The Cupertino Courier

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

New mayor a step
in right direction

It was, indeed, a pleasure to be part of the full house gathered to watch council member Kris Wang become mayor of Cupertino. Mayor Wang's installation gives hope to the 16,812 registered voters who cast their ballots against Measures D and E, and are against haphazard over-development.

We sincerely hope we won't have to go through the entire alphabet--the next would be F and G--to ensure that our city council doesn't gift developers with the last of Cupertino's land. We are in a new era, a time that should be used to create community by inviting residents to be part of a smart-development process.

The first step could be disbanding the newly created, lopsided group given the dubious honor of coming up with a concept for the north Vallco area, which developers are already drooling over. In place of adjacent neighbors who volunteered for this group, appointments were doled out, yet again, to people with no close stake in what goes on there.

We should be emulating smart cities by seeking out developers who will build what residents want, instead of forcing developers' demands upon us. We are, after all, the folks who have to live with the botched results.

The recent election should be the precursor to a new attitude at city hall: Show respect to a citizenry that cares what happens in their city. The time is ripe for council members to reach beyond their esoteric groups of friends and acquaintances, and pull as many at-large people as possible into the fold.

It takes a village to make a city an extraordinary place to live, and we shouldn't have to get closer to this goal by initialed voter referendums.

Ruby Elbogen

Cupertino