Mayor Klein Cuts Ribbon on Sunnyvale’s New City Hall

Monday, April 3, 2023, was a cold and windy morning in the city of Sunnyvale, where city staff, local political leaders, and the press assembled in the shadow of Sunnyvale’s new City Hall to cut the ribbon on what is likely the nation’s first building to be both be certified LEED Platinum and achieve Net Zero Emissions.

“This moment has been 8 years in the making, beginning in 2015. Listening to our community is what got us here today,” explained City Manager Kent Steffens. Mayor Larry Klein explained that construction broke ground in December 2020, taking just over two years, amid the Pandemic. “It’s like an elegant modern museum, with wood elements reclaimed from Redwood trees that were on-site.”

The new City Hall stands at four stories, with 120,000 square feet of office space, next to the adjacent, single-level old City Hall. City services are moving into the new building, which still has some late construction kinks to work out. The new Council Chambers, with seating for 200 residents–twice the capacity of the old City Hall, remains unfinished due to some supply chain issues, but core city services, like the Construction Permit Center, are open for business. A public Grand Opening is scheduled to be held on September 23, which will mark the culmination of the first phase of Sunnyvale’s Civic Center Modernization project. Subsequent development of the Civic Center will involve the construction of a new two-story library and two-story Public Safety headquarters directly across the street from City Hall, along with new parkland and an amphitheater.

Costing $245 million, the new City Hall Building is light and airy and features wooden accents and several pieces of hardwood furniture. The lobby of the building stretches the height of its four floors, centered around a wood-clad floating staircase and accessible by elevators. Each floor features distinct artwork and seating adjacent large windows which afford an ever-greater view across the city. The Libby’s Water Tower is visible from the fourth floor of the lobby.

The building is designed to achieve a LEED Platinum certification, and the city will track energy to confirm Net Zero energy objectives, mainly through the rooftop installation of nearly 1,700 solar panels, which should provide 1.1 gigawatt-hours per year. Enough energy to power 100 homes, but not quite enough to power a Flux Capacitor. This is just as well, as the street in front of the new City Hall is designed as a pedestrian plaza, and it would be difficult and dangerous to pilot a DeLorean at sufficient speed to effect a time jump.

The green building features half a dozen posts for bicycle parking, which were nearly all occupied, near the main entrance. 87 spaces are available for private vehicles underground, including 11 EV charging stalls.

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North Side Residents Want Safer Access to High School

Sunnyvale’s City Council met for nearly six hours on January 24 to hear public input on the city’s study issues, adjust the Housing Mitigation Fee, approve neighborhood grants, and sign off on the city’s Legislative Advocacy Positions.

Corporation Yard Master Plan

Before the Regular Meeting, Public Works presented a Study Session for a master plan to renovate the Corporation Yard (“Corp Yard”) on Commercial St. Several city departments use the yard for vehicle fleet maintenance and storage.

Most buildings at the 8.72-acre site were built in the 1950s. The structures are sound, but the old buildings will need replacement as the city grows. The master plan, split into three phases, is projected to run near $100 million. This project is not yet funded, and the city will pursue various funding options once the Council approves.

Councilmember Russ Melton noted that, during a site tour, he wondered whether the city could rehabilitate the existing structures. But the need for expensive seismic retrofits made a strong case for rebuilding the site.

For Public comment, Kristel Wickham, Chair of the Sustainability Commission, cited the need to plan for additional electrical needs as the city’s large vehicle fleet electrifies. Former Councilmember Tara Martin-Milius emphasized that “Cutting GHGs now has a tremendous impact.”

Board and Commission Recruitment

Councilmember Alyssa Cisneros reminded the public that the city has several vacancies on our Boards and Commissions and invited residents to apply. The application deadline is Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, at 4 p.m.

Current vacancies:

  • Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (1)
  • Board of Library Trustees (2)
  • Heritage Preservation Commission (1)
  • Sustainability Commission (1)

Dark Skies

Rani Fischer of the Santa Clara Audubon Society gave a short presentation for Oral Communications on the hazards of excess night lighting. She sought to raise public awareness of safe night lighting practices and encourage the city to adopt a Dark Sky Ordinance.

“Light pollution is reversible,” explains Rani Fischer, of Santa Clara Audobon

Study Issues and Budget Proposals

Council next opened a public discussion on Potential Study Issues and Budget Proposals for 2023, which brought a large volume of public comment.

Bridget Watson highlighted the increased number of children at Sunnyvale’s Homeless Shelter. She encouraged Council to consider funding a dedicated staff position to address homeless concerns. She advocated hiring someone who could immediately look into reconfiguring the city’s shelter to provide for family needs, including privacy and kitchen access.

Anya Gajula, a Fremont High School student, spoke in support of a potential ballot measure to fund bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and in favor of Bike Lanes on Hollenbeck. Said Gajula, “only 5% of Fremont students bike to school, compared to 15% at other schools. The area around Fremont High School is especially dangerous: cars regularly drive 50 miles per hour across seven lanes of traffic, and there are no protected bike lanes. Our Vision Zero Plan lists Sunnyvale-Saratoga as a high-priority project for protected bike lanes, but there has been no progress made due to a lack of funding.”

A typical Street View of the bicycle route Fremont High School students can take from the North. Few students take the city’s invitation to ride in the gutter next to three lanes of traffic with a posted speed limit of 40 MPH.

Several members of the public spoke in favor of investigating an on-demand shuttle service to address the safe transportation needs of Sunnyvale students. Peggy Shen Brewster introduced Sunnyvale for Equity in Education (SEE), which is focused on the underserved transportation needs of Fremont High School students. Fellow SEE member Laurie Thomas explained that she sees students in Sunnyvale leaving the public school system in their high school years because Fremont can not reasonably be accessed by bicycling or public transportation. “We need a path for children to be able to get to Fremont High School, or we need a high school in North Sunnyvale.”

NOTE: As I wrote this article, the city website un-published the index of study issues it had previously advertised at https://sunnyvaleca.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11587462&GUID=4A76E51B-8396-4D4E-B4AD-FD23DE83E510, so I am unable to find and link study issues referenced after this point in this post. -danny

Several residents spoke in favor of installing bike lanes on Hollenbeck and against adding a second right-turn lane from Fremont onto Bernardo, as a second turn lane would make the intersection–identified by Sunnyvale’s Vision Zero policy as a “high injury” intersection–even more dangerous. Many regarded their advocacy as especially necessary, as Public Works staff recommended against a bike lane on Bernardo due to the need to remove parking from one side of the street and because staff favor adding a double right-turn at Bernardo in order to facilitate increased car traffic. “Adding an extra lane for car traffic is only going to induce more car traffic, and we’re going to end up with a fatality,” explained resident Nick Brosnahan.

Sharlene Liu of Bike Sunnyvale presented an image of Hollenbeck with protected bicycle lanes and parking on one side of the street.

Councilmember Murali Srinivasan proposed a study issue to implement a shuttle service for North Sunnyvale students to access Fremont Highschool, in addition to creating an app for residents to access city services. Councilmember Alyssa Cisneros introduced a study issue to prohibit right turns on red at Fremont and Bernardo and for improved homeless shelter services focused on the needs of families. Councilmember Richard Mehlinger proposed a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers and a budget allocation for a pilot program to contract a consulting firm to investigate the next three road collisions in Sunnyvale that result in death or serious injury. Councilmember Linda Sell proposed a “Bicycle and Walking Safety Metrics” study issue to better guide the city’s efforts at implementing Vision Zero, Safe Routes to Schools, and Active Transportation. Councilmember Russ Melton proposed a budget allocation to improve enforcement of the Short Term Rental ordinance, citing a recent shooting on Navarro. Each of these proposals received multiple co-sponsors.

The City Council will prioritize and rank 2023 Study Issues at the Study Issues and Budget Proposals Workshop, to be held on February 16.

Non-Residential Housing Mitigation Fee

The Non-Residential Housing Mitigation Fee is charged on new office, R&D, retail, and lodging developments to support new affordable housing development. Given that new commercial development brings workers into Sunnyvale, the city has a greater need to ensure affordable access to housing. Stephanie Hagar of Bae Urban Economics presented a summary of the Nexus Study Issue to help the city adjust this fee based on economic factors. Based on the results of the Nexus study, citing economic circumstances, staff recommended increasing the Office/R&D fee but not increasing the fee for retail, lodging, or industrial uses.

Councilmember Richard Mehlinger proposed slightly higher fees for Office/R&D than the staff recommendation in order to zero out retail fees. His motion was supported by Councilmember Omar Din, who explained that lowering the fee on retail would improve the economic feasibility of mixed-use housing development. Mayor Larry Klein explained that the retail fees are already relatively low, saying, “I don’t think that the fees are what’s keeping retail from expanding. And the majority of retail coming to the city is replacing existing retail, so they are paying none of these fees.”

City Council unanimously approved the staff recommendation to increase the Office/R&D fee to $11 for the first 25,000 square feet and $22 per square foot over the first 25,000 square feet.

Neighborhood Grant Program

The city funds various community events and provides financial grants to neighborhood organizations to host events. The Community Events and Neighborhood Grant Program Subcommittee previously worked through the various funding proposals, and the City Council unanimously signed off on their recommendations.

Priority Advocacy Issues and Long-term Legislative Advocacy Positions (LAPs)

The city maintains an advocacy document that allows the mayor and city staff to advocate for policies at the state and federal levels on Sunnyvale’s behalf.

Councilmember Richard Mehlinger expressed concerns about the advocacy document’s process and contents. “This document has substantially been on autopilot.” Mehlinger cited various strong positions the city has taken over the years, including positions on controlled substances and the use of non-lethal force and local control of housing policy, where public discourse has since shifted. “As an elected official, the most important thing you have is your name, and what you put your name to matters a lot, and that is not an authority that I’m willing to give up lightly.” Mehlinger concluded, “I think a Council subcommittee to review the content of these positions would be very helpful to help us make sure that what we have in here is something that the whole council feels very comfortable supporting.”

Councilmember Linda Sell spoke in favor of the city’s ability to rapidly engage in advocacy. “I’ve seen how these letters work: a good environmental bill is out there, and then suddenly, all this opposition comes toward it. Supporters need to rapidly get city support. I do believe that these letters are very important, and being nimble is very important.” Sell explained that almost every year, Community Choice Energy comes under attack, and Sunnyvale is able to stand for it.

Mayor Larry Klein and Vice Mayor Omar Din thought it was reasonable to omit the names of council members on advocacy letters, as not all council members necessarily took those positions. Din: “it makes sense to me that when these letters go out, they are going out on behalf of the city, not on the behalf of seven individuals here.”

Councilmember Mehlinger proposed two amendments to the Policy document: first, to retain the city’s position on opposing Internet content filtering, pending further review, and second, to tweak the wording on the proposed 2023 Priority Advocacy issues to better reflect the need to balance between local control and expanded housing opportunities. The first amendment succeeded, whereas the second failed.

City Council adjourned at 11:50 pm.

Seating Our Most Diverse City Council, Sunnyvale Enters 2023

On January 3, in its first meeting of 2023, the Sunnyvale City Council met in a packed Council Chambers to honor the service of three outgoing Council Members and seat three incoming Council Members. Our new city council, the first to be entirely comprised of District Representatives with a mayor elected at large, is also the most diverse.

Councilmembers Gustav Larsson, Glenn Hendricks, and Anthony (Tony) Spitaleri stepped down from the dais. Several local civic leaders took terms expressing their gratitude towards these Councilmembers for their service, including Hendrick’s service on the VTA board.

Mayor Larry Klein gave a speech thanking each outgoing Council Member, starting with Gustav Larsson, for his nine years of service on the City Council and two years as Vice Mayor. Klein and Larsson got to know each other during their service on the Planning Commission. “He is the living example of what an Eagle Scout should do and should be. He is kind, well-spoken, and friendly to everyone he meets.”

Councilmember Larsson explained that “people often overestimate what can be done in one year and underestimate what can be done in ten. There are so many things that we have been able to tackle, taking small steps, one after another. They really add up.” Larsson’s advice to the new Council: “at times, it might feel like you’re only taking small steps, but those small steps are important steps, and together, very quickly, they add up and make a tremendous difference in the community.”

Mayor Klein next thanked Councilmember Hendricks for nine years of service, including three as mayor. Mayor Klein highlighted Hendricks’ tenure as mayor: “he signed the Paris Climate Accord and pushed forward environmental issues when the Federal government took a step back.” Klein also cited Hendricks’ service as VTA Board Chair during the mass shooting at the VTA Light Rail facility in 2021. “It was on his shoulders to comfort the grieving, pay tribute to those that had passed, respond to the media, and provide a guiding light in the storm. He tackled this with the courage of a Marine while also showing a tender and comforting side.”

Hendricks chose to highlight three events from his service as mayor. “The day I was selected as Mayor, Sunnyvale joined Silicon Valley Clean Energy. The first legislation I signed is the number one thing that has been done in Santa Clara County to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Hendricks explained that outgoing mayor Jim Griffith had taken the lead on forming SVCE. “I tried to get him to sign it,” said Hendricks. Hendricks then shared two tragedies. The first was in 2017 when K9 Officer Jax was killed. “You don’t know what it is like to speak in front of 1,500 law enforcement people in uniform. There were about 125 K9 officers from other jurisdictions. Something I’ll always remember.” Councilmember Hendricks then returned to the 2021 VTA shooting. “An event that does not stop. We’re still working through what it means for an organization to try and recover.”

Hendricks next advised the City Council to take a different approach to selecting its VTA Board representative. Instead of selecting a senior Councilmember, he advised that the Council choose a newly-elected member to serve on the VTA board, giving them opportunities to be re-elected to a longer tenure. “The biggest gift we can give to our VTA representative is time. Institutional knowledge makes a difference.”

Last to be thanked for his service, Tony Spitaleri, who was appointed in February 2022 to fill a vacancy. Councilmember Spitaleri previously served eight years on the Council and four years as mayor. Spitaleri chose to highlight praise shared by Councilmembers Larsson and Hendricks for the city staff. “Our staff … everyone who makes this city run, makes it a better place to live in. They do it. We sit up here and create policies, all kinds of things we think the city should do. Once they get direction, they don’t stop, they hit the ground running, and they make this city what it is today.”

Next, Mayor Klein welcomed the new Councilmembers: Linda Sell, for District 1; Murali Srinivasan, District 3; and Richard Mehlinger, District 5.

Councilmember Linda Sell, Sunnyvale’s first female Asian American Councilmember, reiterated her longstanding commitment to a healthier environment, more resources for local schools, and bringing people together towards a better Sunnyvale. “My concerns continue about having a nice place for us and for the next generation … a sustainable planet, an environment for the next generation to live and thrive. I will work to make Sunnyvale more affordable, walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented, and towards a smooth transition to electric vehicles.”

District 3 Representative, Murali Srinivasan, takes the oath of office administered by his family.

Councilmember Murali Srinivasan noted, “I have the unique honor of being certified winner twice in the same election.” This was a reference to an initial win by one vote. A recount next placed Srinivasan and his opponent at a tie, broken earlier in the day when the City Clerk drew his name from a hat. Srinivasan is the first Indian American Councilmember. “The election is the first step of Democracy. I will work to engage more citizens in policy development and planning. I look forward to working with all of you for a better, brighter, and sunnier Sunnyvale for all!”

Councilmember Richard Mehlinger is the first openly queer man to serve on the Council. He praised the new system of District elections for delivering diversity. “But we are here to act for the entire city. We must always remember that this is the Sunnyvale City Council. To that end, we must be on guard against the development of ‘district prerogative.’ We are not Mayors of our Districts, and we should not seek to exercise Veto power over them.”

Mehlinger continued: “we need to not be afraid of innovation. This is the heart of Silicon Valley. Let’s think about what we can do to make Sunnyvale more livable, where the cost of living is affordable, where you don’t need a car to do every errand, and where we are taking steps we need to combat Climate Change. Let’s make this a more ‘user-friendly’ city, where every interaction community members have with the city is as smooth as possible. Let’s keep our city a welcoming city, to make sure that no one here ever feels unsafe because of their race, creed, gender, because of who they love or how they live.”

The honors concluded with a recess, allowing spectators to depart after the ceremonial portion of the meeting.

The City Council next elected the Vice Mayor for the year. Incumbent Vice Mayor Alysa Cisneros nominated Councilmember Omar Din, who was elected unanimously.

City Council made intergovernmental appointments. Council unanimously appointed resident Alex Bonne to the VTA Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. The Council selected members to liaise with Sunnyvale’s various Boards and Commissions and to serve on the Subcommittees of Board & Commission Bylaws and Neighborhood Grant Distribution. Council unanimously re-appointed former Councilmember Gustav Larsson to the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) Board of Directors. The Council selected various Councilmembers to serve at VTA, including Omar Din for the Board of Directors and Linda Sell for the Policy Advisory Committee. Further Intergovernmental Government appointments were made unanimously.

Procedural concerns were resolved, including the meeting schedule for the year and the Council seating chart.

Mayor Klein reported that SVCE rates will move from 1% lower than PG&E to 4% lower. As a result, Sunnyvale residents who have not opted out of SVCE will pay less than other PG&E ratepayers in exchange for 100% sustainably sourced electricity.

Councilmember Mehlinger proposed two study issues: “Access Sunnyvale 2.0” to upgrade the city’s public-facing website, and “Vision Zero Redesign of Borregas Avenue” to improve the safety of Borregas between Maude and Caribbean. Both study issues earned multiple co-sponsors.

Council adjourned at 10:55pm.

Council to Consider Minimum Wage Delay

On January 1, 2019, the minimum wage in Sunnyvale is scheduled to raise from $15.00 per hour to $15.53 per hour. Per the San Jose Mercury News, Sunnyvale and Mountain View are ahead of neighboring cities in raising the minimum wage.

San Jose, Palo Alto, Los Altos and Cupertino will increase their minimum wage rates from $13.50 to $15 in January, Santa Clara from $13 to $15 in January and Milpitas to $15 by July 2019. The statewide rate will jump from $11 to $12 next year and incrementally rise to $15 by 2022. Campbell, Los Gatos, Gilroy, Saratoga and Morgan Hill are following the state’s lead.

In July, City Council voted to consider delaying the scheduled increase to the city’s minimum wage in order to achieve a more consistent minimum wage level with neighboring cities. There is a fear is that businesses may move to cities like Palo Alto or Santa Clara in order to reduce wages.

A vote on the issue has not yet been annuonced, but is expected in September.

Per the San Jose Mercury News:

Although Vice Mayor Larry Klein and council members Gustav Larsson and Nancy Smith expressed support for delaying the next increase for a year, councilmen Russ Melton and Michael Goldman didn’t.

Melton worried about the “pocketbook impact” that delaying the increase would have on the city’s minimum wage earners. He said that for a couple who works full-time, 53 cents an hour can make a difference of roughly $2,200 a year. “On average, that’s a monthly rent in Sunnyvale. I actually think the public interest would be served by having other cities keep apace with Sunnyvale. I would argue that they accelerate instead of Sunnyvale decelerating.”

Russ Melton has a call to action on his Facebook page.

Must Be Present to Win – A Bike Advocate Success in Sunnyvale

Originally published by Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, republished with permission from author Tim Oey.

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Taking a measure along Caribbean Drive.

In September 2017, Sunnyvale bicyclists almost lost a significant connection between the Borregas Avenue bike route and the Bay Trail. Luckily a few key people were at a public meeting and eventually convinced Sunnyvale staff that a safe route in both directions was critical for bicyclists of all abilities.

Here is the story of how this evolved and some pitfalls along the way.

Sunnyvale’s Water Pollution Control Plant has been running for 60 years and is in the process of a much-needed rebuild so it can continue to serve an expanding population and generate cleaner recycled water to keep the San Francisco Bay healthy. As part of this rebuild, Sunnyvale needed to close Carl Road to allow the Water treatment plant to expand. This would sever the current Borregas to Bay Trail connection as well as close Bay Trail public access parking along Carl Road. The plan was to create new a new route for bicycles and pedestrians to go from Borregas to the Bay Trail as well as a new parking area for cars. Borregas, with its two bike/ped bridges over 101 and 237, is the northern end of Sunnyvale’s premier north-south bicycle route.

The Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission and its support staff were not informed of this pending major bicycle and pedestrian change, nor were Bay Trail staff. I was invited by Larry Klein, one of Sunnyvale’s council members, to a public outreach meeting to review the final design of what was called the “Caribbean Drive Parking and Trail Access Enhancements Project.” I almost did not attend because it seemed it should be a slam dunk to maintain or even improve this great bicycle and pedestrian connection to the Bay Trail.

Alas, the devil is often in the details.

While local city staff are getting better at handling bicycle and pedestrian issues, they still have a strong bias favoring motor vehicles that lines up with our strong car culture. Call it car privilege.

So the redesign they came up with provided excellent motor vehicle parking as well as reasonable pedestrian facilities but would have required bicyclists to dismount and walk their bikes along a pedestrian sidewalk in the southbound direction for several years until a new bike/ped crossing of Caribbean was built sometime in the future. Even then, bicyclists would be routed on a bike lane along the busy and high-speed Caribbean Drive instead of the much slower Borregas Ave & Carl Drive.

Google-Borregas-Aerial-Map

In this Google Map aerial view, the purple line is Carl Road, which will be closed; the green line is the new bike access trail along a water canal; the yellow line is the sidewalk along Caribbean, and the red line is the future at-grade bike/ped crossing of Caribbean.

During the presentation, Sunnyvale staff were quite insistent that there was no space for a multi-use path instead of a sidewalk on the north side of Caribbean and that the plans were too far along to change. When pressed, they came up with alternative detours for bicycles to go through the Yahoo campus or through a little-known back access way behind and through the Sunnyvale SMART station.

Later, I and others visited the site in person to discover that there were about 26 clear feet between Caribbean and the fenced-in landfill that provided plenty of space for a two-way multi-use trail instead of a pedestrian sidewalk. Also, the detours through Yahoo and the SMART station had navigational challenges and some safety issues in addition to being longer and out of the way — sometimes adding a couple of extra miles to what should have been a short connection.

Thanks to a flurry of dialog from some council members, myself, and many other advocates including Bay Trail staff and former council members, Sunnyvale staff did finally come up with a proposal that included a multi-use trail on the north side of Caribbean to provide safe and easy access between Borregas and the Bay Trail for bicyclists of all ages and abilities. This was confirmed in an email communication from Sunnyvale staff in late October.

In the end, we should now get a connection between Borregas and the Bay Trail that is an enhancement over the current Bay Trail connection, but it was touch-and-go for about a month. If not for the quick and concerted effort, we could have been stuck with degraded bicycle access.

Some key takeaways from this experience:

1) Never assume. It is incredible how many ways things can go wrong.

2) Must be present to win. We need bicyclists at as many public meetings as possible to make sure we catch design issues before they are set in stone (literally). It is often surprising how many developments can have a significant impact on bicyclists and pedestrians.

3) Our network is our strength. Only by leveraging our network did we have enough influence to change plans in the very late stages of this project. Also by having a big network, we can cover more territory and meetings. We need a network of alert advocates to ensure we eventually get a vast network of beautiful routes throughout Silicon Valley. Being a member of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is HUGE! Please encourage your friends to join us!

Thanks!


Tim Oey is currently the president of the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, vice chair of the Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, life member of both the Adventure Cycling Association and League of American Bicyclists, and an SVBC member since 1989.

Wednesday, April 26: The Future of El Camino Real

ECR+Plan+Study+Area+by+the+City

ECR Plan Map, City of Sunnyvale

This Wednesday, April 26, the Sunnyvale Sustainable and Affordable Living Coalition, Greenbelt Alliance, Sunnyvale Cool, Sunnyvale Democratic Club, and Friends of Caltrain are hosting a panel discussion, moderated by Tara Martin-Milius, regarding the future of El Camino Real in Sunnyvale.

Questions that will be explored:

  • How can we create great neighborhoods that we can all afford?
  • What can be done to make safer places for walking and biking with smart transportation choices?
  • How will the future of the corridor affect our economy, our environment, and our quality of life?

Panelists include:

Larry Klein, Sunnyvale City Council Member, former Planning Commissioner, a long-time advocate for affordable housing, open space, and walkability. Larry was involved when the Downtown Specific Plan was kicked off more than 15 years ago. He was previously on the Sunnyvale Planning Commission for 9+ years.

Adina Levin, a passionate transit advocate, co-founded Friends of Caltrain and currently serves on the Menlo Park Transportation Commission, the San Mateo County Congestion Management and Environmental Quality Committee, and the Silicon Valley @ Home policy advisory committee.

Kirk Vartan, owner of New York Pizza in Sunnyvale. Kirk is a strong advocate for smart urban design, including transit, housing, and agrihood. He is Co-chair of the Stevens Creek Advisory Group in San Jose, which addresses issues and opportunities that will come with the development of that region’s urban villages.

Marie Bernard, Executive Director of Sunnyvale Community Services since 2010. The mission of Sunnyvale Community Services is to prevent homelessness and hunger in the local community, helping 8,000 people each year with financial aid, food assistance, case management, and bringing together 2,000+ volunteers from public, private, and faith communities.

Jaime Fearer, AICP, Deputy Director in San José, is passionate about where we live and is interested in the critical intersection of equity, public health, and active transportation planning and advocacy. She focuses on California Walks’ partnerships across the state, to positively influence policy that will improve pedestrian safety and walkability. She represents San Jose on the VTA’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

Details:

Wednesday, April 26
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Ballroom, Sunnyvale Community Center
550 E. Remington Dr. Sunnyvale, CA 94087

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-sunnyvales-el-camino-real-a-panel-discussion-tickets-33120918559

Sunnyvale ECR Corridor Specific Plan: http://plansunnyvaleecr.m-group.us/

Questions: contact Sue Serrone at sueserrone@comcast.net