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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

July 13, 2005

Limiting growth OK, but not with initiatives

Letter to the Editor

Ned would have you believe that Sandy James, Paul Fong, the Sierra Club, the Greenbelt Alliance, the League of Conservation Voters, the Chamber of Commerce, Congressman Mike Honda, former Assemblyman Jim Cunneen, the Cupertino City Council, Affordable Housing Advocates, League of Women Voters and every other responsible leader and organization in Cupertino is lying to you.

When it comes to credibility, methinks Mr. Britt protests too much.

His statement that the harmful CCC "initiatives do not limit growth of either population or buildings" is a blatant lie. If they didn't limit growth or new residents, why put them on the ballot at all?

Limiting growth is not a bad idea. In fact, the current regulations in the new General Plan provide "smart growth" concepts for that reason. It's written by professionals, adopted with public input and implemented with a professional process.

The CCC initiatives, on the other hand, are stringent, arbitrary limits on all property in Cupertino, written by a few disgruntled gadflies, calling for a "special election" for every project that does not strictly conform to their unreasonable proposed regulations.

The unintended consequences of these harmful proposals have galvanized every reasonable leader and organization in our community to oppose them.

Under these harmful proposals our new library could never have been built, as it would have required a "special election" to approve its design. The cost of that election would have destroyed our financial ability to pay for the building. That is one reason why every member of the Cupertino City Council is on record opposing these harmful initiatives.

No reasonable property owner is going to fund a new election to change the use of their property. Thus every decrepit strip mall, commercially obsolete building and dilapidated home will forever remain in Cupertino, unless the owner can make the property financially viable within the stringent requirements imposed by these proposed initiatives. That's why many of us who led the fight for slow growth in the past, oppose the draconian approach proposed by the CCC.

Under these poorly drafted proposed initiatives the city council could sanction a Walmart, Costco or Home Depot but not the new library, the senior center, or the Apple Research Campus. For a more detailed list of buildings that would be in violation of these stringent proposals visit www.abettercupertino.org.

These ill-conceived laws treat every piece of property in Cupertino the same. The small exceptions made for the Vallco Property do not come close to what their property owners envision or what would be practical. Under the CCC laws, the shopping center won't be redeveloped. That's why the owners of Vallco along with the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce oppose these harmful proposals.

Consider the fact that all affordable housing efforts would stop. The proposed restrictive ordinances would make it financially impossible to build any new housing for teachers, sheriffs, firefighters and many seniors on fixed incomes. That's why Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, the entire board of the Cupertino Union School District, affordable housing advocates and many of our more experienced citizens oppose these measures.

A recent survey of CEOs listed the lack of affordable housing as the No. 1 issue facing business in Silicon Valley.

The Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and Greenbelt Alliance, hardly tools of profit-motivated developers, unanimously oppose these initiatives because the result would be increased building in the hillsides, loss of our open space and more car trips generated by increased urban sprawl.

The long-term impacts of these no-growth initiatives will affect the quality of our schools. It is the partnership of our businesses and schools that has led to the best education community in the state.

Nobody wants uncontrolled growth. In the past, many of us led the efforts to reduce unrestrained growth in Cupertino. We changed the city council and revised the General Plan. We replaced the old tier system that would have resulted in enormous growth with a "smart growth" General Plan that protects our neighborhoods and provides a positive vision for our community. That was the correct way to limit growth in Cupertino.

The wholesale destruction of established planning processes is a dangerous precedent to set in any community. That is why the entire city council, Supervisor Liz Kniss and Congressman Mike Honda oppose these measures. None of these individuals, previous to Ned Britt's recent opinion article, were ever accused of intentionally deceiving the public.

Mr. Britt's assertions that these badly written initiatives do not attempt to limit growth, do not require special elections, have meaningful exceptions for commercial areas of the city and would not stop the theater at Vallco are all contradicted by facts.

Rich Robinson is a Cupertino resident and a member of the Alliance for a Better Cupertino.

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