By LESTER CHANG
The Sunnyvale City Council will study the feasibility of implementing nearly 50 new projects next year aimed at improving government services to the public.
Some key projects include banning the use of concealed handguns, installing cameras at street intersections, updating the city's economic development plan and looking at the impact federal welfare reform will have on Sunnyvale.
The council on Dec. 12 ranked these proposals and more than 40 others as priority items, and instructed the city's 11 departments to study them further for possible implementation in the future.
Mayor Stan Kawczynski and Councilmember Landon Noll spoke out against the idea of using cameras at intersections to catch motorists who run red lights.
"I think it is too Orwellian," Kawczynski said. Noll said he believed the use of cameras raises constitutional questions.
The city and county of San Francisco have installed cameras at several intersections, and several cities in the Bay Area are considering them as well, according to a city report.
The cameras are activated when a vehicle drives through a red traffic signal.
Public Safety Director Regan Williams said the cameras may come in handy, since it's difficult for the department to place patrol officers at intersections.
The council also identified federal welfare reform as a top priority. The city is concerned that once the federal government transfers more responsibilities to the state, the city may be held responsible for implementing some programs, said Community Relations Officer David Vossbrink.
The council also wants to take another look at housing mitigation ordinance that went into effect in 1984. Under the law, developers are required to pay a fee for projects that impact a neighborhood. With the revenues, the city has made loans to community organizations that have rehabilitated buildings for the needy, Vossbrink said.
Some council members want to know whether the law is fair to developers, Vossbrink said.
Another proposal calls for the city to work with a sister city to develop cultural or economic programs that would be mutually beneficial.
The city last had a sister-city relationship with a city in Chile in the early 1970s. But that relationship ended because of political turmoil in that country at the time, Vossbrink said.
City departments will send to the council in January a list of possible projects they can pursue. At that time, the council could adopt the list for the year.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 18, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.