The Cupertino Courier

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Did council make up mind before public hearing?

The city council held a second public hearing for Vallco's condo project on March 22. The council approved rezoning for the 135 condos despite over 50 speakers against this project and 100 people in the audience opposing the project.

Mayor Richard Lowenthal admitted the council asked Vallco to bring in AMC, and that's why they have to help Vallco solve a funding shortage issue. If the city already knew it is a must for Vallco to have an additional 135 condos, why waste every resident's time and taxpayers' money to hold this public hearing?

The city should have an open mind and listen to residents' need and concerns. When city council members already make their minds up before the meeting, a public hearing becomes just a show.

Council members are elected to make decisions on behalf of residents. Council members should act in the spirit of Cupertino residents. With over 500 condos approved in two days, residents are starting to wonder if the council is acting in the spirit of developers.

All Cupertino residents want is a city council that can listen to residents' concerns with heart. Unfortunately, most of our city council members have closed their minds before the public hearing.

Patty Chi

Cupertino

Vallco inappropriate
for residential uses

Vallco mall is separated from the adjoining residential community by an 8-foot wall. The wall was a condition on which the mall was approved next to this residential development more than 30 years ago. Bounded by I-280 and this wall is a 5-acre piece of pie on which Vallco wants to build 137 residential units. With a garage next to it and new AMC theaters, the residents don't want the wall to be opened for safety and security purposes.

I believe this location is very inappropriate for any residential development and should be reserved for parking or future mall expansion.

Even after pointing out [alleged] lies of the developers and evidence that might need investigating and community opposition, the council approved the project. What disturbs me is that Councilwoman Dolly Sandoval said it is a crime that we don't want to open the wall.

The only crime I think I have committed so far is to get a good education and work hard raising a family while sacrificing all fun for buying this basic house in the valley. If that's a crime, yes, I am guilty.

Shilpa Joshi

Norwich Avenue

Political cartoons come
from a long tradition

Bill Hobdy and Hung Wei may be offended by DeCinzo's cartoons (Letters & Opinions, April 5); however, as stated by Charles Press in his book The Political Cartoon, people will continue to look at them because "it is enjoyable to stick pins into fools and villains or to watch others doing it."

The American political cartoon, for both the literate and the illiterate, has had a long and illustrious history of schadenfreude: from Ben Franklin's "Join or Die" 13-colonies snake that preceded the Revolutionary War to Thomas Nast's series that ran the corrupt 1870s politician Boss Tweed out on a rail, from Nixon's "I am not a crook" series to today's endless George Bush-as-a-monkey depictions.

One needs to realize the American political cartoonist is not necessarily bound by the same ethical standards as journalists, that, as Roger Fischer states in Them Damned Pictures, political cartoons provide "a mean intensity rooted in malevolence to produce an immediate impact" and will continue to do so.

DeCinzo is a multi-award-winning, equal-opportunity insulter, whose cartoons are regularly carried in most of the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers. If he wants to give our local politicos, who are so easy to villainize these days, an artistic thwack on the nose or a poke between the eyes, then I'm all for the continued thwacking and poking.

If DeCinzo's cartoons offend you, like nudity on cable TV, you can simply choose not to look; the rest of us enjoy the weekly laugh.

Catherine Johnson

Rose Blossom Drive