Clintonian Language and Doing your Jobs by Brooke

From:  Brooke Ezzat
Date: Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 7:50 PM
Subject: Clintonian Language and Doing your Jobs
To: citycouncil@cupertino.org
Cc: bettercupertino@gmail.com

Dear Mayor Sinks, Vice Mayor Chang, Council Member Paul, Council Member Vaidhyanahthan, and Council Member Wong,

 

It appears that the terms "master plan" and "specific plan" are loosely defined and are used interchangeably to the residents' disadvantage. Which no doubt accounts for the change in the land use map of Vallco listing the property as being commercial/office/retail.  Residents need to have a Clintonian understanding of language to parse what is being said.

 

Citizens want to have the confidence that the Council works assiduously on behalf of the residents as it does for the developers, but do not.  We are consistently told how wonderful all the development is in Cupertino without any attention paid to the quality of life of the residents. If we oppose the overwrought development, we are labeled "resistant to change," i.e., stupid and out of touch. And we are lectured ad nauseam on our deportment in council chambers as if we are a herd of wildebeests, not well educated professionals.

 

Focus on what is good for the community-- traffic issues, the crime rate, and general quality of life. In some neighborhoods, it is impossible for people to get out of their driveways during rush hour; this is not something they signed on for when they moved to this city.  Some streets do not have speed limit signs, there are not enough lighted crosswalks, nor are there enough school crossing guards In my neighborhood, residential burglaries have increased to the point where the Sheriff's department leaves decoys in the neighborhood.  Five cars were broken into on my street a couple of months ago in the middle of the night.  People have been assaulted.  There are only six deputies patrolling Cupertino at any given time; adding thousands of non residents to the mix will only exacerbate the problem. And then the schools. What is there to say about the schools?  That they are overcrowded and will be more so if students from all of the rental homes and office space being built flood the district. That there will be a continual round of parcel taxes and a parcel tax rebellion because taxpayers will grow weary of subsidizing this nonsense.

 

As citizens, we deserve better from you.

 

Regards,

 

Brooke Ezzat