Cupertino Matters
- Updates on Housing Projects
- UPCOMING – City Council meeting, Wed., Jan. 22, 2025, 6:45 p.m., Closed Session, 5:00 p.m.
Happy New Year and MLK Day to our readers. A good year-end note is that Cupertino saw a big drop in crime rate in 2024, a tribute to the city’s contract with the Santa Clara County sheriff’s department.
On the housing front, two controversial “builder’s remedy” project applications have been deemed incomplete even after resubmittals by the applicants in December and are therefore not approved to move forward. These links provide details: 20739 Scofield and Vista Heights (Former McDonald Dorsa Quarry). The city website includes a page for Major Residential Projects which details the application review and approval stage of various housing-related projects. There is also progress on the Santa Clara County workforce housing project on Wolfe Road between Vallco and 280–the so-called “Simian” site–though the city has not received a full formal application: Preliminary Application for Freeway-Adjacent Housing in Cupertino.
In education news, Dr. Omar Torres began serving as De Anza’s fifth president on January 1, 2025. In addition, former Trustee Gilbert Wong has now dropped his lawsuit against the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, and the District’s board selected a trustee–Alexander Gvatua–to fill the vacancy left in Trustee Area 2 by Patrick Ahrens’ election to the California Assembly.
For research, past issues back to January 2020 of Cupertino Matters are posted on the website. Encourage your friends who would like to become better informed about our community to subscribe to our email newsletter at CupertinoMatters.org.
UPCOMING – CITY COUNCIL, Wed., Jan. 22, 6:45 p.m., Special Meeting (due to MLK day); 5:00 Closed Session
Closed Session:
Item No. 1: Conference with security personnel – critical infrastructure information relating to cybersecurity pursuant to Government Code § 54957(a)
Special Meeting:
Ceremonial Items are Item No. 2, Proclamation to Taiwanese Cultural and Sports Association (TCSA) recognizing the 15th Annual Kids Fun Festival scheduled for 2025 in Cupertino and Item No. 3, Proclamation to Shin Shin Educational Foundation recognizing January 19, 2025 as Shin Shin Educational Foundation Day.
Item No. 4: Postponement: Budget Study Session for use of one-time funds in the Committed Future Use reserve (November 19, 2024 City Council action) City Manager’s First Quarter Financial Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25 (Continued from November 19, 2024).
Oral Communications from the public on non-agenda items are followed by the Consent Calendar which contains five routine items. Members of the public may speak on any or all consent calendar items when the mayor asks for public comment on the Consent Calendar. If an item is pulled from the Consent Calendar, council’s procedural rules require it to be addressed after all regularly scheduled action items, unless council votes to reorder items on the agenda. Members of the public may comment on that item when it is considered.
Item No. 10: Public hearing on the abatement of public nuisance from weeds or other fire hazards pursuant to provisions of Cupertino Municipal Code Chapter 9.08 and Resolution No. 24-111. This step in the annual Santa Clara County process allows homeowners to contest a citation for their property.
Item No. 11 Subject: Future agenda items requested by City Councilmembers (“TBD List”). Two councilmembers can request future agenda items. These are reviewed quarterly. In September, 2024, there were 14 items for staff to consider. Nine additional items were added since then, initiated primarily by Mayor Chao, and seconded by Vice-Mayor Moore. Some of the requests can be folded into City Work programs. Others are superfluous, given limited staff resources.
Item No. 12: FY 2025-27 City Work Program Study Session. City staff spends 90% of their time on daily services. The other 10% is allocated to the City Work Plan projects initiated by council. The number of potential projects greatly exceeds staff capacity. The Work Program is on a two year cycle, which is intended to ensure that the project can actually get done. For this iteration, each councilmember submitted up to 10 projects, so council has potentially 50 projects to consider. However, a number of projects submitted by councilmembers fall under the purview of operations, rather than projects. Readers are urged to review the list of projects and express your priorities to the city council. This study session is the first step in adopting a new City Work Program.
Item No. 13: Council Reports, (now submitted in written form) are provided by Mayor Chao, and Councilmembers Fruen and Mohan. Vice-Mayor Moore and Councilmember Wang did not submit reports.
CUPERTINO COURIER: January 17, 2025
The front page story and picture on page 3 is entitled Mighty Mustangs on the march: Homestead High participates in 136th Tournament of Roses Parade. This was the first time the band participated in the parade. Community briefs are (1) New citizen voters, (2) Symphony makes ‘Impressions’ and (3) Library play spaces. There were no legal notices.
CUPERTINO COURIER: January 10, 2025
The front page story and article on page 3 is entitled A slice of Cupertino: Cicero’s Pizza, a local mainstay since 1961, featured on ‘Check, Please Bay Area’. The sole community brief was Silicon Valley Reads kickoff. There were no legal notices.
CUPERTINO COURIER: January 3, 2025
The front page story and article on page 3 is entitled Stepping down, for now: Joe Simitian reflects on his 41 years in office as he terms out. Community briefs are (1) New city website and (2) New face for open space. Page 5 is an editorial by Supervisor Joe Simitian entitled Santa Clara County supervisor looks back at his time in office. There were no legal notices.
CUPERTINO COURIER: December 27, 2024
The front page story and article on page 3 is entitled Staying active in South Bay: Nonprofit provides vans for clients to partake in local activities. The sole community brief was Volunteer in open spaces. Page 5 is a previously published Mercury News article entitled Flint Center prepares for next chapter: Foothill De Anza College District is planning to build an event center on site. There were no legal notices.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters
Publisher and Editor
