1 CITY COUNCIL ACTIVITY REPORT Meeting: Thursday, July 6, 2023 Reporting Councilmember: Councilmember Kitty Moore Report Activity Dates: 4/5/2023 to 6/28/2023 Event Date, Title, and Description: April 5, 2023, Discover Stanford for You: Preventing Housing Displacement – One Family at a Time. End of COVID protections: funds and arguments which protected families struggling with rent payments resulting in housing displacement. Discussion of how Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County (and Law Foundation of Silicon Valley) help with housing displacement. April 6, 2023, Santa Clara Valley Water Water Ambassador Program, Moore initiatied – application approved by SCVW BOD member. Attending multi-week course on water challenges, role of Valley Water, Valley Water Projects, and Organizational structure. Course begins today. April 8, 2023, Cupertino Big Bunny Fun Run! Participated in the 5K, helped Parks and Recreation Staff give out all of the prize medals, placed 3rd for age group : ) Great and healthy fun for the community! April 10, 2023, CPUC meeting, voluntary attendance. April 12, 2023, Santa Clara Valley Water Commission, Chair was unable to attend, as Vice Chair I ran the meeting. We had a robust discussion on the water rates and proposed rate hikes and recommended the BOD not approve the rate hike, elected to hold the August meeting and will hold it at the Advanced Water Purification Center. April 13, 2023, Apple site visit RE Agenda item project on Vallco Parkway and Tantau.
April 16, 2023, Continuing Environmental Studies program: Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste April 20, 2023, Santa Clara Valley Water Water Ambassador Program, Moore initiatied – application approved by SCVW BOD member. Attending multi-week course on water challenges, role of Valley Water, Valley Water Projects, and Organizational structure. Deep dive into the water system. April 22, 2023 Attended Cupertino Earth Day from 11-2:20pm and visited many booths and collected lots of information. Great to see the event growing from last year! Cupertino has a lot to be proud of regarding Bird Safe/Dark Skies, Single Use Plastics, Climate Action 2.0, Reach Codes, and more! April 24, 2023 Attended Senator Josh Becker and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s press conference in support of Transitional Housing SB 643 to help provide sites for transitional homeless housing as a step to permanent housing. April 26, 2023 Attended Supervisor Simitian’s 8th Lehigh Cement Plant and Quarry Community meeting. Of note was the mention of a 15 M gallon spill of potable water in 2022. (That is equivalent to 46 acre-ft which is 46 times the amount of water an average family of 4 would use inside and outside in a year). Efforts underway to ensure that the plant is permanently closed and begin remediation. April 27, 2023 Attended Santa Clara County Homelessness Prevention meeting by Destination Home. Santa Clara County Homelessness Prevention System (HPS). Emergency financial assistance was analyzed and found to be very effective. HPS has had to turn away about 2/3ds of the people seeking assistance due to lacking capacity. Since starting the Eviction Diversion and Settlement Program in April 2022, they have served 167 cases, $2.9 M award, $17,608 average award per household, demand is great. Average rent for HPS participants is $1,987/month which is an increase of 12% YOY. More than half of the households HPS serves were not earning enough income to cover their monthly rent. More cost effective to prevent homelessness than to provide for homeless. Needs more funding, Measure A does not apply to this program. April 29, 2023 Attended Cherry Blossom Festival and toured all of the indoor exhibits. Very well-attended and organized! April 29, 2023 Attended the Grand Opening of Berraco Coffee at Stevens Creek Blvd. and S. Tantau across from Main Street Cupertino. This new shop is one-of-a-kind and features specialty coffee.
April 30, 2023 Ongoing Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Provention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste, this week’s topic: Solid and Medical Waste Management: Legal and Technical Aspects. Very timely subject which included an overview of MRFs and Santa Clara County landfills with multiple videos on waste processing. May 4, 2023 Santa Clara Valley Water Water Ambassador Program, Moore initiatied – application approved by SCVW BOD member. Attending multi-week course on water challenges, role of Valley Water, Valley Water Projects, and Organizational structure. May 6, 2023 Attended Supervisor Simitian and the City of Mountain View’s Asian American Pacific Islander AAPI Heritage Month Celebration in Mountain View. Beautiful fusion of classical and contemporary music along with classic dance, fellowship, and community celebration of the founders of the local Asian Americans for Community Involvement and AACI’s 50 years of service to the community. May 7, 2023 Continued Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention course. Waste: Current Topics & Issues. May 8, 2023 2-hour Budget review with Senior City Staff, provided to all Councilmembers individually. May 13, 2023 Ongoing Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste, this week’s topic: Chemical and Chemical Products: Legal and Management Aspects. Excellent overview of the Toxic Substances Control Act and its historical ineffectiveness (as compared to the FDA which requires drug testing prior to coming onto the market). May 18, 2023 Santa Clara Valley Water Water Ambassador Program, Moore initiatied – application approved by SCVW BOD member. Attending multi-week course on water challenges, role of Valley Water, Valley Water Projects, and Organizational structure. This week’s course included Purified Water projects, Emergency Services, Racial Equity, diversity and Inclusion, Civic Engagement, Government Relations, and Communications.
May 20, 2023 National Creek Cleanup Day at Regnart Creek! Volunteers pulled out 300 pounds of trash. I am holding part of a shopping cart:
May 21, 2023 Ongoing Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste, this week’s topic: Evaluation and Design of Chemicals and Chemical Products, in depth look at TSCA and the Green Chemistry initiative. May 23, 2023 Santa Clara Valley Water Salt Pond Restoration update May 24, 2023 Santa Clara Valley Water Anderson Dam update May 25, 2023 Cupertino CREST Awards to congratulate our community volunteers! May 26, 2023 Material Recover Facility Tour. Extensive tour of a MRF with Councilmember Chao and our Environmental Programs Manager: Ursula Syrova. Resource recovery has come a long way from the days of sending everything into an unlined open pit dump to optically sorting plastics, baling plastics, cardboard, aluminum, and grinding food waste to be dried and pelletized for animal feed. May 28, 2023 Ongoing Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste, this week’s topic: Chemicals and Pesticides: Current Topics and Issues. Overview of PFAS, Paper making process using Green Chemistry, Paper recycling, Chemical Safety Board activities, Safer Choice labeling, Underground Storage Tanks, Right-to-Know Network’s Risk Mgmt Plan database etc.
June 1, 2023 LGBTQ+ Pride Flag Raising for the City of Cupertino. I shared a speech regarding one of my sibling’s experiences in the U.S. Army under DADT, the recording of the event is available on the City’s Youtube Channel. June 3, 2023 Santa Clara Valley Water Water Ambassador Program, Moore initiatied – application approved by SCVW BOD member. Attending multi-week course on water challenges, role of Valley Water, Valley Water Projects, and Organizational structure. This was an all-day tour of various water facilities in Santa Clara Valley Water and included a view of one of the new murals, tour of the Anderson Dam seismic retrofit project (Anderson Dam fits all of the other 9 reservoirs in the district and will take about ten years to be rebuilt), Upper Llagas Creek Flood Protection Project, Penetencia Water Treatment Plant, Alviso Marina County Park Mural, San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project, and the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center. This was a fantastic tour and the SCVW Water Ambassador program is very educational and well-run, please apply! June 5, 2023 Ongoing Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste, this week’s topic: Non-renewable fuel sources (oil, coal, nuclear) June 8, 2023 Santa Clara Valley Water Water Ambassador Graduation! Those who made it through the whole program graduated in a ceremony and we are officially Water Ambassadors! June 9, 2023 Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Western Digital Energy and Sustainability Summit at the Oracle Conference Center. Guest speakers included Jennifer Granholm, Energy Secretary for the US DOE, Michael Regan, Administrator for the USEPA, Guest Panel on Transit including Darlene Gee, Sr. VP HNTB, Veronica Vaterpool, Deputy Admin. FTA, Carolyn Gonot, GM SCVTA, Jeff Tumlin, GM SFMTA, and Michelle Bouchard, Exec. Dir. Caltrain, followed by Billionair Tom Styer, Co-Exec. Director Galvanize Climate Solutions. Topics included sustainable real estate investing, needs and challenges in public transportation, diversity in democracy, and the need to expand the electrical grid.
USEPA Administrator Michael Regan (right) June 10, 2023 Wilson Park Ribbon Cutting for the new Community Garden and Basketball Court. Take note of the metal siding on the Community Garden to help keep the squirrels out, and the bioswale on the south side of the basketball court to help retain water. June 11, 2023 Ongoing Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste, this week’s topic: Renewable Energy Sources (wind, solar, geothermal). When environmental costs of energy resources are included in market prices, wind energy is the least expensive and least polluting way to produce electricity (surpassing coal). June 11, 2023 Attended Cupertino Library Foundation panel on drought and water in the beautiful Library Expansion. Sashi Begur moderated the panelists of water experts sharing information of the water system, drought status, and that our focus needs to be on outdoor watering conservation!
June 22-23, 2023, Self-funded trip to Pomona, CA to attend the third CalCities Environmental Quality Policy Committee in person at the Sheraton Conference Center. This is the third year I have been appointed to this CalCities Committee by the Peninsula Division. This is the first time the Committee has met in person and all of the CalCities Committees came together for this event to hold the meetings. It was great to meet people we have only seen on Zoom for the past 2.5 years! After receiving a legislative update which included an appeal to all of the cities to join CalCities in their opposition to SB 423 (which modifies SB 35 and over 100 cities have signed on to oppose), the committees broke out into our respective groups to discuss pertinent legislation. The Environmental Quality Policy Committee discussed a water diversion penalty bill, SB 460, first, and I contributed the Author’s amendments from the state Judiciary Committee as recommendations which the Committee moved to include in the Support position. The next bill, SB 1337, was also regarding water use that would impact pre-1914 water rights, and received a Neutral position. If you are interested in water rights in California, this is a good source: https://solano.com/collections/natural-resource-management/products/california-water-3rd-edition June 24, 2023 I attended the CARES Field Day at Memorial Park/Quinlan Field in the afternoon. I hope everyone had a chance to stop by our volunteers who held their annual all-day event sharing their technical communications expertise. This year they had set up and secured their tall, multi-band antennae. When I stopped by their communications efforts had reached Hawaii and Pennsylvania. Our volunteers are prepared and trained to work on communications during an emergency or other communications-needed event such as their important help in public utility shutoff communications. Hats off to their excellent work! June 25, 2023 Finals Week for the Environmental Studies Environmental Resource Management and Pollution Prevention: Energy, Chemicals and Waste Course. This is the second year of a self-funded Environmental Studies certificate program I began 1/2022 for further background related to Council topics such as Climate Change, Energy use, environmental law, and water usage.