Border war: San Jose and Cupertino
Call it the inevitable friction from a heady period of development. Call it an old-fashioned turf war. But when it comes to advancing their own interests, the cities of Santa Clara County are not much more polite than say, Ukraine and Russia.
A case in point: A sixstory, 85-foot tall Marriott AC hotel proposed for 5696 Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose, not far from the new Apple spaceship headquarters. This idea is now floating through the San Jose bureaucracy.
At one point in the backand-forth, a representative for the developer, the ubiquitous Erik Schoennauer, fired an email to a city staffer that has inflamed a few folks in Cupertino after it surfaced with a public records request.
“From an economic development perspective for
San Jose, our project would clearly draw tax revenue from Cupertino,’’ Schoennauer wrote. “This is the kind of ‘border’ development San Jose needs.’’
The mayor of Cupertino, Savita Vaidhyanathan, wrote to San Jose officials in late June, pleading with them to reduce the density and height of their projects. The mayor insisted that Cupertino, which limits heights to 45 feet in its nearby “Heart of the City” area, would be harmed by such large buildings.
Schoennauer, who argues that the hotel fits in with the context of building on Stevens Creek boulevard, is not repentant.
“Why can’t San Jose have economic prosperity?’’ he asked. “Cupertino has planned 2.8 million square feet (the Apple spaceship) at San Jose’s border with no new housing. It doesn’t seem fair to me.’’
“We have a functional government here in California where Democrats and Republicans work together.”
— Arnold Schwarzenegger, former California governor, as he joined Democratic successor Gov. Jerry Brown in extending climate change policies both support.