What do we want for our city? The status quo or a change?
The status quo is represented by Gilbert Wong and Marty Miller. Why Marty Miller because he's a friend of Wong and a fixture of the planning commission. He will side with Wong to do the same thing.
The change is represented by Homer Tong and Rod Sinks. They are the new faces who were not in a commission and could bring a new perspective to the city council.
This is the first time ever that a vice mayor came out strongly against a fellow council member through Tong and Sinks. Mark Santaro came to office as a new face who campaigned for transparency. Now that he's part of the establishment, he prefers to keep the status quo. He is against council member Barry Chang, although he reiterated that he was not against him in his letter to the editor to the Cupertino Courier. He was against Chang because he did not want Chang to have friends in the names of Tong and Sinks who are against the Lehigh cement plant. It seems that he's for the cement plant. By attacking his fellow council member, he got the opposite effect that he wanted. He said that it's a thankless job. So why is he still here? Why doesn't he resign? Because he wants power. He wants to be the Lord Mayor of Cupertino.
We should limit to only one term instead of two terms. Also we should elect directly the mayor and not let the council members take turn to be mayor.
On Nove 8, 2011, vote for Homer Tong and Rod Sinks to send a message to the establishment. It's time for a change.
Vote NO on Measure C because we don't want the visitors to stay in Sunnyvale which has a lower hotel tax.
All the candidates for the November 8, 2011 Cupertino City Council have no vision.
The incumbent mayor and council member Gilbert Wong claims to be a leader with a vision, but what is his vision? He does not show anything new that we don't know. He says he wants to keep a strong Cupertino? What does a strong Cupertino mean? It's just a word that means nothing. So having Apple Campus 2 means that Cupertino is strong? Does that mean that without Wong there's no new Apple headquarters? Let's be honest. Can Cupertino afford to refuse Apple to build its new headquarters? Anyway Wong acted like a child during the presentation of Steve Jobs on June 7, 2011 to the city council. Instead of being professional, he tried to show off that he owned an iPad and that his daughter loved it so much. He wanted an Apple store in Cupertino and that he would bring people to the store. Why not watch Jobs' response and judge by yourself.
In 2007 I supported Wong in spite of the attacks against him. Today I recommend not to re-elect him.
Marty Miller will try for the third time, and maybe it's a charm. The last time he lost to Barry Chang who got the Chinese votes. So this time he hopes to be elected on the bandwagon of Wong with the Chinese votes. His sign is next to Wong's everywhere in the city. He runs as a pro business, but he does not explain how he's going to revitalize the business districts. As a candidate, one can say anything, but once elected everything becomes quiet. Look at all the council members today. What have they done for the business districts? Actions talk louder than words. If Wong is re-elected against my recommendation, Miller can have a good chance of being elected too, but he has a strong contender in Tong, who can get the Chinese votes like Chang did last time.
Homer Tong, a member of the Fremont Union High School District board of trustees, wants to make Cupertino a school town where all the residents participate in the schools' events, sports and activities. He seems to be stuck in the school environment instead of providing a vision of a city that our children want to have fun. Go and ask our children where they go to have fun? Not in Cupertino because there's nothing. As parents, don't we want our children stay closer to home rather than going and have fun far away?
Rod Sinks, Donna Austin and Chris Zhang are the other candidates. Sinks is the High-Tech person who is into green. So he should bring cleantech companies to Cupertino. Austin wants to keep Cupertino the way it is. Zhang, the youngest of the pack, believes that he's running for the school board about wanting to improve the science classes. What's wrong with the science classes at Monta Vista and Lynnbrook? Does he know that Physics Honor at Monta Vista is more difficult than Physics 2A at De Anza college? Anyway what can a city council member do with classes? He has a good idea about offering free WiFi in Cupertino. Steve Jobs said that with the tax revenues from Apple, the city can provide free WiFi. So why wait?
They all talk about Vallco and Mainstreet, but so far we don't see anything happening at all. Vallco has been in a limbo state for the past decades. It doesn't want to die, but doesn't want to succeed either. It changed names back and forth to confuse the people. The fences in front of Sears (corner of Wolfe and Stevens Creek) have become a sore eye and the sorrow state of a mall that our children do not want to frequent. The candidates do not provide any concrete solutions to this problem. About the Mainstreet or downtown, there's no sign that it will become a reality soon. It's not the time to continue to ask the residents whether they want a downtown or not, and what kind of downtown they want. The candidates should ask themselves the following question: Why do people go to Santana Row on Friday nights and weekends?
It's very unfortunate that we have a son in Cupertino that we don't want to promote to attract tourists. He's adored all over the world, but the city doesn't care about him. Yes I'm talking about Steve Jobs. The city should have a theme to honor him with a statue, a street name, a place or a museum. The tourists will come and spend, bringing more revenues to the city coffer. The businesses will benefit tremendously.
Two candidates will be selected. The top three mentioned above will have a chance, but they have to show that they are doers and not talkers. Sinks is the dark horse. So vote on November 8, 2011. Talk to the kids.
The people are not happy with the unemployment, foreclosures and slow economic recovery. So they will show their anger On November 2, 2010 when they go to the polls to elect governors, senators, representatives, etc. They will show their displeasure with the current administration. So are we going to see a Republican landslide or just only some discontent votes? It's possible that the Republicans will take over the Senate and Congress.
Although the mood is anti-incumbency, and I concur that we should vote for new people to give their chances at providing new ideas to tackle the current problems, there is an exception in Cupertino regarding the board members of the Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD). Three are up for reelection: Barbara Nunes, Hung Wei and Bill Wilson. Although they made some mistakes for wasting money on the measures, it seems that there are no alternatives. Their opponents are not up to the job. How can a family of three do a better job than the incumbents? Nobody wants a dictatorship on the board. As for the other candidate, he might want to do some volunteer work first by helping at school and participating in the PTA. Bill Wilson was first elected because his wife was President of the PTA. So he got his support base from the beginning through his wife. Hung Wei was appointed because of her involvement with the PTA and community. So being an engineer with a child attending one of the schools in the district does not mean that he has the experience to be a board member.
So vote against the past for the governor and the senate, but vote for the incumbents for the FUHSD board. Do not vote for new taxes.
FUHSD keeps on trying and trying to get the parcel passed. Last year it was Measure G with a twist, i.e. continue the current funding of $98/parcel for an unlimited time. It was a blank check that the residents did not like. The board should have known from the start that it would have failed. The board did not do its exercise by surveying the residents first before putting the measure on ballot. Somehow the board did not realize that it cost money to put a measure on ballot. We could have used the money to fund the programs and/or pay for the teachers. Did the board use a consultant? If so the consultant did not do his job. Did he do the poll before recommending the ballot? He earned the money without delivering the results.
Without giving up, the board spends money again for Measure B, this time with a 6 year limit. The board keeps wasting money that could be used for the programs that the measure is intended for. What a waste. The residents must vote by mail before April 28, 2010. That's the problem to get the people to vote because it's by mail. Sometimes people are not used to vote by mail and overlook the deadline. If it was with the primaries or the general elections, there would be a better chance to get the voters out.
Before it's too late, hopefully the residents of Cupertino will vote by April 28, 2010. So what should they do? Vote YES again for those who already did last time and how is it easy to convince those who voted No last time? There's a difference between Measure G and Measure B. This time, the tax is not unlimited time. We've been paying it until now, so 6 more years to go is not that difficult. After 6 years, we'll revisit the issue. Also we can decide on the board when its members are up for reelection. Why did they waste money the first time around?
FUHSD cannot keep on using the specter of cutting programs and laying off teachers to get the people to vote. Nobody likes to be blackmailed and threatened. There are alternatives to solve the problems. It's not that every time there's a problem, tax has to be raised. If AP classes are cut, the students can always take classes at De Anza. Although there's a problem of full classes at De Anza, there's also a possibility for the students to enroll in classes even if they are not their first choices.
So Vote YES for Measure B, but let's talk again in 6 years.
The winners of the city council race are the 2 incumbents and Chang.
Here are the results:
Completed Precincts 33 of 33
Percent
Votes
ORRIN MAHONEY
18.11%
3,323
MARK SANTORO
16.06%
2,946
BARRY CHANG
15.88%
2,913
MARTY MILLER
14.90%
2,733
DANIEL NGUYEN
12.56%
2,304
MAHESH NIHALANI
12.11%
2,222
DARCY PAUL
10.39%
1,906
Mahoney did not pull his two friends with him with his reelection. Chang is very close to Santoro. As expected they got the Chinese votes. Although he was associated with Chang and Santoro, Miller could not overcome the incumbency of Mahoney.
The real surprise was Nguyen who came fifth on his own. He was the only one who campaigned hard, having written to the residents and walked the precinct. He knew what it was like to get elected. He will have a better chance next time. Time is in his favor.
Measure G was defeated because it required two thirds of the total votes. The problem had to do with the unexpired measure. So FUHSD will have to find a way to cut cost and keep the teachers employed.
On November 3, 2009, Cupertino residents will have a chance to select 3 council members. The candidates are current mayor Orin Mahoney, incumbent Mark Santaro, Marty Miller, Barry Chang, Mahesh Nihalani, Darcy Paul and Daniel Nguyen. They all seem to do something good for the city of Cupertino. They want to revitalize Cupertino Square, but have no idea how. This mall has been dead for a long long time. Even with the AMC theaters, there's nothing much to attract customers. They support main street, but when will this become a reality? Check Cupertino Square as an example. They want to keep business in Cupertino, but they don't have any solution. So how are we going to select only 3 of them?
We can see that there are alliances formed. One alliance is the triumvirate Mahoney, Nihalani and Paul. The latter two are hoping that the the current mayor will bring them onboard. This is the bet that they're going to win just by being associated with Mahoney, who takes for granted his reelection.
The other alliance consists of Santaro, Miller and Chang. Although Santaro had a sensitivity issue when he said "No Chinese no dog," he realized that it was a misunderstanding. So he's campaigning hard for his seat now. Miller and Chang are trying for the second time. Maybe it's a charm.
Daniel Nguyen is left in the cold by himself although he's campaigning very hard. He's still young. He will have his chance next time.
Let's face reality. Without the Chinese votes, nobody is going to be elected. So by looking at these 2 alliances, there's a good chance that the Chinese votes will go to the Santoro, Miller and Chang coalition because Santoro's wife is Chinese and Chang is Chinese.
So vote for Santoro, Miller and Chang. They will listen to us as Santoro said that it's the government for the people and by the people. Let's hope that Miller will work hard to get main street a reality. Chang will make sure that we will breath clean and safe air.
Measure G is an important topic for all the schools in the Fremont High School Union District. The plan is to keep the same parcel tax, which is $98, to help pay to keep teachers in schools and to avoid increased class sizes. By voting Yes, there's no tax increase because the residents of Cupertino, except senior citizen, have been paying this tax until now.
There's one problem that the voters need to be aware of is the fact that with this new measure, there's no expiration date for the tax. So this means that the tax can go on forever as long as the District continues to justify its use. I'm sure the board is not going to repeal it once the funding improves. The other recourse is for the voters to put a ballot measure to do so and it costs money.
Vote Yes with but, we must keep an eye on the spending and budget. When the tax is not needed, it should be repealed.
