Apple Campus 2: When A Comment Is Best Seen And Not Heard

Written by L.A. Chung 

UPDATED SUMMARY
With interest high in Apple's proposed new campus, more than 100 people filled the community to the first public meeting on the draft environmental impact report on the "spaceship" project.

The city, which contracted with a firm to prepare the state-required study, wants your feedback, said Rick Kitson, the city's public information officer.
It really does.

Unlike any other city meeting, however, this was a public meeting that didn't have a microphone at the ready for that public feedback. 

Instead, there was a phalanx of laptops and iPads at the ready at four tables, at which you could type your comments and questions. And an army of city staff at the ready to overcome any technology glitches with said laptops and iPads. There were scads of cards with a QR code that would allow you to hardlink directly to the online comment form if you wanted to write your comment on your smart phone. There was even an audio recorder in case you didn't want to write or couldn't write (Then a staffer would have to transcribe it onto the submission form).

Nobody in the city wanted to hear what you had to say Wednesday night. Not just yet, Kitson said. Not for a draft environmental impact report. 

The city needs you to write your comments, that's why, Kitson said. And then, the city is mandated by the state to provide a written response in the final report, which it expects to finish in the fall.

This is how the California Environmental Quality Act, often referred to as CEQA ("SEE-qwa"), works, Kitson said. 

The opportunity for the public to step up to a mike will come soon enough, with a public study session in October, at least one planning commission meeting and two City Council meetings, Kitson said.

"This is too important for our community," said Cupertino resident Ed Hirshfield, in explaining whiy he had come to speak in support of the project. He'll be back when he can comment verbally, he added.

It didn't seem bother the crowd, which was happy enough to listen eat the cookies, drink the coffee and lemon-infused water, and listen to Adam Weinstein of LSA outline how the study was put together, and the process of its consideration for approval.

Read the 650-page report, Weinstein urged. And provide feedback.

Reading hundreds of pages on a screen might be daunting, which is why printouts available for checkout at county local libraries are best enjoyed in a comfortable chair. Not interested in massive printouts? The city was handing out flash drives loaded with the report on a searchable PDF document, if you just want to pick and choose your topics.

The draft environmental impact report: www.cupertino.org/applecampus2
To submit a comment or question: www.cupertino.org/applecomments
Deadline: July 22, 5 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time