1 CITY COUNCILMEMBER REPORT*
Meeting: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
+for the “Councilmember Reports” agenda item under the “COUNCIL REPORTS” section
Reporting Councilmember: Councilmember Liang Chao
Report Dates: 10/10/24 to 11/12/24
Section 1: Activities by Date (Date, Title, and Description):
NOTE:
● This list does not include internal meetings with staff only, such as prep sessions or meetings with the City Manager.
● This list includes activities 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
of a City Councilmember.
● Due to my work schedule, I have cut down on the event attendance for ceremonial purposes, especially those I have attended almost every year in the past. Instead, I focus more of my time on constituent services.
2024-10-19 Attended the Annual Conference and Banquet of CASPA (Chinese Semiconductor Professional Association)
- The theme of the annual conference was on how AI has triggered growth in semiconductor as the demand for computing power increased dramatically.
- CASPA started a junior club for high schoolers and they demonstrated a robotic arm projects with 3D printed parts
2024-10-23 Attended Farewell of Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister City Student Delegation - The City Manager presented a gift to the Toyokawa City which is a photo of the 280 bike bridge - A tour was conducted to visit all of the past gifts between the two cities around the City Hall, in the gardens and in the City Hall.
2024-10-23 Invited to attend a rally in front of the Community Hall by Faria Parents to protest the SB 330 project at the Scofield Road
- The City Manager was present. I and Vice Mayor Fruen both gave a speech.
2 2024-10-24 Attended the Monthly Event of Global Federation of Chinese Business Women Northern California Chapter
- Amazing speaker who is an Architect professor who founded the Taiwan Center to provide schools for refugees in the MiddleEast. After the earthquake that destroyed 90% of the structures of the region, they transformed the Center to house thousands of refugees. The innovative and lost-cost architect has won multiple international awards. - FUHSD School Board Candidate Aegean Lee gave a speech on her background and outlook for education
2024-10-26 Welcomed students for the student exchange program organized by the Cupertino-Hsinchu
Sister City Association
- The flight was delayed. They finally arrived and met their host families at the courtyard of Cupertino Inn. The students have been communicating for two weeks with their host families so they already know each other..
2024-11-04 Staff Update on Aircraft on Southbound 85 at De Anza Boulevard (email )
2024-11-08 Staff response to an email “Homeless person inhabiting our neighborhood” (email) 2024-11-09 Attended US-China High Tech Forum, hosted by the North American Taiwanese Engineering & Science Association - Silicon Valley Chapter - The theme of the conference is Generative Ai and Conscious Technology. There was talks on what generative AI is and how it impacts business, on investment outlook and also on new technologies.
- Winnie Twoi from Fujitsu mentioned many interesting programs done at Fujitsu. One of them is the “social digital twin”, which has the ability to simulate policies based on data collected about human behavior. Such system has been used to evaluate policies to relieve traffic congestion or city planning: “Accelerate decision-making with Social Digital Twin ”
2024-10-10 20th Anniversary for Iris Chang’s Passing: “The Power of One” and award ceremony for student contests
- Iris Chang was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and grew up in the U.S. But she has written influential investigative reports on Chinese history and people. She passed away at the age of 36, but her books have left long-lasting impacts on many people. - Volunteers have regularly maintained the Iris Chang Park in San Jose, which opened in 2019 .
- Awards were handed out for contents on poems, videos, paintings and essays. - My speech focused on the story of Iris Chang that might inspire the immigrant parents to pursue their own passion and their children to pursue careers such as investigative journalism. 3 2024-10-10 Attended the 20th Anniversary and Hindu American Foundation (HAF) Gala - “Established in 2003, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) is the largest and oldest education and advocacy organization and the pre-eminent voice for Hindu Americans.” - HAF publishes pamphlets to help people understand Hinduism. They help people who might be discriminated against by their landlord or HOA due to misunderstanding about Hindu traditions. They provide information to educators and legislators.
2024-11-01 Response from Eden Housing Regarding Wolfe Road Housing Project ● The Wolfe Road Housing (https://www.wolferoadhousing.com/) site says they are planning to build "250-300 total units across the 5-acre + property. It will be 100% rental apartments, offering a variety of unit types for various income ranges, depending on community feedback. The affordable housing target populations have not yet been decided, and will be influenced by community feedback."
● Multiple residents wrote to the Council because they heard that the “Vallco Wall” might be taken down by the Wolfe Housing Project as an emergency exit at a block party, where an Eden Housing representative attended as a part of their outreach efforts. ● My email on October 22 has more info about the project. ● Eden Housing responded with information on the community outreach they have done proactively.
● At the request of residents, Eden Housing has hosted an additional online community meeting on Tuesday 11/12. They will host another in-person community meeting to listen to the community about the project.
Section 2: Committee Assignment
- No meeting this period.
Section 3: Other Information of Interest to My Constituents:
Section 4: Information Access Useful to My Constituents:
1. “Written Communication” for a City Council meeting:
- When will an email sent to the City Council be included in the “Written Communication” file of a Council meeting?
- From the City Clerk:
- Emailed comments that are related to an agenda item and received following the agenda publication prior to or during the meeting will be posted to the City’s website. - Emailed comments related to non-agenda items and received following the agenda publication prior to or during the meeting will be posted upon request only if it is forwarded by a councilmember, to comply with the Muni Code. 4 2. Recordings of Commission Meetings:
Starting in June, commission meetings will be recorded for viewing later, although no teleconferencing to allow remote participation.
- Find the recordings here under each commission.
3. SB 330 Preliminary Application and Builders’ Remedy Projects - An info memo is published on July 25: “ Scofield Drive SB330 Preliminary Application pursuant to Builder’s Remedy” was posted (The memo was requested by the Council at the July 2 Council meeting after hearing public concerns on the project) - The memo also includes a list of eight SB330 applications received so far. Four of them are utilizing the Builders’ Remedy (BR) provisions of HAA".
4. Information Memo posted on the City website:
City Council Informational Memos are now available on the City website. The information can be accessed from the City website at cupertino.org/memos
and the City Councilmembers page. You
can also find the page via the “Our City” banner and by entering search terms in the “Search the Site” box at the top of the website. Anyone may use the eNotification signup to receive informational memo updates by email.
New memos posted:
● October 24, 2024 - Monthly Treasurer's Report for September 2024 ● October 24, 2024 - Monthly Treasurer’s Investment Report for September 2024 ● October 24, 2024 - Legislative Update – 2024 Session Recap ● October 24, 2024 - First Quarterly Update for Year Two of FY 23-25 City Work Program
● October 10, 2024 - Update on the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) Audit and Settlement
● October 10, 2024 - Absence of Councilmember Hung Wei
4. How to Search an agenda item:
A community member showed me a way to search for items on the past city meetings:
● Go to this page: https://cupertino.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx ○ Make sure that “Calendar” is selected from the top row of tabs and the “List View” is selected from the bottom row of tabs.
○ Enter the search term, such as “investment report”. Choose the year or select “All Years”
5 (Last Activity Report in the October 15, 2024 Council Meeting Agenda.)