The Cupertino Courier

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The city may have to charge fees for the bigger festivals

By Hugh Biggar

Larger festivals at Cupertino's Memorial Park could pay a price for their success starting next year.

In response to complaints from neighbors of the park, who wanted to limit the size and number of festivals in the park, Cupertino's Parks and Recreation Department is considering charging two of the larger festivals --the Moon Festival and the World Journal Mother's Day Festival--for security measures.

"Previously we had a one-size-fits-all approach," Therese Smith, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said of guidelines for festivals large and small, "but with larger events like the Moon Festival generating 10,000 or more people, it becomes a quality of life issue [for the neighbors]."

Smith said such issues included heavy traffic in and out of nearby neighborhoods, vehicles blocking driveways and, most of all, noise.

"They are way too noisy," resident Dale Pearlman said of the Moon Festival at a Nov. 2 meeting on the issue. Pearlman recommended the city have an official on site to mitigate problems, noting it was awkward to approach non-city staff.

"We do have city staff at the festivals, but what we need to do is make them more obvious," Tom Walters, a Cupertino Parks and Recreation Department official, said. He also said the city would provide Memorial Park neighbors with a telephone number to call in case of problems.

Walters said he plans to meet with festival organizers in January to address these issues and work on solutions. If solutions are not reached, he said, the festivals may be asked to hire private security and possibly have tow trucks on site.

"We are going to go over these issues and hopefully minimize them for the next year," he said.