1 CITY COUNCILMEMBER REPORT
Meeting: Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Reporting Councilmember: Mayor Liang Chao
Report Dates: 1/15/25 to 1/27/25
Section 1: Announcement - Message from the Mayor:
❖ Messages from other agencies: I continue to forward questions on other agencies to address your concerns.
➢ Message from the Fire Department: Response regarding fire safety questions from residents
■ They have prepared an FAQ to answer many questions they have received. ■ To learn more about preparing your home and family to survive wildfire, visit sccfd.org/rsg.
➢ Message from the Santa Clara Valley Water District: Response regarding concerns on the water level of the Stevens Creek Reservoir
■ “Valley Water does own and operate 10 reservoirs throughout Santa Clara County, and we partner with fire protection agencies and local water retailers (such as San Jose Water Company) to supply water that may be used for fire protection purposes.” ■ “In fact, Stevens Creek Reservoir is currently 62% full—equivalent to a volume of 1,900 acre-feet of water. Rest assured, though, that this is more than enough water needed for an emergency situation.”
❖ Monthly Mayor’s Coffee Community Meetings: These meetings will be generally held on the second Monday at 5pm each month, but it might be moved to other Mondays if needed. The location will rotate so that we cover different businesses each month. ➢ The first Monthly Mayor’s Coffee was held on Monday January 20 at 5pm at Holder’s Country Inn. ➢ The next Mayor’s Coffee will be on Monday February 10th at 5pm. The location is TBD.
❖ The State of the City Address: It will be held in the evening of Wednesday February 26. ➢ A message to save the date has been sent out.
➢ Partners: We continue to partner with Cupertino Rotary and Cupertino Chamber. In addition, we are also partnering with the Cupertino Library Foundation and the Cupertino Historic Society. We welcome more outreach partners to help support the event. ❖ Proclamations at Council meetings: This year, I plan to follow a tradition upheld by some former Cupertino mayors and other mayors in recognizing organizations or individuals with proclamations during Council meetings. My goal is to honor those who have made consistent
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2 and/or significant contributions to Cupertino, with an emphasis on those who are less well- known. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Proclamations for contributions will generally be presented at the second Council meeting of each month, while the first meeting will continue to recognize special observances (e.g., awareness months or weeks) as before. You are also welcome to submit suggestions for these recognitions. ❖ Cupertino Mayor at the Chamber LAC Meeting: On Friday February 7th, I will speak at the Legislative Action Committee (LAC) of the Cupertino Chamber . Their website states “Meetings
are typically (but not always) held at 12:30pm until 2pm, the first Friday of each month. The meeting is open to the public. R.S.V.P. preferred.”
I am happy to attend meetings at other organizations too. You are welcome to submit your invitations to [email protected].
❖ FY 2025-27 Work Program Prioritization: The staff has proposed a new process for Work Program Prioritization in an info memo. Check the Work Program page for updates. ➢ The Council has reviewed the initial top-10 lists at the 1/22 council meeting. Each councilmember will submit their revised top-10 list and then provide a ranking on 20 projects. See an upcoming info memo for the revised lists. ➢ At the March 3 Council Workshop, the Council will rank the projects and the top 20 will be considered for the FY 2025-27.
➢ The final decision will likely be made in April/May before the Council adopts the FY 25-26 budget in June 2025.
Section 2: 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.
2025-1-16 Cupertino Chamber of Commerce Installation Ceremony at Quinlan Center - The 2024 President John Tang made his remark and then the 2025 President and the Board took over. Met many Chamber board members.
2025-01-17 meeting with Jennifer Zhou, Bay Area Council - Jennifer Zhou is the Vice President of Global Initiatives for Bay Area Council. She has offices in Shanghai and the Bay Area.
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3 - They provide free services to help the U.S. companies to set up branches in China and also help companies from China to set up branches in the U.S.
2025-01-29 Attended the annual gala of the Shin Shin Educational Foundation and the lunar new year celebration
- Presented the proclamation to declare January 19, 2025 the Shin Shin Foundation Day, to follow the tradition in previous years.
- There were exciting performances for the new year, including lion dance and face-changing and other dance and music performances by performers of all ages.
2025-01-30 The first Mayor’s Coffee at the Holder’s Country Inn - About 15 people attended.
- They brought up various issues such as community grant program, budget issue, art center like Palo Alto, transparency for development projects, fire safety for Eucalyptus trees in neighboring HOA. 2025-01-23 Meeting with Michael Haleva, Policy Analyst of Senator Corteze - I proposed some legislative ideas which I shared with Peter Leroe-Muñoz, General Counsel of from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group
- incentives to provide smaller starter homes, such as homes with 1,000 sqft to 1,500 sqft. - incentives to provide for-sale flats for seniors to downsize into. - sales tax restructuring so that the city where the consumer reside, the warehouse city and the city with the company sales office all get a percentage share of the sales tax. - impact to the city revenue when 100% retail site is replaced by 100% housing or less than 10% retail - incentives to provide work-live units as a solution to provide housing with potential for generating revenue for both the homeowner and the city.
2025-01-25 Lunar New Year event by the Taiwanese America American Federation of Northern California (TAFNC) at TECO
- The event room at TECO is packed with members of TAFNC. This year they have a youth portion conducted in English, which features two young Taiwanese American authors. One wrote a picture book and one wrote a non-fiction book on the identity of Taiwanese American youth. 2025-01-26 Lunar New Year event by the Chinese School Associations at TECO - The elected officials and community leaders are invited up stage to write in Chinese Calligraphy. There are patterns to help anyone to write.
- Awards given to the poster contest winners from Chinese schools. There were many activities for children. 2025-01-14 Attended Meet Legislators - hosted by the Cal Cities Peninsula Division in South San Francisco
- 5 legislators gave brief summaries of their legislative priorities this year and answered questions from the host and the audience.
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4 Section 3: Committee Assignment
2025-01-22 Valley Water Commission Meeting (meet quarterly) - Presentation on the master plan and budget.
- The water rate for the Valley Water portion, which is about 40 -60% of typical water bill, would see 8 -10% year-to-year growth in the next 10 years in order to fund necessary capital projects for the water infrastructure. Commissioners expressed concern on such large increases and the communication to the community.
2025-01-24 Santa Clara County Mayors meeting, hosted by San Jose Mayor Matt Mohan (meet quarterly)
- Staff of San Jose Mayor’s office presented the work of GovAI and other innovative Economic Development work.
- The mayors brain stormed potential common goals to work together, such as RV parking, fire safety (weed abatement on parcels owned by public agencies), commitment of services from the County when cities provide shelters, impact from the upcoming Super Brown and World Cups in 2026
Section 4: Information of Interest to My Constituents: (no update since the last report)
1. Builders’ Remedy (BR) Projects
★ The Planning Staff has completed the “determination of completeness” reviews for the 20739 Scofield Drive and Vista Heights projects. In both instances staff has determined that the application materials are incomplete, meaning the projects are no longer vested pursuant to Government Code Section 65941.1.
The letters that have been transmitted to the applicants are available on the City’s website here:
● Scofield: https://www.cupertino.gov/scofield
● Vista Heights: https://www.cupertino.gov/vistaheights ★ There is one more BR project that is still active: Dividend Homes at the northwest corner of Stevens Creek Blvd and De Anza. The project will replace the existing office building with town homes.
★ Status of all BR projects
★ The July 25, 2024 info memo, titled “Scofield Drive SB330 Preliminary Application pursuant to Builder’s Remedy”, has information about what are BR projects and their review process.
2. License Plate Reader Camera - City-operated or personal ones ★ The Council has adopted the Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Camera program (Resolution 24-094) in order to alert the police when a license plate with previous record is detected. Some cameras are placed at major roads entering Cupertnio. ★ The residents or businesses can connect your home or business surveillance camera with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. The registration form is at the bottom of this page.
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5 Section 5: 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.
3. 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.
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 Council page. You can also
find the page by entering search terms “info memos” at the top of the website. ★ Anyone may use the eNotification signup to receive informational memo updates by email.
★ The info memos are now hosted in the digital archive as all other city records. ★ Click “+” to zoom in.
★ On a laptop:
○ To open the document as PDF, click on the Print icon and then click on “Download & Print”. The downloaded PDF will appear in a new tab for viewing. ○ This does not work on Safari browser on an iPhone.
★ To copy and paste text, you must open it as PDF and then copy & paste from there.
New memos posted, since last report:
11 - November 14, 2024 - Notification method for GPA and zoning ordinances on parcels, preliminary applications, and project proposals
11 - November 27, 2024 - City of Cupertino Electrical Utility Costs and Usage Information Councilmember Report City Council
6 11 - November 27, 2024 - Rodrigues Avenue Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Enhancements 12 - December 12, 2024 - Climate Action Plan Progress Report 12 - December 12, 2024 - Monthly Treasurer’s Investment Report for November 2024 12 - December 12, 2024 - Monthly Treasurer’s Investment Report for October 2024 12 - December 12, 2024 - Monthly Treasurer's Report for November 2024 12 - December 12, 2024 - Monthly Treasurer's Report for October 2024 12 - December 12, 2024 - Treasurer's Investment Report for the Quarter Ending September 30, 2024
12 - December 20, 2024 - Goal Setting Workshop Preparation – Council Top 10 Projects
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”
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7 (Last Activity Report in the November 19, 2024 Council Meeting Agenda.)