Date: Thu, Jun 30, 2016 at 7:44 PM
Subject: [CCSGI-Core] Letter to Cupertino City Council -- Please include this letter as part of the public record
To: Cupertino City-Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>
Cc: David Brandt <manager@cupertino.org>, "Grace Schmidt CMC (City Clerk)" <CityClerk@cupertino.org>
Dear
Mayor Chang, Vice Mayor Vaidhyanathan, and Council Members Paul, Sinks,
and Wong:
Please
include this letter as part of the public record for the Vallco Town Center Specific Plan Initiative (a.k.a. “Vallco
office park initiative” or “Initiative”).
On Tuesday,
July 5, 2016, the City Council will consider issues of great importance to our
community related to the Vallco office park initiative,
including but not necessarily limited to:
- adopting the Initiative or adding the Initiative to the ballot for the November 8. 2016 General Election
- considering whether to direct the City elections official to transmit the Initiative to the city attorney for preparation of an impartial analysis per the draft resolution
- considering whether to authorize City Council members, or the Council as a whole, to submit ballot arguments against the Initiative per the draft resolution
- considering the ballot label (ballot question) for the Initiative.
Through
a sustained and thorough investigative effort attributed to a team of dedicated
community members, we have an annotated body of evidence linking substantial
campaign contributions to Mayor Barry Chang from employees or business
associates of three (3) major developers with active or pending development
projects in the City of Cupertino, including the developer behind the Vallco
office park initiative, Sand Hill Property. In short, through May 2016,
Mayor Barry Chang (Barry Chang for Assembly 2016) received approximately
$75,600 from Sand Hill Property business partners, likely financial
beneficiaries if the Vallco office park initiative is
approved.
I
have three (3) specific requests associated with the City Council’s
actions related to the Vallco Office Park Initiative:
- perceived financial conflict of interest.
- Because the outcome of the Vallco office park initiative has the potential to transform the quality and character of suburban, family-friendly Cupertino to an urban, corporate-centric Cupertino, I respectfully request that supporters of the grass roots citizen-sponsored Cupertino Citizens’ Sensible Growth Initiative be granted 15 minutes of continuous presentation time during the public comment window for Agenda item 11, discussion associated with decisions related to the Vallco Town Center Specific Plan Initiative. Request that the 15-minute speaking block shall be reflected in the agenda and meeting minutes for the July 5, 2016 City Council meeting.
- I respectfully request that City Council members reject any efforts from supporters of the Vallco office park initiative to adopt the Initiative “as is” or with concessions and instead add the initiative as a measure on the November 8, 2016 General Election. Right or wrong, many, many of your constituents signed the petition for the Vallco office park initiative with an understanding that they would have an opportunity to vote on what will be built at Vallco; to approve the Initiative outright would be to misunderstand the intent and expectations of many petition signers.
Thank you for your
consideration of these important matters related to the Vallco office park initiative.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Ignatius Y. Ding
39-year Cupertino resident
REFERENCES
• Barry Chang’s Campaign Donations for Assembly in
2016 (Recall Barry Chang Web site). http://recallbarrychang.
•
Alex Padilla, California
Secretary of State, Searchable Database for Campaign Donations. http://powersearch.sos.ca.gov/
• California Government Code 84308, Section 6b. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/
