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CC 04-19-2022 Item No. 27 Written CommunicationsFrom:Deepa Mahendraker To:Kirsten Squarcia Cc:City Clerk; louise saadati Subject:Re: Public comments: Please read 9& April 19 Date:Monday, April 18, 2022 8:12:11 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Thank you very much Mayor Paul is a very kind man and I appreciate him making the exception I am sending a slightly revised version of my speech here - please use this one below the line for reading out during agenda item for public DOLAs public comments ( I thin it is agenda item 27) ———————————————— Dear city council member I am sending this communication to be read during the discussion of agenda item 27 during the city council meeting on April 19th I request that you please understand that I am sending this email earlier than usual because I am traveling and out of country ( in india in fact and in a different time zone) The DOLA programs are very near and dear to over 500 community members along with their pet dogs We thrive on the jollyman DOLA and look forward to open more DOLA trials I am leading the request for Quinlan knoll DOLA to be one of the first ones for trials during the year 2022-23. Rain or shine, there is one community of users who will always use the park - it is the dog lovers/owners group. What we are seeking to do is to duplicate the success of jollyman DOLA to other parks so the demands of the increasing dog population can be met with. I urge you all to prioritize the DOLA trials for a minimum of two identified DOLA parks ( Linda vista park and Quinlan knoll near memorial park). Neither are near athletic fields and hence a lot easier to enable. In addition we want to request that once the Quinlan’s knoll DOLA trial is successful then this DOLA should be added to the capital improvement program (CIP) for park amenities such as fencing, water fountains, dog waste bags etc. This is a low cost high impact program and will bring the community together much more Thank you very much Deepa Mahendraker DOLA leader an an avid DOLA advocate Sent from my iPhone ———————- On Apr 19, 2022, at 5:34 AM, Kirsten Squarcia <KirstenS@cupertino.org> wrote: Good evening Deepa, the Mayor has agreed to accommodate your request. So I will plan to read your comments aloud during the public comment period for item 27. Regards, Kirsten Kirsten Squarcia City Clerk City Manager's Office KirstenS@cupertino.org (408) 777-3225 -----Original Message----- From: Deepa Mahendraker <deepam@yahoo.com> Sent: Monday, April 18, 2022 12:17 AM To: City Council <CityCouncil@cupertino.org> Cc: City Clerk <CityClerk@cupertino.org>; louise saadati <lwsaadati@gmail.com> Subject: Public comments: Please read 9& April 19 CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear city council member I am sending this communication to be read during the discussion of agenda item 27 during the city council meeting on April 19th I request that you please understand that I am sending this email earlier than usual because I am traveling and out of country ( in india on fact and in a different time zone) The DOLA programs are very meaty and dear to over 500 community members along with their pet dogs We thrive on the jollyman DOLA and look forward to open more DOLA trials I am leading the request for Quinlan knoll DOLA to be one of the first ones for trials during the year 2022-23. Rain or shine, there is one community of users who will always use the park - it is the dog lovers/owners group. What we are seeking to do is to duplicate the success of jollyman DOLA to other parks so the demands of the increasing dog population can be met with. I urge you all to prioritize the DOLA trials for a minimum of two identified DOLA parks ( Linda vista park and Quinlan knoll near memorial park). Neither are near athletic fields and hence a lot easier to enable This is a low cost high impact program and will bring the community together much more Thank you so much Deepa DOLA leader and an avid DOLA advocate Sent from my iPhone From:indira pothuri To:City Council; City Clerk Subject:Prioritize DOLA"s for small dogs at Linda Vista Park Date:Monday, April 18, 2022 10:58:42 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. To the city council/clerk, I am a first-time pet owner and we got our Maltese/Bichon mix just a few months before the Pandemic hit in 2020. We have been looking for parks or places where we can take our dogs to socialize and I see there are not that many park options in Cupertino where we can take our dogs to socialize off-leash with other dogs of similar size other than having them socialize on our walks on the streets or at home. It would be great if the City can consider and prioritize having a few parks be DOLAs for small size dogs in the 2022 plan. I am happy to provide any input or information on what parks in Cupertino like Linda Vista Park which is central to the west of Cupertino. We will really appreciate it if you consider our request and prioritize DOLA discussions in your next meeting cycles. -- Best regards, Indira From:Cathy Helgerson To:Darcy Paul; Liang Chao; Kitty Moore; Hung Wei; Jon Robert Willey; Jim Throop; City Clerk; FRYHOUSE@EARTHLINK.NET; Supervisor Joe Simitian; Loquist, Kristina Subject:List of Items of Concern Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 12:37:21 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. To: City of Cupertino Council and Staff Members, From : Cathy Helgerson Subject; Serious Items of Concern for your review as follow: 1) Lehigh Hanson Permanente Cement Plant and Quarry review by Santa Clara County Board of Directors and Staff Members pertaining to the many pollution violations over the last 10 years. The meeting in SCC will be conducted in May 2022. The meeting for the acquisition purchase of the Lehigh land will from what I understand from SCC will be in June or July. I hope that Santa Clara County will post this information ASAP! 2) Stocklmeir FarmHouse, sheds and property has been allowed to be rundown and dilapidated this property is along the Steven Creek Corridor. The orange grove with orange trees is diseased and there are gopher holes all over the property. There are dead trees and leaves all over the ground and the property has not been maintained by the City as it should be. Blesch Property at 22050 Stevens Creek Blvd. is abandoned and rundown. The City needs to deal with these problems. The properties are valuable and are owned by the City of Cupertino. These problems could cause serious fire hazards. This area I understand is in a flood zone and that is why there can be no homes built there. I do not think that this is a real threat. We have been in a drought for years and it seems we will continue to be in a drought from now on. There are houses that have been built next to this area and it seems that if they can be there why can't housing be allowed at the Stocklmeir FarmHouse property? 3) McClellan Ranch House - 22221 McClellan Road, Cupertino, Ca. 95014 - has been allowed to be rundown and dilapidated buildings have not been maintained by the City of Cupertino. The City needs to deal with the problems. 4) Blackberry Farm - Rolling Hills 4-H Club through the University of California under a lease agreement both 4-H and the City have not maintained the property under the terms of the agreement. The term of the lease is from September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2024. The property is full of gopher and rat holes in the ground and is full of overgrown weeds, dead trees, and there is a smell of animal poop and urine that can be smelled from a distance. It is filthy and the large garbage dumpster with this matter and other waste is left open and is disgusting. I understand from the Recovery Garbage Company that putting feces and urine soaked straw in with the overburden is not allowed. 5) The Blackberry Farm Animals - llamas, goats, chickens and pigeons are living in their own excements of urine and dung. They are in small tight quarters they need more land to move around in. I sent the City Council and others e-mails before with a great deal of information and hope that my e-mail were read and also passed on to new people coming in. I do hope you will please read this for further information. These animals live in terrible conditions and it seems that their needs are not serious enough. I have to wonder how this can be happening. I am sorry to say that is just not true. The conditions are dirty and filthy and the 4-H Club, University and the City of Cupertino need to correct this very serious health and safety issue. The 4-H Club conducts tours at Blackberry farm and children and parents are and could be subjected to what may be serious health problems. More needs to be done to clean up things and to improve the conditions of the animals who are suffering. I wonder how much better things could be, renovating the land, buildings and helping the animals should be of great concern to all. 6) Community Garden Area - This garden is right next to the area where the animals are kept which I believe is being contaminated from the pollution coming from the animal area. Please read my letter attached with extended information of value. These matters are serious. The Garden Area is not kept up and many of the plots have not been cleaned up to allow new planting to commence. This land is very valuable and anyone wanting to plant only pays $100.00 per year to plant there. I will remind all concerned that we have very serious needs for more housing. The bee keepers area there are no bees and there again this land is not being utilized in a more productive way. It is time that the City Council get involved in what is taking place. 7) The Steven Creek Corridor next to the Stevens Creek is not maintained; there are downed trees, leaves and overgrown grass. The historical trees are not attended to and many of them have died because of this. This situation is a real fire hazard with the drought continuing. 8) Stevens Creek is not on a list to be cleaned or maintained; the City of Cupertino needs to investigate this matter to see what can be done. The many trees that have their roots flowing over to the creek have suffered from the drought and this needs to be looked into to see what can be done. These again many of them are Historical trees that have lived here along the Stevens Creek for multiple decades if not for 100 years and counting. 9) The Stevens Creek Corridor and Steven Creek Ridge Line on both sides are suffering from serious erosion. The fences and walls next to the houses above are old and seriously needing repair there needs to be a Buttress wall erected in order to keep the houses from falling into the Steven Creek Corridor and on to the Blackberry Farm area. The animals and humans alike are at risk of harm from an earthquake that could happen. The people in the homes are also at risk of death and harm to their property.The City of Cupertino needs to move on this matter before someone is hurt. I have to wonder who will pay for this. I would suggest that both the City and the home owners split the cost. There could also be a grant of some kind from some Government State or Federal Agency. 10) The pool along the Steven Creek Corridor has an algae problem, one I have mentioned before. Please clean up the pool. This pool during the winter season could be drained and then in the summer filled up with water again for use. The other suggestion I have is why not cover the pool and enclose it so that it could be used all year round like the YMCA pool. The kids and parents would love it. There are some enclosures that actually open and close wouldn't this be great. Opening it up for summer use is so great. 11) The Golf Course and house is old, this land could be used for housing which is so badly needed. There were groundsmen out there on the grounds on foot cutting the grass and they were using gas mowers. The fumes were going all over and there were two old people that were getting a good whiff of the fumes. I have to wonder why the City is using these mowers that are polluting the Golf Course and surrounding homes? I have to think that houses are more important than Golf. The Golf course could be moved to some place else may be joined with another City in a combined effort. The land should be used for housing. 12) The Snyder Hammon Home up next to Lehigh Cement and Quarry owned by the Historical Society is also a rundown dilapidated home that needs to be moved or demolished. The City of Cupertino Code Enforcement Department could only ask that the grass be cut down in order to keep any fire hazard happening. I am sorry to say that this is not enough. I would like to talk to the City Council and the Staff about this matter in the future which needs to be addressed. How long should this house be sitting there with no use on such valuable property if cleaned up could be used for so much more. I would suspect the Lehigh Cement Plant would have to remain closed. Could SCC or the City of Cupertino buy the land from the Historical Society? Please read my other letter that I sent before with a great deal of extended information that I sent to the City some time back. I can only hope that my e-mail letters were passed on to the new City Manager and new Public Works person. I feel that these matters need to be dealt with and addressed ASAP. The summer will be upon us and the drought is not over. There is a great deal that needs to be done in order to make sure that there are no fire hazards. The Lehigh Cement plant kiln is a great fire hazard and I have asked Santa Clara County to find out what is going on with this kiln only to be told that they can turn it on anytime they wish right now it is not operating. I am against this and want the Lehigh Cement Plant to be closed for good and the land cleaned up. I have mentioned many times how I feel about what needs to be done if only the Cities and Santa Clara County would listen. The land is very valuable and I have to wonder why the public has not been consulted as to what should be done with this land. I propose low or no income housing and a housing community be built on the land. There is a great need for housing and if we do not want twenty story buildings to be built here in Cupertino and the surrounding areas then we had better think on this now. Let's not leave out the Stevens Creek Quarry land while Santa Clara County is thinking of buying Lehigh. Both sites should be closed for good. My concerns are many and I can only hope and pray that the City of Cupertino and Santa Clara County will do what is right by the citizens that they represent. Please get back to me ASAP! I would like anyone else on the staff who has an interest to get this information. I wish that a copies of my e-mail be provided to the City Council for tonight's meeting and have sent a copy to the City Clerk via this e-mail message. Thank you, Cathy Helgerson - Environmental Enforcement Advocate CAP-Citizens Against Pollution 408-253-0490 From:yaokatie@gmail.com To:City Clerk Subject:DOLAS Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 1:18:10 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Council Members, We would like to respectfully request putting DOLA in Cupertino a high priority. Dogs are humans’ best friends, they provide endless love, happiness, and comfort to us, not to mention their love is unconditional. This is only a minimal ask for our best friends/family members and it is so important for our mental health. They never ask for much from us humans and most of the dogs I know are well behaved and their owners are conscientious. I pray that this request touches your hearts, and that the council would consider granting more DOLA for our loyal furry friends. Thank you for your consideration. Regards, Katie From:Maureen Lee To:City Council; City Council; City Clerk Subject:More DOLAs for small dogs Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 1:19:57 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. To: Cupertino City Council and City Clerk, We are dog parents of a 21 lbs mini goldendoodle. Her name is Miso. She is 1.5 years old and love both 4-legs and 2-legs. While she provides much joy to my family, friends and neighbors; I am not able to offer her a safe off-leash place to social with her 4-legs friends in Cupertino. It's much needed for more dog parks especially one that exclusively for small dogs in Cupertino. There have been way too many incidents where small dogs were hurt by big dogs (when they run, they have no idea the consequences of just one wrong step on the little dog's paw or one wrong turn knocking down the small one). Please give more DOLAs a 5 point vote to enable more DOLAS. More DOLAs can be a small, efficiently achieved project. And it can be in operational mode with the city staff this fiscal year. It is very important to put more DOLAS in the TOP 10 priorities for the 2022-2023 City Workplan. Linda Vista Park Dog Group is the first among our recommendations for DOLA trial because it is the most organized group with over 78 dogs and over 140 people and it's growing. We used to drive to Jollyman park, but we stopped going there since we witnessed a small dog being severely hurt by a big dog (just a wrong turn) and the poor dog was on dog stroller for 4 months!! I live in Monta Vista area and there are many dog parents, especially since Covid, like myself, have been hoping that a new off leash dog park is available in the neighborhood so that we can walk our dog there instead of driving. We want to do exercise and reduce carbon footprint. We would like to connect with other dog owners and build a better community. We urgently need enabling more DOLAS. We know how much our dogs have helped us and the community going thru the difficult time during Covid and it's time we address the needs of the 4-legs and the community. Thank you!! Regards, Maureen, Andrew and Miso From:Helen Chen To:City Clerk; City Council Subject:More DOLAs Needed Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 1:33:46 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Hi, My name is Helen Chen, I’m a Cupertino resident and a dog owner. I’m writing to urge you to open more DOLAs (dog off leash area) in the City of Cupertino. There are three important reasons to consider, for one, according to unofficial data, there are more than 11,000 dogs in the city wide, that’s a lot. For now we have one official DOLA which is In Jollyman Park. This is definitely not enough for more than 11,000 dogs. For two, if we don’t open official DOLAs, dog parents would still bring their dogs to their neighborhood parks, schools or any other open spaces to let dogs run freely, because free run is an essential needs for dogs physical and mental health. Instead of letting people have their own unofficial DOLAs we don’t we have official one to set clear rules and restrictions, it’s better for everyone. For three, dogs comes with different sizes and weight, some are big/huge, some are small/tiny. It’s not practical to put small dogs together with big dogs, the small ones are vulnerable and easily get injured by those fast running big dogs. It’s reasonable to have different DOLAs for dogs with different sizes and weight. Overall, opening more DOLAs is much needed for the city of cupertino, it will make our community a better and pets friendly place. Thank you for your time. Helen From:winnie Chan To:City Council; City Clerk Subject:More DOLAs please! Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 1:38:17 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Hi, I am a dog owner of a 20 month old Shorkie(Shihtzu/Yorkshire terrier mix.). I need more DOLA so I can take my pup for some socialize and a place for him to burn some pup energy. Please give more DOLA a 5 point vote tonight so we can get more future DOLAs in place. Future DOLAs can be managed by DOLA organizations which won’t cost the city any extra money or extra employee staffs. If more DOLAs are approved, this project can be operational mode with the city staff this fiscal year and not take up any more valuable time from the council in the future. Thanks in advance for all your help. Looking forward working with the city. ~Winnie Chan Sent from my iPhone From:Siva Sunder To:City Council; City Clerk Subject:Request for more DOLAs Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 2:00:55 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Cupertino City Council, Please consider creating new Dog Off Leash Areas in Cupertino. It is my understanding that there have not been any new DOLAS created in the last three years in Cupertino. However, during the same time period, due to COVID induced life changes, a large number of residents (including me) have acquired a dog as a pet. Based on the number of dog owners in my neighborhood, my guess is that 20-30% of households in Cupertino have a dog. We dog owners urgently need enabling more DOLAS to receive a high priority, so that the City can begin new trials at the beginning of 2022-2023 to expedite the process. Having a dog motivates me to go out for a walk at least once a day. During my walks I meet many neighbors (walking their newly acquired dog) who I have never met before even though I have been living at the same address for fifteen years. It would benefit us and our dogs to have a designated area where the dogs as well as us owners can socialize and feel that we belong to a community. Sincerely, Siva Sunder 1043 November Drive Cupertino From:Manu Sharma To:City Clerk; City Council Subject:Request for your vote for DoLAs Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 3:46:20 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Sir/Ma'am, I wanted to take a moment to request you to give a 5 point vote to enable more DoLAs in the fiscal year FY22-23 as one of the highest priority items. I have a 4 month old puppy named Wally who loves to play with other little dogs. We live near Linda Vista Park and it has a nice stretch that can be used for the purpose. There are a lot of other dog owners that are interested in similar facilities. Being a working parents of two high schoolers, we do not have a lot of time to drive around into nearby areas for the same. My family and I will really appreciate you giving your vote and high rank to prioritizing DoLA in Linda Vista Park. Sincerely, Manu Sharma 1016 Cranberry Dr Cupertino CA -95014 From:louise saadati To:City Clerk; City Council Subject:Email regarding 4/19/22 City Council Meeting on Agenda Item 27 Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 3:48:03 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. I am Louise Saadati, one of the main DOLA Leaders for more DOLAS. We in the DOLA community have already organized, prepared and are operating our dog groups in readiness for our proposed trial DOLAs, modeled after the successful Jollyman DOLA. Instead of observing Jollyman DOLA for an additional year, these same city resources would be much more effectively used instead to: issue notifications to pertinent surrounding park areas observe the relevant parks, and to actually start more DOLA trials. More DOLAs can be a SMALL PROJECT: using our DOLA community’s assistance. using our already organized preDOLA dog groups already collecting data for DOLA trials using our DOLA “Leadership and Monitoring” system that reinforces compliance with City DOLA policies Our DOLA community is ready to assist the city in completing each trial with efficient use of city staff time in 6 months INSTEAD OF 3 YEARS. 1- Please could each of you councilmembers give more DOLAs a 5 point vote to enable more DOLAS to have a high ranking of 5 or above. 2- More DOLAs can be a small, efficiently achieved project with the help of the organization, self-regulation and data collection by our experienced DOLA community. 3- if council votes a high rank for more DOLAs, this project can be in operational mode with the city staff THIS FISCAL YEAR and NOT continue to take up the council’s valuable time year after year. Thank you for your service and high vote to more DOLAS! Louise Saadati Sent from my iPhone From:Nariman Nayrami To:City Clerk Subject:DOLAs Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 4:02:59 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Please consider establishing more DOLAs in Cupertino. DOLAs create a strong community of networked neighbors, residents and complete strangers into a collection of caring individuals which in turn, are better informed and tend to contribute more and support local businesses from the word of mouth advertising which takes place every day amongst the attendees. Let’s connect our community as to become a model for the future of city planning. Regards, Nick Nayrami From:Connie Cunningham To:City Clerk Subject:Fwd: April 19, Agenda Item 1, Proclamation for Polly Bove, FUHSD Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 4:25:39 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Forwarding the message. I am sorry I forgot it the first time. Connie Begin forwarded message: From: Connie Cunningham <CunninghamConnieL@gmail.com> Subject: April 19, Agenda Item 1, Proclamation for Polly Bove, FUHSD Date: April 19, 2022 at 4:09:32 PM PDT To: "citycouncil@cupertino.org" <citycouncil@cupertino.org> Dear Mayor Paul and Councilmembers, I add my deep appreciation for Superintendent Polly Bove’s 40 years of exemplary service. I wish her well in her retirement! Sincerely, Connie L Cunningham Housing Commission, Cupertino From:Connie Cunningham To:City Clerk Subject:Fwd: April 19, Agenda Item 27, FY 2022-23 City Work Program Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2022 4:25:55 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Forwarding the message. I am sorry I forgot it the first time. Connie Begin forwarded message: From: Connie Cunningham <CunninghamConnieL@gmail.com> Subject: April 19, Agenda Item 27, FY 2022-23 City Work Program Date: April 19, 2022 at 4:24:52 PM PDT To: "citycouncil@cupertino.org" <citycouncil@cupertino.org> Dear Mayor Paul, Vice-Mayor Chao, and Councilmembers, I recommend that you rate highly the items that correlate highly with the Housing Element that is the key activity for housing in the state due January 1, 2023. Traffic is a major concern that needs to be addressed alongside housing. Gun Safety is always critical, no matter the size of the city, nor the density of the housing. Item 2, Develop ELI and BMR housing units for IDD…. Item 5 Vision Zero For this item: Please note that as an example as an accident waiting to happen is the southbound corner of DeAnza Boulevard where it crosses McClellan. At that intersection, there is a very long intersection due to the curve in the intersection. As the light turns green for the southbound direction (and right-hand turn lane) there is a Walk Sign for the pedestrians crossing south. Since each thinks they have the right of way, any pedestrian is in danger of being hit by a car turning right who cannot see them well from their car. Item 9, RHNA related GP updates Item 15 Senior Strategy Item 16 Support for the Unhoused, combining Homeless Jobs and City Plan to End Homelessness Item 25 Bicycle Facilities Item 26 Housing Programs for De Anza College Students Item 29 Safe Gun Storage Item 33 Community Engagement on Alternative Transportation and Parking Sincerely, Connie L. Cunningham Housing Commission (self only) Pedestrian and Driver who uses McClellan and De Anza Blvd intersection often