CC 05-15-2025 Item No. 3 Review potential CIP projects for defunding_Written Communications (added 5-14-25)CC 05-15-2025
Item #3
Review potential CIP
projects to be defunded
from currrent approved list
Written Communications
From:Calley Wang
To:City Council
Cc:City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Subject:5/15 council meeting agenda item 3 (Capital Improvement Project)
Date:Wednesday, May 14, 2025 4:13:23 PM
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(please include this email in the public record)
Honorable Mayor Chao, Council Members and Staff,
I'm disappointed to see that previously-approved and funded safety projects are proposed for
removal in this year's Capital Improvement Plan: the Stevens Creek Boulevard Protected Bike
Lanes and the Bollinger Road Study. I urge that they remain in the CIP and proceed as normal.
Revoking approved projects and cancelling approved construction contracts at the last minute
is fiscally irresponsible, making it difficult for the city to win future grants or get contractors
for future projects. These cuts are not needed to balance the budget!
I'm particularly appalled to see further attempts to cancel the Stevens Creek Bike Lanes even
after years of public outreach, revoking Council's previous approval. This project has been
identified for years as vital for safety and livability within the Heart of the City, especially for
students and seniors. Stevens Creek is one of the most dangerous corridors in Cupertino. But
people walk and bike along it because it's home to schools, residences, and businesses along it.
Some commentators have suggested that bikes and pedestrians be diverted to side streets,
prioritizing car traffic above all else. This would give Stevens Creek all the safety, smooth
traffic flow, economic potential, and charm of Lawrence Expressway. Stevens Creek is a
major corridor but it is not an expressway. It forms the commercial core of our city -- it should
be safe and welcoming for all residents of all ages to visit by car, foot, bike, or transit.
Keep the Stevens Creek Bike Lanes and the Bollinger Study in the CIP.
Thank you,
Calley Wang
West Hill Court, Cupertino, CA 95014
From:Seema Lindskog
To:City Council; City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Subject:Keep our residents safe - Don’t defund the SCB protected bike lanes and Bollinger Rd corridor study
Date:Wednesday, May 14, 2025 3:19:58 PM
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Dear Mayor Chao, Vice-Mayor Moore, and Council members,
I'm on the Cupertino Planning Commission but I am writing this email solely as a resident. I
ask that you do not defund the Stevens Creek Protected Bike Lanes and the Bollinger Road
Corridor Study (Agenda Item 3 in the Council meeting on may 15, 2025).
Please include this email in the public record.
On February 4, 2025, the Council voted 3-2 to keep the Stevens Creek project moving
forward. That decision should be respected. Allowing a council member to bring the same
item back for a vote just because he didn't like the outcome of the first vote would make every
council vote ineffective and subject to being challenged. That is a dangerous precedent to be
setting and I urge you to think carefully about whether to allow this.
The Stevens Creek corridor is one of the most dangerous in our city. It has been identified as
the top safety priority in Cupertino’s 2016 Bike Plan, the 2023 Local Road Safety Plan, and
the 2024 Vision Zero Plan. Many students bike on Stevens Creek Boulevard daily, and they
deserve to do it safely.
The Bollinger Road Corridor Study is equally important. Between 2015 and 2019, this road
saw 131 collisions, including 2 fatalities and 52 serious injuries. Families along this corridor
don’t feel safe backing out of their driveways or letting their kids walk or bike along the street.
There are too few safe crossings, and traffic moves too fast. Students at Hyde Middle School
and Lynbrook High rely on this corridor to get to school.
Cyclists may be a minority in Cupertino, as a few residents like to point out, but they are a
vulnerable minority with a much higher risk of accidents and deaths and need to be protected.
Most Cupertino residents can identify as being a member of a minority group be it by age,
ethnicity, disability, culture, or otherwise. If we don't protect the cycling minority, simply
because they are not the majority, will we stop there or will we apply the same logic to not
protecting our disabled residents, our LGBTQ residents, or our seniors simply because they
are not the majority? Your role as a Council member is to care about the safety of all residents,
be they a minority or a majority. The needs of cyclists and drivers are very unequal here.
Cyclists need to be protected from serious injury or death. Drivers need to not be
inconvenienced by losing a few seconds of driving time. These needs are not the same.
There's a lot of misinformation and fear that funding the Bollinger Rd Corridor study will lead
to a lane reduction. That is simply not the case. The study will look at how to make the
corridor safe for pedestrians and cyclists and propose specific projects. These projects will
then need to be approved and funded by the City Council before they can proceed. There are
many steps before any changes are actually implemented on Bollinger Rd and the Council has
full control over what happens at each step. There are many solutions that can be implemented
to make the corridor safer that don't include lane reduction, we need to greenlight the study to
find out what options will work best. Please let it proceed.
If the city cancels the Stevens Creek Blvd protected bike lanes project now, it will lose nearly
one million dollars in grant funding and risk financial penalties from canceling two signed
construction contracts. It will also hurt Cupertino’s credibility and chances of winning future
grants. Similarly, defunding the Bollinger Rd Corridor study would cost the city nearly half a
million dollars in grants and reduce our ability to secure future safety funding. At a time when
our city has spent hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars on legal and lobbying efforts in just
a few months, it would be deeply hypocritical to defund vital safety projects purely for
political reasons.
The city’s own Bike Ped Commission reviewed both of these projects on April 16 and decided
not to recommend defunding them. That should carry real weight.
I hope the Council will show that they value the safety of all residents. Please do the right
thing, keep these projects funded.
Sincerely,
Seema Lindskog
___________________________________________________________________
"You must be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
This message is from my personal email account. I am only writing as myself, not as a
representative or spokesperson for any other organization.
From:Glenn Fishler
To:City Council
Cc:City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Subject:Agenda Item 3- Defunding of Cupertino Resident Safety Projects- Stevens Creek Corridor and Bollinger Road
Date:Wednesday, May 14, 2025 1:28:53 PM
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Dear Mayor Chao, Vice Mayor Moore, and Council Members Fruen, Mohan and Wang,
I am writing you regarding Agenda Item 3 on the May 15, 2025 Cupertino City Council Meeting
Agenda. I urge you to vote against defunding of The Stevens Creek Corridor Protected Bike
Lanes Project and the Bollinger Road Corridor Study.
Why is it important The City Council not defund these resident safety projects?
Defunding Stevens Creek Protected Bike Lane Phases
1) The Safety of Cupertino’s residents. This is a high priority project on one of the most
dangerous corridors in our City, with multiple documented fatalities and serious injuries:
o The Stevens Creek Corridor was ranked the highest priority and most dangerous
corridor in the entire City in the 2016 Bike Plan, the 2023 Local Road Safety Plan,
and the 2024 Vision Zero Plan.
o Defunding projects like this is antithetical to your responsibility to support the
safety of All Cupertino residents.
2) It would be fiscally irresponsible.
- The City would lose close to $1M in grant funds.
- It would make it more difficult for the City to obtain future grants,
costing the city millions in grant funds
- In defunding the project, the City would be cancelling two fully
executed construction contracts which will incur penalties and make
contractors reluctant to bid on future City projects
3) Poor Governance Practices: This City Council already voted 3-2 on Feb 4, 2025 to fund
this project, with Wang and Chao voting no. Why is Council Member Wang bringing it to a
vote again? Councilmembers should not be allowed to bring issues back for a revote just
because they didn't like the outcome of the first vote. It certainly appears that is what is
happening with this Agenda Item.
Defunding the Bollinger Rd Corridor Study
1) Safety improvements are needed to prevent more fatalities and injuries: This project
is a health and safety priority, with 131 auto accidents, 2 fatalities, and 52 serious injuries
documented over the five-year period from 2015 to 2019.
o The traffic patterns on Bollinger create unsafe conditions for students
commuting to Hyde MS and Lynbrook HS (a large number of the collisions
have occurred near Wunderlich Drive).
o The corridor is so unsafe that many residents don't feel safe backing their
cars out of their driveways because of the high speed traffic and parents
don't feel safe letting their kids play on the street.
o The corridor is especially unsafe for pedestrians. There are few crossings
and the long distances between crossings makes them difficult to access.
2) As with the Stephen’s Creek Corridor project, it would be fiscally irresponsible to defund
this project. The City would lose almost $500K in grant funds. And it would make it difficult for
the city to obtain future grants, costing the city millions in grant funds.
I hope this message helps you to see why it would be a big mistake for the City Council to
defund these important safety projects. Please do the right thing and keep these projects
funded.
Respectfully,
Glenn Fishler
Cupertino Resident since 1997
From:J Shearin
To:City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Council
Subject:Agenda Item 3 | City Council meeting May 15, 2025 | DO NOT defund CIP projects
Date:Wednesday, May 14, 2025 12:15:39 PM
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Please include the following in written communication for Special Meeting Agenda item 3.
Dear Mayor Chao, City Councilmembers, and Acting City Manager Kapoor:
I urge you today to not defund the Stevens Creek Phase 2 bike lanes and the Bollinger Road Study
listed in the Agenda item 3 for the City Council meeting of May 15, 2025. Doing so would
negatively affect the safety of our residents and the ability of the city to receive future grants.
Frankly, it also opposes the values that we hold as a Cupertino community to care about the safety
of all residents.
The Stevens Creek bike lanes have already had a vote to move forward. We should not be
revisiting this, especially as it is the most dangerous corridor in the city with a high number of
fatalities and serious injuries. This has been shown over and over: in the 2016 Bike Plan, the 2023
Local Road Safety Plan, and the 2024 Vision Zero Plan. Cupertino High students use the Phase 2
section of the corridor to bike to school every day. We’ve already had tragedies of students dying
in our city on the way to school—no one wants more. It’s time to make it safer for our most
vulnerable residents, if not everyone else, before another one happens.
Bollinger Road is also unsafe for our pedestrians and cyclists. It has had 52 serious injuries and two
deaths in just a five year period. The road only has pedestrian crossings at intersections ½ mile
apart, encouraging unsafe crossings—and even those intersections have seen many accidents.
Everyone recognizes that traffic throughput is important, which is why any proposed roadway
changes are modeled first for traffic flow and throughput before and after. But worrying about
traffic doesn’t mean we should pretend that these accidents, serious injuries, and fatalities aren’t
happening and we don’t need to at least look at what could be done. We are tired of our family,
friends and neighbors being hurt or killed on this roadway.
If the safety of our residents isn’t enough of an incentive to not defund these projects, consider
the city’s future financial welfare. Not only will Cupertino lose millions of dollars in grant funding,
but the amount saved is not very much, especially when considering the penalties for cancelling
contracts. On top of that, we are unlikely to get grant funding from these organizations again (who
would consider giving us money again, when we asked for the grant and then we rejected the
award without extraordinary circumstances?). We will also find it even more difficult than today—
and likely more costly–—to find contractors to do roadwork and maintenance after cancelling
signed contracts.
We are not in severe financial straits as we were prior to the sales tax settlement. We don’t have
to defund any of these items because of financial issues. We can see that from how we are
spending twice as much in billable hours for legal fees for our newly hired City Attorney than last
year and she has hired two associates for Cupertino work as well. This work is during our city’s
typical year with no extraordinary projects, such as a Housing Element. If we are saying this is a
financial issue, it makes more sense to spend our city’s tax dollars on long term improvements to
increase safety for our residents and instead cut back on things such as expensive and unnecessary
legal fees.
We as a community prioritize our residents and their safety. We care about our families, neighbors,
and friends—and especially our city’s youth. Keeping these items in the CIP does that. I urge you to
do so.
Thank you for your work on behalf of Cupertino.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Shearin
Resident of Cupertino
From:Alvin Yang
To:City Council
Cc:City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Subject:Capital Improvement Plan Projects
Date:Tuesday, May 13, 2025 8:26:09 PM
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Dear Cupertino City Council,
I strongly urge you to reconsider defunding the Stevens Creek protected bike lane projects as
well as the Bollinger Road corridor study. As a longtime resident of Cupertino these two
projects would greatly benefit people who live and visit Cupertino.
I have seen the traffic on Stevens Creek increase steadily as I have been living here for over 25
years. It will not improve if you do not prioritize other modes of transportation (bike,
pedestrian, and public transit). You cannot solve this traffic problem by prioritizing cars.
Additional housing being added on Stevens Creek will also further exacerbate this issue. It
does not matter if a car's right turn is unimpeded every single car going straight or turning left
will still have to wait at every single traffic light. It does not matter if you add more car lanes.
Every car will still have to wait at the intersection. The only solution to traffic is to reduce the
amount of cars on the road. The only way to reduce the amount of cars on the road is to get
people to use other forms of transportation. By not building the protected bike lanes you are
created an unsafe and congested environment for current and future citizens. The greatest
barrier to people biking is and has always been safety. If road is unsafe, people will not ride on
it. If a network is unsafe, people will not ride on it.
It's important to connect these safe roadways together so people can get to places. Biking is
not just a recreational activity; it is a fantastic means of transportation for short trips. You can
(and I have) easily do a quick run to the grocery store on the bike. You can pick up food on a
bike. You can visit other people on a bike. You can even access other recreational activities
(the park, the gym, etc) on a bike. By creating a network of safe roadways for bikes in
Cupertino you can foster a city where citizens do not have to use a car to get everywhere. With
that comes physical and mental benefits for the citizens as well as they will be more physically
active. Also, if you or some other citizen still wants to drive it still benefits drivers. With less
cars on the road drivers will see significant improvements in traffic as the space occupied by a
single bike is far smaller than the space occupied by a car; even if the car is filled to max
personal occupancy. Furthermore a decrease in car traffic will greatly reduce the amount of
road noise on these roads. I find it odd that despite everyone saying they are "resident focused"
or want to "preserve Cupertino" they never see that a large reduction in car traffic
accomplishes just that. By reducing the amount of cars on the road by providing legitimate,
viable, and great alternatives you can create a city that is quiet, safe, and connected. I think we
would all agree that these are desirable traits for Cupertino and its residents.
As for Bollinger, I personally use it every workday to get to my job in Campbell. Even though
I don't even ride the most dangerous segment (west of Miller) I still find the segment from
Lawrence to Miller incredibly dangerous. Cars will whiz past you well above the speed limit
and there are several areas where the bike lane buffer disappears and you are less than an arms
length away from cars on your left. I would not expect any novice cyclist to ride on Bollinger.
It's incredibly unsafe and the crash data even backs that up. And yet I am not the only one who
uses Bollinger on a daily basis. Every morning I see many students to both Hyde/Cupertino as
well as Miller/Lynbrook use Bollinger to get to school. By not allowing the study to move
forward you are endangering all these students who travel to school by bike/foot every day. Is
this how the city council treats its citizens? Does the safety of its own citizens not matter to the
city council? There's even been many car to car collisions on Bollinger. Something needs to be
done with Bollinger and by blocking the study you are effectively blocking off Bollinger from
changing at all in the near future and thereby allowing the accidents, injuries, and fatalities to
continue.
On the topic of budget I realize that Cupertino does not have its massive influx of money from
Apple sales tax anymore. However these projects have already been substantially funded
through grant money and it would be fiscally irresponsible to surrender those funds. Not only
are you throwing away money now by doing so you are also throwing away future grant funds
as it would be more difficult to secure those funds in the future.
I hope you boldly choose a future for Cupertino that is safe and beneficial for its citizens and
that will truly set Cupertino apart from it's neighbors.
Regards,
Alvin Yang
From:Joel Wolf
To:City Council
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:Agenda Item Related to Defunding
Date:Tuesday, May 13, 2025 11:25:07 AM
Dear Mayor, Vice-Mayor and Councilmembers
I am writing in regard to Item 3 on the May 15 agenda, entitled Review Capital
Improvement plan (CIP) projects to be defunded from the current approved list.
There are two Bicycle/Pedestrian related items that I respectfully request the Council
not defund including (1) Stevens Creek Blvd Class IV Bikeway—Phases 2A and 2B and (2)
Bollinger Road Corridor Study. I would like to note that the Bike-Ped Commission (BPC)
considered both of these items for defunding during our April 16, 2025 meeting and after
review decided not to recommend to Council for defunding.
I would like to note that both Stevens Creek Blvd and Bollinger Road have been identified
as high injury corridors in past studies/plans including the Vision Zero Plan, recently
approved by Council. Both of these roads will need safety improvements in order to
reduce both bicycle and pedestrian related injuries and deaths. The designs for Phase
2A and 2B of the Class IV bikeway have been completed and paid for. Construction of
Phase 2A is to begin in the near future and has received $1.5 million in outside funding.
Stevens Creek Blvd is a busy road with a 35 mph speed limit. It is my experience when
walking and riding along this Blvd. that many cars go much faster than the 35 mph limit.
The latest edition of the Urban Bikeway Design Guide (2025), published by the National
Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) states “Protected bike lanes are the
only tool for All Ages & Abilities biking on streets with high curbside demand, speeds of
more than 25 mph (40km/h), multiple adjacent travel lanes, or motor vehicle volumes
above 6,000 vehicles per day.” I believe that Stevens Creek Blvd meets all of these
criteria.
The funds for Bollinger Road are only for a study of which 80% are from outside sources.
A study will provide Council with options for implementation of pedestrian and bicycle
safety improvements.
Thank you for your consideration.
Joel Wolf
Joel Wolf
Vice Chair, Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission
JWolf@cupertino.gov