rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/save-cupertino-from-aggressive-development?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-save-cupertino-from-aggressive-development' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Frank Yu https://actionnetwork.org/users/david-lee-32/profile https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/share_options/facebook_images/000/409/821/original/Cupertino_Cith_Hall_Banner.png The recently elected 2023 Cupertino City Council has a majority of pro-developer, pro-business, anti-resident leaders who seek to "clean house" and remove resident focused leaders. Unlike current council members Kitty Moore and Liang Chao, these new council members have colluded with staff to remove the resident focused council members from key committees, sought to shut down commissions where they do not have a majority, and seek to silence public commentary on agenda items at council and commission meetings. We've seen the chilling effects of their policy over the past eight weeks and it has been apparent that there is a war against transparency of process and accountability of staff. As many of you know, the most powerful commission is the planning commission. Our commission members have worked hard to protect resident interests from developers seeking to densify Cupertino and turn our suburban community into an urban town center like San Jose and Sunnyvale, instead of preserving and enhancing our quality of life like Saratoga or Los Altos Hills. The opposition tried to write into the city code a way to remove former two-time Mayor Steven Scharf and current two-time Chair of the Planning Commission but failed to do so. Thus, their latest endeavor is to attempt to remove former two-time Chair and one-time Vice Chair of the planning commission R "Ray" Wang on trumped up charges of treating staff and consultants poorly, and calling out sand bagging of resolutions by the city staff. Previous city councils have not capriciously dismissed commissioners in this fashion. They even seek to defame him to get their way. Wang and our pro-resident planning commissioners Steven Scharf and Muni Madhdhipatla have approved the Westport Project, the new hotel at Cupertino Village, the Bateh Brothers site for new mixed-use housing, and completed their duty in housing element site selection. Wang has also worked hard with the previous council to unearth the toxic contaminants found on Vallco that have forced the developer to clean up the site before they could put 1000's of residents at risk. Wang has been a strong advocate for resident focused causes and keeping the city staff accountable. In fact, Wang at the time was upset that there had not been action taken to create 5G tower architectural standards to protect our neighborhoods. When he sought accountability of staff for dragging out a resolution, the staff was upset at his continued persistence. Wang also criticized a very inept housing element consultant at EMC who failed to complete the project required and cost the city 100's of thousands of dollars. For that, the staff again failed to take responsibility and accountability for hiring a bad consultant and he was told he was not respectful in criticizing our city staff and the consultant. This pattern of city staff behavior has been consistently challenged by Wang and the other pro-resident focused commissioners. Wang has a long history of defending his community from developers and business interests who seek to take advantage of residents and their rights. In 2003, he was part of a community movement to keep recycled water away from schools, parks, and playgrounds in Redwood City. Redwood City had exceeded its water allocation and could not build a downtown without this water. He was threatened by developer affiliates and had his internet hacked by these "associates" who sought to frame him for spamming a sitting planning commissioner with porn. Once he found out, Wang was very apologetic, but those forces sought to punish him for speaking up. He was sued and tried for his defense of the community. At that time, his wife was pregnant with their first child and he did not have the funds to defend himself in court. He pled no contest and the case was confidentially sealed. His employer mysteriously fired him for no cause. That sealed case was somehow "revealed" several years ago as these pro-developer forces sought to embarrass him and remove him from the planning commission. The pro-resident city council understood this was a political tactic and not only chose not to remove him, but also reappointed him for another four years. This current majority council seeks his removal as payback against the resident focused council. The dark side’s goal - remove resident focused commissioners from the planning commission and put in a "rubber stamped" commission that will do their bidding from approving a unnecessary new city hall to jeopardizing future housing site selections. We need your help in flooding the City Council mailbox with your strong opposition to this move as it is purely political and divisive. We want commissioner Wang to serve out his term. We feel he has represented us well and should continue to serve as our voice in the community. Please share this letter with your resident focused friends and submit all these by March 6th, 2023. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/save-cupertino-from-aggressive-development