Category: Ray Wang

  • Builders Rampage on Nextdoor!

    Builders Rampage on Nextdoor!

    One big part of the disinformation network run by the Builder-Politician complex is to stifle voices which provide an alternative perspective. They achieve that by removing content or banning users who disagree with their narrative on Nextdoor, a social media network for neighbors..

    In the lead-up to the election, the following people have had their content removed or their accounts suspended.

    1. Steven ScharfFormer Mayor of Cupertino
    2. Muni MadhdhipatlaPlanning Commissioner & former Vice Chair
    3. Vikram SaxenaFormer Vice Chair of Planning Commission
    4. Rhoda Fry: 2022 Crest Award Winner for Public Safety
    5. Seema SwamyParks & Recreation Commissioner
    6. San RSafe Route to Schools.

    7. James Murasighe: Nextdoor Lead for Inspiration Heights


    All of the people whose voices were stifled, support resident focused candidates, Ray Wang and Kitty Moore for the City Council, and Long Jiao for CUSD.

    We include some of the posts which were deleted; these posts attempt to reproduce the deleted post since the authors can not access them any more. These posts reflect the authors personal opinions and not as of any city official

    Ray Wang and Kitty Moore: Will take Vallco Forward

    Rod Sinks is highlighting his negotiating skills and saying he will make Vallco happen.

    What he does not realize is that most residents in the neighborhoods around Vallco, do not trust Rod Sinks at all. This is the result of the favors he has granted to Sandhill over the past 12 years. In fact, any agreement with his fingerprints, will automatically be suspect for a large section of the population in Cupertino.

    For those who are truly interested in the redevelopment of Vallco, Ray Wang & Kitty Moore offer a fresh start. They do not bring in the baggage of the past decade which Rod Sinks, Gilbert Wong and Barry Chang bring with them; plus their resident focus approach will help create more trust in the agreement.

    History of Builders’ Bullying in Cupertino

    Builders Cupertino bullying is at a different level: they bully the entire city

    •⁠  ⁠Using the City Manager to pressure Sears to sell to Peter Pau of Sandhill (2014)
    •⁠  ⁠Amend City’s General Plan to add 2M office space since Peter Pau asked for it (2014)
    •⁠  ⁠Removing all height limits at Vallco (2014)
    •⁠  ⁠Putting residents at risk of cancer by not revealing the toxic contamination and Cortese List listing of the Sears site (2016)
    •⁠  ⁠Not putting back height limits at Vallco when SB35 was about to become law (2017)
    •⁠  ⁠Forcing the City Attorney out when he did not agree to SB35 approval (2018)
    •⁠  ⁠Closing three schools in the middle of a 100 year pandemic when CUSD was projecting its highest ever surplus (2021)
    •⁠  ⁠Harassing city councilors and commissioners who were not aligned with their agenda (eg: Grand Jury which was tossed out by the DA) (2023)
    •⁠  ⁠Fighting City’s lobbying registration requirements with a lawsuit, and after losing it amending them to not have builder’s lobbyists to register (2022-2023)
    •⁠  ⁠Trying to upzone 1600 single family R1  lots to R3-condos to enable 5-story buildings towering over our single family homes. (2023)
    •⁠  ⁠Sending each household a hidden tax of $3500 by agreeing to waive $77M in development fees for Vallco

    You can build without destroying what already exists.

    Pro-Residents is NOT Anti Development
    There is a canard spread in Cupertino, that people who want the city council to consider the interests of residents are anti-development. The term anti-development is often used by groups backed by big-real estate to stifle discussion about sustainable development.
     
    A well-functioning city-council will balance the concerns of the residents with the developers’ right to develop their property and earn economic benefit. The developers try to maximize the square footage of what they build, but have little interest in how it impacts the people around their development. 
     
    Until the November 2018 election, the Cupertino City Council was in control of politicians who are quite close to developers. KT Urban, which was driving the redevelopment of the Oaks Plaza, a project called Westport, wanted to build more than 800K sq ft of offices. They tried to get the office allocation but were asked to wait. The City’s politicians were focussed on enabling the Vallco project and had already given almost all the allocation added to the General Plan (2 Million sq ft) to Vallco.
     
    Cupertino does not get mass transit like BART, Caltrain, Muni or Light Rail. Being a transit desert means that any new office space will lead to a direct increase in vehicular traffic which will make our commute time traffic jams even worse. 

    After the resident-focussed City Council took over, KT Urban realized that getting the office allocation was even less likely  than before because there was resident opposition to it. They decided to pivot the project to housing. 
     
    The Westport being built, was negotiated by the pro-resident council. It  consists of townhomes, senior housing, an assisted living facility and retail. It is traffic neutra and provides much needed senior housing in Cupertino, and along with a bike path.

    The transformation of Westport from giant office towers to much  needed housing is a great example of how a resident focussed city council can enable development in Cupertino in a manner which is sustainable
     
    Unlike what the developers want us to believe, pro-residents means sensible development; it does not mean anti-development.

    Giant office towers which would have worsened the traffic situation on the Stevens Creek and Hwy 85 junction

  • 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