Cupertino Matters
Our community celebrated Lunar New Year this week, with restaurant owners welcoming the return of celebratory banquet dining.
A number of events are occurring in the city. The city attorney, Chris Jensen, is leaving the city, as covered by in a San Jose Spotlight article Cupertino city attorney resigns. His loss will be felt as he navigated major legal settlements for the benefit of the city. The council is now faced with recruiting his replacement, which may be difficult given the divisiveness and record of the current council majority.
Public Records Act (PRA) requests are a major drain on the city clerk staff as outlined in an City Council Informational Memorandum, entitled Overview of Public Records Requests for 2024. The number and quantity of PRA requests have increased significantly in the last 5 years. In 2024, there were 333 requests; in 2020, there were 120 requests. In 2024, staff spent 550 hours in fulfilling requests; in 2020, staff spent 120 hours. In addition, 636,011 pages were reviewed in fulfilling 2024 requests. While many of the requests, such as building permits, are legitimate, others are aimed at harassment and consume valuable staff time. Readers may review PRAs that are submitted online at https://cityofcupertinoca.nextrequest.com/.
Last year, housing was very much in the news for Cupertino with the approval of the state mandated Housing Element, as documented in Year in Review, 2024 Cupertino Housing Highlights. In 2025, actual housing development is moving ahead. There will be an community open house workshop for the Santa Clara County workforce housing project on Wolfe Road between Vallco and 280–the so-called “Simian” site, on Feb. 12, 6 – 7:30 at Collins Elementary School. There is a preliminary application, but not a formal application: Preliminary Application for Freeway-Adjacent Housing in Cupertino. In addition, there will be a city workshop on Residential Objective Design Standards to standardize the multi-family building review process on Feb. 10, 6:30 – 8, at Community Hall.
At meetings on January 27 and January 28, the City Council interviewed 64 applicants for 22 commission openings. Many appointments reflect political loyalty to members of the new council majority, rather than best qualifications to represent the public at large.
Arts and Culture Commission
- Archana Panda, appointed to a partial term ending 1/30/2027
- Gurmeet Lamba, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Susan Chen, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
Audit Committee: No appointment. Vacancy will be re-advertised
Bicycle Pedestrian Commission
- Gerhard Eshelbeck, appointed to a partial term ending 1/30/2027
- Munisekaran Madhdhipatla, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Ilango Ganga, reappointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
Housing Commission
- Elida Xhindi, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Usha Narayan, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
Library Commission
- Liyan Zhao, reappointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Chandrasekaran Sakthivel, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Xiangchen Xu, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
Parks and Recreation Commission
- Seema Swamy, reappointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Gopalakrishnan Kumarappan, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Sheela Sreekanth, reappointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
Planning Commission
- Steven Scharf, reappointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Santosh Rao, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Tracy Kosolcharoen, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
Public Safety Commission
- Sashikala Begur, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Ravi Kiran Singh Sapaharam, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
Sustainability Commission
- Sonali Padgaonkar, reappointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
- Jack Carter, appointed to a full term ending 1/30/2029
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, Tues. Feb. 4, 6:45 p.m., Regular Meeting
Agenda and Presentations
Ceremonial Items are Item No. 1, Recognition of STEM Winners from the City of Cupertino who participated in the Santa Clara County 2024 Synopsys Championship Science Fair and Item No. 2, Recognition of February as Black History Month.
Oral Communications from the public on non-agenda items precede 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.8: Future agenda items requested by City Councilmembers (“TBD List”) (Continued from the January 22, 2025 City Council meeting). Previously considered, council had approved staff recommendations on 7 of the 16 items. The remaining items fall into categories (1) Lease vs. buy and the need for an interim city hall, (2) Reactivating ineffective committees that consume limited staff resources with no benefit to residents, and (3) Minor agenda items. Mayor Chao is the primary requester for these items.
Item No. 9: Award a construction contract to Golden Bay Construction in the amount of $1,569,798, approve a first amendment to the design services contract with Pakpour Consulting Group to increase the contract by $96,620 for a total not-to-exceed contract amount of $310,483 and approve a budget modification in the amount of $1,500,000 for the Stevens Creek Boulevard Class IV Bike Lane Project. Mayor Chao pulled this from the Consent Calendar for the previous council meeting for no apparent reason. This is a previously approved project, and the staff is recommending approval for the low cost bidder.
Item No. 10: Award of a design-build contract to Syserco Energy Solutions for $4,339,881 and award a project management and construction management agreement to 4Leaf, Inc. for $225,000 for the Photovoltaic Systems Design and Installation Capital Improvement Programs Project. This item is approval of the contract to begin design and construction of this previously approved project. Solar panels would be placed on Community Hall, the Sports Center and Quinlan Community Center. Timely approval is essential to meet deadlines for construction.
Item No. 11: Study Session for the use of Committed Future Use Reserve one-time funds (Continued from the January 22, 2025 City Council meeting). This is a continuation of the Nov. 19, 2024 council meeting. Council needs to provide guidance on whether allocations should be included in the upcoming fiscal budget. If not, the funds would remain as uncommitted general funds.
Item No. 12: Study session on revisions to the Cupertino City Council Procedures Manual. In 2023, the council adopted the Cupertino City Council Procedures Manual which has significantly improved city processes and shortened meetings. Periodically, this can be revised. The city attorney prepared a list of minor revisions that the council could consider, though revisions are not necessary.
Item No. 13: Council Reports, (now submitted in written form) are provided by Mayor Chao, and Councilmembers Fruen, Mohan and Wang. Vice-Mayor Moore did not submit a report.
RECAP – CITY COUNCIL, Mon, Feb. 3, 6:30 p.m., Closed Session
Item No. 1: Public Employee Employment (Gov’t Code 54957(b)(1)); Title: City Attorney Recruitment
RECAP – CITY COUNCIL, Wed., Jan. 22, 6:45 p.m., Special Meeting (due to MLK day); 5:00 Closed Session
YouTube: 3 hr. 50 min.
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. Four property owners requested relief from their citations. Two speakers from Rancho Deep Cliff HOA voiced concerns regarding fire safety at Stevens Creek county park. Deep Cliff golf course and the HOA are diligent in reducing vegetation hazards, but the county has not removed fire hazards adjacent to their properties. Council approved the weed abatement resolution with modifications proposed by the County representative 4-0-1 with Wang absent.
Item No. 11 Subject: Future agenda items requested by City Councilmembers (“TBD List”). The agenda was reordered, and this item was continued to the next council meeting, due to time limits.
Item No. 12: FY 2025-27 City Work Program Study Session. Dais time for this item was primarily procedural. Each council member submitted 10 projects, so potentially 50 projects for the next two year cycle, which greatly exceeds staff capacity. Following public input and council discussion, councilmembers were asked to revise their lists and rankings for an upcoming Council Goal Setting Workshop.
Major Chao pulled three items from consent which were considered starting at 10:45. Consent Item No. 7: Authorization to execute a Joint Use Agreement for Continued Public Access to Santa Clara Valley Water District property situated along a portion of Stevens Creek Trail. The item was approved 4-0-1 with Wang absent.
Consent Item No. 8 Award a construction contract to Golden Bay Construction in the amount of $1,569,798, approve a first amendment to the design services contract with Pakpour Consulting Group to increase the contract by $96,620 for a total not-to-exceed contract amount of $310,483 and approve a budget modification in the amount of $1,500,000 for the Stevens Creek Boulevard Class IV Bike Lane Project . This was considered due to time limits, so continued to the next meeting on Feb. 4.
Consent Item No .9: Approve an agreement with Advanced Systems Group, LLC., for Modernization of Broadcast TV and Community Hall Integration for a not-to-exceed amount of $1,100,000, a 10% contingency in the amount of $110,000 for a total not-to-exceed amount of $1,210,000, and associated budget modification, with the cost to be funded by Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) funds. This should have been a pro forma approval of the use of dedicated funds. Council approved 4-0-1 with Wang absent.
CUPERTINO COURIER: January 31, 2025
The front page story and picture on page 3 is entitled Tech-savvy art: Euphrat mounts exhibit in conjunction with Silicon Valley Reads. Community briefs are (1) The art of safety, (2) Funding shuttle expansion, and (3) Sweetheart Social. The sole legal notice is an invitation to bid on the 2025 Slurry Seal / Fog Seal Project.
CUPERTINO COURIER: January 24, 2025
The front page story and article on page 5 is entitled Filling a vacancy: County staffer appointed to seat on Board of Trustees for Foothill-DeAnza Community College District. Alexander Gvatua will represent Sunnyvale. Page 8 is a previously published Mercury News article entitled Hotel near Apple office hub is facing foreclosure, (Aloft Cupertino). Community briefs are (1) Diving into sci-fi, as part of Silicon Valley Reads 2025 and (2) Young Writers Contest. Legal notices are (1) City Council hearing on Feb. 19 for a zoning map amendment to correct a Priority Housing Element site on McClellan Road and (2) Notice of availability of the FY23-24 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) on the city website.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters
Publisher and Editor
