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City council approves street name change study
Many residents of Foxhollow neighborhood favor the renaming
By Jana Seshadri
More than 100 residents and community members were pleased with the council's decision to approve a study to rename a street in Sunnyvale. But the decision and preceding discussion didn't go altogether smoothly. The vote was split 5 to 2, with Mayor Fred Fowler, Vice Mayor Julia Miller and Council members John Howe, Pat Vorreiter and Tim Risch voting for the study, and Councilmen Manuel Valerio and Jack Walker voting against it.
The Sunnyvale Hindu Temple, founded in 1994, is located on Persian Drive, and the Indian community has requested that the city change the name of the street to "Mandir" Drive.
"I've been enthusiastic about this," Miller said. "We have to make some changes to keep up with the changing times."
According to Trudy Ryan, planning officer for the city of Sunnyvale, the process involves an initial study by staff, which could take up to three months. As part of the study, discussions will be held with
residents, neighborhood associations and community groups about the possibility of the name change. The study process would involve extensive staff time, so an application fee of $773 should accompany a street name change request form in the future, she added. Since public and private street name changes are treated differently according to state law, she said that the council, in order to deal with such requests, should establish a policy.
"The word 'Mandir' literally means 'temple' in many of the Indian languages, including Hindi," said Pradeep Joshi, a commissioner on the Sunnyvale Housing Commission and a volunteer associated with the temple project since 1990. "All Indian languages--there are more than 20 official languages--have their roots in Sanskrit, which is probably the oldest language in the world."
Many residents of Indian origin attested to the temple being a spiritual home to thousands of people who gather there on a regular basis to pray, meditate and discuss spirituality. People come from far and wide--as far south as Salinas and as far east as Stockton--to participate in peaceful meetings and prayers, they said.
The staff report stated that the name "Mandir" could be a public safety concern if it was misinterpreted or mispronounced as "Mandarin," and suggested that other names be explored that would be more in keeping with Sunnyvale's street naming system.
Fowler said the city has several areas with similar-sounding names and referred to his own residential area as an example.
"To me 'Mandir' and 'Mandarin' sound quite different," Fowler said.
Ryan said the city should think twice before repeating mistakes from the past and pointed out that there is a larger community in the city, that would have a different opinion. And several residents from the community in attendance expressed these differing opinions.
"We were not aware of the possibility of our street's name being changed," said Muriel Thompson, a resident of the Foxhollow Homeowners Association, situated close to the temple. "If people already know where it is and can find Persian Drive, then why bother with the name change?"
Thompson, along with some other residents present at the meeting, said they would like to be contacted by the city once the study is complete. Councilman Howe requested that interested residents leave their contact information with the city clerk so they could be contacted.
Another concern was the familiarity of the area to public safety departments like the police, fire and ambulance services, which might change if the street name is changed.
"Foxhollow is a well-known place to the police and the fire department now," said Lina Moffitt, president of the Foxhollow Homeowners Association. "We are all seniors who live there and this is of great concern to us."
Another resident from the area said it would be a big inconvenience to the hundreds of families who live there to be changing their addresses.
"We have 100 homes in our community--some of them have been there for almost 25 years," said Pete Lowe, who lives in the mobile home community on Persian Drive.
Ryan added that a part of Persian Drive could have a different name to accommodate the request. She said there are several streets in Sunnyvale, that have split names.
Councilman Walker asked staff if the post office would continue to deliver mail to these addresses for a specific period of time if the street name should change and Ryan responded that that could be negotiated.
"We still need to be a consistent government and look at all other options," Walker said.
Mukesh Mowji, a representative of the temple, alluded to the large Indian population in Sunnyvale, enhancing its existing cultural diversity. Sunnyvale is home to many churches but only one temple, he said and urged the council to approve the study so the temple could have its own street.
"I think we should leave this as a legacy for our kids and grandkids as first generation immigrants," resident Sumathi Srinivasan added.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
