The Cupertino Courier

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Voters know what they want community to be

Wow! Gee! Contrary to the opinion of Mayor Lowenthal, council members Dolly Sandoval, Orrin Mahoney, The Cupertino Courier and the Troll (I know, I know) Bros., the Cupertino voter does have much higher intelligence as well concern for our schools, transportation, and quality of OUR life than our above noted local leaders and self anointed others gave us credit for.

Bob Hendrickson

Mira Vista Avenue

Residents could plan
a destination city

Of the 25,765 registered voters in Cupertino who voted in the last election, 8,550 or 33 percent of them voted no on Measure D. They represented 16 percent of Cupertino's total population of 52,000 who either could not or did not to vote, and 65 percent of those who did.

This, of course, takes those who voted against Vallco's proposed building of 137 not mixed-use, stand-alone condos in Macy's back parking out of the realm of a NIMBY issue.

Measure E, the proposed Toll Brothers project, was not far behind.

Growthzilla was stopped at the Cupertino border by a large grass- roots movement determined to ensure that our city council approves only worthwhile, well-thought-out projects that benefit us, without negatively impacting our schools, our retail and commercial tax base and our quality of life.

Some 97,000 square feet of office space was just leased in Cupertino by one new company. Where will the next tax-producing entity be placed if all the commercial land is rezoned for condos? "Condotino" is not an acceptable concept. The land where Toll Brothers wanted to build would make an excellent site for a new mixed-use, Santana Row-like downtown.

However it takes more than a cronyism esoteric planning effort to make it happen. It takes a village to plan a viable downtown. There are so many talented, brilliant and creative people in Cupertino who could help. They just need to be asked.

A new downtown could make Cupertino a much sought-after urban tourist destination. We have everything else it takes for this type of travel designation--parks, open land, farms, restaurants, theater, wineries and hotels in every price range.

Ruby Elbogen

Editor, California Tour & Travel Magazine

Voters have spoken;
is the city listening?

The policies of the current national administration were rejected in many close votes around the country that shifted control of Congress. The policies of the Cupertino administration were overwhelmingly rejected in the no votes on Measures D and E.

Conciliatory moves have already been made by the national administration along with changes in personnel. The question now before the Cupertino administration is what changes will be forthcoming in view of the votes on Measures D and E?

Will our city officials continue to push the agendas of developers and social engineering groups who do not reside in our city or will they become what they are supposed to be, namely, representatives of the will of our citizens?

The will of an overwhelming majority of our citizens is now abundantly clear. Cupertino citizens want growth in our city, but growth in its quality rather than unrestrained growth in its quantity.

The citizens have spoken and it is now up to city officials to change the dynamics of their interaction going forward. Reversing positions in favor of developers and misleading our citizens is no longer acceptable.

Without significant change in the attitudes and tactics of our city officials, they will face more measures in the future from a motivated, organized and intelligent citizenry.

Robert L. Garten

Dexter Drive

Allow left turn from Kaiser for safety

It's an illusion to think that forcing folks coming out of Kaiser to turn right will decrease traffic on to Homestead. I live in Sunnyvale near Wolfe Road, so coming out of Kaiser I have to turn right on Homestead, then go down to Lawrence, make a U-turn on Homestead to get back to Wolfe in order go get home. You can imagine that this brings up a certain amount of frustration in me each time I have to do it.

I do not "break speed limits and run through stop signs," as a previous writer suggested. I'm just a law-abiding person trying to get home.

The wisest thing would be to simply allow the left turn from Kaiser onto Homestead. It's a natural traffic flow.

Jane Kroll

Sunnyvale