Chair owes a large debt to a developer with business before the city Oral Communications.msg1
Beth Ebben
From:Kevin Burke <kevin@burke.dev>
Sent:Monday, May 11, 2020 9:54 PM
To:City of Cupertino Planning Commission
Subject:Chair owes a large debt to a developer with business before the city
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Hi,
In a ruling filed last week, a judge ruled against "Friends of Better Cupertino", Kitty Moore, Ignatius Ding, and Petty
Griffin. Notably, the judge ruled that the City of Cupertino and the "real party in interest," Sand Hill, can collect attorneys
fees from the petitioners.
One of the petitioners is the Chair of the Planning Commission. If she remains on the commission, one of two things will
happen:
‐ She pays the attorneys fees owed to Sand Hill, a party with business before the city, and the City of Cupertino, both of
which may affect her judgment on rulings before the city
‐ Either or both groups decide not to collect. This seems like it would qualify as a gift in excess of the allowable limits for
appointed officials in the state of California.
Personally I find the Chair's involvement in this suit embarrassing. The petitioners hoped that raising many arguments,
each poorer than the next, would somehow overwhelm the judge, or perhaps that they would get lucky and find some
basis for stalling the development. I encourage you to read the decision from the judge, which lays out the (many) ways
in which the suit is deficient. The tone used by the judge resembles comments made about my by my 9th grade English
teacher. Okay for a 13 year old, really not great when you are on a committee that is supposed to decide land use
planning decisions for a city that's home to a $1 trillion corporation.
It's her fault for getting into a situation where she owes a large debt to a party with business before the city and I think
the only way forward is for her to resign.
Kevin