The Cupertino Courier

News Briefs

City pays for block-party insurance

The block-party insurance quandary, which put a damper on at least two neighborhood parties this year, has been solved.

Cupertino now has low-cost insurance that covers events on city streets for up to 500 people, Public Works Director Bert Viskovich told the City Council last week.

The council voted unanimously to pay the $103 premium for each event.

Residents can provide their own insurance from a different company, and the city will pay up to $103 to subsidize the cost.

Viskovich estimated there are between five and seven requests each year for city streets to be blocked off for parties. He estimated that this number may go up to 10 now that the insurance question has been settled.

Residents on Hollanderry Place were forced to move their annual Labor Day party to a local park after the city refused to issue a permit without insurance that protected both the residents and the city. The lowest-priced insurance they could find was $1,000 for the six-hour party.

Curb your waste on Disposal Days

Two of the city's annual Disposal Days still remain for residents of Cupertino.

For residents who live between Bubb Road and De Anza Boulevard., pickup is Oct. 18; for residents east of De Anza Boulevard, pickup is Oct. 25.

Disposal Day is offered to residents who have garbage can service.

Those who wish to participate must set out discards on the curb by 7 a.m. on their scheduled collection day. Loose debris must be bundled in bags or boxes. Single items, or filled bags or boxes, may not weigh more than 50 pounds (trash will be loaded into trucks by hand). All materials must fit in an area not larger than 4 feet wide by 8 feet long by 4 feet high--the equivalent of about 32 average trash bags.

The following types of materials will be accepted: small appliances, broken toys and furniture, brick, tile, scrap wood and scrap metal.

Types of wastes that will not be accepted: large items and large pieces of furniture that weigh more than 50 pounds, hazardous materials (including chemicals and old liquid paint) and explosives.

Since Disposal Day items will be taken to a landfill, residents are encouraged to donate usable or repairable goods to nonprofit organizations or to sell items at a garage sale.

Diocese development issue put on hold

The 178-home development on San Jose Diocese property will not be voted on by the City Council until Dec.1, after the Nov. 4 election of three new council- members, it was decided Oct. 6.

The City Council voted 4-0 to postpone a public hearing on the project until the December meeting.

Mayor John Bautista excused himself from the dais and sat out in the audience during the postponement vote because of a conflict of interest. Bautista is in the process of buying a home in Menlo Park in a new housing development being constructed in part by The O'Brien Group, the developer of the diocese project.

Bautista's council term ends in November.

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