I was disappointed but not surprised to find that members of the city council, totally ignoring their campaign pledges to listen to their constituents, voted to approve construction of more than 100 additional condos in an already severely overcrowded area of the city. Their failure to consider the wishes of their constituents was so blatant and self-serving that a referendum to halt the overcrowding is being circulated.

The builder, demonstrating a superior sense of concern for the wishes of the surrounding residents, then attempted to physically harass the petition-gatherers. The city council should be commended on its selection of a good neighbor to be added to an already overcrowded area.

From a pure business sense, I wonder why the developer has not considered that his actions have ensured that some 400 households in the closest area will never shop at Vallco. You can force the projects in, but you cannot force us to support them financially. From a strictly legal point of view, I question how Vallco can recruit tenants without being completely truthful with them about the bad reputation it has earned in its neighboring area and the potential negative effect on the ability of those tenants to survive financially.

John Callahan
Cupertino Courier Letters
5/10/2006