CC 5-5-20 Oral Communications_Written CommunicationsCC 05-05-20
Oral
Communications
Written Comments
1
Cyrah Caburian
From:Sashi Begur <sashibegur@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, May 5, 2020 4:59 PM
To:City Council
Subject:Oral comments - Sashi Begur
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I would like to speak about Surveys the need for them and also how to go about doing this and therefore this is what I
want to present:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I want to bring to the Council attention, my concerns with
regard to the recent survey! I have some questions first and then I have recommendations for solving this
problem. Yes you heard me right I see this as a problem that needs the immediate attention of the mayor and the
council.
My questions are the following:
- This is to the City Manager - Why was the survey put out on Facebook without the knowledge, let alone the
approval of the City council? Aren’t you accountable to the Council , who in turn are accountable to the voting
public?
- This is to the Mayor - What action will you take in order to investigate why and how this happened? What action
will you take to prevent this from happening again?
I would like to obtain answers to these questions in a public forum, as in the next monthy meeting as well as a
written reply!
My recommendations:
⁃ I think the Mayor and also the Council, must insist that no surveys be released without the approval of the city
council. This is not being autocratic, this is to perform the required oversight, which is what the CC is supposed to
provide!
⁃ I also recommend that every CC monthly meeting have this as a required agenda item . This being - discuss
why and what surveys are being put out. Thousands of dollars of tax payer money is being spent on consultants
and surveys with no accountability! You need to have the surveys to understand what the residents want, and
therefore this is a requirement in every meeting! IF you have too many items for meetings, then hold a special
meeting, or do whatever it takes, to ensure the public is aware of the upcoming surveys, so they can participate!
⁃ My final recommendation is the that the Council must define the limits of the changes allowed to the GPA. As a
resident, I have to follow the setbacks and height recommendations etc, up to the last inch! I do that for 2 reasons
⁃ to make sure my city architecture is consistent and
2
⁃ I am a good neighbor by not inconveniencing my neighbors in anyway.
Given residents are required to follow the GPA, why is it developers always get to change the rules? For example,
Westport development which is the old Oaks shopping center is adding 5 Units to meet the Density requirements
specified by the state. In exchange they are requesting an increase in height of 25feet. Are they stacking all 5 units
one on top of another, that too with no setback? Westport is not the only exception; the Good year construction is
the same and God knows what Vallco will come up with Plan B. So my recommendation is very simple the GPA has
to stand as is, no one not Vallco, not good year, not Oaks, and NO other developer will change it. They took a gamble
when they bought the property, they should have known what the state rules were and what the city’s GPA states.
Why did they come up with outlandish plans then? We need to enforce the GPA period!. We need a survey and the
first question on the Survey needs to be do - developers need to be a good neighbor and follow the GPA? Currently
it seems as though the developer decides what he wants to build and gets approval from the city staff. It is later
sent to the CC for approval which is merely a formality in other words a sham! I would like for the city council, to
be the oversight body it is elected to be so we don’t get any nasty surprises like the current survey, and
furthermore, the eyesores that these developers want to build!