Fwd: Vallco SB 35 Retail Assumptions in Question

From: KM
Date: April 13, 2018 at 11:24:39 AM PDT
To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>, Darcy Paul <dpaul@cupertino.org>, Rod Sinks <rodsinks@gmail.com>, bchang@cupertino.org, savitav@cupertino.org, Steven Scharf <scharf.steven@gmail.com>
Cc: catarinak@cupertino.org
Subject: Re: Vallco SB 35 Retail Assumptions in Question

Dear City Council,

Please may I add about the activists present and that the market analyst is an active SPUR supporter:

SPUR, SFYIMBY, Sand Hill Property Company, and Silicon Valley @Home were all part (sponsors) of the recent conference in SF where Kim-Mai Cutler and Laura Foote Clark were speakers.  

As you are aware the meetings for Vallco have been packed with housing activists including Catalyze SV.  The actual residents have been demoralized and are largely absent.  It is to Sand Hill Property's credit to have run such a planned out coup of the community process.

The summit speakers and sponsors may be found here:

https://sf.uli.org/event/housing-the-bay/

Photos of the activists we've been seeing are public online:

The process looks like a total waste of residents' time with a predetermined and highly contrived outcome.  Additionally, it appears as if Catarina Kidd and Opticos take their marching order from Sand Hill and however many activists they can pack in the room.  

And we are told we can't write anything down that we don't like on the walls, everything must be positive.  Take that to its logical conclusion and it will look as if we love a bloated out of scale Vallco proposal.  Brilliant for the developer.  But it has absolutely nothing to do with the residents who have checked out of this dog and pony show.

Best regards,

Kitty Moore

On Apr 12, 2018, at 10:28 PM, Kitty Moore <ckittymoore@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear City Council,

I disagree with the way retail is being portrayed at Vallco and am concerned that we might be losing future opportunities we cannot imagine today in casting aside what may be retail today, or some amazing other thing helping us fight the sprawl of a sedentary life in the future.  Full disclosure, I am a charter Bay Club Vallco member, and the loss of this club is unwelcome news to the east side of Cupertino.  We do not have great parks as you know, this gym has been a ray of sunshine!

Please take a look at some document snippets I have collected.

First, the Vallco SB 35 letter explaining with no great detail, why retail should drop from 600,000 SF to 400,000 SF.

<image.png>

Their letter begs the question of can you BACK UP YOUR CLAIMS?  Maybe they can, or not well enough?  Maybe there is plenty of space for a 70,000 SF gym with ample parking, for instance.

I really like the San Jose Market Study they do...and in them, they talk about the opportunities in their Urban Villages which fall on our borders.  From Cupertino's last study:

<CupertinoRetailSalesLeakage.jpg>

Vallco Measure D has 2014 sales at Vallco and taxable retail sales per SF:

<image.png>

And a comparison with various San Jose regions, we are next to Western:

<image.png>

MUST READ!!   San Jose Market Overview and Employment Lands Analysis January 20, 2016 prepared for: City of San Jose Four-Year General Plan Review

They are cannibalizing our borders in retail.  

https://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/53472

At the very least, it is really hard to watch San Jose so competitively vying for Cupertino sales dollars, and beating us hands down.

Thank you,

Kitty Moore

<Just skimming through San Jose.pdf>