1 CITY COUNCILMEMBER REPORT
Meeting: Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Reporting Councilmember: Councilmember Liang Chao
Report Dates: 3/10/24 to 3/25/24
Section 1: Events Attended (Date, Title, and Description):
(This list does not include internal meetings with staff only, such as prep sessions or meetings with the City Manager.)
2023-03-10 (Day 0) Attended National League of Cities (NLC) Annual Congressional Conference at Washington D.C.
- Members of Asian Pacific American Municipal Officials (APAMO) , a caucus within NLC, encouraged me to attend NLC since they need more Asian city councilmembers to join. - This is my first trip to NLC since 2019 when I was elected to the City Council. - I attended a few Advocacy Committee meetings, such as the Transportation and Infrastructure Services Federal Advocacy Committee and Public Safety and Crime Prevention Federal Advocacy Committee..
- I attended the First Tier Suburbs Council Meeting too, where suburbs share their challenges and solutions.
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2024-03-11 (Day 1) NLC
- President Biden gave a speech (video) at the General Session about the importance of city councils as we are the closest to the people who we serve and the many programs to help the cities.
- In a session where league of cities from different states presented, Arizona League of Cities presented the Housing Data Story: Arizona Housing Challenges: Myths vs Facts - It listed five housing myths to clarify the ways cities and towns can address housing challenges and what is beyond the control of the cities. - In March 2023, Rounds Consulting Group, Inc., released a report, Analyses of Housing Affordability in Arizona . On the impact of government on the current housing crisis, the report notedshows “It is estimated that macroeconomic influences represent between 85
2 to 90 percent of the current housing availability and affordability issues while state, county, and municipal policies may have contributed to the remainder.” 2024-03-12 (Day 2) NLC
- Attended more Deep Dive sessions where speakers from federal agencies talk about programs they offer and how the cities can improve their chances of getting grants. - Attended Federal Agency Office Houses and talked to FEMA, EPA, DOT and DOE and learned about formula grant for energy efficiency improvements allocated to each city, green school bus program to provide electric school bus program. Learned that there is funding for purchasing electric vehicles, but no funding to operate them.
2024-03-13 (Day 3) NLC Hill Day to visit the offices of Congressmen/women and Senators. - Ro Khanna’s office was not able to accommodate a meeting. - Attended a meeting where two Senators from California Sen. Padilla & Sen. Butler gave briefings about their policy initiatives, such as
- “the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded over $510 million to California for drinking water and clean water infrastructure. The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of a $5.8 billion investment through the Clean Water
and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRF), one of EPA’s signature water investment programs.” (Press Release)
- Joined a meeting with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo mentioned that there is $4.5 billion dollars guaranteed for the Bay Area, as described on her website:
- “The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act delivers $4.5 billion to the Bay Area in guaranteed funding for roads, bridges, passenger rail and public transit, a 50 percent increase from the current allotment of federal dollars. The Bay Area will also be in a strong position to compete for more than $140 billion in federal grants.” 2024-03-17 Spring Festival and Social by the Distinguished Citizens Society International and Silicon Valley Chapter
- This organization was started in Taiwan in the 1950s and has chapters in many countries now. - The International President Wendy Wu is a Cupertino resident. 2024-03-20 FUHSD Public Hearing on Map Selection for the transition to trustee-area election (attended virtually)
- At the request of residents who reside in the Cupertino High Attendance area, I attended the meeting to speak up for them
since the Cupertino High area is divided in all three proposed maps, while the attendance areas of MVHS and LHS have been kept together almost entirely. The residents in the Cupertino High area are mostly unaware of this transition and that they will only be able to vote for one seat every 4 years, rather than voting for all 5 seats on the FUHSD Board. - In response to the concerns of many residents on the potential of school closure based on a 3-to-2 split vote as the CUSD Board has done, I have requested at this meeting that the FUHSD Board to adopt a policy to require supermajority vote for any school closure decision so that the Board would slow down and resolve differences when there is a split vote on such a costly and impactful decision.
2024-03-21 FUHSD CTAD Community Meeting at Calabasas Park (attended virtually) - After hearing the comments from the attendees, I realized that it does not help to insist on supporting or opposing anyone of the proposed three maps since none of them are acceptable 3 and we have another chance to submit suggestions for modifications on the maps to the CTAD Committee. Then, the CTAD Committee will make another set of recommendations to the Board on April 8. Thus, I suggested that everyone should focus on the features we like or dislike in each map in the hopes that the new set of maps could address those issues of concern without losing the features we like.
- Suggestions for how to modify the maps can be submitted to [email protected]. - Final Map adoption will be at the April 24 FUHSD Board meeting. 2024-03-23 Annual Ramadan organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (AMC) Silicon Valley: The theme of this year is: Voices for Peace
- “During the holy month of Ramadan, which starts this year on Thursday, March 12, 2024, Muslims around the world abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset… .The meal at sunset to break the fast is called "iftar," …It's an opportunity for our community to come together and reflect upon the essential messages of Ramadan—compassion, humanity, and humility.” - Assemblymember Marc Berman presented the 2024 Voices for Peace Award to the County Supervisor: Cindy Chavez. Both have attended this annual event for several years.
Section 3: Committee Assignment
- No committee assignment during this period
Section 2: Other Activities to Serve the Community:
(This list includes other activities I have spent time on to “represent the community I am elected to serve”, “to respond to community needs and complaints,” and “to communicate policies and programs to residents,” among other responsibilities.)
1. Housing Element Update:
- The third Housing Element draft was posted for the mandatory 7-day public review and comment in early February. After informal comments from HCD, on March 20, the revised third Housing Element draft was posted on the City’s website at engagecupertino.org/public-documents for the 7-day public review and comment. The comments are due by the end of business March Submit comments to [email protected].
2. FUHSD By-Trustee-Area Election in November 2024
- The CTAD Committee has presented three recommended maps to the FUHSD Board at the March 20 Board Meeting.
- Upcoming meetings:
- Monday, April 8, 2024 CTAD Committee (6 p.m.) - to make another set of recommendations to the Board
- Wednesday April 24, 2024 FUHSD Board Meeting (6 p.m.) - likely final adoption of the trustee-area maps
(Last Activity Report in the March 19, 2024 Council Meeting Agenda.)