Advocating for MORE housing of all kinds! 
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While jobs and Jobs grew and grew in Cupertino, the housing stock did not. Cupertino Home Price: Zillow (Current Median Home Value) = $2,136,200 Trulia (Feb - May 2019 Median Sale Price) = $2,150,000 Coldwell Banker (Median Listing Price in Cupertino, CA) = $2,298,000pic.twitter.com/WqwSJxgmWa
And as @SVatHome reports, Cupertino has about 14 low wage jobs for every unit affordable to someone making that income.
And then they have the nerve to complain about traffic. Well, that's what happens when you have jobs but not housing....pic.twitter.com/lH9gvMJV4Y
Into this anti-housing milieu lands a proposal to take the defunct Vallco Mall and transform it into a new community. Some might say it was an opportunity to meet state housing goals...pic.twitter.com/E30qOWLMyE
Instead of embracing this epic proposal or trying to make it even more housing rich, Cupertino knuckled down for a battle. "Better Cupertino" to stop the project at any cost. And they would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those pesky YIMBYs.pic.twitter.com/sHri4nth8s
Hearing after hearing. Meeting after meeting...
And then we pass @Scott_Wiener's #SB35, forcing cities that have ignored their RHNA goals to streamline approvals for projects that are 50% Affordable. This forces Cupertino to stop playing around.https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/20/cupertino-council-approves-alternative-plan-to-rebuild-vallco/amp/ …
So, then there were options. The SB 35 project represents a floor, and the city of Cupertino is forced to try to do better. If Cupertino genuinely wanted a more housing-rich project, they could approve one.https://www.bisnow.com/silicon-valley/news/affordable-housing/cupertino-project-marks-first-bay-area-approval-through-streamlined-process-93178#ath …
Instead, Cupertino kept fighting against the project. They scrapped their own plan...https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/05/08/cupertino-dumps-alternate-plan-for-vallco-malls-redevelopment/ …
And then "Better Cupertino" sued the SB 35 project...https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/06/demolition-of-vallco-shopping-mall-in-full-swing-despite-court-challenge/ …
In hopes that they'll win the lawsuit, the city of Cupertino is planning to make sure NOTHING will ever happen at the dead Vallco Mall (barring a sudden resurgence of Jamba Juice).https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/17/state-senator-accuses-cupertino-of-trying-to-sink-vallco-project/ …
Tomorrow night will be another Cupertino Public Comment Extravaganza. It's a place where the quiet part is often said out loud.https://twitter.com/yimbyaction/status/1042298668554964992?s=19 …
"This is the wall around Cupertino," jokes Mayor Steven Scharf, who keeps the masses out of Cupertino's quality public schools by maintaining high housing costs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckHvilE2kVs …pic.twitter.com/TS4Y6vx8Kz
AND HERE IS THE SMOKING GUN. In 2014, Cupertino's city council spent time discussing these rezoning strategies for evading HCD's housing goals. They discussed OUT LOUD strategies for rezoning in order to never build...pic.twitter.com/myvXXcqvyq
"So i disagree with one comment that Councilmember Chang made earlier, which is 'you should put it where it’s going to get built.' I actually think you should put it where HCD will *approve* it and hope it’s NOT going to get built." "That’s called cheating."pic.twitter.com/hjzfGWK7k5
"That’s been an effective strategy in the past..." "We should stop talking about this..." "Enough said... haha" "We should stop talking about this..." http://cupertino.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=18&clip_id=1774 …pic.twitter.com/I2xxh2K0Oz
Tomorrow, @penforeveryone, @SouthBayYIMBY, @yimbyaction and other activists will tell them it's wrong. @YIMBY_Law will tell them it's probably illegal.
And likely Cupertino will do it anyway.
This is why we need state laws like @NancySkinnerCA's #SB330.https://actionnetwork.org/letters/support-sb-330 …
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