The Sunnyvale Sun

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City drafts new rules for 'engaging' its residents

By Cody Kraatz

Times have changed the way the city of Sunnyvale needs to communicate and interact with the public, so the city council unanimously voted Oct. 30 to update the Community Engagement Sub-Element of the city's General Plan.

The sub-element, which dictates how the city draws community members into city affairs, was last updated in 1995. Since then, Internet technology has boomed.

The newly adopted plan calls for new technology and the repetition of public information through different channels.

"When this initial sub-element was put together, you didn't even see e-mails in there. Today's technology is tomorrow's dinosaur, and we don't want to put something in today that's going to be extinct tomorrow," said Robert Walker, assistant city manager, explaining why the plan does not cite specific communications technology the city plans to bring online.

Meanwhile, the city's ethnic makeup has changed significantly, presenting future challenges, according to the sub-element, which call for continued translation services and committees focused on ethnic diversity.

To that end, the newest is the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diversity and Outreach, an ethnically diverse, two-year pilot group to advise city staff on how to better reach out to various communities. Members were recently selected by city staff, but have not yet agreed to serve.

"We're just getting started in November. It'll be our first get-together," said

Patricia Lord, community resources manager. "We're hoping to get things moving at the beginning of [2008]."

However, despite these steps, inclusion will be a challenge. While a 2007 Resident Satisfaction Survey rated the city highly, Hispanic residents were underrepresented by 8 percent, even after the data was weighted.

From 1990 to 2005, the number of Asian and Hispanic or Latino residents grew to 37 and 17 percent of the population, respectively. The number of white residents slipped from 64 percent to 42 percent of the population.

"I like the action plans," said Dave Guerrieri, an opponent of the city's proposal to extend Mary Avenue with a four-lane bridge to the seven-building Moffett Towers office complex. Opponents contend that will increase traffic on Mary Avenue.

One plan requires the city to give accurate, thorough and timely information about such projects so people can weigh in.

"I believe this may have been part of the root of the cause of the Mary Avenue fiasco. This should have all been done before the approval of a huge development that was going to cause all that increase in traffic," said Guerrieri, calling for a collaborative, workshop approach and a solution including light rail or bus rapid transit.

The sub-element can be found online at CommunityEngagement.inSunnyvale.com.