Those of us concerned with the direction of the city are not advocates of the status quo as the Feb. 18 Courier article implies.

Rather we are advocates for the quality of life in our city. Quality of life means quality of our schools, environment, housing and local government.

In recent years the emphasis has been on increasing the quantity of life in Cupertino with more high-rise, high-density housing at the expense of retail and associated tax revenues, our schools and the environment.

The onslaught of so-called "smart housing" in recent years has led to overcrowding of schools, excessive traffic and associated pollution, loss of vital tax revenues and increased costs to the city.

So-called mixed-use housing is more aptly termed mixed abuse given the current state of the city budget. It is not very smart to build more housing at the expense of retail when the city faces a $3.9 million deficit due to decreasing sales tax revenue.

The Travigne development on Stevens Creek replaced 19,100 square feet of retail with 11,300 square feet of retail and 46,000 square feet of residential. The Menlo Equities project at Stevens Creek and Wolfe will have a ratio of residential to retail of 17 to 1. The Regis Oaks project would hope to replace 17,000 square feet of retail with about 50,000 square feet of residential.

In my view this is the wrong direction for the city, which desperately needs to attract more retail rather than more residents. It is refreshing that city officials are giving more attention to retail as your article states. I would hope that this emphasis will continue and that future investments in our city will focus on improving the quality of life rather than the quantity of life.

Robert L. Garten

Cupertino

Residents are not crying
for a stationery store

Councilman Lowenthal laments that he must drive to Campbell or Los Gatos to buy stationery. He states that Cupertino residents are crying for bookstores, stationery stores and movie theatres.

I've lived and/or worked in Cupertino since 1982, when there were three stationery stores, five bookstores and one movie theatre. The failure of these businesses demonstrates that we are simply not buying enough stationery and books or going to the movies enough to support the businesses we allegedly have been crying for.

Cupertino residents are really crying about having to drive to Sunnyvale or Mountain View to go to Costco.

The CCC—Citizens for a Cupertino Costco—is a grass-roots organization whose goal is to tear down the blighted Cypress Hotel and Verona apartments and build a Costco.

Costco will provide the sales tax revenue the city needs, good hot dogs and cheap pizza. Residents can buy both books and stationery at Costco, and can even pick up a 42-inch plasma TV, some DVDs and 50 pounds of popcorn (eliminating the need for a movie theater).

As an added benefit, Costco will help ease racial tensions since people of all ethnicities shop there.

Costco stores are only one or two levels and will comply with the height limitations proposed in the ballot initiatives.

Steven Scharf

Cupertino

De Anza will restore its plants native to area

My name is Nacime Karami, and I am a De Anza/Foothill College student. I feel the need to address the Courier's Feb. 4 cartoon regarding the Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies.

The Kirsch Center is not the only reason for the tree removal at De Anza; the need for an additional parking structure is partly to blame.

By obtaining more parking, De Anza will be able to accommodate its more than 22,000 students, which will benefit surrounding residents who suffer from the overflow of students in search of parking.

Another notable reason for the removal of the trees is the Kirsch Center and its sustainability.

Sustainable buildings are key in preserving biodiversity as they cut down on natural resources and are built to reduce waste. This building will serve as a role model and provide a healthy learning environment in natural light.

It is also true that the trees, which were planted at De Anza 36 years ago, were not native to this area and not flourishing (they were dying).

Replacing the trees with natives to our climate saves a huge amount of water. Plus, with this development, there will be planting and restoration with real wildlife value. This will restore and preserve the original habitats for plants and animals native to Cupertino.

Lastly, none of us at De Anza wanted the trees to go, and having spent a year with the De Anza Associated Student Body, I've heard many concerns. We fought the idea and had difficulty accepting the removal of trees.

True, it may seem an unfortunate oxymoron that the trees for the parking structure and the Kirsch Center have been removed, but the college is striving to make improvements. Hopefully these setbacks will be long forgotten once we are celebrating the beauty of De Anza and all of its progress.

Nacime Karami

De Anza student

Without school security,
Prop. 55 waste of cash

The ads for Proposition 55 show a spokeswoman talking while showing bathrooms at schools not with just leaking roofs, peeled paint and leaking pipes. What they do show is urinals completely ripped off the wall. Sinks that are ripped from the walls and holes kicked into the walls and ceilings. This is not normal wear and tear to this property. This is damage done by a bunch of thugs that go to these schools.

I would suggest that before anyone votes yes on this Proposition 55 that we establish a security system at these schools so this kind of deliberate damage does not occur. Just throwing millions more at these schools to fix them up so they can be destroyed in a matter of months is just a waste of money.

And if the answer is that we can't secure these buildings, then close them down and find a place to build schools that can be secured.

You are wasting your money by voting yes on Proposition 55.

Jim Carlisle

Cupertino

In the Feb. 11 article "Monta Vista annexation debated by council," Monta Vista resident Rhoda Fry was misquoted. The story should have said. "The influence of the city of Cupertino has degraded our quality of life."