The Cupertino Courier

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Sandoval calls for for a greener Cupertino

By Crystal Lu

Mayor Dolly Sandoval unveiled a far-reaching plan for making Cupertino more environmentally friendly at her State of the City address Jan 30.

Labeling her initiatives Green Vision, Sandoval proposed in the coming year a number of measures that included banning Styrofoam use in food service and plastic grocery bags as well as making the city's annual hazardous waste recycling day a quarterly event.

"I will propose expanding our recycling and waste reduction initiatives to cover commercial food waste," said Sandoval. "This could reduce our landfill impact by several thousand tons per year."

Sandoval told an audience of nearly 200 people at the Quinlan Community Center that a pilot project with Whole Foods and Los Altos Garbage is already diverting 100 tons of garbage every month.

"Additionally, I will work with the city council to expand our recycling efforts and develop a program to recycle compact fluorescent light bulbs with Los Altos Garbage," she said.

Sandoval also suggested making all future development in Cupertino meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver minimum standards. The city council has already made a commitment that every new city building will be LEED silver.

Sandoval urged more residents to volunteer for all kinds of community service.

"We all know that government can only do so much, and the rest is up to us,"

she said. "Our residents are the true heroes here."

Sandoval noted that Cupertino, since its incorporation in 1955, has grown from around 2,000 to more than 52,000 residents.

To keep the city thriving, Sandoval said it is necessary to attract more businesses because sales tax accounts for 35 percent of the city's revenue.

She said that Kelly Kline, the city's economic development director, and city management are actively working to develop an ongoing plan for attracting and retaining businesses.

Sandoval said the new owners of Cupertino Square, Orbit Resources, will upgrade the interior and exterior of the mall with couch areas, fountains and a Wi-Fi Internet connection.

"One way to encourage local business is to encourage visitors from out of town," said Sandoval. "Due to a change at the federal level, Chinese nationals can now visit the U.S. with a tourist visa. We could partner with the city of San Francisco for a slice of the Chinese visitor market."

The mayor said many people are helping enrich the Cupertino community by reaching out across the globe. During her speech, she greeted two Japanese visitors, Nobuyuki Obayashi and Masyuki Atsumi, who came from Toyokawa, Cupertino's sister city, to attend the event.

Before Sandoval's speech, the city formally commended firefighter Sam Liu of the Santa Clara County Fire Department and deputy Daniel Forest of the West Valley Division of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office for their long-term contributions to the community.