Cupertino Matters
April marks the beginning of festival season. Cupertino’s annual Earth and Arbor Day Festival is being held this Sat., April 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s an interactive event for community members of all ages to learn about environmental issues and solutions in a family-friendly atmosphere. The Festival attracts thousands of attendees and dozens of partner organizations. It features hands-on activities, live entertainment, and delicious food served by local food trucks. See the Earth and Arbor Day webpage for more information.
Are Mayor Chao, Vice-Mayor Moore and Councilmember Ray Wang continuing their previous patterns of harassment? City Manager Pamela Wu had her annual performance review on Nov. 19, 2024. Now another performance evaluation has suddenly been scheduled at a closed session this week. Their previous misbehaviors have been costly:
- Mayor Liang Chao was instrumental in the firing of Cupertino Union School District superintendent Wendy Gudalewicz in 2017, after she was elected to the CUSD board. This cost CUSD $285,563. Leaders of Cupertino Union School District to ‘Release’ Embattled Superintendent
- Then in 2022, Vice-Mayor Liang Chao was sanctioned by the Cities Association and the Round Table for harassment of City Association Executive Andrea Jordan, who originally sought $441,000. According to LosAltosOnline,
- On Nov. 19, 2021, Jordan received the results of a nine-month investigation into her claims. The investigation allegedly concluded that Enander, Lee Eng, Cupertino Councilmember Liang Chao and Mountain View Councilmember Lisa Matichak had engaged in “unlawful harassment” and they were supposedly banned from participating in the association.
- Executive Director Andrea Jordan sued the Cities Association for this behavior, and has received an $180,000 settlement from the fifteen cities belonging to the Association. The City of Cupertino paid her $8,030 (through her attorney, Cathy Arias Law) on June 17, 2022, as its share of this harassment settlement. Cities Association dues rose for all cities as a result.
- Vice-Mayor Kitty Moore was specifically cited for councilmanic interference in the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report, “A House Divided: Cupertino City Council and City Staff,” which investigated multiple complaints about council behavior toward city management and staff. These findings, which also included Mayor Chao and Councilmember Ray Wang in his role as planning commissioner, were validated by an independent investigators report. This was described by San Jose Spotlight in an article entitled Cupertino leaders accused of berating city staff
- Councilmember Ray Wang has threatened lawsuits against three residents, including your publisher. San Jose Spotlight highlighted his behavior Cupertino commissioner threatens lawsuit for Nextdoor posts. Wang has a history of harassment as reported by San Jose Spotlight in an article entitled Cupertino policymaker in hot water for past harassment lawsuit.
Why would the council majority destabilize city management by their constant harassment? Readers may recall the revolving door of city managers prior to the current city manager, who came on board Aug. 29, 2022. As reported in the August 15, 2022 issue of Cupertino Matters, Pamela Wu was the seventh city manager in four years. It’s been less than a year since the CDFTA settlement, and the city is still adjusting to the aftermath, so continuity and stability are essential in making progress in the city. The current city manager has provided stability for the staff and continuity in the city during the last two and a half years with major accomplishments:
- Approval of the Housing Element to regain local land use control
- Resolution of the CDFTA sales tax reallocation with minimal reduction of city services
- Legal settlement to allow Vallco/SHP to start moving ahead to develop the unsightly vacant 58 acres in the heart of the city.
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., Apr. 2, 2025, 6:45 p.m., 2025, Regular meeting, 5:00 p.m. Closed Session (Due to Cesar Chavez Day)
Closed Session
Item No. 1: Public employee performance evaluation; Title: City Manager; California Government Code Section 54954.5(e) and 54957(b). This is highly unusual since the previous performance review was Nov. 18, 2024 – this is normally an annual process.
Item No. 2: Conference with legal counsel-anticipated litigation; California Government Code Sections 54954.5(c) and 54956.9(e)(1): (4 cases). Based on the sections of code invoked, the council will meet in closed session to discuss the possibility of suddenly facing FOUR lawsuits.
Open Session
Closed Session Report
Ceremonial Items are:
- Item No. 3: Recognition of April as Fair Housing Month
- Item No. 4: Recognition of April as Donate Life Month
- Item No. 5: Recognition of April 1 as Odisha Day in the City of Cupertino
Postponements include Item No. 6 Updates to the Policies and Guidelines on Sister Cities, Friendship Cities, and International Delegations pertaining to international travel
Oral Communications from the public on non-agenda items precede the Consent Calendar, which contains one routine item. 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: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among West Valley Cities (Cupertino, Campbell, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, and Town of Los Gatos) for a feasibility study to evaluate the potential of any temporary housing or emergency shelter. There is a need for more types of shelter and housing for the unhoused, in particular, emergency shelter and temporary housing in the City. Currently, this housing is located in other cities so the unhoused have to relocate. This MOU authorizes the city to join with five West Valley cities to collectively study the feasibility of developing temporary and emergency housing facilities, and expanding supportive services for the unhoused in the West Valley. Campbell is the lead city with a consulting agreement with Good City Company. There is no fiscal impact to Cupertino at this time.
Item No. 9: Consider the adoption of a City Council Special Project Policy. This policy is intended to codify the budgeting process for these items. Special Projects are defined as one-time, staff-initiated projects that require City Council approval due to the need for budget appropriations that exceed a department’s base budget. These requests are separate and are apart from the City Work Program (CWP) items, which are Council-initiated and may be one-time and/or result in ongoing costs. Both types of projects require City Council appropriation approval.
Item No. 10: Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Capital Improvement Programs and Five-year Plan. A capital improvement project is a project that enhances a unit of property, restores, or prolongs the useful life of a unit of property, or adapts the unit of property to a new or different use. The CIP Division of Public Works provides planning, design, procurement, and construction administration for all CIP projects including streets, sidewalks, storm drainage, buildings, parks, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, and other public facilities.
The FY 25-26 proposal for CIP includes an allocation of $2 million for new and annually funded projects from the Capital Reserve. The program has 28 existing projects that are a priority to close out. This year, the proposal for new projects was driven by the need to implement health and safety-driven projects and was further impacted by limited staffing resources and only $2 million in funding. New projects are (1) Citywide Facilities Condition Assessment (FCA) Implementation to repair aging infrastructure, (2) Repair various storm drain outfalls following the recommendations of the 2024 Storm Drain Outfalls Assessment, and (3) ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Improvements (Annually funded), a federal requirement for access to public facilities.
There is a staff report and five attachments, which include the full narrative for each project. The projects are categorized by type of project–these are color coded in the staff report for simplicity, though projects could be placed in more than one category.
- Facilities: Yellow
- Parks: Green
- Streets and Infrastructure: Orange
- Transportation/ Bike and Pedestrian: Blue
- Sustainability: Maroon
Readers are invited to review the projects. Staff has done an excellent job of analysis and prioritization. The city has a lot of parks, buildings and infrastructure that need to be maintained and is therefore limited in adding new projects.
Item No. 11: Council Reports, (now submitted in written form) are provided by all council members. This is the first report that councilmember Wang has submitted since taking office.
CUPERTINO COURIER: March 28, 2025
The front page picture and article on page 5 is entitled Is being poor a crime? Controversial proposal to cite, arrest those who refuse shelter divides residents. The community briefs are (1) Meet local officials, (2) VTA oversight and (3) Welcome spring virtually. The sole legal notice is the First Reading of Ordinance No.25-2269 to re-establish the Economic Development Committee.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters
Publisher and Editor
