Cupertino Facts

Category: Coterie of ex-Mayors

  • Disinformation: Rod Falsely Claiming Credit

    Disinformation: Rod Falsely Claiming Credit

    In this post we cover another form of disinformation used by the builder-politician complex: claiming credit for accomplishments they had little part to play in. We have two write-ups to share from community members on debunking claims made by Rod Sinks in his election website. 

    Rod Sinks Claims Credit for SV Hopper
    Refuted by ex-Mayor Darcy Paul

    “The Silicon Valley Hopper started as Cupertino’s Via Shuttle when our Mayor was Steven Scharf. It’s strange how some people like to label us the so-called ‘Better Cupertino’ City Council, and then take all the credit for things that we did while blaming us for various things that we didn’t do. 

    I was the Mayor when Via Shuttle was being voted on by the City of Santa Clara to expand to their city as well. At the same time, I was the board member for VTA representing the West Valley cities. There are twelve members of the VTA board, and the West Valley seat has five cities. 

    Well, as you would expect, VTA does not automatically support competitors to its services. However, the expansion of Via Shuttle to become the Silicon Valley Hopper did gain that support when I was on the VTA board of directors, and this happened in 2022, when I was Mayor. 

    As to the City of Santa Clara, I reached out both to their Mayor, Lisa Gilmor, as well as to her colleague Councilmember Raj Chahal to help secure their city’s unanimous support. And so, regardless of who else tries to take credit or blame us for this or that, the fact of the matter is that we did significant amounts of work on making this transit option available for the residents of Cupertino.”

    Former Mayor Darcy Paul, 
    City of Cupertino

    Rod Sinks Embellishes His Role in Reducing Pollution from the Lehigh Plant

    We are publishing a detailed rebuttal from Rhoda Fry. In 2022 she was honored by a CREST award for Public Safety for her work to change the time for garbage pickups so as not to interfere with children going to school and for providing the City with an analysis of the quarry use-permits to put an end to illegal truck traffic between the two quarries

    Rhoda Fry moved to Cupertino in 1983 after graduating from CMU to work at Tandem Computers. She became active in City affairs when she discovered that the City was about to enact an emergency illegal tax. She fought and won. Since then, she has been involved in issues related to the environment (especially Lehigh-documents from last century), public safety or fiscal accountability. This year, her efforts contributed to a new County ordinance  that protects ground-water quality from the ravages of mining. She also discovered that the City had misused funds that were intended for below market rate housing. 

    Rod Sinks Misled Public about Lehigh- by Rhoda Fry

    As many people know, I have worked on Lehigh issues for over fifteen years and was alarmed by statements made by Rod Sinks who incorrectly claimed to have reduced air pollution at Lehigh while sitting on the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board (BAAQMD). At the Diya TV candidate forum, he stated “I helped secure a deal with the Lehigh cement plant to drastically improve our air quality.”

    In 2019, a new air-pollution rule was proposed as part of a consent decree involving many states to address a 2010 EPA violation that would be implemented in 2021. In 2019, there were multiple industrial incidents at the cement plant and BAAQMD did little for us residents.  In 2020, Lehigh shut its cement plant down when it became clear that the County would not allow an expansion of its limestone mining operations referred by County Supervisor Joe Simitian as “don’t chop the top.”

    Consequently, the new air-pollution rule was never implemented. It would not have mattered because the new rule did little to protect us residents. Residents wrote letters (Consent Decree Public Comments) begging for a better rule but were not heard. Gary Latshaw, Chair of the Bay Area for Clean Environment Group wrote,

    “We do not find that the consent decree provides adequate protection for the air quality in the region. Notwithstanding the potential of the “test and set” methodology for SOx, the specified required regulations for NOx and SOx are only marginal improvements over existing conditions. Even under optimistic assumptions, the emissions would still degrade the health and longevity of Bay Area residents.”

    For example, while the maximum allowable sulfur pollution was 0.2 lbs/ton at other Lehigh cement plants, the Cupertino facility’s maximum allowable sulfur pollution was ten times more at 2.1 lbs/ton! And the so-called new sulfur limits in Cupertino represented a mere 3% reduction of only 0.07 lbs (from 2.17 lbs/ton to 2.1)!!!

    Rod Sinks claiming any credit for negotiating a deal or reducing air pollution is usurpation of credit due  to local volunteers who tirelessly worked to save our environment from excessive pollution by Lehigh for many decades.

    Lehigh History: 
    At the end of Stevens Creek Blvd, is a massive quarry and industrial site on over 3500 acres that spans three jurisdictions, Cupertino, Unincorporated Santa Clara County, and Palo Alto. The quarry has mined for limestone that is very high in naturally-occurring contaminants, such as mercury and selenium. 

    Until 2011, usable waste-rock was crushed into aggregate and sold. That operation was re-built a decade later and presently is the only commercial activity at the site. The rest of the waste-rock is spread over 200 acres of thinly vegetated moonscape.

    The limestone is the main ingredient to make cement in a giant kiln fueled by petroleum coke, a filthy  polluting fuel that is a by-product of oil refineries. Among California’s industrial air polluters, Lehigh ranked #2 for Sulfur, #3 for Hydrochloric Acid, #4 for PM 2.5, #6 for VOCs, #7 for Nitrogen, and #10 for Hexavalent Chromium.  

    With the revelation that the County would not allow Lehigh to access anymore limestone, the cement plant closed permanently in 2020. There have been hundreds of environmental and labor-safety violations at the site from both the mining operations and quarrying, some of which remain unresolved.
     
    Political Connections:

    Over the years, Lehigh has been protected by the San Jose and Cupertino Chambers of Commerce and numerous politicians. Among others, the following politicians have been employed by the quarry and cement plant: County Supervisor Tom Legan; Cupertino Council member, BAAQMD representative and aspiring County Supervisor Barbara Koppel; Cupertino council member Sandy James; and Assemblymember Jim Cuneen. 

    Many council members would not respond to resident concerns and were reluctant to even send a letter to the County. Gilbert Wong was one of those reluctant council members. Barry Chang became a Lehigh activist but lost credibility when he became overly vocal and has not been active on Lehigh issues since 2018. Strangely, current council member J. R. Fruen ran a PAC in 2018 with primary funding from Vallco which paid $10K to Ed McGovern, a Lehigh Lobbyist.
     
    Lehigh Future: 

    Moving forward, Lehigh needs to shore up the over-mined crumbling ridgeline between the quarry and Rancho San Antonio by filling the quarry. The approved 2012 plan uses onsite mining-waste to shore up our scenic ridgeline however their new proposal turns the quarry into a for-profit landfill, importing soil from construction sites at a rate of 600 trucks per day for 30 years. We need a City Council who really works for residents first to prevent this unnecessary traffic. We need to regain a resident-friendly council majority by re-electing Kitty Moore and electing Ray Wang.
     
    EPA Clean Air Act Settlement

    Consent Decree FAQ
    Consent Decree Public Comments

    Consent Decree Official Document

  • Builders Target Ray, More Questionable Behavior from Rod

    Builders Target Ray, More Questionable Behavior from Rod

    In this letter we highlight some recent events

    1. A video explaining what led to builders targeting Ray Wang
    2. A followup on the Rod Sinks-Andi Jordan Harassment Case

    A video response to malicious attack on Ray Wang

    We made a video highlighting why Ray Wang is being attacked. Please watch it below
    More Instances of Questionable Behavior by Rod Sinks
    n an earlier article we had covered how a local publication Cupertino Matters, grossly misrepresented facts to hide Rod Sinks central in Andi Jordan harassment settlement. Rod denied Andi health insurance because her husband had it which is illegal discrimination based on gender and marital status; Cupertino Matters did not even mention Rod Sinks name even once in two articles.

    A reader pointed out this in not new.


    Rod Sinks Hated him (Randy)  because he is Chinese
     
    In 2018, the builder’s proxies running Cupertino City Council decided to fire the City Attorney Randy Hom because “he voiced his opposition to the city’s illegal and unethical conduct”. In his tort claim against the City Randy Hom stated that Barry Chang told him that:


     “Rod Sinks hated him because he is Chinese. Mr. Sinks hates the Chinese and never wanted him in the City Attorney position in the first place”–  Barry Chang


    The city settled Randy Hom’s tort claim after spending more than $400K.
  • Ex-Mayors Make False Accusations Against Ray Wang

    Ex-Mayors Make False Accusations Against Ray Wang

    Earlier this weekend, the coterie of ex-mayors resurfaced and sent an email stealing the IP of a fellow resident. They followed that by email messages spreading disinformation about Ray Wang. Please spend a few minutes to understand the facts..
    Bloomberg, CNBC, FoxBusiness, and many other leading media orgs have Ray Wang as a guest a few times a week. All of them do background checks to not bring people with dubious history on their panels.
    Redwood City Council Person Endorses Ray’s Commitment to Residents
    The video below is from a two times Redwood City Council Women Colleen Hallinan, acknowledging how Ray worked so hard to defend residents from harm due to greedy builders and resisted harassment from builders, about 20 years ago.
    Disinformation Attacks: History & Motivations

    After JR Fruen led builders-YIMBY took over the City Council they decided to take control of the Planning Commission. As part of the process to remove Ray Wang from the planning commission, they orchestrated a disinformation campaign about an incident in Redwood City/Shores two decades ago.

    They are rehashing some of the articles they published in local outlets to denigrate Ray. Please do not fall for the disinformation. These attacks are malacious and without substance, and are being distributed because the builders are afraid Ray will resist their efforts to make Billions in profits on the back of our quality of life.

    What happened in Redwood City Two Decades Ago?

    In 2003, Ray challenged Redwood City’s decision to grant permission to a builder to use recycled, non-potable water in areas accessible to children, who may not realize that it’s not fit for drinking. Not being able to dump that non-potable water would have increased the costs and reduced profits for builders.

    One local politician, Rosanne Foust, was leveraged by the builders to sue Ray Wang. Foust has a close relationship with developers and was fined $3000 by the FPPC in 2014 for the misuse of her position as the Vice-Mayor to champion another big project.

    Ray, whose wife was pregnant with their first child at that time, decided to settle instead of going through a jury trial. He pleaded no-contest to charges of leaving an annoying message for Foust on her phone. 

    Related charges accusing him of sexual harassment were summarily dismissed. Ray has stated that he had an open wifi network (these were early days of wireless internet) and a builder’s agent may have connected to it to sign-up Foust’s email for web-sites which may deliver adult content, in order to frame him.

    Please Defend Your Rights from Builders
    After Ray was removed from the Planning Commission, the builders took control and stopped having meetings,  Out of the regularly scheduled 24 meetings, only six were held in 2023. 

    This limited transparency and opportunity for public input, while the city’s Housing Element was being redone to favor builders. That allowed the builders to hide their shenanigans like the proposal to upzone all corner lots in single family homes to R3 to allow construction  of five story condos in single family neighborhoods. Strategy HE-1.3.6 of the 2nd HE draft
  • Ex-Mayors Deceive Residents & Steal Designs

    Ex-Mayors Deceive Residents & Steal Designs

    This is an urgent message. 

    Earlier this evening, the coterie of ex-mayors resurfaced and sent out an email message spreading disinformation about how and why the Housing Element was delayed leading to Builder’s Remedy.

    Stealing Design & Claiming Copyright

    In their message, they included a picture taken from the “Save Our Neighborhoods” sign which some residents developed to highlight the risk of high density construction in single family lots. They not only did not give credit to the person who had created the sign, they even claimed copyright to it! Further while the signs were meant to support Kitty Moore and Ray Wang, the deceiving mayors used them to support their opponents.

    We are including a video from the resident who created this sign, who shares his outrage at the theft of his intellectual property, and the unethical attempts by the ex-mayors to deceive Cupertino Residents.
    The residents demand an immediate retraction from  Richard Lowenthal, Dolly Sandoval, Kris Wang, JR Fruen, Hung Wei, and Sheila Mohan for stealing our intellectual property and attempting to falsely copyright it. This is emblematic of your unethical leadership and it is unacceptable .
    Screenshot from email sent by the three ex-mayors
    Disinformation Barrage Continues
    A lot has already been written about how the builder’s took over the city council via their YIMBY proxy JR Fruen & Sheila Mohan) in November 2022. 

    Instead of adopting the existing Housing Element draft and submitting it for approval, they waited till after the deadline to even submit it. While evaluating that submission, HCD declared that it  “addresses most statutory requirements. For context, Palo-Alto’s draft was judged to “address many statutory requirements”, a lower level of compliance.

    HCD also noted that many YIMBY orgs including JR Fruen’s Cupertino For All shared comments about why the draft required revisions. Thereafter they delayed the housing element by 18 months exposing the city to Builder’s Remedy. In their legal settlement with JR’s buddies in other YIMBY orgs in early 2024 the City invited Builder’s Remedy projects. All Active Builder Remedy projects were filed after that settlement.

    Please do not let these unethical people succeed in deceiving you.
  • Builder-Politician Complex in Cupertino

    Builder-Politician Complex in Cupertino

    In this post we go into the details of the Builder-Politician Complex controlling Cupertino.

    Investors from rapidly growing international economies want to invest globally. Our home, Cupertino, a city with global name recognition, has become a preferred destination of investors, big & small, who want real estate to be a part of their global portfolio

    This has created an interesting dynamic where investors buy real estate in Cupertino, with the intent of getting the property rezoned. Their goal is to dramatically increase the built-up square footage to maximize the return on their investment. Without any roots in the city, they do not care about the impact of their actions on the city or its residents.

    The most well-known of such entities is Sand Hill Properties (SHP), which includes Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi as an investor. SHP bought the Vallco Mall zoned for retail in 2014 for $320M, with the sovereign fund as an equity partner.

    With recent changes related to rezoning of single family home lots to allow multi-family homes (condos/townhomes), home owners have also started receiving buyout offers from developers.

    The Builder-Politician Complex

    An industry has sprung up in Cupertino to guide investors on how to navigate the process: which we call the Builder-Politician Complex. Along with local politicians, the complex includes astro-turf YIMBY groups whose takeover of the Cupertino City Council we covered in this article.

    The Builder-Politician Complex works to enrich the investors by facilitating high density infill construction, without regards to the impact on existing residents, many of whom spent their life-savings. In return politicians get favors including big campaign donations and PAC support to win elections.



    SHP leveraged the politicians it supported to change the zoning to construct real estate which could be worth $6-7B, almost a 20x multiple to their original investment. Even though there was enormous opposition amongst residents, especially to new office space, the City Council (Rod Sinks, Gilbert Wong, Barry Chang) was too beholden to SHP to effectively represent the will of the people.

    SHP Gets 2M Square Feet of Office Space

    One of the most controversial decisions was to grant SHP the right to build 2M sq ft of office space at Vallco. To do that, the city council amended the city’s General Plan to create a new allocation of 2M sq ft of office, and then also decided to grant almost all of the new allocation to SHP’s Vallco project (December 2014). Communication between SHP and the City Council showed Peter Pau demanding 2M sq ft of office space from the city council, and the council lacking the spine to stand up to him.



    During the City Council meeting on Dec 3, 2014, then Mayor Rod Sinks agreed to not discuss office space allocation in the General Plan amendment, but late at night Rod Sinks, Barry Chang and Gilbert Wong bring it up, and voted on it after most residents had left. You can watch key excerpts from the meeting in this Youtube video

    City Council Gives SHP More Density in Special Plan than they Asked for in Measure D

    Between 2014 and 2017, SHP negotiated with the City to come up with a Vallco Specific Plan (VSP). While they were in the middle of the negotiations, they also tried to bypass the city by going directly to the voters in the 2016 election under Measure D, which did not pass.

    After Measure D failed, the city negotiated a Vallco Special Plan (VSP) with SHP which was passed in 2018. The VSP  negotiated by the politicians had even higher density than the Measure D plan originally proposed by SHP but rejected by the voters!

    SB35: The Alternate Plan with NO Height Limits

    In parallel, SHP also started work on an SB35 project which bypassed the city council, needing just ministerial staff approval. The city had removed height limits on Vallco in 2014.


     In Fall of 2017, when SB35 was close to becoming law, City Council members Darcy Paul and Steven Scharf brought attention to a loop-hole which would allow SHP to have unlimited height under their SB35 proposal. Rod Sinks agreed that this was an area of concern and supported them stating that “I am personally OK with special meetings, extra meetings or whatever it takes” to ensure proper limits are put. Two weeks later, when the topic was being discussed in the next city council meeting, Rod Sinks decided not to support it along with Barry Chang and Savita Vaidyanathan.

    As a result the city did not put any height limits on Vallco; in principle SHP can build a Burj Khalifa on that land.

    You can watch a 7 minute video covering both the meetings below.

    Builders Dominate in the Builder-Politician Complex

    This event is illustrative of how local politicians’ relationship with the developers impacts their decision making. Rod Sinks served in the Cupertino City Council from 2012 to 2020, and is also running for Cupertino City Council election again in 2024.

    Rod’s U-Turn to not put any height limits on Vallco illustrated how once our politicians are beholden to the developer, they lose their ability to act in residents’ interest. It was clear that Rod felt that having no height limits on a project not requiring a council approved plan, was not appropriate. However, the developer lobby pressured him, and he yielded to their pressure two weeks later.

    Firing the City Attorney: Randy Hom

    In 2018, when the SB35 plan was being reviewed by the city, the City Attorney Randy Hom stated that in his opinion, the plan submitted by SHP did not meet the criteria for ministerial approval by the City. Rod, Barry and Savita collectively acted to fire our city attorney, Randy Hom due to his opposition to the SB35 approval. SHP’s SB35 plan was approved ministerially after the City Attorney’s firing.

    Rod Sinks: SHP’s Face to the Opposition of the Referendum

    The city residents were so upset with the VSP negotiated by our city-council that they organized a petition to demand a referendum in the city to revisit the Vallco Special Plan. SHP used Rod’s pictures and statements on flyers to ask residents to not support the referendum to vote down the VSP.

    The flyers being passed around stated that since the alternative SB35 plan had very high towers, opposing the VSP was against residents’ interests.


    The irony is that the reason the SB35 plan had high towers was because Rod yielded to the developers to not put any height limits on Vallco! Further, the SB35 plan would not have received ministerial approval if Rod had not conspired to fire the City Attorney whose legal opinion was against approval.

    Cupertino’s residents also organized a change.org petition to censure him, bringing up six years of Rod’s actions benefiting SHP.

    Politician’s $77 Million Gift to SHP

    Recently Cupertino City Council granted Vallco a $77 million waiver of impact fees they were supposed to pay to the city for their giant project. Cupertino’s finances are already in trouble since changes in sales tax law will reduce our income from Apple’s sales in California.

    From Vallco to Single Family Lots

    The Builder’s control over the city’s politicians is now impacting single family neighborhoods. The City Council led by builder-supported members (JR Fruen, Hung Wei and Sheila Mohan) tried to change the general plan to allow all corner lots in single family neighborhoods to be converted into R3 multi-family (condos/apartments) (Strategy HE-1.3.6). Earlier, their decision to not adopt a Housing Element, which was ready in October 2022, also led to the city accepting Builder’s Remedy projects in 2024.

    More Office Imply RHNA Ask for More Homes

    The number of new homes the city is expected to build in every 8-year RHNA planning cycle also depends on the number of workers in the city. The city is already reeling under the impact of the upzoning facilitated to build the 4588 homes required in the 2023-2031 cycle. With 2M more sq ft of office space, even more homes will be required in the next cycle, starting 2032.

    Rod Sinks: Poster Boy of the Builder-Politician Complex

    Rod Sink’s actions illustrate how politicians beholden to developers, are unable to effectively serve the interests of the residents of Cupertino. Rod not only facilitated a massive office allocation which Cupertino did not need, he also put a gun to our heads by lifting all height limits on the Vallco Property. The Builder, SHP, then used his picture and letter, in their failed attempt to abort the referendum

    Cupertino deserves transparent decision making which considers the interests of all the stakeholders, especially the residents. We should not vote for those who have a record of striking back-room deals with developers.

    Reclaim Cupertino from the Builder-Politician Complex

    Rod Sinks, Barry Chang, and Gilbert Wong have a long, well documented track record of serving developer interests. They are a core part of the Builder-Politician Complex ignoring the residents’ quality of life. All three of them are standing for the two seats up for election in 2024. It is up to Cupertino voters to reclaim our beloved city from the Builder-Politician Complex by not voting Rod, Barry and Gilbert back to the City Council.

  • Single Family Neighborhoods at Risk Throughout Cupertino

    Single Family Neighborhoods at Risk Throughout Cupertino

    Over the years, there have been whisper campaigns on the mostly residential West side of Cupertino, suggesting the residents should support builder backed candidates for City Council. The reason given was that West Cupertino is already built out and will not be impacted by the denser developments desired by the builders, since it will be on the East side.

    However, the reality is that once zoning laws are changed to allow higher density construction, they apply to the entire city, not just East Cupertino. West Cupertino, is dominated by single family homes, and is especially vulnerable to policies which allow existing single family lots to be rezoned to permit multi-story high-density construction

    Linda Vista Drive Residents Wake Up to Plans for 87 New Homes

    Linda Vista Drive is situated  West of Bubb in North Monta Vista; it is in the subdivision which houses three schools: Lincoln Elementary, Kennedy Middle and Monta Vista High. It is a neighborhood of single family homes, zoned as R1.

    There are two projects under consideration which are going to dramatically alter the neighborhood by almost doubling the number of homes on the street.

    The first project is a plan to build more than 50 townhomes on a site originally zoned for 11 single family homes. With the relaxed guidelines for setbacks, building height and floor area, the builder plans to have multi-story buildings less than 7 ft from the adjoining single family homes. Note that R1 zoning requires a 2nd story setback of at least 25f; and 40ft for larger lots. 

    The second project, Vista Heights, is a Builder’s Remedy project to convert an old quarry originally zoned for four homes with hillside zoning, to around 35 homes along with a commercial gymnasium. The entrance to the development will be via a steep road feeding into Linda Vista Park.

    Former  Mayors: Facilitating High Density Projects in West Side R1 Zones

    We recently discovered an email sent by former City Mayor, Richard Lowenthal, to current city council members Hung Wei and Sheila Mohan. Leading up to the November 2022 elections, Richard Lowenthal ran a PAC from his home address, under the self-appointed moniker of  “Council of Mayors”. This coterie of ex-mayors supported pro-builder candidates including the YIMBY JR Fruen and YIMBY endorsed Sheila Mohan. Two members of the coterie, Rod Sinks & Barry Chang are also running for the City Council, again in 2024

    The email chain starts with Leon Chen, the builder who wants to develop Vista Heights, writing to Richard Lowenthal, with the subject line “help connect with majors (sic)”. In his email, Leon asks for an introduction to council members Hung Wei and Sheila Mohan about the Vista Heights project which he had discussed with Richard. Richard forwards that email to the council member, with a personal endorsement calling “He(Leon) and his wife as wonderful people”.

    We do wonder why:

    • Leon Chen discussed the project with Richard Lowenthal who had not been on the city council for more than a decade
    • Leon Chen did not write directly to the City Council Members, but sought the introduction from the former mayor.
    • Leon Chen sought audience with only two of the five current members of the City Council

    No Neighborhood is Safe from YIMBYs

    It is not surprising that the people who won their elections, telling West Cupertino residents that they are protecting them for high density constructions, are facilitating higher density construction on Linda Vista Drive. They are beholden to the builders, not the residents of Cupertino.

    State laws like SB10 facilitate higher density construction in single family zoned lots; all it needs is approval of the city council.

    As part of the housing element, the YIMBY controlled Cupertino City Council also proposed making all corner lots in single family zoned areas to be rezoned to the R3, without any public input, allowing multi-family (apartment/condos) developments at every corner. They also wanted to make any single family lot near a big street to be eligible to be converted into an apartment.

    The final draft changed the rezoning from R3 (multi-family apartments/condos) to R2 (duplex). With ADU laws, a lot zoned for R2 can have two main homes and up to three additional Accessory Dwelling Unit per primary home. In the future, the city council can go back to the proposal of R3 density in R1 zones, as they had originally planned.

    Save our Home Values: End Builders Control


    The builders’ lobby control of Cupertino’s local governments institutions has resulted in major negative changes in our quality of life.

    They were successful in closing down multiple schools in CUSD right in the middle of the pandemic, even though CUSD schools are very crowded, and the school district was projecting a surplus of $39M over the next five years, when the schools were closed. (Read CUSD: Dispelling Disinfo with Data)

    Going forward, they want to allow construction of multi-story buildings right in the middle of single family neighborhoods, with very low setback requirements. These will make existing single family homes in Cupertino be less attractive to future buyers, since they run the risk of having a five story condominium towering over their backyard, less then six feet away from their property.

    It’s time residents of both East and West Cupertino unite to end builders’ control of our local governments, and preserve the character of our single family neighborhoods.

  • Non Profits: Not All are Charities

     

    As we get to the end of the year, we wish all of you a happy and relaxing holiday season. It is also the season of giving, where we contribute to our favorite causes, often represented by charities we donate to. We often use the words non-profit organizations and charities interchangeably. However they are NOT the same. 


    Did you know that the National Football League (NFL) was classified as a non-profit organization for almost five decades?


    While most charities are non-profits, not all non-profits are charities. Organizations become non-profits when they are classified by the IRS as exempt from paying taxes on the contributions and investment income they receive. 


     In fact many tax-exempt nonprofits are organized for the explicit purpose of advocating for the interests of the members, and NOT for social causes and the greater good which we associate charities with.

     

    In this post we go into the differences between nonprofits and also focus on a nonprofit (not charities) whose dealing with the City of Cupertino, and the use of our tax dollars raises serious questions.


    Different Kinds of Non-Profit Organizations 

     

    The IRS has published guidelines describing the tax treatment for various kinds of nonprofits. 


    Charities or 501 (c)(3) exempt organizations are typically what comes to mind when we think of nonprofits. 501 (c)(3) exempt organizations can be large organizations like the American Red Cross or local organizations like the West Valley Community Services who assist those in need in our neighborhood.


    Another class of non-profit are business and trade leagues whose tax exemption is covered under IRS Section 501 (c)(6). These organizations are organized to advocate for the interests of their members. The National Football League (NFL) was a 501 (c)(6) exempt non-profit for about five decades before giving up its non-profit status in 2015!


    Locally, the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce is a 501(c)(6) exempt non-profit, which advocates for its members. Out of the about 2400 registered businesses in Cupertino, less than 10% are dues-paying members of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce.

     

    Cupertino Chamber of Commerce & the $16,000/year Ghost Contract

     

    For as far as anyone in the City Offices can remember, the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce has been sending a bi-annual invoice for $8000 ($16,000 per year) to the City of Cupertino. Under normal business practices the invoices are paid by the City for services delivered under a contract agreed upon prior to the delivery of the services.

     

    However, the City staff is unable to locate any such agreement or contract against which the Chamber of Commerce was invoicing the city and getting paid for many years! After further investigation, the City Council was informed that the payments were made under a verbal agreement which no-one can reproduce. 

     

    To summarize, there is:

    • NO Definition of the service the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce performs for the city
    • NO Criteria to determine whether the Chamber is fulfilling the terms of the contract for their invoices to be paid
    • However the City has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to this organization whose charter is to lobby for its dues-paying members, without any contract in place.


    Councilperson Kitty Moore ‘s scrutiny of a  line-item during the review of the City’s spending led to the discovery of these payments. These annual payments are in addition to the membership dues which the City pays to the Chamber, or the more than $60,000 paid by the City to the Chamber to run the ILoveCupertino website, or other concession the city provides like the free use of City facilities. 

    City Elections & the Chamber of Commerce PAC


    As an organization created to lobby for the interests of its members, the Chamber of Commerce sponsors PACs during elections. During the 2016 election cycle, the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce PAC committed campaign finance violations and was fined by the FPCC.


    During the 2018 election the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce sponsored a PAC, to influence the results of local city council elections in the favor of certain candidates sponsored by the coterie of ex-mayors, The PAC used the name and the logo of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce to solicit votes.

    For many years, the city was paying $16,000 of our tax dollars, annually, without a locatable contract, to an organization which ran a PAC in support of city council candidates backed by the coterie of ex-mayors.

     

    The Coterie of Mayors & Their Web of Influence

     

    One challenge the residents face is that the coterie of ex-mayors have a well entrenched web of influence among local organizations which they have cultivated over the decades.

     

    These networks have been built over the years via both soft favors like memberships in committees, endorsements & awards, and hard benefits, like the annual transfer of our tax-payer dollars to the Chamber of Commerce which then runs PACs to favor the coterie.


    Whether it was shutting down already overcrowded CUSD schools in the middle of a 100 year pandemic or granting their favorite developer the unheard of privilege to build without any height limits, or sending our tax dollars to lobbying organizations which then advocate to get them get elected, the coterie of mayors does not have the residents’ best interests in mind.

     

    Please stay alert and continue acting as a watchdog to keep them in check.

  • Stay Engaged to Preserve Your Interests

    A few years ago no one would have thought that CUSD would close schools even though: 

     

    • CUSD has the most crowded schools in the area
    • 30% of primary school classrooms are non-permanent portable structures
    • The district is projecting a $39M surplus over the next five years
    • And the savings from school closure are minimal

     

    Why do our elected leaders take such decisions?

    Part of the reason is that they do not face repercussions for their decisions.

    And that happens because they have well-oiled machinery to misdirect residents.

     

    One leg of that machinery is media outlets which spread fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) among residents; and the other leg of that is suppression of dialogue among residents which challenges that FUD.


    In this email, we focus on the second aspect: the suppression of free dialogue by the coterie of ex-mayors to harm residents’ interests. 

    Kent Vincent and Censorship on Nextdoor

     

    Kent Vincent has been living in Cupertino for more than 40 years. He worked at HP Labs where he (co)authored more than 50 patents before his “retirement”. For the past 15 years, he has been organizing large travel groups to destinations all over the world.

     

    Earlier this month, Kent wrote a post on Nextdoor challenging the premise of the editorial published by San Jose Mercury News about the Cupertino elections.


    Kent’s post was marked as disrespectful, and deleted, twice, from the platform by Nextdoor lead. 

     

    Not surprisingly, the six leads who deleted Kent’s post, are vocal cheer-leaders of investor interests on various forums and curtail any discussion which challenges the investor’s narrative.

     

    We are sharing the screenshots of those who voted to delete Kent’s post to suppress discussion, and also the content of the original post below.

    Kent Vincent’ Post

    Jollyman/Faria • 3 Nov

     

    There is a dynamic in the Cupertino Council race that bothers me. As in recent past elections, our six candidates are marketed by two PACs, three candidates supported by a pro-development PAC of past Cupertino mayors predominantly residing on the west end of Cupertino and three candidates supported by a “sensible growth” development PAC of individuals predominantly residing on the east side of Cupertino. 


    Virtually all of the high rise, high density, high traffic generating “big city” development that has been built or planned for Cupertino in recent years has been approved exclusively for the east of Hwy 85 east side and its residents by the Councils of the west end PAC mayors. This includes the ill-fated amendment of a Vallco General Plan in 2014 having no building height limitation that now allows the build of multiple 20-story skyscrapers on that site via SB35.


     What bothers me is that most of those pro-development PAC leaders personally live in neighborhoods isolated from the impact of their development decisions, areas of low traffic where significant development has not occurred for 40 years nor is planned. It is very easy to be pro-development altruistic when development you approve always occurs in someone else’s neighborhood and doesn’t negatively impact you personally. 


    I have good fortune to know most of the leaders of both PACs and view all as very decent, well-meaning leaders and residents that I respect and applaud for their commitment to our community. I am bothered, however, that the west end PAC and its influenced San Jose Mercury News editorials have labeled the east side PAC and its slate of current Council members and candidates as “nimbies” (not in my back yard) on development. 


    That’s “calling the kettle black” in my opinion. Always approving “yes in your backyard” development is just a different form of “not in my back yard” (NIMBY). Fact is, virtually no one wants high rise, high density, traffic impacting development in their neighborhood. We’re all NIMBYs in that sense. In my view, any candidate running on a platform of pro-development (altruistic or otherwise) should state willingness to bear the negative impact of their approvals in the part of the city where they live.  


    I know the PAC leaders read Nextdoor and I look forward to their comments. Do I have a valid concern?

    The Coterie of ex-Mayors and their “Ethics”
    One of the foundations of the democratic system we cherish, is our freedom of expression. That expression takes various forms, with yard signs being a convenient method for residents to express their preferences during election season. 

     

    The security video below shows how those rights are infringed upon by these power-brokers who have no qualms in stealing their opponent’s yard signs. The resemblance to one of the most prominent members of the coterie of ex-mayors is not accidental. While this sign-stealing video is from the 2020 election cycle  the behavior continued this cycle also.

    Video

    Please Stay Engaged and Involved

     

    They have no qualms in shutting down our already overcrowded schools in the middle of a 100 year pandemic, they have no problem trespassing and stealing our yard signs, they have no problem suppressing discussion among residents, but they do have a problem in registering as paid lobbyists.

     

    Whether it is unbalanced editorials in newspapers, or a constant barrage of half truths, vested  interests will force the city in a direction which enriches their backers substantially, at the cost of our quality of life.

     

    The only bulwark we have against these vested interests, is an engaged community.. So please stay engaged and come together to preserve your interests. One way to help is to share our content with your neighbors and friends.

    A reminder of how desperate the coterie of ex-mayors was to label our Harvard and Princeton educated resident focused council members as “bums” and “scoundrels” since they resisted the deep-pocketed investors.

  • Cupertino: It is a Lot More Than Vallco!

     

     

    This is going to be our last email before the elections.

    1. The Vallco Obsession

    2. Opt-In Email List

     

    The Vallco Obsession


    The coterie of ex-mayors sent out another email showing the Vallco lot. We wanted to set the record straight.

     

    Vallco SB35 Plan: Stuck due to Toxic Contamination


    The SB35 plan approved by the previous city council (Rod Sinks, Barry Chang and Savita Vaidhyanathan) after firing the City Attorney is still valid. 


    However, the Vallco site is contaminated, and the County of Santa Clara Department of Environment Health (SCC-DEH) is supervising the cleanup. The City of Cupertino or the City Council is not involved. The city will issue the permits after SCC-DEH gives clearance.

     

    The developer knew of the contamination as far as 2016, but neither they, nor the previous City Councils listened to the residents who expressed concern about the potential impact on the workers who are working on the  contaminated site, and nearby residents, without adequate mitigation efforts.

     

    No Height Limits: The Empire State Building


    We also wanted to reiterate that the previous councils removed height limits at Vallco in 2014 and refused to put them back in 2017 when Steven Scharf and Darcy Paul requested them, due to the upcoming  SB35 legislation. In principle, the developer could have built something as high as the Empire State Building at that development since there were no restrictions in place. 

    The resident focused city council, in place after the 2018 election, put reasonable limitson the development for any future plans which come up.


    Cupertino Top Issues:

     

    We feel that the top issues facing Cupertino are the CUSD school closures and the potential of 14 units being permitted on a single lot in our single family neighborhoods under SB10.

     

    While we would all like to see Vallco developed, it is up to the developer to clean up the site, and start construction on the SB35 plan or discuss an alternative with the City if they prefer.

    VOTE WISELY

     

    To save our schools and preserve home values, please VOTE for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They have taken a public stand to keep school closure off the table and roll back past mistakes. These city council candidates are opposed to SB10 becoming a law in Cupertino.  They are not funded by external special-interests and will keep the interests of residents foremost.

     

     

    Please do NOT vote for JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan for Cupertino City Council, and Ava Chiao (CUSD).  They have been supportive of school closure and giving the land to developers, and have strong endorsements from the three CUSD trustees who closed the schools.  They have also received extensive funding from construction interests, who covet the land our schools stand on, and have not signed the City of Cupertino voluntary spending limit on election expenses.

    .

    Sign up for our Email List


    With the election season coming to an end, we are going to move to an opt-in subscription list. Our goal would be to send quarterly or as needed (without exceeding once a month) updates on issues of importance to our fellow residents, and also dispel any new FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) being shared by vested interests.

     

    You can also contribute to help us inform our residents. The financial declaration about us is available here

     

    We end with a video showing how the previous council gave the Vallco owner a carte-blanche to build as high as they want at Vallco; a reminder of what can happen if the investors backed candidates take control again.

  • Debunking more Misinformation

    In this email, we cover the following topics:


    1. The financial condition of the City

    2. Debunking the “redevelopment needs office space to break even” myth

    3. An update on the campaign spending by various candidates

    4. A note from a fellow resident about the Bullying of our Treasurer Minna Xu

    That is the line of a mailer sent by the coterie of ex-mayors claiming financial ruin in the city.


    We would like to reassure the residents that the city is doing great financially, and your Harvard & Princeton educated councilperson (aka “bums”) are strengthening its governance.


    The city has also instituted an internal audit function, instituted better financial processes & controls as recommended by Moss-Adams, and has created a Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Program to allow whistle-blowers to report concerns anonymously to prevent embezzlement like the multi-year scam (2000-2014) which cost the city $800K. The City Manager has the following to say in his introduction to the city budget for 2022-2023

    “The City is on solid financial footing in FY 2022-23 with a balanced budget. The budget is balanced with ongoing revenues meeting or exceeding expenditures, and fund balance is being used to fund one-time projects”


    “Redevelopment Need Office Space to Break Even”: Not True


    Another myth propagated by the investors’ proxies is that redevelopment needs a huge amount of office space to break even. This was the reason given to grant up to 2M sq ft of office space allocation at Vallco, in spite of intense multi-year opposition by the residents. Residents oppose it since it increases traffic, and does not improve the jobs to housing ratio.

    The Westport development (Oaks) has zero office space. Later this month, the Marina Plaza redevelopment project is coming for review with the City’s Planning Commission, including commissioners Steven Scharf, Muni Madhdhipatla, and Ray Wang. It’s a 5.1 acre development with 206 condos and 41K sq ft of commercial space.

    These two projects clearly establish that redevelopment does NOT need millions of sq ft of office space to be viable, just a City Council which considers the wishes of the residents and the needs of the city, while working with property owners to revitalize our city.


    Campaign Spending Update (10/31/2022)

    The resident focused candidates for the Cupertino City Council, Govind Tatchari, Liang Chao and Steven Scharf  have raised/spent under $25,000 honoring the voluntary limit they agreed to for the election.


    JR Fruen and Sheila Mohan have breached the $80,000 mark and are racing towards the $100,000 milestone with investor backed elements and unions pouring money into their campaigns. Claudio Bono is in the middle, near $50,000 (his campaign has a large loan amount)

    From Cupertino.org

    Bullying of our Treasurer Minna Xu: A note from a fellow resident


    Minna is a long time Cupertino resident who is warm-hearted and volunteers a lot in our local community. She has helped with school Yosemite trip fundraising, with boy scouts’ activities, and coordinating several Chinese and Asian events in the past. Whenever friends’ ask for help, if she can, she will help. 


    Why is she suddenly famous this campaign season? It’s because her friends asked her to help with their accounting. This organization’s name is Cupertino Facts. She read their article drafts and believed they were doing the right thing. They work to deliver the truth. So, she helped just like she did, so many times in the past. 

    But this time her simple act has resulted in this kind and innocent Asian lady being attacked by an old boys network with a Big Title: the Council of Mayors. 


    It’s because what Cupertino Facts provides is not something this group of ex-Mayors want the residents to hear. They pick on the weak one, intimidate and threaten, and hope the weak person would back off and never dare to do anything they don’t like. Do you feel disturbed by seeing this? Can you imagine such things happening in Cupertino nowadays? 


    Our beautiful city belongs to all the residents who love it. Our city belongs to all the people like Minna who believe in kindness, caring, selfless contribution with no return. If you believe that everyone in Cupertino has the right to speak the truth, unite and stand up, protect our fellow residents. Don’t let any of our residents be bullied by those snobbish old-boys network of Mayors.

    VOTE WISELY


    To save our schools and preserve home values, please VOTE for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They have taken a public stand to keep school closure off the table and roll back past mistakes. They are not funded by external special-interests and will keep the interests of residents foremost.

    Please do NOT vote for JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan for Cupertino City Council, and Ava Chiao (CUSD).  They have been supportive of school closure and giving the land to developers, and have strong endorsements from the three CUSD trustees who closed the schools.  They have also received extensive funding from construction interests, who covet the land our schools stand on, and have not signed the City of Cupertino voluntary spending limit on election expenses.

    .

    Your fellow neighbors from Cupertino

    We became aware of another group of CUSD residents who have formed a group called “Voice of CUSD Residents for Better Education”.  You can learn more about them here.

    We finish with a video with Mayor Darcy Paul who is now running to help fix CUSD.