We are a group of residents who act together to improve our community and local government. Our focus is on balanced growth and quality of life. We are diverse group of people — in age, career, ethnicity, and the neighborhood we live in. But the local development issue brought us together.
Advocacy
Since November 2014, Better Cupertino supporters have done extensive research on City’s General Plan and other development related issues. We are advocating sensible growth within the limits of our infrastructures. Our supporters have become steady voices in many city issues affecting daily life, from housing, traffic, environment and our schools. We attended City Council meetings and spread information on our website, blog, at different meetings, in newsletters, fliers, on Nextdoor.com and door-to-door.
The defeat of Measure D in 2016 despite a $10 million campaign by the developer, as well as the successful referendum which protested aggressive Vallco Tier 2 plan in 2018, are two examples of Better Cupertino’s successful outreach effort.
With many volunteers and supporters’ help, more and more candidates supported by Better Cupertino won Cupertino City Council seats in last several years. Steven Scharf, the current Mayor was elected in 2016. Liang Chao and Jon Willey won seats in 2018.
Transparency
We encourage residents to attend City Council meetings, read city staff reports and documents. But if you can’t, we provide summaries of meetings in our newsletter, on our website or facebook page.
We also provide live streaming videos of meetings when the city (or CUSD school district) does not on our on our Facebook page, And video clips of short segments of important meeting moments can be found on our YouTube channel .
Balance
Cupertino faces many challenges related to rapid growth and overdevelopment — worsening traffic, overcrowded schools, the loss of shopping venues… and we have to stand strong to make sure all development serves our community — not just the maximization of developers’ profits. We also must ensure that developers deliver what they promise (no bait and switch), and that our city government works for the interests of the majority of our residents.
We can’t possibly compete with developers’ spending on advertising, political campaigns, propaganda, and lobbying. We can compete, however, with knowledge, engagement, and our votes. And we need your voice and support to maintain the balance and protect our community.