Candidate Forum September 7, 2024
Divya TV hosted a Candidate Forum on September 7, 2024 at the Cupertino Senior Center, attended by 6 of the 7 candidates for Cupertino City Council election which has two open seats. The broadcast is available here. Here are my opening and closing remarks and 100 Word Bio provided to Moderator Kapur:
100 Word Bio Provided to Moderator Kapur:
Kitty Moore is a Civil Engineer and former Air Force R.O.T.C. scholarship student, whose husband, brothers, uncles, and late father are all veterans of the US Armed Forces.
Kitty is mom to two sons who went to Cupertino public schools and on to Master’s programs; they work with their dad on a startup they are building together.
Kitty volunteered teaching art to children and running competitive youth sports teams. Kitty has served as Planning Commissioner and Councilmember for the past 6 years while furthering her education in paralegal and environmental studies. Her priorities include the environment, finances, and public safety.
2 Minute speech delivered by Councilmember Kitty Moore for why she is uniquely qualified for Cupertino City Council:
Growing up on foodstamps, and becoming financially independent before I was 18, working up to 3 jobs at a time to graduate ingrained in me the importance of being frugal.
Having a proud heritage of selfless military service provides me with humble gratitude and willingness to serve the residents
Having both my late parents and now my brother, battling cancers taught me the importance of having a clean environment
I have current experience over the past 6 years serving the residents
I have a proven track record of doing my fiduciary duty:
Residents need to recall that we had a 14 year embezzlement from a city finance employee.
1. I am the councilmember who found that the city was keeping $48 M (grew to $64M, discovered in a second records request) in a non-interest bearing checking account, losing us over $2M in interest annually while telling us we couldn’t have fireworks at $145,000. That money has been prudently invested.
2. I have eliminated erroneous fluff in the city budget,
3. advocated for the Fraud Waste and Abuse Hotline which has 3 open investigations,
4. found that the Cupertino Public Facilities Corp had failed to file tax returns for the past ten years and moved to get that fixed,
5. fixed lax policies
Proven track record of looking out for the health, safety, and welfare of our residents:
1. I am the councilmember who found that Vallco had not told the public about the extent of hazardous materials contamination on the site, after this, the developer, in April of 2021, finally applied for regulatory oversight of their hazardous waste cleanup.
2. I supported “don’t chop the top” at Lehigh, advocated for superfund status to clean up the hazardous waste, and support our residents to have an environmentally safe reclamation plan.
I have a proven track record of supporting and defending our residents against foolish ideas from the current council majority like giving the sports center and city hall away to developers.
I do the work diligently and I humbly ask for your continued support and also for the only candidate I endorse and I have worked with on the Planning Commission for 2 years, Ray Wang.
1 minute closing delivered by Councilmember Kitty Moore:
I have humbly and loyally served you, our residents, for the past 6 years, and I have truly done the real work of going through tens of thousands of pages of agenda packets, and responsibly advocated for you. When the organization chart showed up this year with the Citizens of Cupertino removed from the top, I noticed it and the residents rightfully were angry and got it fixed. I want our residents to know that they can trust what their council is doing, so they can rest easy, but that requires you to pay attention and vote for people who actually have your interests at heart.
Ray Wang is a business success, yet he is running with me to serve you. Last night, after canvassing for hours, we hammered yard signs by flashlight and listened to more resident concerns about irresponsible leadership not listening to them, we hear you! We are committed to serve the residents and humbly ask for your vote choose #1 Kitty Moore and #5 Ray Wang on your ballot. Thank you!
