The Sunnyvale Sun

Cover Story

2006

Year in Review

By Michael Cronk

As the year drew to a close, close to 200 residents gathered at Visioning Festival 2006 to discuss Sunnyvale's future. The consensus was that the city needed to focus on renovation of the downtown, its schools, and strengthening policies on environmental sustainability.

Getting the multi-million dollar reconstruction of the Sunnyvale Town Center under way commanded much of the city council's attention this past year. It was a roller coaster ride.

The redevelopment was expected to be well under way in 2006. After all, the first phase of the massive renovation project--demolition of the old parking structure adjacent to Mathilda Avenue--had been completed ahead of schedule, and the project manager was saying remaining demolition work would be completed by mid-year.

But, work never resumed. In March, the city notified the developer, Fourth Quarter Properties, that it was in breach of the development agreement. In August, the city looked at acquiring the 34-acre property, the first step in choosing another developer. Fourth Quarter Properties requested approval to sell the property to San Mateo-based Sand Hill Properties and its financial backer, RREEF, a world-wide financial organization. The council this month gave preliminary approval for the transfer.

Redevelopment of the Town Center is of major importance to the city both financially and as a focal point for the community. That's why the plan to return to a more traditional-looking downtown with a million square feet of retail space, a quarter million square feet of commercial and office space, and nearly 300 homes, will be a top priority in 2007.

The city this year managed to stay within budget and avoid any significant cuts to programs and services. There was even talk of seeing a "light at the end of the tunnel'' in terms of revenues and overall economic conditions.

The city council recently approved Moffett Towers--1.7 million square feet of class-A office space in seven- and eight-story towers. This will rectify a dearth of such space in Sunnyvale.

Among the new businesses that showed up in Sunnyvale in 2006 were Lowe's Home Improvement, Best Buy and PetsMart, all of which bring in needed sales tax dollars to the city.

And, while looking to the future, the city also managed to provide a link to its agricultural past.

The council in January approved a contract to create the city's first community gardens. Within six months, the Charles Street Community Gardens at Charles Street and W. Olive Avenue had taken root with more than 80 plots in use.

--Michael Cronk

January

As the year began, residents and merchants in the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall area were in high spirits. Project manager Jane Vaughan said redevelopment of the mall would be under way in less than a year, with major demolition completed by the midpoint of 2006.

The first phase of the project--demolition of the condemned parking structure just east of Mathilda Avenue--had been completed in November--almost a month ahead of schedule, and well before the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

At the time, Vaughan said the developers, Fourth Quarter Properties LLC, were just waiting for demolition permits to clear the city.

The Sunnyvale Historical Society began the year just $300,000 short of the $1.6 million in funding needed to rebuild the historic Murphy house as a museum and visitors attraction, complete with modular, rotating display rooms.

"I think this is something that is 42 years in the making, if not 42 years past due," said Laura Babcock, chairwoman of the historical society.

To help local schools prepare for emergencies ranging from earthquakes to terrorist attacks, the Silicon Valley Safe Schools Consortium received a $480,715 grant for preparedness training.

The consortium, was composed of more than 75 schools, law enforcement departments and other agencies, including Sunnyvale and Cupertino schools.

"The school districts may have disaster plans on the table, but they haven't had a chance to test them, to walk through them," said Ben Picard, Sunnyvale School District deputy superintendent.

The city council on Jan. 10 approved a five-year contract with the Sunnyvale Sustainable Gardens group to tend a patch of soil at Charles Street and W. Olive Avenue, just north of the city hall campus.

The group, led by master gardener Josh Salans, had been lobbying the city and raising funds for almost two years in an attempt to bring to Sunnyvale--once a thriving agricultural center--its first community gardens.

The plots were broken up into 81-foot-tall gardening beds, 10 2-foot-tall beds for handicapped access, and a dozen Master Gardener demonstration beds of various sizes. Annual fees were set at $50 for a 4-by- 16- foot bed and $35 for a 4- by- 8 foot bed.

February

The city issued demolition permits on Feb. 13 to allow Millennium Hotels and Resorts to turn the Four Points Sheraton at 1250 Lakeside Drive into a four-star "destination hotel" and condominium complex, complete with wedding facilities, a 2,500-square-foot spa and 15,000 square feet of meeting space.

Sunnyvale spokesman John Pilger said the new development could play a large part in supporting the city's future growth by providing increased revenue from transient occupancy taxes.

"As we potentially get new Class A office space, and with the expected resurgence of business and investment, we're going to need hotel infrastructure to support it," Pilger said.

Fire gutted a house at 928 S. Wolfe Road in mid-February and fire crews from Sunnyvale, Mountain View and NASA spent three days battling the blaze, which kept reigniting.

Lt. Marty Dale of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said the owners of the house had applied for an application to demolish the century-old house. The city later purchased the house as a possible location for "live-burn" exercises. In preparing for the training exercise, DPS turned off all gas and electrical lines, cleared asbestos from the structure, and removed the windows and doors. In their place, wood panels were lightly attached.

The only "victim'' of the blaze was an adult-sized dummy used as part of a rescue drill conducted by DPS.

March

The first hints that something was wrong with the Town Center Mall redevelopment came in early March when Mayor Ron Swegles asked project manager Jane Vaughan to explain why there had been delays to the project.

Swegles said that he and Vaughan had discussed potential additions to the plan, including a hotel and a new location for the planned movie multiplex.

Vaughan said the developers were struggling to get Macy's and Target to sign off on the demolition plans that would destroy the space between the two stores.

"Trying to get two elephants to move is always difficult," she said.

Almost seven years after they last accepted applications, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority announced it was opening the waiting list for Section 8 (subsidized housing) applicants.

More than 27,000 people had signed during the week the list was opened up in 1999, and officials from around the county expected far more this year. To prevent a flood of people, the location where applications could be delivered were carefully guarded until the announcement was made.

"No matter what they do, they're going to be swamped," said Martin Eichner, director of Dispute Resolution Programs for Sunnyvale's Project Sentinel, an agency that specializes in landlord/tenant issues. "That's just the reality of this. If they did it any other way, it would look like American Idol tryouts. There would be a stadium full of people."

Members of Sunnyvale's Trinity Church turned out on March 21 to oppose a new council motion that would rezone their church land as a "public facility," preventing its development for housing. Church members were planning to sell the land to housing developers, directly in opposition to the motion the council was discussing.

"There's no hiding the intent," said Robert Paternoster, Sunnyvale's director of community development. "The intent is to protect land in the city for these uses."

The council voted to approve studying a new zoning designation, but exempted the church because it was in negotiations to sell the land prior to the new zoning adoption.

April

Concerned over the apparent lack of progress on the redevelopment project at the Town Center Mall site, the city issued a 60-day notice to Fourth Quarter Properties, demanding that certain goals be met.

Fourth Quarter Properties had failed to obtain approval for a new parcel, submit construction plans and obtain construction permits, all of which were supposed to have been done by Sept. 1, 2005. The developers also failed to apply for construction permits by February and did not commence construction by the beginning of the year.

After closing in the middle of the rainy season at the end of March, the Sunnyvale cold weather shelter at the National Guard Armory announced it would reopen for another month.

"We have all been deeply concerned with the stormy weather and the toll that it takes on our homeless clients and are extremely excited to be able to extend this critical service," said Jennifer Loving, EHC Lifebuilders' chief operating officer.

Even with the month extension, there was still an annual shortfall of almost 17,000 beds for the county's homeless population.

On April 11, the city council met for the first time as the local redevelopment authority for Onizuka Air Force Station, scheduled for closure by the federal government.

Like Moffett Field, the station once played a key part in the Cold War by monitoring communications satellites. In later years, it was used to help with space shuttle communications.

The station was selected by the U.S. Department of Defense in September 2005 to be on a realignment and base closure list. The list was developed following the fall of the Soviet Union and years of military consolidation.

The Moffett Park area of Sunnyvale--north of Highway 237 and the location of Lockheed-Martin, Yahoo! and other major industry players--was identified as a possible "incubator space" for future developments in biotechnology or nanotechnology.

May

April showers are said to bring May flowers, but in Sunnyvale, they can now bring May fruits and vegetables and herbs and tubers.

In late April and early May, the Sunnyvale Sustainable Gardens group began collecting applications for more than 90 gardening plots at the first Sunnyvale community gardens, located at Charles Street and West Olive Avenue.

To prepare the land, gardeners laid $3,000 worth of pipe, including 200 feet of 3-inch pipes and 150 feet of 2.5-inch piping.

"It's very exciting to finally be here," said Sunnyvale Community Gardens leader Josh Salans, while standing among the garden plots.

Det. Jose Ramirez was honored as the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety's "Officer of the Year" for his work in and outside of the boxing ring.

Ramirez spends three days a week training Sunnyvale youth in boxing at Columbia Middle School. The program has been instrumental in keeping young people off the streets and has helped many stay in school, improve their grades and graduate from high school.

"The program has a positive impact for not only the community but for us as a police department," said Dayton Pang, deputy chief in charge of special operations. "Jose clearly rose to the top, not only for his work with a lot of high-profile Sunnyvale cases, but for his work with the community and his support of these kids."

"After a study was approved in April, Sunnyvale Library Director Deborah Barrow and her staff began collecting ideas from Sunnyvale residents on how to turn the 36-year old building into a modern "Library of the Future."

The library contained more than 300,000 items and 72 computers for public use in 60,000 square feet. But many residents--looking for wireless high-speed internet, meeting rooms and multimedia resources--felt Sunnyvale's library was lacking.

Barrow said that some cities try to have 1 square foot of library space for each resident in the city, which means that Sunnyvale has less than half as much space as it could use to serve the city's 130,000 residents.

"The bottom line is that our library is too small," Barrow said.

On May 9, the city council gave the go-ahead to a project to turn what was once a hole in a fence into a fully paved, lighted, wheelchair-accessible entrance to the Sunnyvale Caltrain station.

Many residents who once used the fence to get to the train station or visit Sunnyvale's downtown area were angered when the space was fenced off because it forced them to walk two blocks to Sunnyvale Avenue or to take the Mathilda Avenue overcrossing.

And while the majority of residents were happy to hear the access point would return, some liked the decline in nearby traffic.

"Since the hole access has been closed, our street has been quiet, clean and calm," said Melinda Cook, a Frances Avenue resident.

The Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Education told a packed house of supporters that they would consider use of the open space at Peterson Middle School as a sports complex or school-run farm or garden.

The 48-acre parcel--one of the most debated pieces of open space in Sunnyvale--would be offered to private developers or other groups if both recreational plans failed to materialize.

Because of strong community opposition to selling the land, board member Rod Adams said the district was inclined to try to partner with youth sports leagues such as Sunnyvale Alliance Soccer to create a three-field facility, or work to turn it into farmland that could generate revenue through the sale of produce.

June

With the downtown project more than six months behind schedule, the city of Sunnyvale gave Stan Thomas, head of Fourth Quarter Properties, LLC. one final chance to fix the project and get it back on track.

A letter sent June 2 stated that if an "adequate and comprehensive response" to the city's inquiry is not received in time, the city would terminate the agreement with Fourth Quarter Properties and begin looking for other developers.

John Pilger, city communications officer, said the city was just getting new plans and promises in place of real answers.

The city was also concerned because project manager Jane Vaughan had been talking about unapproved project additions, including more houses and a supermarket.

Thanks to a $15,000 donation from the UnitedAuto Group, Northern California branch, the 150-member Fremont High School music program was able to make beautiful music on beautiful new instruments.

As part of the UnitedAuto For Kids donation program, $120 from every car purchased from UnitedAuto dealers--including Sunnyvale Acura--was set aside for the California school of the buyers choice.

According to Joseph Kelly, instrumental music director, the money that went to Fremont High was used to buy a concert tuba, a new vibrophone, a bassoon and other instruments.

To prevent future labor problems like those that have plagued the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer station, the city council unanimously voted on June 20 to approve a request for proposals from future contractors that would include higher pay for workers.

SMaRT station workers went on strike in August 2004 demanding higher pay. Although that issue was later resolved, the June 20 decision established that future contractors would pay sorters a better wage.

"The pay the council agreed on was fair, and it's about time something was done about it," said Sunnyvale resident Tom Mendoza, a SMaRT employee for 13 years "For too long, we've been working with these wages and no paid vacation and no paid sick leave."

July

As summer temperatures soared into triple digits and stayed for a series of smoggy "Spare the Air" days, businesses around Sunnyvale worked to promote alternative forms of transportation for their employees.

One local worker, Juniper Networks employee Junipero Butros, was given $40 a month toward the $70 monthly Caltrain pass and an Ecopass that gives him free rides on any Valley Transit Authority line.

A 2005 survey of Moffett Park businesses found that 28 percent of 4,600 employees used some sort of alternative transportation at least once a week. Some, like Butros, used it daily. Butros said in a typical month, he drove his car to work only a half-dozen times.

To help bridge the summer vacation gap and to support the organizations that help families, Sunnyvale CARES held its second annual summer food drive on July 15.

CARES, a consortium of local churches, residents and other groups that combat hunger in Sunnyvale, brought in more than 10,000 pounds of food during a food drive in 2005. CARES food donations go to the Sunnyvale Community Services, the Salvation Army, Our Daily Bread, Sunnyvale FISH and New Beginnings Church.

Sunnyvale Community Services and the Salvation Army got the lion's share of the collected food because the two have the facilities to store items.

Summers can be difficult for low-income families because they are unable to rely on school-provided lunches during the day.

Not long after Sun Microsystems announced its plans to move out of Sunnyvale, Internet giant Yahoo! announced that it would be buying land to expand into Santa Clara.

The company purchased just over 40 acres of land off of Tasman Drive in Santa Clara, not far from the Sunnyvale border, to expand operations that were growing beyond its limited Sunnyvale space. Yahoo! moving its operations out of town could hurt the local economy because many small Sunnyvale businesses survive by serving larger companies.

Suzi Blackman, chief executive officer of the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, said because motels and hotels, cleaning and maintenance and other small businesses do a lot of business with high-tech companies, losing a big fish like Yahoo! could hurt the entire pond.

"I don't think that we've had the possibility of a company that size moving in a long time," she said.

August

Fed up with continued delays, the city exercised its right to attempt to buy the entire Town Center Mall development project from Fourth Quarter Properties LLC. and move on without the Atlanta-based firm.

The decision came after an Aug. 8 closed- session meeting, and a notice was issued to the former developers on Aug. 11.

"It's long overdue," Mayor Ron Swegles said. "We tried to work them as long as we could, and we finally had to take that drastic step that I hoped we wouldn't have to."

In August, it was confirmed that Jane Vaughan of Menlo Equities was no longer the project manager for the redevelopment.

Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety officers spent part of August looking for man who had posed as city employee to gain entrance into residents' homes in order to steal money and valuables.

Police described the man as a clean-shaven Latino in his early 30s, between 5 feet 5 to 5 feet 9 inches tall with medium-length brown hair.

DPS Lt. Marty Dale said the crime was similar to one in Campbell where three men pretended to be city employees to enter a home.

On Aug. 18, Sunnyvale residents who live near the Hollenbeck Avenue Challenger School received their first major notice of a construction project in their area when heavy machinery moved in and began tearing up open space.

The trucks were part of a roadway project at the school intended to cut down on traffic in the residential neighborhood and get students and their parents away from neighbors' driveways.

Residents met Aug. 24 with officials from the private school and the Sunnyvale Elementary District to complain about the lack of advanced notice to the neighborhood.

The project was designed to create a road wrapping around the school, on school property, connecting Hollenbeck Avenue and Torrington Drive. Although neighbors found out about it Aug. 18, the school and district had been talking about it for the better part of three years, said Clay Stringham, director of development for Challenger Schools.

September

Former Superintendent Stephen Rowley filed a claim for damages against the Fremont Union High School District. The district's communications manager, Cindy McArthur, said this was not a lawsuit, but an attempt to reach some sort of settlement by Rowley. Rowley, who had two years left on a six-year contract, when he was fired in August after he missent an email accusing board president Avie Katz for the resignation of popular Monta Vista High School teacher Tim Krieger.

Within only six months, the Charles Street Community Gardens in Sunnyvale transformed from a vacant lot into a flourishing garden with more than 87 used plots. The garden is used by a variety of community members, and parts of the produce are donated to local food charities. Robert Walker, assistant city manager, described the gardens as one of the best examples of community engagement.

Several community members, parents and teachers expressed anger and confusion toward the Fremont Union High School board of trustees for their 3-2 decision to fire former superintendent Rowley. The public accused the board of acting on emotions vs. the best interests of the district's students. Questions regarding cutting programs and teachers in order to fund a lawsuit were also posed.

MetroFi said it was planning to extend its wireless Internet coverage to include the new Sunnyvale Library. The company started covering southern neighborhoods in Sunnyvale. It now covers most residential areas south of Highway 101, including the downtown area. The final phase of the wireless project will include residential areas north of Highway 101.

NASA announced that Sunnyvale's Lockheed Martin facility will be the prime contractor in the space agency's $8 billion Orion project. The project will replace the current space shuttle system and provide transportation that in theory could bring people back to the moon, Mars, and nearby asteroids.

Attorney Barry Bennett was hired by the Fremont Union High School District to determine a timeline concerning the resignation of popular teacher Tim Krieger.

October

Although there was no official word from the city regarding progress on Town Center Mall negotiations, the city council started planning how to deal with the redevelopment project once Fourth Quarter Properties, LLC was removed. Council members said they would open up the bidding process on the mall development and select a new contractor during an open session rather than a traditional closed meeting.

In order to help relieve traffic congestion at the intersection of Hollenbeck Avenue and Torrington Drive, the city council voted to revise the Hollenbeck School sports field master plan to allow construction of a one-lane driveway around the school. Nearby residents were not pleased with the solution because it involved tearing up part of the grassy fields that many use as park.

Caltrans, Valley Transportation Agency, and the city of Sunnyvale decided to fund a $130,000 project to create a paved, graded, and lighted access point from the Hendy Avenue area. For decades residents from the Hendy area had been using a hole in the fence to quickly access the Sunnyvale downtown. The new path with a stop sign and crosswalk was completed in November.

The new Kaiser Medical Center in Santa Clara proposed a new traffic study before the city council in hopes of putting in a left-turn lane into its office parking lot. Kaiser's Karl Sonkin said it would help the 35,000 Sunnyvale residents who currently have to make a U-turn to come to the medical center. Residents from neighboring side streets were concerned that a left-hand turn would create more traffic on their residential roads.

The Fremont Education Association was threatened with legal action for using district email to inform members of school board candidate endorsements. The union, which endorsed incumbent Barbara Nunes and challengers Bill Wilson and Don Mackenzie in the November 2006 election, were informed that district email couldn't be used for political purposes.

November

Dr. Andrew Fine, a Sunnyvale native and Fremont High School graduate, was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his work with RNA. His revolutionary finding, called RNA interference, could soon fight illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

The Challenger School driveway project was delayed by the city council. The project, which was approved by the Sunnyvale Elementary School District, was an effort to reduce traffic on Hollenbeck Road.

The city council held a small public meeting with developers Fourth Quarter Properties, LLC and a new development team--Peter Pau and a real estate investment group RREEF--that could take over the Town Center Mall project. The possible transfer of development teams came after almost eight months of negotiations between Fourth Quarter and Sunnyvale. Despite holding the meeting, the council made no formal decisions on the transfer.

Fremont Union High School board incumbents Barbara Nunes and Kathryn Ho were elected to four-year terms. Challenger Bill Wilson was also voted in. Former board president Avie Katz was not re-elected. He attributed his loss, in part, to the months of controversy involving the resignation of teacher Tim Krieger and the board's firing of former superintendent Stephen Rowley.

More than 200 Sunnyvale residents discussed the city's future at the 2006 Visioning Festival. The most common concerns included a commitment to sustainability and environment, the renovation of the downtown and the city's schools. The Morgan Quitno Press listed Sunnyvale as the 38th safest city of its size; last year the city was ranked 17th. An increase in homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults caused the city's drop in the ranking.

At a special board meeting, Fremont Union High School board trustees released a timeline of events surrounding the resignation of teacher Tim Krieger. However, with several key parts of the timeline blacked out, several community members pressed the board for answers. Trustee Nancy Newton was also disappointed at some of the board members' insistence to hide parts of the document but assured the public that all the details would soon be released. It was also announced that former superintendent Rowley filed a lawsuit against the district for wrongful termination, breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress.

Otto Lee was sworn in as the new mayor of Sunnyvale. Lee said that one of his important items for the city's future is an environmentally friendly building practice and materials. Because he only has one year as mayor, Lee said he's ready to get his ideas going as soon as possible.

December

The city council approved a project to upgrade the overcrossings on Mathilda Avenue. The stretch of road which runs above the Caltrans tracks and Evelyn Avenue was declared, "functionally obsolete" by Caltrans. But because the bridge received a sufficiency rating of 79.7, just below the 80 point cutoff, the majority of the $17.5 million budget will be funded by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users.

The Sunnyvale Elementary School District reintroduced structured physical education classes for students. In an effort to help increase state fitness scores, fourth and fifth grade students are now required to participate in 220 minutes of P.E. every two weeks.

Acting superintendent Polly Bove was named superintendent by the Fremont Union School Board trustees. Her contract is effective through June 2008.

In an effort to revive the long-delayed, multi-million redevelopment of downtown Sunnyvale, the city council on Dec. 12 unanimously approved the transfer of the project to a new developer--San Mateo-based Sand Hill Properties, and its financial backer, RREEF, a worldwide financial organization.

November

The city council approved a project to upgrade the overcrossings on Mathilda Avenue. The stretch of road which runs above the Caltrans tracks and Evelyn Avenue was declared, "functionally obsolete" by Caltrans. But because the bridge received a sufficiency rating of 79.7, just below the 80 point cu off, the majority of the $17.5 million budget will be funded by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The project is expected to take 18 months to complete.

The Sunnyvale Elementary School District reintroduced structured physical education classes for students. In an effort to help increase state fitness scores, fourth and fifth grade students are now required to participate in 220 minutes of P.E. every two weeks. Parents, teachers and administrators all said they have noticed a positive change in the student's physique and attitude.

A stranded fur seal pup was found on the Valley Transportation Authority tracks on Tasman Drive at Reamwood Avenue. The dehydrated and malnourished pup was taken to the headquarters of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. The center said animal strandings are uncommon, but not unheard in cities that are adjacent to San Francisco Bay. He said the pup most likely simply traveled too far from its home.

Acting superintendent Polly Bove was named superintendent by the Fremont Union School Board trustees. Her contract is effective through June 2008. Board members, teachers, students and the community expressed their trust and confidence in Bove. As for the lawsuit filed by former superintendent Stephen Rowley, the board was granted a 30-day extension.

In an effort to revive the long-delayed, multi-million redevelopment of downtown Sunnyvale, the city council on Dec. 12 unanimously approved the transfer of the project to a new developer--San Mateo-based Sand Hill Properties, and its financial backer, RREEF, a worldwide financial organization.

December

The city council approved a project to upgrade the overcrossings on Mathilda Avenue. The stretch of road which runs above the Caltrain tracks and Evelyn Avenue was declared "functionally obsolete" by Caltrain. But because the bridge received a sufficiency rating of 79.7, just below the 80 point cutoff, the majority of the $17.5 million budget will be funded by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The project is expected to take 18 months to complete.

The Sunnyvale Elementary School District reintroduced structured physical education classes for students. In an effort to help increase state fitness scores, fourth and fifth-grade students are now required to participate in 220 minutes of P.E. every two weeks. Parents, teachers and administrators all said they have noticed a positive change in the student's physique and attitude.

A stranded fur seal pup was found on the Valley Transportation Authority tracks on Tasman Drive at Reamwood Avenue. The dehydrated and malnourished pup was taken to the headquarters of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. The center said animal strandings are uncommon but not unheard of in cities that are adjacent to San Francisco Bay. He said the pup most likely simply traveled too far from its home.

Acting superintendent Polly Bove was named superintendent by the Fremont Union High School Board trustees. Her contract is effective through June 2008. Board members, teachers, students and the community expressed their trust and confidence in Bove. As for the lawsuit filed by former superintendent Stephen Rowley, the board was granted a 30-day extension.

In an effort to revive the long-delayed, multimillion dollar redevelopment of downtown Sunnyvale, the city council on Dec. 12 unanimously approved the transfer of the project to a new developer--San Mateo-based Sand Hill Properties, and its financial backer, RREEF, a worldwide financial organization.