Liang - Parks, trees and green space - Missing in the Guiding Principles (to Opticos Team)

From: Liang C

Date: Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 11:06 PM
Subject: Parks, trees and green space - Missing in the Guiding Principles
To: Daniel Parolek <daniel.parolek@opticosdesign.com>, Bill Lennertz <blennertz@gmail.com>, Mitali Ganguly <mitali.ganguly@opticosdesign.com>
Cc: Catarina Kidd <CatarinaK@cupertino.org>, Piu Ghosh <PiuG@cupertino.org>

The Guiding Principle #1 mentioned some items which appeared only once in the notes from Feb. 5 kickoff meeting and Feb. 6 group interviews. Yet, other items repeatedly appeared were missing.

For example, "1.3 Create a sense of history that Cupertino is missing". - Exactly one person mentioned that. What exactly does that even mean?

"1.4 A sustainable wow factor". - three comments. But  that seems to be covered by "1.2 ...conic 100+ year landmark." - Why use two sub-items to describe the same thing?

What's missing in the Design/Vision is "parks, trees and open space", mentioned by many people:

(These are just from the Feb. 5 kickoff meeting.)

Outside parks and inside community center together
Integrated park space next to housing
Gathering places: parks, community center, senior center, entertainment center
Parks/green space
Entertainment: recreation, parks, theaters, 'sense of space', gathering place, place making
Schools, local retail, parks, affordable housing
Open space
Trees, gardens, safe, non-toxic(from underground pollution)
Indoor and outdoor spaces for children and adults to explore and play
Street level green parks with long walking paths
Large parks for soccer etc./open space
Community space
Trees, outdoor plants, Green!
Accessible parks
Park/open space/urban farm
An ecovillage with native gardens and open spaces and children's gardens for all the resident and members of the community who visit
Park and urban farm
Vallco area with parks, trees, walking paths, etc
All open space in beautiful condition-usable for all ages
Open space
Tranquil
An ecovillage with a regenerative farm that provides most of the fruits and veggies for all residents
Trees and greenery
Parkland and open space -view of the Hills
Schools, local retail, parks, affordable housing
Open space for leisure
Open space and walkability\Lower traffic, better transportation options
Beautiful with vistas
Great for open space
Open space, landscaping
Good setbacks from open space so it is usable, attractive
Open spaces
Community spaces with art and shade
Last opportunity to do a great large project in a large area or open space
Open spaces that attract all kinds of families
Open Space-activated
Open space for leisure
Open space and walkability\Lower traffic, better transportation options

Yet, your list of Guiding Principles did not mention either parks or trees or open space.

It did mention "Civic and gathering space", but that is functional space, not the same thing as "parks, trees and open space".

Please add "parks, trees and open space" to Design/Vision Guiding Principle #1.

What exactly is the process that you use to derive the Guiding Principles? Some items mentioned by one or two got added. Yet some items mentioned by many many people did not make the list. Pretty odd.

Liang