CC 06-21-2022 Item No. 19 Accounts Payable ending December 20, 2021_Written CommunicationsCC 06-21-2022
Item No. 19
Accounts Payable for
period ending
December 20, 2021
Written
Communications
From:Kirsten Squarcia
To:Kitty Moore
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:RE: Agenda Item 19 Written Communications
Date:Tuesday, June 21, 2022 2:52:20 PM
Attachments:Pages from Written Communications (Updated 05-04-2022).pdf
Cupertino Chamber Announces Endorsements for City Council - Cupertino Chamber of Commerce.pdf
Business Licenses PR22041.pdf
Business Licenses PR22041.xlsx
Cupertino Chamber of Commerce Directory.pdf
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Good afternoon Kitty,
Your e-mail will be included in the written communications for the June 21, 2022 City Council
Meeting, Agenda Item 19.
Regards, Kirsten
Kirsten Squarcia
City Clerk
City Manager's Office
KirstenS@cupertino.org
(408) 777-3225
From: Kitty Moore <ckittymoore@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2022 2:27 PM
To: Kirsten Squarcia <KirstenS@cupertino.org>
Subject: Agenda Item 19 Written Communications
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 Kirsten,
Please add the attached files as written communications for item 19 for today's CC meeting.
The attached Cupertino Chamber of Commerce Directory shows 170 Organizations and 5 Individuals,
while the Public Records Request of Business Licenses for the City of Cupertino lists over 2,400
licensed businesses.
Thank you,
Kitty Moore
From:Rhoda Fry
To:City Clerk; City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Subject:Cupertino City Council 6/21/2022 #19 City of Cupertino Payments to Chamber of Commerce
Date:Tuesday, June 21, 2022 3:05:16 PM
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From: Rhoda Fry
RE: Cupertino City Council 6/21/2022
Agenda: #19 City of Cupertino Payments to Chamber of Commerce
Dear City Council:
Although the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce does many good things, I do not believe that our tax
dollars should be subsidizing it in a big way.
The Cupertino Chamber of Commerce is a membership organization that promotes approximately
170 members, most of which are businesses. Chamber members receive a number of promotional
benefits such as exclusive referrals; advocacy and access to local; county, state, and federal officials;
use of meeting facilities; inclusion in the Cupertino Community Guide; listing on the Chamber’s
website; networking and resource access; and member discounts. So if someone calls the Chamber
looking for a jeweler, they won’t be referred to Cupertino’s Shane Company nor Golden Gems,
because neither is a Chamber member. They might be referred to Chamber members outside of
Cupertino such as Divine N Dazzling in Milpitas or P J Jewelry in San Jose or Sarini's Creations in
Saratoga. Likewise, the only airline referral would be United Airlines, again, outside of Cupertino.
The Chamber of Commerce is a special type of organization that does not pay taxes, it is called a
501c6. 501c6 organizations are formed to serve their members. By comparison, 501c3 organizations
must serve the public. Both are non-profit organizations and neither pays taxes.
The Chamber of Commerce has endorsed candidates for City Council and has had a Chamber
Political Action Committee (PAC). As compared with a 501c3, under the Internal Revenue Code, all
section 501c3 organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or
intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective
public office.
The Chamber runs several events such as Cupertino Education Fair, Cupertino Food & Wine Stroll,
Holi Cupertino festival of colors, Night Market Cupertino, and Bay Area Diwali Festival of Lights.
These events benefit the community, raise funds for the Chamber and are subsidized by the City of
Cupertino. The City of Cupertino’s objectives are not always aligned with those of the Chamber.
To what extent should our tax dollars subsidize the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce for
Meeting Space, “I Love Cupertino” website, and
Festivals? From January 2015 to March 2022, the City has paid the Chamber over $218K.
Meeting Space: The Chamber has not paid for meeting space. Other organizations are required to
pay for meeting space. The Chamber should pay for meeting space. The remaining question is
whether the Chamber should pay the non-profit rate or the Cupertino business rate. The City Council
should determine whether it should treat 501c3 organizations (conventional non-profits) differently
from 501c6 organizations (membership and potentially lobbying organization “non-profits,” such as
the Chamber of Commerce).
“I Love Cupertino” website: Our Cupertino tax dollars have paid $65K for the
https://ilovecupertino.com/ website over a two year period. This website is a shell of a website that
promotes Chamber member businesses. If I were to hire a high-school intern to build a website
promoting Cupertino, I would not give them a positive referral. Incidentally, the I Love Cupertino
trademark was obtained by Cupertino City Council candidate J. R. Fruen. The creation and funding
of this website was never approved by our City Council. More importantly, the promised content of,
“an exceptional visitor experience . . . service content creation and updates . . . program promotions .
. . content creation and scheduling – proximity to innovation, destination for dreamers and
innovators, open space, family, award-winning public-school systems” etc… was not fulfilled.
Cupertino taxpayers need to get their money back. Website deficiencies include:
· The Community Calendar is predominantly a copy of the Chamber website calendar,neither of which lists the Cherry Blossom Festival. This well-attended festival is not aChamber event. Same for the Rotary Club’s Fall Festival. (It appears that a fewconcerts have been added recently.) https://ilovecupertino.com/community-calendar/#cid=233&wid=3001 The website cautions, “This web site, including the Calendar, is updated by many
organizations and volunteers as a community service. While we hope this Calendar and
associated Widgets are useful, comprehensive, up to date, and accurate, we do not
accept any liabilities that may occur through errors in postings, omissions and
inclusions. Meetings listed here are provided as a courtesy and information was
deemed accurate and appropriate at the time of posting. Meeting times and dates are
subject to change, so it is advised that interested individuals also contact any
contributing organization directly to confirm postings of interest.” Given the fees paidfor this website by Cupertino taxpayers, it is troubling that the calendar was notprofessionally vetted. Although the contract for this website began in FY 2017-18, noevents are listed prior to November 2021.
· The business directory https://ilovecupertino.com/businesses/#/cid/233/id/3201 appearsimport the Chamber directory. The restaurant directory appears to be broader, but highlightsChamber members.
· While interacting with the website, an annoying popup encourages the purchase of a#shopCupertino gift card, that is redeemable at only 11 businesseshttps://app.yiftee.com/gift-card/cupertino Want to Shop Cupertino? All you get is an offer topurchase the very limited gift card: https://ilovecupertino.com/shop-cupertino/
· The website lists only 4 parks within our City https://ilovecupertino.com/parks/, Memorial,Monta Vista, Blackberry Farm, and Calli Mill Plaza. When navigating to the Cupertino CityPark Finder Link, http://gis.cupertino.org/parkfinder/, we find an Internal Server Error page.
· When taking a look at Dining opportunities, https://ilovecupertino.com/places-to-eat/#/cid/233/id/3501, we are taken to a page with the misspelt, DINNING. Looking forcoffee? Sorry, you won’t find Philz, they’re not a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
· Looking for Points of Interest? You can go to the Euphray Museum of Art (rather thanEuphrat). https://ilovecupertino.com/points-of-interest/ Local wineries? This link will takeyou to Bay Area wineries that belong to a Santa Cruz Mountains winery organization, a fewof which are in Cupertino. Our landmark library is absent.
Festivals:
As mentioned earlier, the Chamber of Commerce uses the festivals as a fundraiser. While it might
make sense for the City to waive some fees as these festivals benefit the community, I do not believe
that they should be subsidized. City Council should examine subsidies of all organizations.
Final Comments
1. We the taxpayers need to get our $65K back for the ilovecupertino website. This website clearly
did not meet the mutually-agreed-upon contract.
2. The City needs to charge the Chamber for meeting room space either at the Cupertino business
rate or at the non-profit rate and act equitably across all organizations. Furthermore, the content of
the Legislative Action Committee (LAC) meetings held for free in our City facilities are not
necessarily in alignment with Cupertino’s voting majority.
3. The City should look at its subsidies across multiple organizations.
4. The City is subsidizing the political campaigns of prospective Cupertino councilmembers. This is
not okay. Note that not all Chamber of Commerces endorse political candidates or have PACS.
5. The City is also subsidizing businesses that do not serve the best interests of Cupertino residents:
for example Chamber staff frequently testified at City and County meetings in support of the Lehigh
cement plant and quarry, which has been one of California’s biggest polluters and, as confirmed by a
County study, an egregious violator of multiple regulatory agencies. And through the Chamber’s
ilovecupertino website, the City is subsidizing advertising for a select few Chamber of Commerce
businesses rather than all businesses within our City. This is not okay.
6. More and more Cities across our nation have terminated subsidizing local Chambers of Commerce
because the Chambers only benefit a handful of member businesses and it is inappropriate for the
City Council to fund prospective councilmember political campaigns.
7. The City’s gargantuan subsidy of the Chamber of Commerce is cringe-worthy and must be
evaluated.
From:Peggy Griffin
To:City Council
Cc:City Clerk; Jim Throop
Subject:2022-06-21 CC Mtg Agenda Item #19 Chamber
Date:Tuesday, June 21, 2022 3:35:56 PM
Attachments:iLoveCupertino website screenshots.pdf
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Dear City Council,
As a tax payer I am appalled that my money is going toward paying for the creation and
“maintenance” of an overpriced, horribly not maintained website! The “I Love Cupertino” website
has:
Poor grammer
Misspellings
Bad links
Chamber-only information
West-side-only list of parks
Links to unknown organizations
AND to top it off it claims to be maintained by “VOLUNTEERS AS A COMMUNITY SERVICE” (see the
last item in the attached PDF)! If this is the case then what are we paying for???
As a consumer, I’d ask for my money back! Stop wasting our money. This site is NOT helpful or
would be useful to any person visiting Cupertino. It’s for the Chamber-only.
Sincerely,
Peggy Griffin