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Cupertino has become the Silicon Valley poster child for city mismanagement since the election of a majority of Better Cupertino members to the City Council in 2018.
Unchecked Nimbyism. Ongoing fights with the state over housing projects. Constant turnover of city staff at the highest levels. And the fiasco that is Vallco, the 50-acre wasteland in the heart of the city that has stood for years as a symbol of the council’s incompetence.
Meanwhile, as the City Council keeps blocking affordable housing for young families, teachers and workers, Cupertino’s prized schools continue to suffer. Enrollment is dropping at alarming rates, forcing the Cupertino Union School District to take the prudent step of closing two schools this year.
Yet the Better Cupertino members of the City Council, which has no jurisdiction over the school district, fought that, too, believing the council should have a say in decisions regarding schools.
Cupertino deserves better.
Eight candidates are seeking to fill three seats on the City Council that are currently held by Better Cupertino supporters.
Mayor Darcy Paul is termed out. Councilman Jon Willey is not seeking reelection. Vice Mayor Liang-Fang Chao, one of Better Cupertino’s founders, is running for a second term in office.
Voters should end Better Cupertino’s hold on the City Council by electing J.R. Fruen, Sheila Mohan and Claudio Bono.
Troubled city
Cupertino, population 60,000, is best known for being the home of Apple. It’s one of the wealthiest Bay Area cities, with the median price of a home hovering in the $2.5 million range. It has built only 249 new housing units and 48 affordable housing units since 2019.
The city has had four city managers in the last four years, with the latest, Pamela Wu, taking over in August. Her predecessor, Jim Throop, lasted just six months on the job. The city is also plagued by turnover in other key staff positions, including deputy city manager following the recent departure of Katy Nomura.
Then there’s the Vallco debacle.
In 2018, the Cupertino City Council approved the Vallco Town Center under the conditions of Senate Bill 35 — a law that requires cities not building enough housing to fast-track qualifying projects.
The plan called for about 2,500 housing units, office and retail space and $270 million worth of community benefits that would include a major performing arts center, a new City Hall and emergency response center and a multimillion-dollar gift to the city’s elementary and high school districts. But after the election of a pro-Better Cupertino council in November, the plan went awry. Better Cupertino eventually filed a lawsuit against the city in 2019, claiming the redevelopment didn’t qualify for approval under SB 35.
A Santa Clara Superior Court judge ruled against Better Cupertino in May, saying that the project qualified for SB 35 status. Meanwhile, the plan changed. The latest, massive version calls for seven 20-story towers with 2,400 units of housing (half affordable housing), approximately 1.9 million square feet of office space and about 400,000 square feet of retail uses. No City Hall. No Performing Arts center. No gifts to the school district.
Fruen, Mohan and Bono
Fruen and Mohan are the standout candidates in the race.
Fruen nearly won a seat on the council in 2020 when he finished 1,300 votes behind Councilwoman Kitty Moore. He is an attorney who is the policy director for Cupertino for All, the nonprofit he cofounded that is focused on housing and transportation in Cupertino. Fruen advocates utilizing local control and the state-mandated Regional Housing Need Allocation process to increase production of all levels of housing near job centers and major thoroughfares.
He is knowledgeable about the city’s finances and wants to end the micromanaging of city staff that has contributed to excessive turnover.
Mohan’s 25 years of experience working in local government is a major plus. She is a retired Santa Clara County senior finance manager who previously served as Union City’s Director of Administrative Services. Her knowledge of Cupertino’s financial challenges is only exceeded by her sense of how the council and city staff should interact. Her highest priority is to ensure that every tax dollar generated in Cupertino goes toward the betterment of the city rather than “on unproductive litigation.” She has served on the city’s Fine Arts Commission and Library Commission.
Bono’s connections to developers are troubling. But his election would stand as an improvement over any of the other candidates. Bono is general manager of the Cupertino Inn and president of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. He lacks Fruen and Mohan’s knowledge of Cupertino’s finances or political experience, but he would put an end to the NIMBY approach that has hurt the city for far too long.
Rest of the field
In addition to Chao, the other candidates include former Councilman Steven Scharf, Yuko Shima and Govind Tatachari. Moon Kyu Choe did not respond to our interview request and should not be considered a serious candidate.
Chao and Scharf were co-founders of Better Cupertino. They are running with Tatachari in an effort to retain their group’s dominance of Cupertino issues. They have done enough damage. Don’t give them another four years to devastate Cupertino.
Shima, whose primary interest is in environmental sustainability, is a newcomer to Cupertino’s political scene. We would like to see her stay involved in Cupertino and gain more experience.
Fruen, Mohan and Bono are the better choices. Voters should choose them in the Nov. 8 election.
