss how to improve traffic lanes on Stevens Creek Boulevard. A consultant company, Iteris, was hired at great expense to spread news among the public and held pop-up meetings and bus ride parties, etc.
[00:10:46] Emily Poon: But somehow the car dealerships in Santa Clara and San Jose did not seem to have been notified. The consultants said—this is my assumption—that they had notified the car dealers through the Silicon Valley Auto Dealer Association, but did not hear back and so assumed that the car dealerships were not interested in this study.
[00:11:53] Emily Poon: So this is the most serious flaw about that vision study, that the stakeholders who are the big businesses that we know about were not included. But a lot of people did show up, from the photos that we see. They were they were doing all these dot exercises etc., but not including the dealerships was a big flaw.
[00:12:16] Emily Poon: Then the next point is the three cities, the sections that were in the three cities are a little bit different. The Cupertino part is really beautiful. It already was complete, as it had beautiful street trees and medians. And that was not emphasized, and we can't even see it mentioned in the consultant's study.
[00:13:26] Emily Poon: But Vice Mayor did point this out and she produced her own research, which was really solid. And in the 50 or 51 slides that she produced, we see a very clear photo of a big transporter vehicle in the median, in the center median of the section where the auto dealerships were.
[00:13:51] Emily Poon: Now this is important because would you want to take out the space that was used for that parking and turn it into beautiful streets with a median? So that is my...
[00:14:07] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Emily, that is your time. Thank you. Next we have Harry Neil, followed by Jennifer Griffin.
[00:14:11] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Welcome, Harry.
[00:14:14] Harry Neil: Good evening City Council. My name is Harry Neil. I am a an organizer with Transbay Coalition and a member of VTA's Citizens Advisory Committee, however I'm speaking for Transbay tonight. A coalition letter that I have submitted to you many times is the main focus of of what I'll be saying.
[00:15:14] Harry Neil: You you know the contents of it already. We urge you to adopt the Stevens Creek Vision Study to help make all of our communities safer and more more accessible for all.
[00:15:28] Harry Neil: The signers on the coalition letter include Transbay Coalition, Friends of Caltrain, Catalyze Silicon Valley, multiple California State Assembly members, Showing Up for Racial Justice Santa Clara County, VIDA at De Anza College, De Anza College Zero Waste Club, Santa Clara County for Transit, the president of De Anza College, the chair of the Environmental Studies Department at De Anza College, multiple small businesses along the corridor, including here in Cupertino, and multiple other neighborhood local associations.
[00:16:46] Harry Neil: But this project is so crucial. Truly it is. This project will guide not only improvements here in Cupertino, but across the entire corridor to downtown San Jose. For those concerned that Cupertino may lose some of what makes its section of Stevens Creek Boulevard great, don't be.
[00:17:14] Harry Neil: This would be bringing the rest of the corridor up to Cupertino's standards and pushing everyone together further for a better corridor. There's no downside to this, truly. The city has already made its conditions clear and the other participating jurisdictions don't seem to have any problem with it. Please vote to accept the study. Thank you.
[00:18:22] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Thank you for not using the three minutes, appreciate it.
[00:18:27] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Harry. Next we have Jennifer Griffin. Welcome, Jennifer.
[00:18:39] Jennifer Griffin: Um, good evening City Council again, I'm so glad this is working well. Um, yes, we're back again at Stevens Creek corridor vision. Um, I have attended probably 12 of these meetings, pop-up, sit down, go on a bus, etc. etc. They've been very enlightening.
[00:19:01] Jennifer Griffin: I have lived along the corridor for way further than I even admit, since the '80s, and it's very, very important, especially since my neighborhood of Rancho Rinconada is at the intersection of Santa Clara and San Jose. We're at the border at Lawrence.
[00:20:03] Jennifer Griffin: And whatever happens on Stevens Creek Boulevard is very, very important to vehicle, yes, and bike traffic, walking, etc. But there already is so much demand. We there's something called an over-demand of resources. Everybody wants something out of Stevens Creek Boulevard.
[00:20:27] Jennifer Griffin: They want lanes, they want to put in bicycle medians, they want to put in and fix bus rapid transit down the middle of it. It's not big enough. Okay? If you go back and look at El Camino Real in 1770, it was a donkey track that the padres went up and down on.
[00:20:51] Jennifer Griffin: Stevens Creek Boulevard is a little younger than that, you know, Mr. Stevens was going out to his home, his rattlesnake dinners. But everybody wants a piece of it. It's like that old Star Trek episode where you want a piece of the action. It ain't gonna happen.
[00:21:48] Jennifer Griffin: You've got to we have to be careful of our resources. And I will tell you, I am not willing to give away pieces of that roadway. We have SB 79, we have people who want to take over a lane for buses, we have people want to have flying cars and dig holes under it.
[00:22:10] Jennifer Griffin: It's like I have never in my life seen a roadway so contested. It it was once a dirt road that the families would take milk to market in San Francisco on. It it's just a road. But we have to make sure that we don't impede the traffic on it. And that's what I'm really concerned about.
[00:22:35] Jennifer Griffin: I do I do not want one lane of it sacrificed to buses. I went to San Jose State and it took me an hour, and that was fine for me. And I think students are being very picky and demanding if they think they can get there faster, because I guess they're better than me. Let's let's don't do BRT on it, let's not cut our trees down. And what about San Jose State?
[00:23:44] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Jennifer, that's your time. Next we have Louise Sadati. Welcome Louise.
[00:23:55] Louise Sadati: Um, excuse me, I just I'm just surprised that my time came up so quickly. I just need to increase the font on this so I can read it because I just got new cataract lenses in and...
[00:24:12] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Do you want to maybe someone else can speak first?
[00:24:18] Louise Sadati: Okay, I don't know how I got there first. Okay, I just put in my thing, so somebody else can speak first.
[00:25:03] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay, Mayor, we would move to those speakers requesting to speak virtually. So we have Babu Srinivasen, San Rao, Betsy Megas, and Michael Wang. Welcome, Babu.
[00:25:16] Babu Srinivasen: Hey, thanks for letting me speak on this. I missed the last meeting.
[00:25:21] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: You need to speak a little closer to your mic.
[00:25:25] Babu Srinivasen: Okay, is it better now? This is the maximum sound.
[00:25:28] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Still very, uh, light.
[00:25:32] Babu Srinivasen: Okay. Um, so my only thing is... Better.
[00:25:36] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Better.
[00:25:37] Babu Srinivasen: When whenever our Vice Mayor has clearly said this study is not in favoring for Cupertino, and with the facts, with the slides, with the details, why even we are continue to a a review or talk about this subject uh in the interest of Cupertino?
[00:26:42] Babu Srinivasen: Because when the past history from other counties have shown, they just pull around with projects and they fail miserably, why we need to be part of this project? Why we are spending our taxpayers' money in this adventure?
[00:27:00] Babu Srinivasen: And second thing is, when we are talking about transportation of future, I would say, what about the transportation of present? When I drive my kids to drop at school in the morning, especially for the last uh after the summer holidays, they started digging the roads in Rainbow Drive.
[00:27:20] Babu Srinivasen: And the steel plates, they were left with a notice saying that there are steel plates ahead. The damage that it does to the cars that is going there, I highly doubt anybody reported so far.
[00:27:35] Babu Srinivasen: And it is very unpleasant and it is very uh not a healthy level to drive in the morning, especially to drop kids in the uh after this desolation come in, and with all this movements, it is becoming horrible in Rainbow Drive.
[00:28:33] Babu Srinivasen: And when we are not having a connection from city of Cupertino to any of the uh transit center. You can go from De Anza College transit center anywhere, you can go from Sunnyvale Caltrain station to anywhere, but going to that place is making ours—it is not even we are ready for this project.
[00:28:59] Babu Srinivasen: I would suggest try to handle the issues that is with right now contesting with the bike lanes and removal of lanes in De Anza, and the commuters especially with people coming back to work in person, all this traffic issues. Let us concentrate on the present and improve our people to go to office and come back to uh home in a peaceful way without this uh traffic jam.
[00:30:13] Babu Srinivasen: I would appreciate that and I would say, simply remove this agenda item from further discussion. It doesn't make any sense for us when we have the data saying that it is not favor for Cupertino, we don't need to go and put our head in the uh cutting line.
[00:30:31] Babu Srinivasen: Mayor Chao, I suppose you understand it better rather than me, and with all this discussions going for hour long and day long, night long, I uh expect you make a better decision. Thank you.
[00:30:47] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. Next we have San Rao. And then uh we will move back to Louise who is ready to speak. Welcome, San.
[00:31:41] San Rao: Good evening Mayor Chao and Councilmembers. I am the chair of the Planning Commission but I speak on behalf of myself only as a Cupertino resident today. I attended the steering committee meeting on Friday as I have done with most of the steering committee meetings, uh, in the in the past year or two.
[00:31:58] San Rao: And I want to commend Vice Mayor Moore for doing a fantastic job. She makes the Cupertino residents proud. She she clearly came prepared and she uh probably over-delivered uh to an extent that none of the other representatives were able to comprehend what was presented, that was the depth of detail there.
[00:32:21] San Rao: I'm very concerned about the structure and process around this corridor study. It appears that now that we're past the consultant phase and we're past hearing updates and so on, that the the members, the agency reps of the respective agencies are voting on motions.
[00:33:21] San Rao: And it's unclear to me how they can vote on motions because for any any action proposed by a motion, uh, that really needs the approval of the backing agency's majority vote.
[00:33:32] San Rao: So for example, Cupertino Council has to vote on the item in order to be able to approve the rep to speak on that item. And so when I see a motion and deliberations without any of that, uh, it is unclear to me how that is how that is happening.
[00:33:53] San Rao: Further, when the motion passes but a city or another agency voted against it, it is unclear how that motion applies to that city. For example, the Vice Mayor abstained or voted no on proceeding further, but was uh was basically faced with a motion that passed because other agencies voted for it. So what does that mean for Cupertino?
[00:35:01] San Rao: I'm extremely concerned that this project is really all about VTA. Uh, I I have started uh to look at this in good faith as a project that really improved the corridor, but I've come to the conclusion that all of this project is really about VTA. And furthermore, the VTA is really a conduit to SB 79.
[00:35:25] San Rao: And I urge you to look at specifically the definition of BRT. BRT is either a combination of frequency of service or a combination of features that are offered. In particular, if a service line offers a combination of transit signal priority, all-door boarding, fare collection with efficiency, and stations, then that is considered a BRT even if the frequency is not at the defined threshold.
[00:35:58] San Rao: As you can imagine, this corridor project will advance these features on behalf of the VTA and will render SB 79 into the SCB corridor. So really what this project about is not about signage, it's not identity or maintenance or medians or shade trees, this is about bringing high density to the SCB corridor. I urge you to reject and exit this study. Thank you.
[00:36:45] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you, San. Next uh we will go to Louise Sadati, who is now ready to speak provide comments. Welcome Louise.
[00:36:51] Louise Sadati: Dear Mayor Chao, Vice Mayor Moore, and City Council members. Please vote yes on the Stevens Creek Corridor Vision Study. This is a joint project by Santa Clara, Cupertino, San Jose, VTA, and the county to study and make recommendations for the safety along the Stevens Creek Boulevard.
[00:37:14] Louise Sadati: Cupertino needs to approve without non-essential time-consuming additional procedures. Um, please approve the Stevens Creek Corridor Vision Study to be included to be included in the conversations and decisions made by these cities and the county. This is to improve the safety for all of us, whether on transit, driving, biking, or walking.
[00:38:20] Louise Sadati: The recommendations need to go end-to-end including all the way to Foothill Boulevard where all the residents travel to and deserve optimal safety. Cupertino is the last city to give their approval to this vision.
[00:38:33] Louise Sadati: Cupertino's approval of the results of the vision study will make it easier for the cities and entities to receive grant approvals to improve that corridor. Staff time is precious and limited and should be used judiciously. Thank you for supporting the vision study by voting yes with fewer contingencies and less time-consuming expensive procedures. Thank you.
[00:38:51] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you, Louise. And now we will move to the two remaining members of the public requesting to speak virtually: Betsy Megas and Michael Wang. Welcome, Betsy.
[00:39:04] Betsy Megas: Good evening, Betsy Megas, Santa Clara resident, speaking for myself. I've made several of these points before, but you're here again, so I'm here again. Please adopt the vision study for Stevens Creek.
[00:39:15] Betsy Megas: The drivers will be just fine, the car dealerships will be just fine. It's everyone outside of cars that's barely being served here so far, even in Cupertino. This is a huge roadway and it's dedicated almost entirely to cars. There's room enough for all of us.
[00:40:14] Betsy Megas: The Stevens Creek Vision Study is the product of a robust community involvement process across all of the cities this corridor serves. Please adopt it and work to move people, not just cars. Please build for the future, not the past.
[00:40:30] Betsy Megas: You've done more than some of the other agencies involved to accommodate bicycles, and I appreciate that, but there is plenty more to do. Please continue to improve and to lead the way.
[00:40:40] Betsy Megas: And on an administrative note, I can barely hear anybody on the dais tonight. I can hear others online just fine, so please continue to work on your uh sound system in this room. Thanks.
[00:40:56] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you, Betsy. Next we have Michael Wang. Welcome, Michael.
[00:41:42] Michael Wang: Uh, hello City Council. Uh, I just want to say, uh, please vote to accept this corridor study. We've been talking about this for a long time, so I just want to get this out of the way.
[00:41:57] Michael Wang: Uh, as for why, um, you know, Stevens Creek Commission is going ahead and voting on stuff uh without us. We haven't voted to be a part of this group, so I don't they're not going to wait for us to work on their part of Stevens Creek Boulevard.
[00:42:12] Michael Wang: So, you know, their part's going to change and our part's going to stay the same. And if we don't want that, then we should vote to uh approve of this. You know, additionally, um, people were talking about, oh, you know, SB 79 is if we approve this, you know, it's going to affect our city.
[00:43:21] Michael Wang: Um, I'm pretty sure that no one has suggested BRT in any way for this this line. There's a difference between, you know, dedicated lanes and BRT. I mean, it might seem a bit esoteric but, you know, for lawyers and legislators, it there is a difference.
Segment 2
[00:45:00] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: within the meeting minutes. And a transit station hub that would take over the parking lots at De Anza College. And that was, that was news to me. Were you aware that this has been advocated for?
Segment 1
[00:45:02] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. Mayor, that was our final speaker for this item.
[00:45:08] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay, thank you. It's 9:42. Um, now we will go to staff presentation.
[00:45:16] Staff Speaker: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council. Chad Mosley, Director of Public Works. Uh, I do not have a presentation, but I will provide a little bit of background on this item and then uh hand it over to David Stillman as well as Matt Schrader who is uh virtual, um, who can provide a little more detail on and an update on the meeting last Friday.
Segment 2
[00:45:26] Staff Speaker Babu Srinivasen: Is this on? So when you say our city representative was advocating for those items, you're referring to city staff?
[00:45:36] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: No, it was former Mayor Wei and then she was still assigned to the committee as Councilmember Wei.
Segment 1
[00:45:40] Staff Speaker: But uh just a little bit of background. You all did hear this item on September 3rd. Um, at that meeting staff was provided direction to utilize one of the draft uh resolutions that was provided by the Mayor and to add very specific items uh that were listed out by the Vice Mayor.
Segment 2
[00:45:45] Staff Speaker Babu Srinivasen: Okay. Yes, there were various items that were advocated for by the steering committee members at the time, so.
[00:45:54] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay. And then I also noticed there was a request from Councilmember Kamei for with regarding with regards to the bus lines as well. And interestingly, they had a meeting September 2024 and they provided a draft resolution for the cities to adopt, which did not have this strong language that Santa Clara and San Jose ended up having in in their adopted resolution.
Segment 1
[00:45:58] Staff Speaker: Um, staff has attempted to take that information, compile it into one resolution. I'm hoping we met what you guys were looking for on that. Um, and that's what's being presented tonight. Um, I'm going to hand it off to to David and Matt. I know there was some questions about getting an update on what happened last Friday and Matt Schrader who's online was there and he can provide you a what what happened there. Matt, go ahead.
Segment 2
[00:46:35] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: And that's that's really, you know, the crux of the matter. Is that theirs is saying to get funding and implementation of these various projects when that's that's going beyond our expectations. And they're looking for, so when you're looking at SB 63 and having the taxation for transportation, the concern is that that this is really what what they're looking for is some project that essentially is going to try and entice voters to agree to a sales tax. So I'll I'll leave it at that. I have plenty more to say on this particular item, but we're doing question time, Mayor.
Segment 1
[00:47:06] Staff Speaker: Yeah. Thank you, Chad. So, as mentioned, the steering committee met last Friday. Uh, staff presented to the steering committee just a brief overview of the project, uh, where the various jurisdictions stand with their adoption processes, and then kind of a high-level description of what a work scope would look like for uh next steps.
Segment 2
[00:47:28] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah. Okay, so any more question on this? So I think then we will then go to deliberations. We already had the public comment. And so do you have any recommendation on how we would move forward?
Segment 1
[00:47:31] Staff Speaker: Uh, specifically, um, the proposal was to bring to the steering committee uh a study scope for complete streets design and potential funding opportunities to pursue that, what a transit signal priority update could look like, and then how to continue coordinating with the partner agencies to kind of address uh issues like maintenance and how to integrate project delivery.
Segment 2
[00:48:28] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Uh, I yes, I do have some thoughts about this. Um, so it was troubling to be on the the VTA Policy Advisory Committee and see this item go through there. Um, I did not have direction from the council, so I abstained that item. The vision study went to the board and the board accepted it back in May of 2025 without any input, comments from the city of Cupertino.
Segment 1
[00:48:42] Staff Speaker: And then the steering committee, um, passed a motion uh kind of directing staff to move forward with that and come back with that complete streets work scope as well as potential grant opportunities that could cover the cost of that project. I guess that's it. Um, we're here to answer any questions.
Segment 2
[00:49:00] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: So I would like personally to see the the mayor write a letter to VTA regarding the importance of collaboration and having consideration for all the cities that are involved in projects like this.
Segment 1
[00:49:19] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay, um. Maybe we hear from the Vice Mayor first before Councilmembers ask questions. Oh. Um, yeah. So then we first go to question for staff? Any question for staff? Sure.
Segment 2
[00:49:51] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. Can I ask, so did the VTA board also adopt a resolution similar to San Jose and Santa Clara have to specifically talk about they will obtain funding for implementation?
[00:50:08] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: I would have to research that for you. I ran out of time. Um, I did, yeah, I was doing a lot of research on what San Jose had posted.
[00:50:18] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Does staff have any knowledge about the VTA resolution? No? That's fine.
[00:50:30] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: It should be available in the May 1st, 2025 meeting minutes for the board. So it won't take but 15 minutes to locate that. Um, also with regards to the meeting on September 12th, um, I do think there were some Brown Act issues with regards to the agenda item implementation work scope number one. There's, I don't think that there's enough information there for a member of the public to see that the project was going to have a further scope and moving moving forward with it.
Segment 1
[00:50:31] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Uh, at the end of uh last week's meeting, we talked about—we had a discussion on the final resolution which we uh—which we were going to approve, which—and the resolution was a sort of a combination of the Mayor's uh points as well as the Vice Mayor's.
[00:50:57] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: And although your staff report talks about the the bike-ped commission recommendations as well as the planning commission, uh, I didn't see it unless I I'm missing it. Uh, and you just mentioned a minute ago, Director Mosley, that you would include the recommendations of both those commissions. Is that right?
Segment 2
[00:51:10] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Um, I think that our city attorney could weigh in on that, but clearly when we were trying to approve the prior meeting minutes when they didn't include them in the packet, that we ended up having to drop that item because we didn't have the materials there. I think just kind of in general for their agendas there needs to be a little bit more information than what they're providing. And and as you know, looking at ours that we provide a great deal of information, you you know what the item is about. Um, so I would like also a letter to the steering committee with regards to that. When we joined the JPA for Cities Association there were bylaws which we approved here. Um, and so I do want it I would like it researched if council ever saw these bylaws for this steering committee.
[00:51:54] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Um, can we maybe ask, does the staff know whether we have ever put the bylaws on the council agenda? I don't remember, but then my memory is not good.
[00:52:08] Staff Speaker Babu Srinivasen: Sorry, keep having to run up here. My understanding is no, the bylaws did not come to City Council. My understanding is the steering committee discussed and agreed to those bylaws at the committee meetings is my understanding.
Segment 1
[00:52:10] Staff Speaker: Um, my understanding was we were going to be taking the Mayor's—the direction that I—how I interpreted it was that we were going to take the Mayor's resolution and incorporate that list of items that the Vice Mayor provided. Um, that was my understanding from that meeting.
Segment 2
[00:52:21] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So um do the other cities have two representatives?
Segment 1
[00:52:25] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, and if I can—may answer that. If uh look—I wish that my draft resolution was included in today's agenda, but it's uh from last the September 3rd agenda. In my draft, every item I have in there, I have commented on whether it's from the staff resolution, and most of the facts are.
Segment 2
[00:52:27] Staff Speaker Babu Srinivasen: We're talking about a primary and an alternate. These are the representatives at...
[00:52:32] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And they get two votes or just one?
[00:52:35] Staff Speaker Babu Srinivasen: Um, I'm just one is my understanding is how it's been. No, is it two?
[00:52:41] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Yeah. Um through the mayor, that was that odd paragraph I was reading you. Section 1.03, Number of Members. Um, it'll have members appointed from participating jurisdictions: cities of San Jose, Santa Clara and Cupertino, the county of Santa Clara and Valley Transportation Authority.
[00:53:00] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Quick question as to why would the county have voting members on this do they is there county land that Stevens Creek is going through?
[00:53:10] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: San Tomas Expressway, Lawrence Expressway, any of the other expressways are owned by the county.
[00:53:16] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: The intersections. Okay. But they don't they don't own the actual east-west roadway. It's it's when they're hitting the intersection.
[00:53:25] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: Yes, correct.
[00:53:28] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay. And and Valley Transportation Authority, why are they if we're trying to if it's supposed to be a collaborative um just kind of hypothesize what they were what they were theorizing there, you know, why you would have VTA be voting when...
Segment 1
[00:53:30] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And I have added the fact that Cupertino already are implementing uh the Vision Zero—safe uh roadway plan and then all the bike paths plan we already have. So I added those, then I would note added.
Segment 2
[00:53:45] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: Well, they are the congestion management agency for the for the Silicon Valley. And they were the ones who initially kind of launched the the project, the Stevens Creek corridor vision study.
Segment 1
[00:53:46] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And then also the items there, if uh some—I included all of the points from the Bike-Ped Commission, so I have also noted when an item is from Bike-Ped Commission. I actually did not include any of the items from Planning.
Segment 2
[00:53:59] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay. So uh through the mayor, it was my understanding that this was actually started more by San Jose and the District 1 representative um going back to when they did a RFI for transit down Stevens Creek Boulevard and they had about 20 applicants that turned in all sorts of wild proposals such as the Boring Company project, GlideWays, um there was a Bombardier plan and BYD. Um going back several years. Um, so yeah, so each of these five jurisdictions shall have two votes on the committee.
Segment 1
[00:54:05] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: I think they're upset because I thought they are—they were making comments about uh streetscape which I didn't think is core to the vision study. So but every point that I've made in that draft is—is in, I did note where it came from. And yeah.
Segment 2
[00:54:40] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Each jurisdiction may choose if they prefer to appoint either one member or two members to cast these two votes. Um and an issue there is that Cupertino is a good section of it all by ourselves and we can be outvoted by these other members, VTA, um yeah.
Segment 1
[00:55:12] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Yes, so my comment was about the Planning Commission. I know the Planning Commission approved uh one of the things they approved was uh limiting the Stevens Creek Vision Study to Stevens Creek up to uh 85 or Bobb Road.
[00:55:32] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: And I know there was some discussion at the Planning Commission, but I—in my opinion, Stevens—the vision study has to be extended all the way up to Foothill, which is how the original resolution was uh laid out. And I think, Mayor, you were one of the people who signed off on it, that the vision study did not uh sort of get arbitrarily cut off up to Bobb Road.
Segment 2
[00:56:05] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Um so it's already 10:09 and let's keep focused on the resolution that we would like to approve. I think um so I heard that we would like to have a letter to VTA indicating that they should have gotten input from each city before they approved their accepted the study.
[00:56:40] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And a letter to steering committee addressing concerns on Brown Act violations, such as the lack of agenda materials. Um I but I hope that we today we approve the resolution so we or a version of the resolution so we don't put this back on the council agenda again. And so Vice Mayor, do you have a proposed revision of the draft resolution? Councilmember Wang?
Segment 1
[00:56:45] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So like I said, my resolution did not include that from the Planning Commission. Uh, right. No, but I'm making the point that uh the Planning Commission recommendation uh sort of truncates uh the Stevens Creek corridor up to Bobb and Stevens Creek, which to me did not make sense.
[00:57:11] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And was there a reason uh that I'm missing why—why did that happen and— I think maybe you misunderstood me. So my draft resolution did not include Planning Commission's recommendation to truncate. I understand, I understand. So that means the resolution in front of us would mean that we are extending to Footway—Foothill.
[00:58:25] Staff Speaker: Yes, that's correct. The council at the last meeting where this was discussed did—did not support that recommendation from the Planning Commission to stop the corridor study at Bobb Road. And so that was not—that limit was not incorporated into—into the Mayor's draft resolution, nor was it included into the resolution before you this evening for your consideration.
Segment 2
[00:58:25] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: May I make a comment? A quick comment? So, I'm probably on the other end of this issue. So, it sounds like we have a flawed process where we agreed to participate without approval by our council at the steering committee and JPA level. We have a study which failed to reach out to key stakeholders in the auto dealerships and drivers. The times of these meetings do not enable the average citizen to provide input. Um we talk about the inclusiveness that we need but we also exclude the average Santa Clara County resident majority who needs to get from A to B safely and quickly.
Segment 1
[00:58:56] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Okay, so then the assumption is that it isn't there, that it will continue all the way to Foothill. Great, thank you very much. That's all I needed to know, Mayor.
[00:59:00] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Great. Any other question for staff? Uh, Councilmember—Councilmember Fruen, is it? How come I don't see who raised hands here? I think—oh. Okay, and Councilmember Fruen, yeah.
Segment 2
[00:59:10] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: We have a scenario which will enable all housing bills to worsen the quality of life in Cupertino. This continued burden on circulation of our majority mode of transportation is my big concern. I'm worried this will be used as another way to add to our sales tax which is 7.25 at the county level and the cities have tacked on 2 to 2.5 percent more, pushing for a Measure A and then some more, that will take us to almost 11% in sales tax.
[01:00:00] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: We have an agency that has not lowered the overall cost per mile and cost per trip. They've focused on light rail, bus lanes, and bike lanes. Our pavements have gone unmaintained. When autonomous vehicles come into play, they will deliver at a lower cost and a higher level service.
Segment 1
[01:00:06] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: So based on the the conversations that I've had in reaching out to other members of the steering committee, I—I have concerns as to whether our inter-agency partners will actually be okay with the types of conditions that we are choosing to try to impose here.
[01:00:24] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Do we think that they will actually want to continue to work with us if this is the resolution that we pass tonight?
[01:00:32] Staff Speaker: That may be a little speculative on our end to—to know that. Um, what we can do as staff is to take these recommendations and make sure that they are mentioned during various meetings when we are discussing items of this concern.
Segment 2
[01:00:50] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: We need to stop approving projects without doing our due diligence as Vice Mayor Moore has. I'm still for rejecting the study and its recommendations. I would like us also to reduce our service levels to less than three trips an hour. Um this is an example of public policy gone amuck. So, I am against this um and I would vote against it but I will support any motions that has conditions.
Segment 1
[01:00:51] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Okay, right. I hope that's true. Okay, so just on a staff-to-staff basis, what's—what's your sense?
[01:00:56] Staff Speaker: If I may speculate, uh, my sense is that they—they will be okay with the resolution as proposed this evening and continue to work with us as partners.
[01:01:50] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Okay. Right. I hope that's true.
[01:01:55] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Any other? Um, Vice Mayor?
[01:02:00] Mayor Kitty Moore: Thank you. So at the Friday meeting it was mentioned that there were bylaws that were passed for the Stevens Creek corridor uh committee, and I had not seen them before, so did—were those ratified by the City Council? Were those, you know, put on consent at some point? Because there's some things in the bylaws that are kind of troubling. Um, and I would have want to—to see them.
Segment 2
[01:02:33] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Um through the mayor, it's it's quite difficult to to condition this in probably the cleanest way is what Councilmember Wang is suggesting. Uh, yeah. Um and I did locate the section: "With the exception of the chair and vice chair, a member may be removed from the Stevens Creek Corridor Steering Committee by a majority vote of the Stevens Creek Corridor Steering Steering Committee at any time and for any reason." Um interesting.
Segment 1
[01:02:35] Mayor Kitty Moore: So they got—they were passed in June of 2023. And uh one of the—the issues that I have is, you know, simply the—who's going to be on it. Uh, for instance, the number of members. Stevens Creek corridor steering committee shall consist of members appointed from participating jurisdictions. The city—the cities of San Jose, Santa Clara, and Cupertino. Makes sense.
Segment 2
[01:03:41] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: So if we continue to join this steering committee, we would get outvoted almost on every motion and then our objection would be completely ignored, but then since the motion is approved, then it will be assumed Cupertino somehow have to go along with any funding or implementation.
Segment 1
[01:03:43] Mayor Kitty Moore: But then also you have the County of Santa Clara and VTA and Valley Transportation Authority, they're—they're voters. Members will be appointed by the governing body of those five jurisdictions or appointed by executive staff depending on each agency's general practice. Well, that kind of makes sense for VTA that they would do that, I guess.
[01:04:06] Mayor Kitty Moore: Each of these five jurisdictions shall have two votes on the committee. Each jurisdiction may choose if they prefer to appoint either one member or two members to cast these two votes. We've never, since we've had these appointments, done that at all. And this has been around since 2023. Um, now you can—they can remove members... uh, which I might not be able to find at this time.
Segment 2
[01:04:20] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: And then also that somehow this steering committee has the authority to remove a Cupertino member from the committee. It's a very odd bylaw but theoretically that could be true. Um at this point, I don't see any value to stay in the steering committee.
[01:05:00] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Um but I think I don't want to outright, I know some people are saying outright reject the study. I don't want to reject the study because it is something we have um signed up with the back in 2019 with the good intention of let's work with San Jose and Santa Clara. However, the outcome of that seems to be they totally ignored in the study like Vice Mayor said our the improvement we've made in our part in Cupertino and how we have made Cupertino safer with no parking on Stevens Creek, separated bike paths along Stevens Creek, which none of the other cities have.
Segment 1
[01:05:13] Mayor Kitty Moore: But I do think that we should probably bring these bylaws to the City Council for for discussion. Uh, there was a part in here which it looked like they could uh between the chair and the vice chair, they could remove members from the committee.
[01:05:38] Vice Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Wait, you are saying Vice—the steering committee chair and vice chair can remove members appointed by the the other jurisdictions?
Segment 2
[01:05:40] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: So it seems before they come up to the Cupertino standard, working with them might only serve their purpose, not Cupertino's priorities. So um so I would propose that we use this draft resolution staff has um created based on the council comment, but add a statement that Cupertino will not invest any more city funding resource or staff time on the steering committee until the conditions stated in the resolution is met.
Segment 1
[01:05:51] Mayor Kitty Moore: Yeah, I want to look—look for that again, but that's there was something odd in here about being able to remove uh members that we need to evaluate. Um, so the duties, powers, and functions of this committee are to tender its advice to the Stevens Creek corridor working group, which is the staff members that got assigned to this, with respect to policy matters under consideration related to the Stevens Creek corridor vision study and review the status of the Stevens Creek corridor vision study deliverables.
Segment 2
[01:05:56] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: I can support that, Mayor.
[01:05:58] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: You can support that? And um then and then we can make that part of a motion and the motion would also include authorizing the mayor to send a letter to VTA to stress with a copy of the approved resolution and stating that we think VTA should not have approved accepted the study without getting any input from the city or our residents.
[01:06:40] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: And that this letter would restate the conditions under which we um would consider any future study along the corridor. And then authorizing the mayor to write a letter to the steering committee on the concerns that the bylaws were not um approved by individual jurisdiction and were not even followed by the steering committee such as two voting members from each jurisdiction.
Segment 1
[01:07:11] Mayor Kitty Moore: I don't quite see in that how it is that they directed staff to uh work on the scope. And that's where, going back to the meeting agenda, um, I don't know if our staff received a full agenda packet, but all I all I got was the skeleton outline of the agenda. So did you receive materials that—that I did not?
Segment 2
[01:07:20] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: And the concerns of Brown Act violations such as agenda packets not prepared. Um any other concern we should state?
Segment 1
[01:07:30] Mayor Kitty Moore: Such as, we were supposed to approve the meeting minutes, but they didn't provide me the meeting minutes. Um, they have an item 5, implementation work scope number one, action item, but they didn't provide me any hint of what that scope action item would be. And in the bylaws, they clearly state that they are a uh Brown Act body and that they will be following that. So did—did staff receive materials that I didn't?
Segment 2
[01:07:51] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Well, I think I think we can...
[01:07:53] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: And and then of course the letter will include a copy of our resolution and then stress the conditions under that we would like um to be met before we rejoin the steering committee. Um okay. So City Clerk did you get all that?
[01:08:16] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Yeah.
[01:08:17] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Great. Um so that's my motion and...
[01:08:20] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Moore second.
[01:08:21] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So any friendly amendment?
[01:08:26] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I I just have a question for staff. This is a lot of new conditions, so I'll reiterate my prior question about how our interagency partners are going to view this, because quite frankly I think this is all getting a little silly.
[01:08:46] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: But and first let me clarify. The only change I am making to the draft resolution which is on the agenda is to make it clear Cupertino will not join steering committee or spend expense any more funding or staffing resource until the conditions stated in the draft resolution is met. I'm not adding any condition, I'm just saying here is a condition that this is we will not join to spend more time until the condition we have spent expressed is met.
Segment 1
[01:09:08] Staff Speaker: I don't recall, Vice Mayor, if we received all of those materials. We did review the presentations that were provided to the steering committee prior to the meeting.
[01:09:14] Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay, so I was not provided those and I was told uh that the bylaws, I believe, were on the website, and they didn't specify what website they were referring to. Um, so after the meeting, I had to hunt around to locate them on the San Jose website and I don't know if we have it on our own.
Segment 2
[01:09:24] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: That's extraordinary considering the conditions.
[01:09:26] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: The conditions are on agenda.
[01:09:28] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Yes, I know. I know. And those are extraordinary conditions.
[01:09:32] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I have a different take through the mayor. I I hope our interagency partners will take the time to do their due diligence uh and their residents demand a higher standard of their elected to do that diligence because I don't think they're all in agreement with this.
Segment 1
[01:10:18] Mayor Kitty Moore: Uh, I think that when we are assigned to these committees, if bylaws exist, that we should be given them. And since the Council hasn't actually been following them, uh, that's—that's an issue. Um, as to the scope, um, there was some comments from the public which I think some of the issue here is the language that—that people are using.
Segment 2
[01:10:26] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Uh so are you so I am happy to include that statement in the letter to VTA and steering committee that we encourage them to do their due diligence.
[01:10:40] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: They blindly passed it.
[01:10:43] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: As we have done in our resolution.
Segment 1
[01:10:44] Mayor Kitty Moore: So I'm hearing the word adopt, accept, um, and that if they're just looking at the scoping uh part of this project, uh, that somehow the rest that was actually approved by the other cities isn't going to happen.
Segment 2
[01:10:47] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: And we're happy to share our findings with them.
[01:10:51] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And we are happy to share our findings with them. Yeah, that's true we are they can invite Vice Mayor to give a presentation to them. So um so City Clerk have you could you share the motion?
[01:11:16] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Yes, Mayor. I'm just cleaning it up. Um okay. Let me share my screen. So, um okay. Authorize the Mayor to send a letter to VTA with a copy of the resolution, and stating that VTA should not have accepted the study without getting input from the city or residents. The letter would restate the conditions under which the council would consider any future study along the corridor.
Segment 1
[01:11:42] Mayor Kitty Moore: So the resolution for San Jose states that they will be accepting the Stevens Creek Boulevard corridor vision study and directing staff to work through the inter-jurisdictional working group to develop, find funding, and implement the plans proposed in the vision study.
Segment 2
[01:11:45] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: And also authorize the Mayor to write a letter to the steering committee on the concerns that the bylaws were not approved by individual jurisdictions and were not followed by the steering committee, such as two voting members from each jurisdiction, and regarding concerns of Brown Act violations like agenda packets not being properly prepared.
Segment 1
[01:12:15] Mayor Kitty Moore: Then Santa Clara, almost identical language, that they would be accepting the Stevens Creek Boulevard corridor vision study and directing staff to work collaboratively collaboratively through the inter-jurisdictional working group to study, develop, find funding, and implement the recommendations proposed by the vision study.
Segment 2
[01:12:21] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Authorize the Mayor to send a letter to VTA with a copy of the draft resolution, and stating that VTA should not have accepted the study without getting any input from the City or our residents. The letter would restate the conditions in the draft resolution under which we would consider any future study along the corridor.
[01:13:10] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: And then authorize the Mayor to write a letter to the steering committee on the concerns that the bylaws were not approved by individual jurisdictions and were not followed by the steering committee, such as two voting members from each jurisdiction, and regarding concerns of Brown Act violations like agenda packets not being properly prepared.
Segment 1
[01:13:22] Mayor Kitty Moore: So that isn't simply we're going to do some bike safety plan, that you've got to go look at the vision study specifically uh in order to see what is planned. And they have an array of different high-capacity transit or separate bus lane projects that they—that they suggest.
Segment 2
[01:13:30] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: And the letter to the steering committee will also include what we have written to VTA which is that conditions of the draft resolution under which we would consider any future study along the corridor. And conditions under which we would rejoin the steering committee.
Segment 1
[01:13:51] Mayor Kitty Moore: So they're saying to not just accept the study, but that they're going to move on, develop, find funding, and implement the recommendations. And it's unclear which ones they actually are planning for, but I went further because San Jose had their prior meeting minutes online and read through them and our uh city representative was advocating for high capacity, high speed transit within...
Segment 2
[01:14:21] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Um I'm sorry Mayor were you I was waiting for you.
[01:14:23] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Um so Vice Mayor would like to add: "will not invest any more city funding resources or staff time in the steering committee and working group". And I think here at the end you can say the letter to the steering committee would include this this statement also. Then that should be sufficient. The statement above. Um I guess we shouldn't say using the draft resolution, this is a motion to approve the draft resolution on the agenda.
[01:15:15] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So the third paragraph. The third paragraph: approve. So your motion is approve the draft resolution on the agenda. With a statement that adding a statement that. I guess adding a statement that.
[01:17:36] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Mayor quick question. Yeah. On the working group I just wanted to confirm with staff that it won't affect any other um work including going after grants I just wanted to confirm that because I understand advisory committee may be slightly different than working group so I just want some clarification.
[01:18:10] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: Uh any I think for any grants that would be associated with this project um you know I maybe I'm not stating this quite right but you know any grants associated with this project that would affect Cupertino um I'm not sure that we'd be qualified for those. And maybe I don't understand the question very well but...
[01:18:44] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So besides the steering committee what other working groups are there?
[01:18:54] Staff Speaker Harry Neil: Besides the steering committee there is the community advisory group that had met and then there's the working group that consists of staff from the various jurisdictions that are part of the the study.
[01:19:05] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. So the Cupertino can still apply for bike pad grant through with VTA independent of the like we continue can apply for funding for Stevens Creek. Right? Through regardless whether we are part of the study or not.
[01:19:19] Staff Speaker Harry Neil: Yes.
[01:19:20] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah. Good, thank you for confirming that.
[01:19:29] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: May I ask? So when may I ask we did get receive some grant funding for the protected bike lanes for Stevens Creek Boulevard and the construction is imminent when is that I thought it possibly was this week.
[01:20:25] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: Um yes we did get some grant funds and uh work basically started yesterday. um so yeah.
[01:20:33] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay. And and we should probably, you know, applaud ourselves for that because in the amount of time that they started this Stevens Creek uh corridor visioning study, we have approved and we have construction starting for protected bike lanes and I know that there've been multiple improvements on the in the median and trees planted um throughout this time.
[01:21:00] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: And if we look across the border to San Jose and Santa Clara, um I don't know if anyone can tell me what improvements they've seen um...
[01:21:04] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: That's true Stevens Creek I think phase one um are complete which is from Main Street to to De Anza, right? So we thanks to staff that we have improved a lot um in Cupertino.
[01:21:26] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So um could you project the motion again? It's almost 10:30 so let's quickly wrap this up. Okay. So the third bullet: approve the draft resolution on the agenda based on council direction from September 3rd. And adding a statement that Cupertino will not invest any more city funding resources, or staff time in the steering committee and working group until the conditions stated in the resolution are met.
[01:22:42] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: I'll reiterate my second of that motion.
[01:22:50] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Call the question. Madam Mayor I have a a question.
[01:22:55] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Uh okay.
[01:22:56] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: So for staff if I'm understanding the motion correctly it would prohibit us from investing any further money in the effort and essentially participating in the steering committee so can the committee continue to meet without Cupertino in the interim because that's what it looks like.
[01:23:23] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: Uh I'm not 100% sure on that. Uh I imagine they can continue to meet without having Cupertino there.
[01:23:31] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Yeah so I mean I don't know why we would effectively give up our seat at the table this just seems like self sabotage. That's that's all I have to say.
[01:25:40] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. Thank you. Um I think our seat at the table is meaningless when we would always be outvoted and it's a public meeting so if Cupertino ever wants to make a statement to the steering committee in case anything negatively affect Cupertino still we can still write a letter to them from the council I think. So we are not voiceless. So let's vote then.
[01:27:30] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: The motion carries with Mohan and Fruen voting no.
[01:28:30] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh it's 10:30 so again we need to make a motion to extend the meeting um for item number 22 and potentially item 20 if we have time.
[01:28:41] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Can we make can we push for 11:30? There's that item that we've been waiting five years for. People say I leave early so I'm really trying to extend the meeting.
[01:28:51] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: I don't think we will even get through the transportation matter. So let's extend the meeting to 11:30 to consider item 22 and potentially item 20 if we have time. I do hope that we consider 22 so people don't have to wait again. Um okay.
Segment 3
[01:30:00] Public Speaker Erve Marcy: it's transportation matters and renaming would make sense, also given the fact that there are many more ways of moving today such as e-bikes and scooters that do not fall in the traditional buckets of bikes, cars, or pedestrians, and we definitely should adapt to that. So renaming the commission into the Transportation and Mobility Commission would actually make sense. So I'm humbly asking for your vote for option three. Thanks.
[01:30:25] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Erve. Next we have Joel Wolf, followed by Jennifer Sheeran, followed by Ava Chao. Welcome Joel.
[01:30:39] Public Speaker Joel Wolf: Good evening. Good evening. I'm currently on the Bike-Ped Commission in Cupertino. This is my third year. I ask you to approve option three and the reasons being as one, expertise. The Bike-Ped Commission focuses on the current state-of-art in micromobility modes of transportation—walking, biking, scooters. We monitor and follow the design guides from the local, state, and federal agencies. This requires really a significant amount of time and energy from the BPC. We put a lot of time into Vision Zero. We put a lot of time into the Active Transportation Plan. The Planning Commission is not going to be able to do this. Um, they're not going to put in and consider all the needs of the community and accept public input. I note that, you know, the Bike Commission has one member on the VTA BPAC. Are they going to be able to do that? Today I met for several hours with officials from Lincoln and Monta Vista schools about the traffic and the congestion in the area. Will they be able to do that? I don't think so. Outside funding—I think the way I read the staff report, I think you may lose that outside funding, so we won't have future projects. Um, the one thing I'd like to note is that the Bike-Ped Commission, we're an advisory commission, and I have to ask the Council, what are you afraid of? Because we're just coming up with the best recommendations for walking and biking, scootering around Cupertino, and we want to do it in a safe fashion. We want to serve the community in that way. So I'm not sure why we're an advisory commission... for example, Bollinger Road. We approved that, but that was rejected by the Council. Ultimately, you can reject anything we put out there. So again, my question is, what is the Council afraid of? Climate change—I don't if you know this, but the 2022 Cupertino Climate Action Plan recommends a 15% and a 23% share for active transportation modes by 2030 and 2040 respectively. So I don't know how you're going to get to that; maybe you're going to ignore the entire plan. Traffic reduction—we're going to have a bunch of housing in Cupertino if Valco gets developed. Do you want to have everybody in a car? I don't. I live near the corner of Stevens Creek and De Anza. I think the only way to get there is to have a strong Bike-Ped Commission that really works on these issues and tries to provide alternatives to driving. And then public confusion. I think... I don't think the public is going to understand what's going on. I mean, it's very rare to see a... the micromobility issues being handled by the Planning Commission. So I strongly urge the Council to adopt option three. Thank you.
Segment 2
[01:30:44] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Mayor is there anything we can put off? 11:30 seems really late. I mean...
[01:30:55] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So the motion is we extend the meeting to 11:30 to consider number 22 the transportation matter.
[01:31:01] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: That's item 20 Mayor.
[01:31:03] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: 20? And item 20 the wireless facilities. That's all.
[01:31:06] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: 22 and 20?
[01:31:07] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah. Likely I'm guessing we might not even get to 20 but putting it in the motion just in case.
[01:31:19] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Uh I'm sorry Mayor it is 22 I I misspoke.
[01:31:21] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh. Yeah. So we are putting off 21. Yeah and 22 item 20 the wireless facility we may not get to it but Councilmember Wang says he has been waiting for that so can we see uh how many members of the public are for the different items so we can at least let them go home. Maybe uh number 22. Maybe there's some people here for 22. I think we are considering 22 first anyway. All right. Yeah. So okay the motion is to extend the meeting to 11:30 and to consider item 22 and item 20 if we have time.
[01:31:49] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Through the mayor second.
[01:31:53] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay let's vote.
[01:31:59] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: The motion carries unanimously. Okay now item 22. So we have had the staff presentation last time. Um does the staff have anything to add?
[01:32:14] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: Um no at this point in time we presented last time and I think you had opened it up to public comment. My understanding is you wanted to open it for public comment again today and...
[01:32:29] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
[01:32:30] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Mayor the only thing I would add is there we did issue a supplemental yesterday and a desk item which was a little bit later but we do have some other documents so.
[01:32:40] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, that's true I think the supplemental from Monday are really helpful and uh so then we will go to public comment. How many public comments do we have?
[01:33:01] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Mayor I have 13 requests from community hall. I see six requests virtually so that would take us to um 57 minutes.
[01:33:33] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: 57 minutes. That means we will again have no time to discuss and then have to close the public comment.
[01:33:43] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Mayor I have a question. Um are you allowing individuals and I can't recall how long they were allowed to speak. Have we have we gotten to this item at all before?
Segment 3
[01:33:44] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Joel. I previously listed Jennifer Sheeran as a speaker, but Jennifer has since moved to those requesting to speak remotely, so I will call on you when we move to that group. And next we have Ava Chao, followed by Neil Park McClintic, followed by I believe Jane Bedord... it's your handwriting. Did you request to speak, Jane Bedord? Yes? Okay. So Ava, welcome.
Segment 2
[01:33:53] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Um last time we did allow we had people to speak and then they were allowed one minute actually at the suggestion of Councilmember Mohan it was late and then the public members said that it was very late and they hope they could speak again so I did mention initially when we agendas this I thought we reopen the public comment for those who haven't spoken before. Um but then so maybe I will open this to the council. Um since we are short on time, should we consider continuing the public hearing public comment period only for those who have not spoken and allow one minute to be consistent with the previous meeting.
Segment 3
[01:34:14] Public Speaker Ava Chao: Thank you. Good evening Mayor Chao and councilmembers of Cupertino city. My name is Ava Chao, Cupertino Union School District Trustee, however tonight I am speaking in my own capacity as a Cupertino resident. I see it took a while for Mayor Chao to keep her word as stated earlier in the beginning of tonight's meeting, by not discriminating against the people who are speaking on this issue, allowing the same number of minutes as everyone else. Please continue to do the honorable thing. I would like the councilmembers to support our Bike-Pedestrian Commission for the safety of our residents, especially to our students and the children who attend our schools. Again, I remind you I am a teacher during the day. Why safety? Walkers and bikers do need protection from a two-ton or more vehicles on the road. There are no comparison of safety. Would you put your own children and families at risk? We are the privilege to live in a community where families feel safe walking, biking to schools. I was talking to a parent yesterday who brought up how wonderful it was to grow up and bring her children up in Cupertino where she walked all over to the city hall, to shopping, and taking her kids to school. People go walking often after dinner, as I see them pass my house, and they often ride bikes for fun, not only that, also commuting to work. We want to maintain that. And for those who may not feel safe, we want to keep the Bike-Ped Commission to advocate for areas in our city that may needs safer streets and pathways to school.
Segment 2
[01:35:35] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Mayor I'm wondering if this is a legal question where someone can claim some kind of a Brown Act violation if if they were either were allowed to speak two times or if some issue like that where there might be an unevenness for for how much time they're given.
Segment 3
[01:35:56] Public Speaker Ava Chao: Cupertino Bike-Ped Commission staff members support our Safe Routes to School at each of our Cupertino Union School District school in Cupertino. They organize meetings for the parents, teachers, and administrators to ensure pathways to schools is safe. Each school has unique Safe Routes to School to increase safety for our students. Yesterday and today from community meetings with city and educational leaders of Los Altos and Sunnyvale that I participated in has praised our Safe Routes to School program. Do you know all of Cupertino's Safe Routes to School is an exemplary program? Many people from other cities want to duplicate our program because of its effectiveness. We have many students who walk to school and bike to school. The Bike-Ped Commission is the voice of our students. I hope our entire Council will be supportive of a standalone Bike-Ped Commission, especially Mayor Liang Chao, since she was a former school board member. I hope that Mayor Chao lives up to the word honorable. There is not a day which I remember our honorable former mayor Hung Wei. She has said many times publicly, honorable is not what the title you are called, but how you act honorably. I hope our Mayor Chao will be honorable to make the effort to keep our pathways safe. Thank you.
Segment 2
[01:35:57] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I don't think there would be. I do think it's the mayor's prerogative to uh reduce the time uh to accommodate the individuals that want to speak and I don't think there'd be a violation if somebody speaks twice or longer uh as long as at this time the mayor is setting the rules and those rules apply to the speakers in the order that they've signed up.
[01:36:59] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: May I make a suggestion to the to the mayor? Um I believe there are a lot of prepared um comments that were set up I I asked the folks that put the prepared comments together to just stick to their points and everyone stick to if you had point A, point B, point C, point D just go to those directly and uh make your points um and try to save time for everybody else who might want to comment um for for all of them.
[01:37:22] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So are you suggesting we don't limit the time to one minute?
Segment 3
[01:37:22] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. That is your time. Thank you. Next we have Neal Park McClintic, followed by Jane Bedord, followed by Connie Cunningham.
Segment 2
[01:37:24] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: No, but just you encourage everyone to stay within one minute so that everyone gets to comment. I mean they've all made their prepared points I think both sides have spent time doing it they've asked their supporters to do so we've seen the organization we've seen people allocate messages. Yeah. But let them make their points. Okay.
Segment 3
[01:37:34] Public Speaker Neal Park McClintic: Hello. Um, I'll make my comments very brief. My name is Neal, and I would like to point out that in the staff report for option three... I'm speaking in support of option three to have a separate Transportation Commission. Um, in the staff report it says that the only drawback to this option is that it's not what Council wants. Just want that to set in for a second. It's just like what Council wants, there's no actual need to do this, and maybe like a handful of residents who are providing that direction. But this doesn't represent what people in Cupertino want. We've made really great strides in terms of transportation and making our streets much safer. If you go to other cities in the Bay Area, they're much more dangerous to ride a bike, they're much less efficient to take the bus, and we should really be proud of that and continue to make progress in that way. For the next several years the Planning Commission's going to be really focused on a number of different housing projects in particular, and we have a huge regional housing needs assessment, and I mean that's going to be their focus. So it makes sense to have a separate commission that's focusing on transportation. And um, also want to just say as someone who um can drive but presently does not have a car and walks and takes public transportation everywhere, when cyclists are safer and pedestrians are safer, then drivers are also safer too. I mean frequently when you're driving, you know, you sometimes get frustrated because, you know, it's not super clear like where a cyclist should be, where a pedestrian should be at all times. So having a commission that makes the experience better for everybody regardless of their mode of transportation is beneficial to everybody including drivers too. Um, I said it would be brief but I kind of went on longer. Sorry. Okay. Thank you.
Segment 2
[01:38:30] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. So we would allow everyone to comment whether you have commented before or not and we are not going to limit your time to one minute or but we would really encourage all of you who have spoken last time to not repeat yourself and if you can just make it very short one sentence statement say I spoke last time and I still would like you to vote this way that would be really helpful and those who haven't spoken last time I would encourage you to stay within one minute so that we can get through everyone and the council can have a discussion. Thank you.
Segment 3
[01:39:37] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Neal. Next we have Jean Bedord, followed by Connie Cunningham, followed by Steven Scharf.
[01:39:48] Public Speaker Jean Bedord: Good evening. It has been a long night. My name is Jean Bedord and I'm a resident of Cupertino. And you'll notice that I'm not one of the kids around here. I am speaking as a senior. Now, all of us would like to be able to drive as long as we possibly could. But what happens if that's no longer an option? I have a friend who has a perfectly good Lexus in her driveway. But she can't drive it because she has had an epileptic seizure, and you automatically lose your license when that happens. So what are her options? We're suburbia. So it's walk... now she's certainly not going to ride a bicycle. Now she might consider a three-wheeled bicycle, but not a two-wheeled one. So you need the bike... I urge you to consider the needs of seniors. And there will be additional transportation modes coming down the pike. Electric scooters are very popular. You know, are our sidewalks designed or are our traffic ways designed to be able to accommodate all this new generation? So the city needs to be thinking in terms of alternatives that are safe for seniors as well as our students. So I urge you to keep the focus with the Bike-Ped Commission and broaden its scope to transportation. That to me makes the only... this is the only sensible way to go. The Planning Commission does not care about this type of detail, whereas a commission that is dedicated to safety will make that distinction. Thank you.
Segment 2
[01:40:45] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay. Uh we will start with Jennifer Griffin, followed by Sima Linskog, followed by Evan Lojewski. And we have three minutes. Welcome Jennifer.
Segment 3
[01:41:58] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Jean. Next we have Connie Cunningham, followed by Steven Scharf, followed by Jennifer Qui.
Segment 2
[01:42:01] Public Speaker Jennifer Griffin: Yeah, the ME's were putting $100,000 into uh a children's fund if people went over the time limit. Um anyway, yes, I will speak quickly I think one minute, you know, we're out the door here. Okay, transportation. Um I will say again I've been coming here since I don't know since 2003 before time began. And the the planning commission has always its second behind the city council in terms of importance. Below that are all the other committees. And I think that it has always had transportation come to it. Now frankly we have had a lot of new bills that came in in the last couple of years and they have muddied the waters never seen anything like this. The last seven years we started fighting over transportation. Before that it was just FAR. Now it's like what are we doing with this road? That's why there is so much discussion about it. But I want transportation uh situations to go to the planning commission people do drive cars and that is one of the um things that we need to make sure that we plan for. We've got seven builders remedies coming in down Stevens Creek Boulevard we're losing our retail and we are going to be floating in traffic if we do not study this. I I respect bike ped but I you know we need to have the numbers and I'm going to say LOS and vehicle VMT together they will get us there. Thank you.
Segment 3
[01:42:10] Public Speaker Connie Cunningham: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, and councilmembers. I'm Connie Cunningham, 38-year resident and chair Housing Commission, speaking for myself only. I urge the Council to choose option three. Option three continues the expertise on BPC for people who walk and ride bicycles. These are often for youth, students, seniors, and others that have mobility issues as you have already heard. Any other option will kill the purpose of the BPC, which is to provide data and recommendations about traffic projects to Council. Seniors and students are helped by having a commission that understands their needs. Cupertino's overarching goal for residents is safety. Traffic safety is a big need for our suburban city. I am a senior. I am a pedestrian. I am a driver. Drivers are not always happy with changes. I'm a driver and I am happy with the changes. I do not want to hit a pedestrian or a bicyclist. I know that it would be much worse collision for either of them than it would be for my car. Comments provided by the staff report bring up issues for options one, two, and four that will complicate and or slow and increase the cost and reduce the revenue to the city. Options one, option two, and option four. So there doesn't seem to be much of a choice except option three. I wanted to make a comment about Mayor Chao's comments about her September 8th mayor's meeting and her letter and say they were very helpful, thank you. I have attended other mayor's meetings. They also were well attended and included many residents with issues that they cared about deeply. Mayor Chao listened and people were respectful of her leadership. The September 8th meeting she described in her notes sounds the same. I am deeply concerned because Chair Rao of the Planning Commission is making unfounded statements about the September 8th mayor meeting and also about a fellow planning commissioner. His unfounded accusations...
Segment 2
[01:44:10] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Jennifer. Next we have Sima Linskog followed by Evan Lojewski followed by Erve Marcy. Welcome Sima.
[01:44:21] Public Speaker Sima Linskog: Hi there. Um I before I start I just want to make a comment that I've been sitting here for hours and hours and hours and hours and it is kind of offensive to watch you guys drone on and on and on without any regard for how much time you spend on every topic and somehow it becomes our problem when it comes to public comments that you cut public comments instead of having better diligence in how much time you guys spend on discussions. Okay. Um I'm on the planning commission but I'm speaking today as myself. I urge you to choose option 3. Keep the bike ped commission's scope and authority intact and rename the commission to the complete streets commission or the transportation mobility commission to more accurately reflect reflect its character. Um transportation mobility commission focus solely on creating safe streets for all residents is critical to the livability of Cupertino. Every single resident uses our streets every single day. Our students, youth, and seniors walk, roll, and bike on our streets more than any other demographic. They are vulnerable minorities because most of them don't vote so it's critical to have a commission whose sole focus is on the safety of residents on our city streets. Choosing anything else than option 3 is a dramatic overreaction to the feedback of a handful of car drivers and you've gotten a ton of email so you know there's a lot of residents who care about who are drivers who care about students and pedestrians and seniors. The commission, the bike ped commission meets once a month in a public setting fully transparent, fully accessible, and now it's going to a hybrid format. Residents including car drivers can and should engage with the commission to make sure their individual needs are being listened to and considered. It is really not a reason because they are not involved enough in the bike ped commission is not a reason to strip the bike ped commission of all of its authority. It's also fiscally irresponsible we've covered that it could potentially um risk us losing tens of millions of dollars of potential grant money so in the interest of some perceived efficiencies um that are perceptions not substantiated or proven by any independent analysis we would give up tens of millions of potential grant money um that seems a really bad fiscal decision. And it's a clear statement by councilmembers that you care more about cars driving fast than about the safety of our students, youth, and seniors. In February for on February 4, 2025 Councilmember Ray Wang said that 15 serious injuries and deaths of pedestrians and cyclists are an acceptable number to him on Stevens Creek Boulevard. I sincerely hope the rest of you don't feel that way and you will vote to keep the bike ped commission whole and vote for option 3. Thank you.
Segment 3
[01:44:30] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Please stay on the topic.
[01:44:31] Public Speaker Connie Cunningham: decrease the ability to work together and cause loss of respect for the commission by the public. Commissioners' handbook clearly states how commissioners are supposed to conduct themselves and their meetings. Good behavior is expected at other meetings...
[01:44:40] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Please stay on the agenda topic.
[01:44:42] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Connie, Connie, this is not germane to the agenda.
[01:44:45] Public Speaker Connie Cunningham: Oh I'm sorry. I didn't hear you. I was so busy talking. Yeah, please... thank you for your time. I appreciate your time. Bye bye.
[01:44:53] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Connie. Next we have Steven Scharf, followed by Jennifer Qui, followed by Beck Polczinski.
[01:45:00] Public Speaker Steven Scharf: Hi. Um, I'm on the Planning Commission speaking for myself as a senior, a cyclist—I think one of two people that actually did cycle to the meeting tonight—a pedestrian and a driver. Um, I think we should create a Transportation and Mobility Commission that encompasses bicycles, pedestrians, personal mobility, on-demand transportation services, privately owned vehicles, school transportation, corporate buses, and public transit. We really need to take a systems approach to transportation and not focus only on bicycles and pedestrians. I think this should be a new commission and once the Transportation and Mobility Commission is established, then the current Bicycle Pedestrian Commission can be disbanded. This will signify a fresh start on addressing the transportation issues in our city. Um, I would not favor transitioning all the transportation matters to the Planning Commission. There's enough work for us to do to have two separate commissions and enough citizens willing to serve. But I would include the Planning Commission for major infrastructure changes and for the active transportation plan and the Stevens Creek corridor vision if we continue to participate. Um, there is a relationship of housing, which Planning Commission approves and looks at, and transportation. I'm going to share a little story. My niece's son in college just won a wonderful battery-powered scooter in some scavenger hunt contest at his apartment complex. Except three days earlier the apartment complex sent out a letter saying you cannot have any battery-powered mobility devices on the premises. And this is going to be an issue moving forward if we're really trying to encourage personal mobility because it's very dangerous to charge and store these in high-density housing. Um, there's already been deaths and fires in other cities when these devices catch fire, and electric cars too. So there is a role for Planning Commission, but I think it really should be a Transportation and Mobility Commission. I would point out Palo Alto actually, it is Planning and Transportation Commission, but I don't think we should go in that same direction. Thank you.
[01:47:37] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Steven. Next we have Jennifer Qui, followed by Beck Polczinski, followed by Louise Sadati.
[01:47:46] Public Speaker Jennifer Qui: Hi everyone. This is my first time here and today is my birthday, so I thought I'd be spending it with my family instead of here. Thank you. Um, so one, I don't ride a bicycle, um terrible at it. Um, but I do send my kids to school every day. Um, they either walk to school and I've actually walked with them to school every day for the last, I don't know, like five years. My middle school son, he rides his bike to school. I myself, I drive everywhere. Um, get very annoyed when I'm stuck in traffic. Um, anything that reduces the lanes really pisses me off. However, this is a big complex problem and everyone has to be able to come in and out of every street in a safe um and sort of predictable way. So I am in favor of an independent commission more from the standpoint of very difficult problems need um a lot of different opinions and input. And the best way to do that is actually to have sort of independent charters um and slightly different goals, because I think that's the way the best conversations happen and you actually come into a solution where things end up being better. I myself am a city person. Um, I grew up with buses and sidewalks everywhere. Like my walk to school right now, there's a sidewalk every few houses and then nothing. Um, so I am used to basically having optimality. And I think in order for Cupertino to grow, not necessarily in huge size but just in the way the population is changing and what the needs of the city are going to be as vehicles start changing and the way people get around starts changing, is you really need just different opinions coming together and working together. And I think it's really hard to do that when um decision-makers are in charge of everything because it's very easy to sort of squash um differences of opinion or those opinions don't always make their way to the light of day. So I'm in favor of I guess it's option three, but just basically maintaining some better independence um and then hopefully working well together with the Planning Commission. Okay, thank you.
Segment 2
[01:48:31] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Sima. Next we have Evan Lojewski followed by Erve Marcy followed by Jennifer Sharon. Welcome Evan.
[01:48:50] Public Speaker Evan Lojewski: Hello, I'm Evan Lojewski. Um I've spoken in the past and earlier today on the commission or sorry at the council. Um in the past I've mentioned that I commute by bicycle. And one thing I don't know if I have mentioned though is I also drive. Um so I have a driver's license. I have taken the driver test. I've seen that there are bicycle questions on the driver's test, for instance. Um and I just wanted to mention that it's pretty rare I would say to find somebody who is only a bicyclist and not also a pedestrian or also driving a car. Um and so I think that having the bike ped commission as it is or renamed with option 3 is a very good way to make sure that we include the bicycles and the pedestrians and you still have the voice of car drivers there. Um it's not purely bicycles and purely pedestrians on there. Um my guess would be most members there also drive. Um and so I just hope that you consider that and uh try to keep a focus on safety but also realize that there are drivers there that still have a voice uh in that commission. Thank you.
Segment 3
[01:49:45] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. Next we have Beck Polczinski, followed by Louise Sadati, followed by Emily Poon. Welcome Beck.
[01:49:55] Public Speaker Beck Polczinski: Hello. All right. Hello everyone, again. My name is Beck Polczinski, Cupertino resident and member of Walk Bike Roll California, speaking for myself today. Ever since Ethan Wong got killed by a gravel truck in 2015 riding home from the same high school I ride home from, there have been some pedestrian safety improvements in Cupertino. The Bike-Ped Commission has done things like the protected bike lane McClellan and Stevens Creek Trail past Blackberry Farm, and I would like to thank the city for these improvements. Problem is, that progress is being threatened. This item that I'm speaking on is an attempt to kill the Bike-Ped Commission. While in the seventh grade, I called the cops myself because I witnessed two cars smash into each other next to Kennedy Middle School, one spinning into the sidewalk during school pickup. You know, when the kids are walking on said sidewalk. There was no barrier or even the little concrete strip you get for a protected bike lane to keep the car on the road and not on the sidewalk where the children are. The kind of things that a bicycle and pedestrian commission implements. If you care at all about the health and safety of the kids in your town just trying to get to school, don't kill the group trying to keep them alive. Because if you merge the Bike-Ped Commission into the Planning Commission, there will be no more bicycle and pedestrian safety in this town. There will be no barrier to keep the cars on the sidewalk as they would be too busy debating over local zoning ordinances, construction permit approvals, and parking spaces to ever even address bicycle and pedestrian safety. And the next time cars collide in front of the school, we get Ethan Wong all over again. Who knows, I might even be the one that gets killed next time. Thank you for your time.
Segment 2
[01:50:36] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Evan. Next we have Erve Marcy followed by Joel Wolf followed by Jennifer Sharon. Welcome Erve.
[01:50:55] Public Speaker Erve Marcy: Thank you. Um wanted also to point out that I'm very disappointed again at the time management uh of the meeting tonight. I think I mentioned during the public comments that I was disappointed because we didn't even didn't have enough time and here we go again. I think um we can we can do much better as a city you can do as a city council much better. Um so I'm part of the bicycle pedestrian commission of the city of Cupertino but I speak in my name only. I'm a cyclist, a pedestrian, and a car driver. And I think that we can all really get along safely to go from A to B um and that's the whole point of the bicycle pedestrian commission. The proposed changes strip the commission of its ability to make a positive change um in the lives of pedestrians and cyclists. Only one body was not consulted so we see the planning commission was consulted the city council is consulted it's a little bit like the internet meme um I consent I consent haven't you forgotten to ask someone well that would be the bike ped commission. And as a matter of fact um it was not asked it did not give any input about any of this and um as a matter of fact the vice chair of the commission Esthel Beck mentioned to was nominated by this council um mentioned today in the press that he would like to have the commission maintained as is and that it would even like to see its powers being extended. So I agree that the commission oversee...
Segment 3
[01:51:51] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Beck. Next we have Louise Sadati, followed by Emily Poon. Welcome Louise.
[01:51:54] Public Speaker Louise Sadati: So here we are again after 11 talking about transportation. And um, if the pressure is being put on the speakers for Bike-Ped Commission to speak quickly and limit their time, the Council needs to be careful in managing their time. Like um one of the councilmembers went way more than five minutes on minutiae, and another councilmember went dictating a letter that she could have easily did a draft before the meeting instead of dictating it on the dais for more than five minutes. So um what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And I want to say thank you to Councilman Ray Wang for advocating for all the speakers to have their full three minutes as all the other speakers on all the other subjects have. Keep the Bike-Ped Commission as a separate entity from the Planning Commission and keep all transportation topics with Bike-Ped Commission. I support option three. There are many reasons for this. It's a requirement for grant funding and application for a city to have a separate Bike-Ped Commission. Essentially all the surrounding cities have a separate Bike-Ped Commission. Since 2018 more than 87% of Cupertino bike-ped infrastructure has been from grants. Why jeopardize our ability to receive grants for bike-ped projects? The City Council needs to be fiscally responsible. The Planning Commission's mission is land planning. The Bike-Ped Commission is safety for bikes, pedestrians, and vehicle safety. Safety should be a core issue with the city. Please allow for the most vulnerable walkers and bikers which include children and seniors to have their safety closely reviewed and protected by a separate commission whose core mission is their safety. The vast majority of the surrounding cities have a separate Bike-Ped Commission. Why would Cupertino want to be the only city to rid itself of the Bike-Ped Commission? It sends a very poor signal to everyone of the lack of importance this City Council places on the safety of those who travel through our streets. As the staff report states, folding the Bike-Ped Commission into the Planning Commission will significantly increase staff time. Staff time has been decreased because of our fiscal constraints. Please do not unnecessarily burden the staff with unnecessary responsibilities. I support renaming the Bike-Ped Commission to Mobility and Transportation Commission which more aptly reflects its important mission. Please choose yes on option three on agenda 22 to show you care and have a high priority to safety for everyone who travels on our road by voting yes on option three. Thank you.
[01:54:58] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Louise. Our next speaker is Emily Poon. Welcome Emily.
[01:55:05] Public Speaker Emily Poon: Good evening. Bike safety is very much on our minds. Recently I heard about the two-way bike lanes at Lawson Middle School and drove over there today around 3:00 p.m. to take a look. It was busy and most of the bike riders I saw were boys. They made full use of the bike lane. At one time I saw two boys riding side by side. More on this later. The sidewalk was even busier with a lot of students leaving school on foot. The two-way bike lanes are separated from the car lane by a row of big fat plastic bollards which are close together. The color is dark green and white. I think they look much better because they're more visible than plain white bollards. I stood on the sidewalk and I asked some girls walking past me whether they liked the bollards or the concrete curbs better. The response was that these are better. The concrete curbs give riders a restrictive feel. I only talked to one group of girls. It is not meant to be a study of any kind. My experience of driving in a car lane next to a bike lane protected by concrete barriers was along McClellan. I have heard a common complaint that these are not friendly to car tires. So the complaint can go both ways. They are not friendly to bike tires either I think. Or is it merely a psychological fear of bumping up against the concrete? So of the two boys. I saw two boys riding not single file but side by side. So one of them was riding in the wrong bike lane so to speak. It sounds dangerous but in fact is not. At that time all the bike traffic was outbound from the middle school. The chance of his hitting opposing bike traffic was zero. I have seen two-way bike lanes close up before. I saw them in Berkeley near the university. They are on the street where the gym is. Those bike lanes are considerably wider. Bikers there must observe rules and ride in the designated direction or else the results would be disastrous. E-bikes and scooters have become so popular in a college town that collisions would lead to serious injury. In Berkeley a whole lane adjacent to the double bike lane have become parking spaces, so the parked cars are the buffer or the protection. I'm not advocating for any design. The whole issue of what kind of bike lanes, how wide, one-way or both ways, and what kind of buffer is used deserves our attention. We all agree that safety is important, so can we start from what we agree on and work together? Can we look at any quarrels or any disagreements or any dissatisfaction of our colleagues or non-colleagues, can we all just wipe them out and regard them as a storm in a teacup? Please work together because the kids need that. Thank you.
[01:58:08] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you. That is your time. Thank you. Now we will move to those members of the public requested to speak virtually. We have San Rao, followed by Rosa Kim, followed by Helen Wyant. Welcome San.
[01:58:24] Public Speaker San Rao: Good evening Mayor Chao and councilmembers. I'm chair of the Planning Commission speaking on behalf of myself only. I would like to firstly remind all of us that Council never asked for an option to eliminate the Bike-Ped Commission. I appreciate the completeness and thoroughness of staff, but perhaps the review and approval of the staff report could have eliminated that option in the interest of avoiding public confusion as we have seen. Um, if you go back and look at the minutes when this was asked for, it was to look at Transportation Charter review. There was no mention that Bike-Ped would be eliminated as an option. I hope we can do better going forward and that the staff reports are culled for options that are really not options. The entire evening we have talked about not eliminating the Bike-Ped Commission when in fact Council never asked for that. Um, and it is important to have the Bike-Ped Commission because there are things that only the Bike-Ped Commission can review which are things that are bike specific. So nobody... nobody has asked to eliminate this thing. It has created massive confusion because it was included in the report. So we should all be clear on that. The second thing is we do have grants that require BPAC or equivalent reviews. There are TDA-3 grants, there are MTC grants and so on. And so we need to preserve the BPC. We do not want to dissolve the BPC. However, what nobody has spoken about today is that a vast majority of our road users are frustrated because decisions have been made in isolation that did not factor their input. That is the glaring gap. The De Anza Boulevard lane reduction and removal is a classic example of that and we need to address that issue. And the path to addressing that is to preserve BPC, have the BPC review bike-ped projects, allow for transportation to get BPC input, bring that input under advisory recommendations to the Planning Commission, and review only transportation plans that impact our roadways in the Planning Commission. So I would be recommending option two with a couple of caveats: the transit also be reviewed in the Planning Commission—transit is critical since it impacts SB-79 and density of development—and secondly that we be very clear that anything that has a roadway impact actually get a review and not be a discretion decision by staff. And finally for those that are saying the Planning Commission is too busy, let me give you some numbers. In 2022 the Planning Commission cancelled 17 of its 24 meetings. In 2023, 15 of 24 meetings were cancelled. In 2024, 13 of 24 meetings were cancelled. In fact the most meetings the Planning Commission has held is this year when we have only cancelled six, several of those being because of a month recess in August. And so the Planning Commission is not too busy. We do not get these master transportation plans coming in every month. And so let's have the best of both worlds.
[02:01:27] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you San. That is your time. Next we have Rosa Kim, followed by Helen Wyant, followed by Bill Wilson. Welcome Rosa.
[02:01:38] Public Speaker Rosa Kim: Honorable Mayor Chao and City Councilmembers. My name is Rosa Kim, I'm serving as a trustee for the Fremont Union High School District, but today I'm speaking in a personal capacity. I want to express my strong support for option three, keeping the Bike-Pedestrian Commission intact. The safety of bikers and pedestrians is directly tied to the safety of our students. Every day students in Cupertino walk or bike to school and their families rely on the city to prioritize safe routes. The Bike-Pedestrian Commission has the specialized expertise, focus, and community voice to advise on these critical issues. Bike and pedestrian safety requires dedicated attention as a priority in itself. Keeping this commission intact ensures we continue to center community voices, student safety, and our shared vision of a more walkable, bikeable Cupertino. Thank you so much.
[02:02:51] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Rosa. Next we have Helen Wyant, followed by Bill Wilson, followed by Betsy Megas. Welcome Helen.
[02:03:01] Public Speaker Helen Wyant: Good evening. Um, I'm Helen Wyant and I'm a Cupertino resident since 1979. I strongly support option three from the list of staff recommendations. From the sequence of events that I've observed, I see that there are a few people who don't like initiatives proposed by the Bike-Pedestrian Commission. Well, we have five councilmembers who take input from commissions and then they make their decisions. If you don't like the results, make your voices heard in the next election. But don't narrow the diversity and expertise in viewpoints that we have today in our city government. The Bike-Pedestrian Commission has an important responsibility and has achieved truly great benefits for Cupertino, at no expense to cars I might add. Their focused mission to review, monitor, and make recommendations on transportation to improve the safety and quality of life for all residents is essential for a thriving, safe, and environmentally healthy Cupertino. The Planning Commission already has a huge responsibility to provide expert advice on land use matters. Given the significant challenge in housing in our state, land use needs to be focused and informed um by the Planning Commission. Adding transportation to their responsibilities would necessarily dilute and deprioritize the attention that transportation urgently requires. Adding transportation to Planning Commission responsibilities would lose focus and would lose deep expertise on how to continue improving and innovating in transportation in our Cupertino community. Therefore I strongly support option three presented by the city staff: leave all transportation matters under the Bike-Pedestrian Commission purview. All the other options are regressive. They degrade the quality of our city government. They result in added staff cost, confusion and responsibilities, reduced focus on transportation, loss of specialized bicycle and pedestrian advisory, and negative impact on transportation grant eligibility. They are bad for Cupertino. Keep Cupertino moving forward, not backward. Please vote for option three. Thank you.
[02:05:13] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Helen. Next we have Bill Wilson, followed by Betsy Megas, followed by Babu Srinivasen. Welcome Bill.
[02:05:24] Public Speaker Bill Wilson: Yes. Uh, thank you, Mayor Chao and Cupertino City Councilmembers. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this item. Uh, as a 16-year uh trustee for the Fremont Union High School District, I'm especially interested in the impact of safe transportation for students. I think you've heard eloquently from uh current school board member on CUSD and from Rosa Kim, my colleague on FUHSD. But one of the things I heard most frequently from residents was a very legitimate concern about traffic around our schools. The school district took some steps to try to address this, but the most effective was encouraging students to walk or bike to school. To make this succeed, it is important that cyclists can feel safe. Unfortunately it took a tragedy with a Monta Vista student to jumpstart the bike lanes on McClellan, but now students can safely use those lanes and others the city has proactively created. With the trails and bike lanes now in place, more students can bike or walk to school with tremendous health benefits in terms of exercise and time outside away from their phones. Plus residents long removed from school days can enjoy the benefits of those lanes and trails. However much more needs to be done. We need a commission that continues this effort to have transportation options that enhance the experience of living in Cupertino. That work needs to be done in a manner that addresses the needs of all residents, and it can only be coordinated with a commission knowledgeable and focused on this task. It cannot be done as a side hustle by a commission focused on building projects and codes. Please uh choose option three so that we can continue to make Cupertino a livable uh a livable city we can all enjoy. Thank you.
[02:07:24] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Thank you Bill. Next we have Betsy Megas, followed by Babu Srinivasen, followed by Jennifer Sheeran. Welcome Betsy.
[02:07:32] Public Speaker Betsy Megas: Hi, thank you. Betsy Megas. I'm a member of the Santa Clara BPAC and the VTA BPAC, speaking tonight for myself. I am also disappointed by the time management and the focus of this Council. I've been here mainly to comment on these two items, but somehow these topics have dragged out over multiple late-night meetings. Please listen to and read so many comments and choose option three. Planning commissions are about land use, which is intimately linked with transportation, but transportation really is its own issue with its own considerations. I don't know that much about architecture, permitting, or zoning, and I doubt your planning commissioners really want to know the minutiae of traffic safety and design, nor are they likely to have the dedication to handle this entire topic on top of all they already do. If the Planning Commission does want to understand transportation better, have some more joint meetings. You did one for Lawrence-Mitty Trail and park planning. It was terrific. We should all be doing that. If you choose to consolidate the groups, expect transportation and especially safety and active transportation to get short shrift. Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee members are your local citizen experts, and most of us, most of them are also drivers. I try not to drive very much and I still end up driving because of the way we build our transportation system. It heavily favors cars. Drivers naturally resist change and may recoil at suggestions to reduce road space dedicated to cars, but it's not only their road space, and physical devices like curbs and lane reductions are the most effective means to reduce speeding and make streets safer. By all means make it a transportation commission that includes all the modes, but please keep it, keep the avenues open for the funding sources that require citizen review, and please at least seriously consider their recommendations. If you've never biked for transportation and wound up on a road like Stevens Creek or El Camino, you might not understand just how vulnerable it makes you feel and be to share a road with cars with only a painted line to protect you from two-ton motor vehicles going many times your speed. I didn't set out to be a transportation advocate, I set out to get across town on a bicycle, most often my town of Santa... my city of Santa Clara, but sometimes also Cupertino. Please keep a bicycle pedestrian commission or transportation commission and please listen to their advice. Thank you.
[02:10:11] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Point of order. Can we extend time so we can complete this item?
[02:10:17] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So in terms of time management, we've had 40 minutes of public comment on non-agenda item, another 40 minutes on consent agenda item, another 40 minutes on the... I think... I think another 40 on the Vigen studies, that's two hours. And then plus one hour for this item, that's three hours of public comments. And the... this Council really hasn't deliberated except for the Vigen study, which Councilmember Mohan requested that we spend more time on and we did because um I think we have new information that the Council had never heard before. And if we don't do our due diligence to listen and deliberate, we are not doing our jobs. The only time item we have deliberated on is the Vigen study. And now it's already 11:26.
[02:12:05] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I would like to move that we extend the time to midnight on this item, please. We have people waiting.
[02:12:12] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So right now it's... the public has spoken. So it's really up to the Council...
[02:12:18] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I want to deliberate.
[02:12:19] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: what we do.
[02:12:20] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Mayor, the public comment period is not complete actually.
[02:12:22] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: We still have comments. We're going to have to extend.
[02:12:26] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: There are five speakers left.
[02:12:28] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh my goodness. Oh, five more speakers?
[02:12:29] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Yes.
[02:12:31] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay. Um, so we have to vote to extend time.
[02:12:35] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Yes, you have to suspend the rules and extend the time.
[02:12:38] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: In one motion.
[02:13:24] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Mayor, I move that we suspend the rules and extend time to complete this one item and then we adjourn.
[02:13:36] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Do you mean... without... we would include the deliberation?
[02:13:37] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Well, yeah.
[02:13:38] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: We'll finish this one item and adjourn.
[02:13:43] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Like I said, I've been waiting for 5G for five years.
[02:13:47] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: I know I could wait longer, but oh well.
[02:13:53] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: The public were upset when we suspend the rules, but if we don't suspend the rules those five public member won't be able to speak. I think it's important that they get to speak... finish this item, this one item.
[02:14:09] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So you... so would you like to make a motion?
[02:14:11] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I said so.
[02:14:13] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: I second.
[02:14:14] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Seconded. So the motion is to suspend the rule, complete the item including public comment, deliberation, and maybe a Council direction. Okay. Let's vote on that.
[02:14:36] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Who seconded the motion?
[02:14:38] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Wang.
[02:14:39] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I did.
[02:14:40] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh it's on the screen, yeah.
[02:14:52] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: The motion carries unanimously.
[02:15:00] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Thank you councilmembers for your dedication to complete this. I think many of us have work full time and have to get up early for our real job. Um, okay. I hope the public appreciate that... the ones who are complaining about time management, really, we deliberated only one item today. So now finally we will get to deliberate on... oh, five more comments. Sorry, sorry. Okay. Five more comments.
Segment 4
[02:15:10] Public Speaker Santosh Rao: Go to them and get it reviewed before implementing it and then working on what is or reversing it, it'll reduce the noise, it'll streamline the process. So keep the bike ped commission and have the planning commission oversight it and look at the optional proposed, give the feedback not to take the council's time. And the other thing what I would suggest is there is not just an option just to debate here, we can write it to the council, let us have that option and limit the number of comments in public, the first five people for one item and the next for online and in person. Have that limit so that we don't run into this issue, this is very simple. If you want to do it, make your card top five, if you want to comment, raise your hand top five. We are not here for all the time sitting 24/7 debating and people complaining, no, but we want a feedback that whatever we write, people are reviewing and then what you people are coming out because we want everyone's time to be utilized in a fair and share manner, right, it's like we all have personal life as well. So there is nothing to complain here, we need to run the city as a efficient way. Same way I would see bike ped commission under a planning commission, getting the changes done and getting their expertise come through. And it is not like bike ride alone, it is overall picture of the city, the planning commission need to take care of. And what we see, it is a ego or it is a hierarchy or it is a power grab, that is what we saw in display today, which is not good for the people of Cupertino. So I would suggest there is nothing like officially if you have only one, it's easy to get things done, but a planning commission supervising, getting the feedback on bike ped commission, I see that is the right option. There is nothing, I made it, I want to grow like an independent commission, I think that is not the right thing. People need to work together and make better utilization of every commission's time. Its city council time, we don't want to come for each and everything. They can go propose with the planning commission approval, come back here and make use of the streamlined process. There is a hierarchy, let us take everybody's..."
Segment 3
[02:15:36] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: So we have the last speakers are Babu Srinivasen, Jennifer Sheeran, Alvin Yang, Prabir Mohanty, and Venkat Raganathan. Welcome Babu.
[02:15:51] Public Speaker Babu Srinivasen: Mayor Chao, thanks for the opportunity. Appreciate for the three minutes. This is the same situation what you are proposing now. The Council is burning late night oil and the public as well in debating all this issue. So this is exactly what I see in the Bike-Ped Commission under Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is underutilized as per Santosh and what we hear. So if they report...
Segment 4
[02:17:36] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Thank you, and that's your time. Next, we have Jennifer Sheerin followed by Alvin Yang followed by Prabir Mahanti. Welcome Jennifer.
[02:17:47] Public Speaker Jennifer Sheerin: Good evening again, Mayor Chao and councilmembers. My name is Jennifer Sheerin and I'm a resident of Cupertino. We're again here past 11:30 at night talking about this issue after most people have gone to bed. We could have had this first but again it was pushed to the back. You've read all the reasons that you shouldn't carve out all the transportation issues which are currently per municipal code under the bicycle pedestrian commission and move them over to the planning commission in the 60 plus letters you've received in the last day or so and every single speaker tonight except for planning commissioner Santosh Rao and the I think maybe the speaker ahead of me I couldn't really tell. Those reasons include the increased unnecessary cost, the silencing of our most vulnerable residents, how it doesn't make sense that a commission devoted to land use and building consider road projects, the likely loss of significant grant money, how it will detract from our schools and its students and how residents of all ages and abilities are not in favor of this change. Commissioner Santosh is clearly being disingenuous when he says this agenda item isn't about getting rid of the BPC. We're not fools, the many speakers know that this is a falsehood. His proposal is to gut the bicycle pedestrian commission by taking every single project and issue that touches our roads and moving them over to the planning commission. There's really nothing left, maybe bike racks. This is clearly a way to silence advocates of biking and walking and also to consolidate more power onto the planning commission. These are all personal wants. You may agree that transportation needs more attention, I heard Mayor Chao say that at her coffee. I get that, however there's many ways to increase the focus such as expanding the bike ped commission to a transportation commission such as listed in option 3. A personal power grab such as moving transportation from the BPC to the planning commission will not add to that goal but instead bring to the city all the problems that you had mentioned you had heard in all those many letters. It's not always easy to do the right thing for Cupertino but sometimes it's clear when a plan is being pushed that is self-serving and not the best for the residents of Cupertino. You can see that by all the people who have talked tonight. This is just that case. Thank you for considering my input and your work on behalf of Cupertino.
[02:20:12] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Thank you Jennifer. Next we have Alvin Yang followed by Prabir Mahanti followed by Venkat Ranganathan. Welcome Alvin.
[02:20:23] Public Speaker Alvin Yang: Hi, thank you for your time. I'm a long time resident of Cupertino. I urge you to choose option 3 and rename the bike ped commission to the transportation mobility commission. I believe transportation is too much for the planning commission to handle at the same capacity that the bike ped commission currently handles it at and it's important to have a separate transportation commission much like how the other cities in the bay area do. I also believe that if we rename the bike ped commission to a transportation commission, it'll be much more clear to a lot of these citizens who feel like cars aren't included in transportation when they definitely are to show up to these meetings and voice their opinions. I believe this will help clarify where you should go to voice your opinions on transportation. Thank you for your time and that's all I have to say.
[02:21:43] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Thank you Alvin. Next we have Prabir Mahanti followed by Venkat Ranganathan. Welcome Prabir.
Segment 5
[03:00:02] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, I think that's cap--kind of captured in--in this slide. These are the issues that we hope staff can propose a solution to address. For example, floating bus island. We didn't even know it's already in the plan which was considered by Bike Ped Commission back in 2022.
[03:00:24] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And now, because VTA changed their recommendation, we are like going to remove them. But none of us even know it's in there. And now I tried to look for the plan, it's not on the website. So these are the I think the staff know, if the staff can propose a solution to address these issues, I'm--I welcome that.
[03:00:49] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: But can we also then include a potential revision to the so--so you are saying that we don't want to consider these today but then we could bring back another item that consider to clarify the these items for in terms of Planning Commission. So you are okay...
[03:01:14] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Mayor?
[03:01:19] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah.
[03:01:20] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: So I think we have that in there, in 'consider improving the municipal code regarding the Planning Commission as a separate item'. So that would need to come back. My--so I...
[03:01:34] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Can we include the considering these items in the list? I think these are already part of planning. For example, traffic demand management. If planning doesn't consider that, who else? There is no other body and they are the ones that approve development project, make recommendation--not approve, make recommendation on development project. Right? So then they are also the ones that evaluate EIR or the mitigation before it comes to the council.
[03:02:09] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I would add one thing. But I know you've been trying to speak, go ahead.
[03:02:12] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: No, no. I just wanted to make sure we stay on topic. I mean, most of this is the policy changes relating to the Planning Commission. Uh, let's just focus on what we need to do today, which is, uh, how do we deal with transportation matters?
[03:02:26] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: These are all related to transportation matters.
[03:02:28] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Right, and but we also said that details would be discussed at a later stage.
[03:02:34] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So yeah, that's why I want to clarify with the motion include that we will bring back an item to consider these five items I have proposed for consideration.
[03:02:49] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Mayor?
[03:02:50] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I would be okay with any of this if we were clear that planning is supreme on transportation. I mean, I think that's what we're headed. I mean, you don't need to make all these amendments here, but I think it's really important to clarify Bike Ped's role ultimately reports to--to planning. If that's not clarified, I think we're missing the point.
[03:03:11] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Through the Mayor, I'm not advocating for the Bike Ped Commission to report to the Planning Commission and I...
[03:03:20] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Why not?
[03:03:21] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Why not? I think that they need to be autonomous and report to the council and--and I think I would feel pretty demoralized if I was on the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission reporting to the Planning Commission and then the Planning Commission up. Um, especially, you know, I--I was more wanting to see Safe Routes to School merged into, um, the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission in some way because I'm concerned about the costs and I'd also like, essentially, the Bike Ped Commission to look at those costs and--and make some comments about that if there's anything that we can do because it's been growing so much, um, in also what are we going to do with our shuttle moving forward, uh, if somebody would like to take that on, if the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission would like to take that challenge on for future funding. I think that's a great project. Um, but I--I think there's enough for them to do, um, and I wouldn't--I wouldn't want to demoralize them by taking away their authority.
[03:04:22] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: My concern is not that. My concern is there's no governance on those types of public works projects, especially the spending, the approval, so even the recommendations going through and that's not necessarily coming to council for final approval on those details.
[03:04:34] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: We--we approve all--all spending. The Bike Ped Commission is not--is not approving spending.
[03:04:39] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: We get very limited plans and details when they're presented.
[03:04:43] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: One paragraph description.
[03:04:45] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Yeah, and we can solve that with different policy.
[03:04:48] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, that I hope the staff will propose something to solve. We have plans that don't take account holistic approach, which means we don't even have fines when people break these things. We don't enforce those. I mean, if you're going to build a comprehensive traffic plan, you should find pedestrians, find, um, you should also find bikers and find automobiles who are breaking the law. I mean, we don't have enforcement. Everything is about take--creating well, anyways, I'll let you continue.
[03:05:14] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So I'd like to say that Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, Alameda and Berkeley, maybe more, have the Bike Ped Committee reporting to planning, planning, uh, advice council. And so that structure has been used in other cities, I don't think it's demoralizing. However, uh, I didn't include that in my motion because I'd like to hear different opinions.
[03:05:41] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So maybe the Bike Ped will have--just like the Vision study, maybe Bike Ped will have their recommendation from their perspective that might be different from, uh, planning. As a council member, when I make decision, I would like to hear both and then weigh pros and cons for that. And but if they tend to agree, maybe the item doesn't need to come to the council. If they disagree, then maybe the item come to the council and we listen to both. Um, so that's why I didn't include that in what I had proposed. Yeah.
[03:06:19] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: One comment, Mayor.
[03:06:21] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yep.
[03:06:22] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: We--there will always be exceptions and, uh, I'm okay with an occasional, uh, issue going from Bike Ped to--to Planning Commission. But that's--that is not what we, uh, should be focusing on. We--let's leave the Bike Ped as it is, let's leave the Planning Commission as it is for now, because really they... you can point to, uh, the floating islands as--as a problem, but--but really they we are not looking at, uh, from a holistic point of view. We are just pointing at what--something here, the right--right-turn signals and the, uh, De Anza bike lanes. Um, we are also discounting the fact that anytime we issue--we involve two commissions, if there's--there's an efficiency impact, there's a staffing impact, and everything slows down. We are not Palo Alto, we are not Berkeley, we are much smaller, and we can get things done efficiently without going through, uh, you know, all this sort of bureaucratic measure. So my suggestion is let's the current motion on the table would be involving two commissions.
[03:07:38] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Well, in a limited way.
[03:07:41] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: So... yeah.
[03:07:43] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay, thank you.
[03:07:44] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Thank you. Um, so when I'm--when I'm looking at this specific set that you have in your motion, Mayor, with regards to in particular, like looking at item 5, I would just leave it at the first sentence, um, because it's--it's getting too particular about, um, what the Planning Commission would be doing. Uh, having served on the Planning Commission along with Councilmember Wang, it--one area that was particularly frustrating was that we would only evaluate the CIP items for their consistency with the general plan, and we had always wanted to, kind of, weigh in on those particular projects and--and provide some opinion on that, and so what I like about that this this has the the possibility of being able to provide that input.
[03:08:36] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Like evaluating impact?
[03:08:38] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Um, but you don't know, I would just right, I would just leave it on the first line, 'making recommendations', that's going to automatically require you to make those evaluations. Um, and so I--so each one of these, they would need a little bit of adjusting because...
[03:08:57] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yeah, definitely, this is just an initial proposal.
[03:08:59] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Yeah. So that's why I just say 'consider improving the municipal code regarding the Planning Commission as a separate item' and, uh, we would need to talk to the attorney regarding item 3 with regards to CEQA, um, and unfortunately, the way the law's been changed, we're seeing, um, those CEQA documents so few and far between, everything's getting a notice of exemption, we've got hundreds of them now. Um, so...
[03:09:28] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Can we, um, make a friendly amendment to consider the responsibilities and but also consider this point raised and evaluate the list. And then staff can make recommendation based on what they think of these proposals.
[03:09:50] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Yeah, I--I think that Vice Mayor Moore's verbiage, the way that it's written, encourages staff to make recommendations to us on how they might improve the function of Planning Commission. I--so I feel like that's already captured there. I--I don't want to speak for--for Vice Mayor Moore, but I feel like we probably have a similar, I don't want to call it objection to the motion that you've made with regard to the Planning Commission, but it does feel very prescriptive and and therefore that we're kind of getting the cart before the horse here. So I'm happy to, you know, evaluate what it is that the Planning Commission is doing, but I think that we should be doing that in the, well, full light of day, right?
[03:10:36] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay, so that's fine.
[03:10:37] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Through the Mayor, so that staff would understand that they would be evaluating your--your suggestions as overarching topics, um, with--and be when they bring it back that they're being, you know, taking care that they, um, with that.
[03:10:54] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay, makes sense.
[03:10:56] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So, uh, City Clerk, could you show the final motion?
[03:11:07] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Yes.
[03:11:11] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay.
[03:11:38] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay, I'm... I'm not sure I... so Mayor, I have your motion... let me make this bigger... I have your motion verbatim. Uh, Councilmember Wang made a friendly amendment to...
[03:11:55] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Wow, how did you get my motion verbatim?
[03:12:01] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: I copied it into ChatGPT.
[03:12:03] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Oh!
[03:12:06] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Um... and... oh, I'm sorry, so I don't know what's going on with my screen here but...
[03:12:16] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Who seconded the Vice Mayor's motion? I think...
[03:12:23] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Councilmember Fruen.
[03:12:25] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay.
[03:12:31] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay, so, uh, I don't know, so... Vice Mayor, please let me know if you agree with this. It's rough, but... Yes?
[03:12:48] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Okay.
[03:12:49] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: So 'agrees with the start of the Mayor's motion to do nothing initially but... but um... we need the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission to carry out item 1 of the municipal code, which includes reviewing, making recommendations, and monitoring the city's general plan transportation element. This responsibility is already in the code but it hasn't been done, uh, so so, uh, no changes are needed, just ensuring the commission actually performs it. We should be careful about sending items to planning and the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission should follow staff guidance on when a joint meeting or a separate meeting is appropriate. We should consider updating the municipal code regarding the Planning Commission as a separate item since the commission may lack expertise for some aspects of a transportation study.'
[03:13:24] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Yeah.
[03:13:25] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: It's actually called the transportation element and it should be called the mobility element. I think we need another word 'we' after 'and the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission should follow staff'. Okay, um, we should be careful about sending items to planning and the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission and we should follow staff guidance on when a joint meeting, so it's a--I don't want it to get confused that the Bike Ped Commission follows staff guidance, it's council, yeah, or we're going to listen to staff when they suggest where things should go.
[03:13:41] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: I believe she was mentioning the mobility element.
[03:14:18] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And but I thought we will the staff will propose, uh, the staff guidance will be based on something the council will the staff will propose how they will handle, address those issues I have raised, right?
[03:14:32] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Mayor, that can be part of the the, you know, if we develop additional policy...
[03:14:39] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Because the issue right now is the staff guidance is in conflict with the council and then those issues I raised, I hope staff propose something that the council will approve, um, based on staff's proposal to address those issues, then the guidance will be based on the council's direction, not staff the guidance.
[03:15:03] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Our challenge is the fact that the bike lobby meets more with the staff than the vehicle lobby and that's really creating the issue and the disparity in the thing. I'm not saying bikers are not drivers, but I'm saying they're taking a very one-sided point of view that doesn't account for all forms of mobility and it still doesn't address that issue.
[03:15:22] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Why no, I think this would address it if we have a staff propose a proposal to address the issues that I had on my first slide, then that proposal will be approved by the council in writing, then we have something in writing that staff and council can refer to on how we move forward. Yeah.
[03:15:49] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Mayor, to clarify the motion then, can we... so I--I get the clear direction from council that staff needs to develop additional policy on the increased transparency on projects and we'll bring that forward for council consideration. Is--is council also want staff to recommend...
[03:16:04] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And the staff I think the the policy also should include then when a project would go to planning so that it's in writing, um, because when it's not in writing, that's when we have this back and forth.
[03:16:17] City Manager Tina Kapoor: We can include those as staff recommendations.
[03:16:19] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And then when it's in writing, approved by the council, then we won't be we have this conflict, right?
[03:16:26] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I would be inclined to support that but I would ask for a moratorium on all road projects at this moment until this is solved.
[03:16:34] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So... moratorium on projects like in active?
[03:16:40] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: Before you break--dig ground, before you break another lane, before you take another road diet, before you stop another free right turn, uh, let's solve this problem.
[03:16:50] City Manager Tina Kapoor: So Councilmember Wang, I think the ATP is going to come up for council considerations depending on the...
[03:16:54] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: But we're already digging. You guys are starting a project right now in De Anza.
[03:16:59] City Manager Tina Kapoor: That's the past council's direction that staff has, so we will...
[03:17:03] Councilmember R "Ray" Wang: I would like a moratorium before we until we get there because this is--this is why people are angry, right? This is why people when we knocked on doors, they were angry. That was the number one issue when we hit on doors. What's with all the road diets? Why come how come there's no input from drivers? Right? How come there's no input for autonomous vehicles? How come there's no input for other modes of transportation? Why are there no fines for when people break these laws? Right? Why are we inviting this problem? Why are bikers still on the sidewalks when we have bike lanes? None of those issues are being addressed.
[03:17:39] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: So we do have a motion on the floor and, um, it would be up to the motion maker and the seconder if they would be willing to accept that.
[03:17:48] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: To accept the moratorium?
[03:17:49] Councilmember Sheila Mohan: Yeah.
[03:17:51] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: No.
[03:17:51] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So we have the motion on the floor. Uh, can I clarify on the motion about the staff proposal for transparency and it's not just transparency, I think it's also decision making process, um, because transparency sometimes just mean we'll post things. But then the decision making process might still have gaps. So if the staff can propose something, that would be great. And then also include when, uh, the staff will decide a project would have a joint study session, uh, when that's necessary. So if we can have a more clarity on that, that would be great.
[03:18:34] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: I--I already conceive of the the motion as including that.
[03:18:38] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay.
[03:18:40] City Manager Tina Kapoor: Yeah, we--we've got that clarity from what council wants right now.
[03:18:45] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: So I think the Vice Mayor's motion doesn't exactly have that, does it have that?
[03:18:53] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: I--I don't know what section you're referring to, Mayor.
[03:18:57] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Scroll down, Kirsten.
[03:18:59] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Um, yeah, scroll down to section where Moore substitute motion...
[03:19:04] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: Yeah.
[03:19:05] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: And the Fruen friendly amendment, last bullet on...
[03:19:11] Vice Mayor Kitty Moore: This is where we are ask we are asking the staff to develop policy, right? Increase transparency and address decision making, um, process and then address, I guess as address decision making process for project that also include when, uh, a project would have a joint joint...
[03:19:39] Councilmember J.R. Fruen: Yeah.
[03:19:40] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Yes.
[03:19:42] Director of Public Works Chad Mosley: I think we understand that. I mean, right now what I'm seeing is basically keep the Bike Ped Commission the same, uh, ensure the Bike Ped Commission is reviewing the general plan mobility element, um, come back with policy recommendations that would include things such as joint meetings, lane removals, um, processes. We kind of have an understanding of where you want to go with this, so I think we can take a good crack at it and then you can always put more input on top of that as we get to that point. And then I think your last item was to, um, look at modifications on how to enhance the Planning Commission code sections, and that's kind of how I've read things to this point.
[03:20:23] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay, sounds great. Okay, alright. Let's vote. On the substitute motion, correct, Mayor?
[03:20:34] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Yes, the substitute motion and with the friendly amendments that you have shown on screen.
[03:20:44] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: Okay.
[03:20:51] City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: The substitute motion as amended carries with Wang voting no.
[03:21:00] Mayor Liang-Fang "Liang" Chao: Okay, so we won't have time for the the other two items that will be continued to the next meeting. And the meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone for pushing through this.
Segment 1
[07:18:37] Michael Wang: Um, and I might be misunderstanding SB 79, but I've heard that uh only designs that are at 100% design actually count for SB 79. So if that's true, then then this doesn't even apply in the first place, you know, BRT or light rail or whatever. So the SB 79 argument holds no water. So that's all I had to say.