Claudio Bono

After moving to Cupertino in 2014, Claudio Bono began serving in his current positions as a member of the Silicon Valley Rotary Club as well as the president of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. Bono is running for office because he believes it is a civic duty.

“We need to [regain] trust with the City Council and make sure that we do listen to our citizens,” Bono said. “I’m running as a resident concerned [about] where we’re headed.”

Bono is currently the hotel manager of the Cupertino Hotel, which he says provides him with the experience needed to create change in the city. He adds that he is “running on behalf of the businesses” to make sure they don’t leave Cupertino.

“And we need to help a lot of our companies that are here and we need to make sure that they do stay,” Bono said. “As a businessperson, I bring people together, this is what I do best.”

If elected, Bono hopes to build affordable housing, restore accountability and trust at City Hall and create stronger partnerships between the City Hall and Cupertino schools. He also wants to invest in public safety, citing the prevalence of carjacking and package theft in Cupertino. Bono feels the current City Council is not doing enough to address these issues.

“I think that the city’s leadership is broken,” Bono said. “The fighting and the inability to work together to truly actually put the city first is threatening our city’s growth and future.”

Despite these issues, Bono is optimistic about what he can bring to the future of Cupertino.

“That’s why I’m running independent in this race,” Bono said. “I’m not here to politicize the left or the right. I’m here to unify, compromise and make sure we’re offering a legacy to the future of Cupertino.”

Learn more at: https://claudioforcupertino.com/

Steven Scharf

Steven Scharf campaign website | Used without permission

Steven Scharf is a former mayor of Cupertino.

Stephen Scharf, a resident of Cupertino since 1999, has served as a Cupertino Mayor for two years and is running for re-election this November. Scharf believes that he has increased transparency between the City Council and residents and led Cupertino to be more financially sustainable during his term as Mayor. He hopes to further increase communication between the City Council and the general Cupertino population if elected for another four years.

This term, Scharf wants to move forward with a new housing plan that will satisfy the upcoming state-mandated housing requirements of 4500 housing units in Cupertino. Although identifying potential sites was a challenge, Scharf is currently working on the city’s plan for the development of affordable housing.

Scharf believes that he brings logic and critical thinking skills to the City Council, as well as two years of experience as the Mayor of Cupertino. He mentions his advocacy for more housing space in the new Westport development on Stevens Creek Boulevard, rather than the hotel and office space the developers wanted to build.

Besides focusing on housing, Scharf wants to ensure that Cupertino is protective of its funding, saying that the council has to be careful with the sales tax the city generates from Apple, as the state is trying to divert some of the funds that cities with major employers get from such companies.

“In reality, nothing has a simple answer,” Scharf said. “[Running] a city is extremely complex. We have to be advocates. I always advocate on behalf of the residents and not on behalf of special interests.”

Learn more at https://scharf4cupertino.com/