Influence of Developers and Special Interests-SUNNYVALE City Council Election 2018-WHO TO VOTE FOR?

Courtesy Holly Lofgren

SUNNYVALE CITY COUNCIL

There is no doubt, Sunnyvale has been tremendously influenced by developers and special interests. It is VERY IMPORTANT to elect grassroots candidates who will listen and work for residents. All three recommended candidates have been long time residents of Sunnyvale and have extensive experience serving in different capacities and are supported by individuals who overwhelmingly live in Sunnyvale.

For information regarding campaign spending, please see these informative links:
Part 4 Follow The Money (10/30/18)

http://www.sunnyvalepubliclandsact.com

1. Video: Part 4: Follow The Money video plus Eric Krock’s related comments (duration: 5 min 30 sec)
2. Presentation: Part 4 – Follow The Money slides (PDF)
3. Funding Summary: 2018 Council Election Funding summary sheet (PDF)  (PNG)
4. Score Card: 2018 Council Candidate Score Card (PDF)  (PNG)

For information regarding the candidates qualifications, positions and activities, please see these websites of the Sunnyvale City Council Candidates I endorse:

• Seat 1: Henry Alexander III: https://henryforsunnyvale.com/
• Seat 2: Josh Grossman: https://www.josh4council.com/
• Seat 3: John Cordes: http://www.john4sunnyvale.org/

Additionally, the Sunnyvale Sun published an Op Ed from both myself and Andy Frazer outlining why candidate Mason Fong is unsuitable for this public office, dated October 26, 2018.

Opinion Letters to the Mercury News_Mason Fong sent out campaign fliers with false endorsements

 

Holly Lofgren
Sunnyvale resident

What VOTERS should know about Campaign Funded Candidates in Sunnyvale

Why would Corporations and Developers, who live outside of outside of the City of  Sunnyvale, fund certain Candidates for the City Council Election 2018? Why so much Campaign Funding? Do large contributions make for a better Candidate?

This does not mean that the highest funded candidates are the best choices . . . the generous campaign donors ultimately desire a City Council and Members who will vote favorably to approve their developments and projects. This is not always in the interest in the quality of living for Sunnyvale Residents.

2018 City of Sunnyvale Council Candidate and Election Funding Sources

2018 City of Sunnyvale City Council Election Candidate Council Scorecard

Overwhelming Funding is NOT EQUAL to a BETTER CANDIDATE. Talk with the Candidates, visit their websites and remember you are the one who elects the Sunnyvale City Council.

Remember to VOTE ON Nov. 6th !!

SEAT 2 VOTE JOSH GROSSMAN for Sunnyvale City Council

PLEASE make your voice heard and VOTE for JOSH GROSSMAN on Nov. 6th.

Josh Grossman is a Technology Executive and Attorney looking for Innovative solutions for tough problems such as Sunnyvale traffic, balanced growth, reducing Airplane noise, and protecting mobile home parks. Most importantly, Josh has not accepted donations from Political Action Committee PACs or Developers. Why is this important? PACs are political committees organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates. Most PACs represent business, labor or ideological interests. Josh promises to make independent decisions on behalf of, and for Sunnyvale Residents.

VISIT:  https://www.josh4council.com/

Open Letter from Candidate Steve Hoffman Sunnyvale City Council Seat #2

Open Letter from Candidate Steve Hoffman Sunnyvale City Council Seat #2:

Dear Sunnyvale residents – Following are some questions I was asked today by a Sunnyvale resident, together with my answers.  Please forward to your friends and neighbors.

1) What are your thoughts about what to do with Butcher’s Corner?

The new owner of Butcher’s Corner is a developer called John Vidovich.  He does not live in Sunnyvale.  He has spent thousands of dollars to support my opponent Glenn Hendricks ($3,000 so far).  To put this amount in perspective, it is about 50% more than my entire campaign has spent.  This assumes that the time of my supporters (all of whom are resident and not members of any special interest group) is worth nothing, which of course it is not.  Although Mr. Vidovich’s donation to Glenn Hendricks is not illegal in Sunnyvale, if this was a Federal Elections, then it would be illegal. 

Long-time Sunnyvale Resident voices hope for a city that pays heed to voices of entire community

An Open Letter to Sunnyvale Mayor Anthony Spitaleri

Dear Mr. Mayor:

Yesterday’s mail brought a letter from you promoting your selection of candidates in the upcoming election.  In it you relate how you and your family first settled in Sunnyvale some 47 years ago, at a time when you “couldn’t have asked for a better place to raise a family than in a city which cares about its citizens…”  You then describe how during your service to the city you have “emphasized the importance of collaboration and partnership between Community, Business, and Government…”  You add: “Sunnyvale must continue… with a collaborative and solution-oriented mind set.”  (The italics are mine.)

Mr. Mayor, I remember those days of long ago… and even not so long ago.  As a 54-year resident, I agree that Sunnyvale was a very special place.  The sun shone on a city of hope and optimism: a center of new technology where anything might be possible; a friendly town where the streets were named for flowers and fruits and birds and there was an active, ongoing campaign to add even more park space and trees; and especially, I agree, a town which cared for its citizens and actually listened to them.

Time to preserve neighborhoods in Sunnyvale

Reader Letters Courtesy San Jose Mercury News Oct 4, 2013

I was extremely disappointed in the Mercury News recommendations on the Sunnyvale City Council race (Editorial, Sept. 30). The editorial suggested that several candidates for city council are unacceptable choices because of association with Councilman Pat Meyering. Being sympathetic to Meyering’s views should not be cause for disqualification. Many Sunnyvale residents should be sympathetic to Meyering’s views if they want the character of their neighborhoods to remain intact.

After listening to candidates Steve Hoffman and Andy Frazer address the city council and at a recent candidate’s forum, it’s clear that they have well-reasoned positions and they present them via civil debate. It’s time for council members to put Sunnyvale neighborhoods first, and that concept is front and center in the minds of candidates Hoffman and Frazer. By contrast, the Mercury News’ recommended candidates appear to put development first, with preserving the character of Sunnyvale neighborhoods not at the top of their priority list.

Gary Beaupre Sunnyvale

No facts support Mercury’s assertions concerning Councilman Pat Meyering

Courtesy Robert Santos, Sunnyvale

There are many incorrect statements in the Mercury News concerning the votes by Sunnyvale Councilman Pat Meyering.  [The Mercury does NOT have its own reporter covering Sunnyvale.]  Meyering has spoken out against the Washington D.C.-type of decision-making that’s appeared in Sunnyvale city government. 

What? No CEQA EIR for Sunnyvale Peery Park needed?_Council Agenda Oct 8

The Sunnyvale Peery Park LinkedIn Building is a massive 560,000 square foot – four building project. Bizjournal reports the city records show the same developer, DiNapoli, is seeking review for the design of another six-story, 233,400-square-foot building with a four-level parking structure at 767 N. Mathilda Ave. 

Developer and unions big money slant _Sunnyvale City Council Election 2013

Open Letter from City of Sunnyvale Council Candidate Steve Hoffman:

Jeni, as you can see from the expensive glossy campaign mailers you are receiving in the mail, Sunnyvale’s Unions and out-of-town Developers are funding the election campaigns of their slate of Pro-Unions and Pro-Developer candidates (Griffith, Glenn, and Gustav – the 3 G’s).  

After elected, these candidates will vote on matters that will benefit their donors, as neither see any conflict of interest with this.  Every election, the same thing happens.  The Unions and Developers fund the candidate that will later support their financial interests – just like in Washington DC. 

Following are just a few examples of how this is costing you, and how low it has brought our City: ( click here for more info)

1. $250,000/yr is the average full compensation for public safety officers in Sunnyvale (according to Sunnyvale’s Finance Director Grace Leung).  This is the highest in the entire Bay Area and $50,000 higher than the second highest city (click here for more info).
2. Developers are regularly getting permits to build building that deviate from City codes and exceed the City’s General Plan for growth.  All this, without regard to neighbors’ concerns:  Forever, residents of the Pine/Beechnut area of the S.N.A.I.L. neighborhood will live under the shadow of the monstrous pair of five-story office buildings approved by Gustav Larsson and Glenn Hendricks as Planning Commissioners, and by Jim Griffith as a Council Member (click here for more info).
3. On 4/30/13 Sunnyvale’s city council effectively granted $1.5 million to the garbage company.  The City had no legal obligation to do so, and it got NOTHING in return. Several Council members took donations from the owner of the garbage company.  On July 1st, you got a garbage rate increase.  Almost 50% of the increase is to pay for this $1.5 million grant according to Sunnyvale’s Finance Director Grace Leung (click here for more info).
4. Priceless City lands are being sold (i.e. Raynor Park Activity Center, Murphy Park), while other lands are proposed to be sold (i.e. Civic Center); Playgrounds are been demolished (i.e. CMS), and the City Council refuses to consider purchasing new parklands when opportunities arise ( click here for more info).
5. Sunnyvale Burglaries have increased at a rate 50% higher than the entire Bay Area rate of increase according to the Mercury News (2011 to 2012).  Sunnyvale’s Police Force is smaller than it was 10 years ago because we cannot afford more police officers.  Today we pay almost twice as much for significantly less officers (14%) than we had 10 years ago, while our population has dramatically increased (18%).
6. Council Member Chris Moylan publicly claims that Tap Merrick, Andy Frazer and myself are “part of Council Member Dave Whittum’s hostile takeover of the city council” !?!?!
7. Sunnyvale Vice Mayor Jim Griffith is accused of identify theft (click here for more info).
8. Candidates Glenn and Gustav see no conflict of interest in taking $3,000 dollars each in campaign donations from Developer John Vidovich who is proposing a 10 story multi building very high density complex on Sunnyvale’s most congested intersection (Fremont/Wolfe/El Camino).  All this without regard to outraged residents, Schools been over capacity, traffic jams, scarce water supply, sewage at capacity, and shortages in police patrol officers (click here for more info).
9. John Vidovich plans to make a similar very high density development on Mary and Fremont.
10. Griffith, Glenn and Gustav’s (the 3 G’s) campaign yard signs are placed on John Vidovich’s commercial property with his personal permission.

Nothing “Civil” about Sunnyvale Vice Mayor Jim Griffith stealing identity of Opponent Tap Merrick

Today  Sunnyvale residents received glossy 9×12 fliers in their mailboxes, from the special interest organization  PSOA, with a caustic San Jose Mercury Editorial, authored by Barbara Marshman, attacking three genuinely impassioned, community leaders  –  City of Sunnyvale Council Candidates Andy Frazer, Steve Hoffman and Tap Merrick.

The insane “flip-side” of Barbara’s “civil” party endorsements include the City of Sunnyvale Council Vice Mayor and Candidate, Jim Griffith, who may be formally charged with committing a crime of identify theft of unethical identify theft of his opponents name and point directing of a campaign website.

Sunnyvale Jim Griffith unethical identify theft of his opponents name and campaign website

Community members have cried “we want healthy political competition, not underhanded, unfair, unhealthy behavior to permeate the Sunnyvale political environment.”