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November 16, 2024

2024 Cupertino City Council elections introduces seven candidates

Candidates share specific plans and policies they hope to implement if elected

Ananya Chaudhary and Arushi Singh • September 29, 2024

The city of Cupertino is holding elections to appoint two City Councilmembers, on Nov. 5, 2024. In this article, El Estoque features five of the seven candidates to learn about their vision for Cupertino and their contributions to the community so far.

Note: Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name; order does not indicate preference.

Claudio Bono

City Council Member candidate Claudio Bono has been contributing to the Cupertino community since his shift here in 2014. (Photo Courtesy of Claudio Bono)

Having been involved in the Cupertino community since his move here in 2014, Managing Director for the Cupertino Hotel Claudio Bono is running for City Council member in the 2024 election. Along with his position at the Cupertino Hotel, Bono is the Parks and Recreation commissioner, Vice President of the Cupertino Historical Society and Vice President for the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce. Bono believes his several roles in the community, specifically his position as hotel’s General Manager, have allowed him to gain skills such as hospitality that he believes set him apart from other candidates. He says his involvement in the community is an asset for his campaign, and as a part of the working class, he can relate to the struggles that Cupertino residents face.

“The way I see it is that hotel General Managers have the ability to help their community in any hotel around the world, and it's actually a duty,” Bono said. “We've been helping schools. We're helping nonprofits to have free meeting space. This is what we do, we help. And again, being in hospitality tells you a little bit generally, down in my heart, what type of person I am because every day we are being driven by guests that tell us they need this or that to make them happy.”

Bono feels that his hospitality extends beyond the people of Cupertino and this belief inspired him to start "I Have a Solution," an organization that promotes the development of problem-solving ideas. Bono began this initiative as an extension of his own passion for addressing the unhoused crisis in America — a passion project that began after coincidentally meeting a homeless teenager who was kicked out of his home due to being gay, when on a walk with his dog. This abrupt displacement left the teenager without resources such as the ability to charge his phone, resulting in his inability to access a homeless shelter or friends. Touched by his story, Bono used his Marriott points to give the teenager a place to stay, which allowed the boy to charge his phone and get in contact with other family members.

Since this encounter, Bono built his passion project to utilize hotel points to give unhoused Americans momentary places to stay until they can get back on their feet. Bono believes this unique solution is a win-win for everyone, as hotels get to increase their room capacity, the cities get tax revenues from the increased capacity and, most importantly, homeless individuals get shelter and access to resources.

“When you and I are always walking in front of homeless people, there is a deep fear that it may happen to us,” Bono said. “That's why people are so afraid to look into it. So it's all about community outreach and explanation. At the end of the day, we need to help our brothers and sisters who need assistance.”

By running for City Council, Bono also says he hopes to provide benefits for tired students and overworked teachers. One benefit in specific that Bono hopes to achieve is combating the housing crisis — issues regarding high home prices — so workers such as teachers can live and work in the city. Being personally impacted by the crisis, Bono relates to workers in Cupertino and is in full support of housing zoning, which determines what can be built on properties. He states other council members and candidates are not in support of this, citing how some candidates have sued Cupertino in the past.

“People like you and I go to the council to have a voice heard, to bring a different perspective to our daily life,” Bono said. “But, there's a lot of greed. It's a lot of ‘Look at me.’ People are worth 100 million dollars running in this race. For them, it's about ego. For me, it's not about pay, because whatever I get will go directly to the homeless people. That's really why I'm doing this. This is not about me.”

Bono believes that the city of Cupertino deserves a new City Councilmember, not somebody who has already held the position before. He has announced plans to invest in community development projects aimed at revitalizing the area. He hopes to bring new energy and opportunities to the city, making it a better place to live and work.

“What kind of message are we sending to the new generation, that it's OK to elect former people because there is no hope?” Bono said. “No. There's hope. We want fresh, new faces, fresh, new energy, but also, and most importantly, someone that doesn't sue the city, or has never sued the city and is trying to do the very best for his community and understands what the businesses are going through because we need to make sure that we protect them. So, it's very important to vote because your vote matters.”

Kitty Moore

Current Council Member Kitty Moore is running to be re-elected in the 2024 election. (Photo courtesy of Kitty Moore)

Kitty Moore is a current Councilmember running for re-election with Councilmember Ray Wang following a decade-long career in land development, transportation, street grading, and hydrology. Raised in Cupertino, Moore first entered public service when an environmental studies program inspired her to take interest in environmental projects at Cupertino.

“I found the topics really interesting,” Moore said. “When I started the environmental studies program and realized how applicable it was to city work, it inspired me to take more classes. I began with the environmental impact report class and kept going for two and a half years because I genuinely enjoyed it. I wouldn’t have explored all the details if I didn’t have the inspiration. There’s no end to it.”

In the past two and a half years, Moore has completed both basic and advanced Environmental Studies certification, which she says allows her to better understand and address the environmental challenges Cupertino faces. Additionally, her time on the Cupertino Planning Commission and her paralegal studies have given her a foundational understanding of local law, which she believes is crucial for someone overseeing legal documents.

“I take being educated for the position very seriously,” Moore said. “When you are on council, you are making local law such as the Municipal Codes. So it is important to have some understanding of the law in order to draft these documents.”

For her re-election campaign, Moore is focusing on bringing transparency, fiscal accountability and environmental sustainability to city governance. She also emphasizes the need to have individuals on the City Council with diverse expertises in order to address the city’s issues.

“I think it's really important that you have individuals that have different skill sets on a city council,” Moore said. “I bring this interest in environmental sustainability with my environmental studies I have done and then fiscal accountability where I am able to spot things like anomalies within the city’s finances and then go track them down.”

Of the issues Moore aims to address if re-elected, public safety — especially in light of what she sees as the growing opioid epidemic — is one of her top priorities. She is determined to keep residents safe by supporting local law enforcement in tackling thefts and substance abuse problems in the community. She says she will also continue her commitment to fiscal responsibility, as shown through her past actions when she discovered a $64 million account that had not been earning interest. Upon identifying this issue, she questioned why the funds were not generating interest and as a result the city moved the money into two different interest-bearing accounts, as before the money were in non-interest-bearing accounts. She highlights the importance of identifying inefficiency and redirecting funds into higher-yield accounts.

“What I bring to the table is transparency for the public,” Moore said. “I do not want anyone to feel like there are backdoor deals going on in the city and I want everything visible to the public so they feel comfortable that we are representing them the way that they want to be represented.”

Throughout her current tenure, Moore is most proud of her work overseeing the emergency repair of a storm drain on Stevens Creek Boulevard, where the repair was able to come under budget for the project and effectively fix the drain. She is also proud of her involvement in securing the Jollyman All-Inclusive Playground, purchasing and designing Lawrence MIDI Park and is currently working on expanding the city’s tree canopy with more native California species. Moore’s re-election campaign highlights her focus onto ensuring Cupertino’s future remains bright and is dedicated to improving public spaces and the safety of Cupertino’s residents.

“City Council is kind of like a rock band,” Moore said. “Each one of us plays a little bit different role and we have our strengths and you want to have people who are a little bit different from one another and so I'm running with Ray Wang. He really brings a different skill set through his business experience, so he brings a really unique set of abilities to the council. So that's why we're running together there.”

Rod Sinks

Former Mayor and current FUHSD Trustee Rod Sinks has made invaluable contributions to the Cupertino community, including his work in providing students and seniors with sustainable transportation through Silicon Valley Hopper. (Photo courtesy of Rod Sinks)

Being the former Mayor of Cupertino, current FUHSD Trustee Rod Sinks’ says he has made many contributions to the Cupertino community. One of Sinks well-known contributions is his work in connecting the City of Cupertino and Santa Clara County with multi-ride share service Silicon Valley Hopper (SV Hopper). In 2016, Sinks began his work to make Cupertino’s transportation system more sustainable and accessible for residents, by setting up transportation everywhere within Santa Clara and South of El Camino.

“Students who may get out of band practice or sports practice, say at 8:15 at night, and if you want to go from Fremont High School all the way up to the northeast corner of the district, it takes you an hour and 20 minutes and you have to take two bus rides,” Sinks said. “So if you have to do all that work after you've just spent all evening with your trombone at match marching then you have real discouragement to participate in that comprehensive high school experience. This project is a matter of equity and a matter of looking at how to fix the transportation gap.”

Apart from his work with SV Hopper, Sinks participates in the Cupertino community through the Rotary Club, being a Monta Vista Robotics Team mentor and his dedication to student safety — specifically bike safety. By promoting the use of protected bike lanes in Cupertino, Sinks says he has helped create a safe environment for students — thanks to Sinks and his efforts he says MVHS students can safely bike from school all the way to the Civic Center at the library.

“We are now coming up on the 10th anniversary of EthanWong's death,” Sinks said. “Ethan Wong was a student at Monta Vista High School. He was biking on McClellan Road, very close to the train tracks and passed away. That was a terrible tragedy. Before the tragedy, I'd been working with a bike advocate to really get a whole set of bike lanes and protected bike lanes around the city, and after his death, we did that in earnest. Three months later, I became mayor of the city, and that year, we put down three miles of green paint.”

By running for City Council, Sinks hopes to expand his initiatives — including the recent Vallco Mall project that has run into many issues. Throughout the project, many of the City Council candidates have been supporting the decision-making process, with Sinks being a large contributor.

“I'm running to get a downtown in Cupertino at that old Vallco site,” Sinks said. “It's going to be a mixed use development. I led a negotiation for a project in 2018 that would have been an alternative to the state mandated SB 35 project that would have brought huge benefits to the school district. We would have had a robotic center and FUHSD adult school. We would have had a brand new city hall. You get restaurants together with community theater, a performing arts center and a movie theater and some retail, and now you have a destination, and we can still do that. I'm confident that we can still negotiate a better project than that allowed by state law if we don't.”

Sinks hopes to be remembered by the residents of Cupertino for his contributions to the community. He says he has dedicated countless hours to organizing local events, volunteering for various causes and advocating for improvements in the neighborhood. Ultimately, Sinks believes that being voted a Cupertino City Councilmember will allow all his initiatives come together to create the best future for Cupertino.

“We need to attract a younger population with more families,” Sinks said. “We want to make more room for people that live here. This is an economic development measure. It's good for humans. It's good for our environmental goals and climate. It's good for traffic and frankly, in my view, It's just the right thing to do.”

Ray Wang

Running on a shared platform with Kitty Moore, CEO of Constellation Research Ray Wang plans to bring innovation to Cupertino if elected for Councilmember. (Photo courtesy of Ray Wang)

Ray Wang has been an active member and leader in the Cupertino community for over 20 years and draws from experience from his role as CEO of Constellation Research to bring innovation to Cupertino. Wang first entered public service by serving on the Planning Commission — an appointed City Council organization that advises on land use issues such as long-term development strategies, zoning regulations and the planning of new subdivisions in Cupertino — where he saw how active the community was in advocating for underrepresented voices. Through this, he began to focus on strategic growth and development projects aimed at improving quality of life for residents.

“The Planning Commission got me excited about different issues,” Wang said. “Over time, I eventually formally joined the Planning Commission and spent a lot of time trying to figure out, ‘Can we add more tax revenue? Can we improve parks? Can we improve housing?’ and ‘Are there different things we can do to help the community?’”

Wang was elected chair of the Planning Commission in 2019 and 2021 and worked on key projects such as the Bird-Safe Skies and Dark Skies initiative, aimed at reducing hazards to wildlife from reflective windows and light pollution. He also supported the development of pollinator paths to promote environmental sustainability. His leadership allowed for key developments such as the Veranda senior affordable housing on Stevens Creek and the Westport project near De Anza College, providing vital housing options for residents. Now, as Wang runs for City Council, his platform focuses on three key areas: responsible growth, Cupertino’s education system and fiscal sustainability. He emphasizes that he wants to bring attention and focus to these key areas in order to help benefit city residents.

“Our first issue that should be addressed is fiscal accountability and making sure we use our money well,” Wang said. “Number two — we have got to improve our quality of life. There's different things that we can do, from retail entertainment options to creating new opportunities for residents. Number three — public safety. People don't feel safe and they're worried about that, which should be addressed. Number four — protecting our schools and our school lands. There are so many people trying to sell our school lands for housing that we're thinking short term instead of long term, because needs of a community change over time.”

Throughout his career in both public and private sectors, Wang believes that he has gained the experience for being a straight-forward and solutions-oriented leader. If elected, he plans to continue advocating for policies that support both innovation and inclusivity, ensuring that all residents’ voices are heard.

“It's really important to have resident-focused candidates,” Wang said. “What I've been describing to you is really what resident focused candidates do. They listen to their population and listen to their residents and they see what's really important. Most people are too busy trying to get their kids to school or take care of an elderly parent or start their lives and family and they don't have time to pay attention to local politics. But if you vote for a resident-focused candidate, those are the people that listen to your needs, those are person that people that respond to your needs and that's what I'm running as.”

Gilbert Wong

With a platform centered on affordable housing and creating more opportunities for youth in Cupertino, former City Council member Gilbert Wong is running to re-engage the community and address pressing local needs. (Photo courtesy of Gilbert Wong)

Gilbert Wong, a lifelong Silicon Valley resident, was born and raised in Sicarios, California. He is a second-generation Chinese American, with roots in Guangdong, China and Hong Kong. His journey into public service was influenced by his experiences with isolation and discrimination while growing up as an Asian American in a predominantly Latino and white arena. With a desire to ensure that Asian Americans have a voice in civic matters, he joined the Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA), an advocacy organization aimed at promoting the interests of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Wong’s community service started with his role on the Cupertino Planning Commission and continued when he became a City Council member, where his main goal was to advocate for local residents and businesses. One of his most cherished projects is the restoration of the Stevens Creek Trail, which he helped oversee from start to finish during his time on the Planning Commission Committee, an appointed City Council organization that advises on land use issues such as long-term development strategies, zoning regulations and the planning of new subdivisions in Cupertino.

“When I was in the Planning Commission, our Community Development Director gave me a tour that started at McClellan Ranch,” Wong said. “And we asked ourselves, ‘How can we redevelop it? How can we make a little bit of history a permanent part?’ Over time we were able to restore it by taking all the concrete out, clearing dead branches and putting in a bridge that goes to the Scenic Circle and trying to convince the neighborhood that the trail is a good thing. It's just something beautiful that I'm very proud of.”

If elected, Wong's future goals for Cupertino center around building affordable housing and addressing the city’s growing needs. He recognizes the challenges that many face in finding affordable homes in the area and is committed to finding solutions. Additionally, Wong is passionate about creating more spaces and opportunities for teenagers in Cupertino. He envisions new recreational centers and programs that cater specifically to teens, so as to provide young people with places where they can connect with each other and engage with the community.

“Right now, we’re bogged down by all these unnecessary rules and regulations at these centers,” Wong said. “Sure, some guidelines are necessary, but it takes a collective will to make things happen. How do we balance the needs of our teens, our staff and our budget to make it a win-win situation? I’ve heard the concerns of our teens, but we need our adults to step up, work together and just get it done."

Ultimately, Wong believes in engaging deeply with all community groups to truly understand their needs and address them effectively.

“Listening to voter concerns and what their needs are is very important,” Wong said. “I'm gonna take some sacrifices and I don't see that will right now. I believe that if I'm part of the super-majority, we can get things done.

Candidates Barry Chang and Hung Wei did not reply to requests for an interview.

About the Contributors

Ananya Chaudhary, Editor-in-Chief

Ananya is currently a senior and Editor-in-Chief for El Estoque. When she isn't reporting for El Estoque, you can find her binging her favorite shows: "Gilmore Girls" (only the first four seasons), "Grey's Anatomy" (the first six seasons) and "How I Met Your Mother" (all nine seasons). Ananya likes to spend most of her time within the bounds of her room, where she likes to jam to music, call her friends or — and most probably — sleep.

Arushi Singh, Sports Editor

Arushi Singh is currently a senior and a Sports Editor for El Estoque. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, playing the piano, and spending time with friends and family.