The Cupertino Courier

Clock winds down toward Election Day

Candidates tend to agree on issues and solutions

By Pam Marino

With no paid political consultants, no so-called hit pieces arriving in mailboxes and five candidates who are more likely to compliment than to criticize each other, the race for the Cupertino City Council has been--thus far-- quiet and uneventful.

Next Tuesday, Cupertino voters will have to choose three of five candidates: Don Burnett, Andrea Harris, Steven Haze, Sandra James and John Statton. Voters' decisions just may have to rest on what sort of experience they think each candidate will bring to the council, since the candidates vary little on the issues.

In fact, it's hard to discern from recent candidate forums just what the differences are among the candidates, since they almost all agree on what the issues are and what to do about them.

If you've missed our election coverage to date, all of the articles can be accessed from our special archive page.

At last Wednesday's Cupertino Rotary Club meeting, the five were asked just what skills each of them would bring to the job of councilmember.

Harris called herself the "balanced candidate," since she is a moderate who has been endorsed by both Republican and Democratic organizations. She cited her experience on the Planning Commission and as a property assessor for the county tax assessor's office as beneficial to council decision making.

Haze, a project manager for Wang, cited his 15 years of involvement in community activities to show why he would be a good councilmember. He said he has participated in two different general plan reviews and in numerous other community organizations. He said he could bring all the interests of those groups together by serving on the council.

James, a human resources consultant, said her eight years on the Cupertino Union School District board have given her experience and connections that would be invaluable at the council level. She said she has formed partnerships with business and at various government levels. She also pointed out that she has helped hire two school district administrators, something that will come in handy as the city's own top administrator's reach retirement age.

Statton told the audience he has a wide breadth of experience from his years in the city. The executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, who will soon leave that position to become an attorney, said he has attended hundreds of City Council and Planning Commission meeting and is a longtime member of the Economic Development Commission. He also cited his involvement with bringing back Fourth of July fireworks and working to preserve Blackberry Farm.

Incumbent Don Burnett, a retired Lockheed engineer, said he believes he has helped to make the city a safer, more beautiful place to live since he came on the council four years ago. He also said he believes his technical background is useful in making the kinds of decisions council members have to make.

At three different forums in the last couple weeks, almost all the candidates agreed the issues before the city include revitalizing the city's retail environment, taking action to limit the size and number of homes on parcels throughout the city, diversity and growth-related issues such as traffic.

The five give very similar answers about what to do about these issues. For instance, all agree Vallco Fashion Park needs some sort of help, they all believe the council needs to look at adjusting rules for scaling down the size of new homes, they all think the city needs to remain proactive on diversity, and they all want to study how to better handle traffic.

Providing affordable housing was the only really new topic to come up so far in the race. Both James and Harris have brought up the issue, saying that the city--which by law has to provide 10 percent of affordable housing for low-income residents--needs to look at building more homes in the $400,000 to $600,000 range. Many of the new homes the city has approved, including the Diocese project near Rancho San Antonio Park, are priced well over $600,000. Harris said there needs to be homes available to older people who want to downsize, or so that adult children can locate in town.

Harris, James and Statton suggested that the city might want to construct more townhomes to meet those needs.

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