Cupertino City Council has ignored numerous petitions to put development issues on the ballot.

Building size limitations have been violated to allow developers to build without restraint.

Our school has paid the price of added apartment complexes with the influx of new students.

While new business is welcome to the city of Cupertino, there is a right way and a wrong way to develop our city. By consulting money-minded developers rather than citizens with a vested interest in the expansion of our community, the Cupertino City Council (unrelated to the Cupertino High School ASB) has lost credibility and silenced public opinion on matters of the utmost importance. The issue of development is a tricky one. On the one hand, our city has strict regulations on the proximity of buildings to the streets and their heights. On the other hand, Cupertino needs business for tax and entertainment purposes. So when the issue of new development comes up, it should be thought over carefully and discussed with the public. Instead, the City Council has completely ignored public opinion and gone along with developers’ plans, creating buildings far taller than the legal limits. More important to our school massive apartment complexes have been raised in recent years in violation of regulations, not only lowering house prices by making homes in this district more obtainable, but also greatly increasing the amount of students attending our school district, something that our already overcrowded and underfunded school cannot afford.

A group of Concerned Citizens of Cupertino (a.k.a. the CCC) has filed three petitions that would allow citizens to vote on issues regarding building heights, housing densities and building setbacks. The petitions do not specify anything other than to put such measures to a vote, and although they have received more than enough signatures to be put on the ballot, the city has stonewalled the CCC and ignored their petitions.

As a cornerstone of the Silicon Valley, it is inevitable that Cupertino will grow in size, but before we rush to develop, the citizenry should be able to voice their opinion on how we want our city to look. After all, we are the ones who are going to have to deal with the consequences, not the developers.

THE PROSPECTOR: STAFF EDITORIAL
Cupertino High School, Friday, November 5, 2004