City Council confirms strategy for geese problem at council meeting on Oct. 16

Not a single person present at the regular Cupertino city council meeting on Oct. 16 felt disappointed about missing the second presidential debate that took place at the same time that night. Instead, the five council members, the city clerk, the city attorney and the city manager smiled like children on Christmas morning as Director of Public Works Timm Borden gave each of them a stuffed goose.

The toy Canadian geese were  reminders of Item Nine on the agenda that night— the excess of Canada Geese at city parks and athletic fields. Borden, who had previously conducted a goose summit with neighboring cities to discuss the animal problem, led the council in a presentation detailing the overpopulation situation at various parks and fields. He requested that Memorial Park permit him to perform the initial pilot goose management strategies. The estimated cost of Borden’s pilot program at Memorial Park was projected to be around $10,000.

“[We] aren’t asking [for] a decision … I’m looking for feedback, looking for community input, [and a] midyear budget request,” said Borden on behalf of his staff at the end of the presentation.

A decision at the meeting was difficult to make. Mayor Mark Santoro turned down the idea of using lasers to harass geese, for fear of health consequences for park users. Council member Barry Chang voiced concerns about legal liabilities associated with using trained dogs to scare the geese. During the public hearing, residents worried about the hazardous nature of the chemicals and the harmful effects upon the park, including diseases in the excrement and the health repercussions of pollution in the water and air due to them. There was also worry that chasing the geese from Cupertino might create problems for other cities.

“The problem is like a water balloon,” Santoro said. “You push [the geese] somewhere and they move somewhere else.”

The severity of the goose problem did not prevent the panel from cracking a few goose jokes. With their stuffed animals perched next to their microphones, council members talked about having “feathers in their hats” and “being left out of the flock” when discussing animal problems with other cities. After the issue of legal liabilities was dealt with, everyone agreed to take action by using trained dogs during the upcoming months when the geese will breed in order to mitigate the problem.

“I mean, we can’t miss another season, doggone it,” council member Rod Sinks said.

After lengthy discussion, council members had decided on their preliminary steps. They would implement the egg-addling strategy for the goose population at Memorial Park, where they would coat goose eggs in oil so they would not hatch into goslings. In addition to trained dogs, Cupertino would use manually controlled boats to harass the geese. An ordinance to penalize any person seen feeding the geese was to be drafted, and a midyear budget given by Dec. 18 in order to put the pilot program in action.

Some residents present at the meeting were unimpressed by the resulting course of action. Ernest Bonelli, long-time resident in Cupertino, proposed a solution to deport the geese to Central Valley in order to help them regain their natural migration patterns. His suggestion, however, was dismissed by the panel as unfeasible.

“I was disappointed that I didn’t get any comment whatsoever,” Bonelli said. “It’s unfortunate but I’m glad to hear that the city is continuing to do things.”

Santoro testifies to the difficulty of finding a right solution to the problem, if there is one.

“I don’t think we have a wonderful solution; I think we have a lot of methods that we’re going to try, and we’ve tried some in the past,” he said. “We’re going to try some newer things this time, because the things we tried last time weren’t very effective.”

Overall, however, council member Gilbert Wong believes that the meeting resulted in a few good takeaways. He also enjoyed indulging in the occasional comic relief during the discussion.

“Government … can be very dry,” Wong said. “Sometimes in politics, people kind of use humor to kind of loosen things up [while talking] about a very serious subject.”

As he stood talking by the door, he noticed Vice Mayor Orrin Mahoney re-entering the building. Seeing Wong’s questioning look, Mahoney explained himself.

“I forgot my stuffed animal goose,” he said.