Cupertino Mayor Wants Apple To Be A Better Neighbor
CUPERTINO (CBS SF) -- The mayor of Cupertino is feeling the bite of Apple.
Mayor Barry Chang said that the last time he stepped on the tech giant's campus he got snubbed.
Now he says the city's biggest employer needs to step up.
"They're one of the biggest companies, people are probably afraid that they might move," Chang said.
Chang says dealing with Apple can be intimidating, but he says that didn't stop him from once trying to get an on the spot meeting.
"So I went to Apple to see if I can talk to their director, to see if there's anything I can help with, but the Apple reception was so cold. She says you don't have appointment, you cannot come in, please leave," Chang said.
Chang is now calling out Apple, saying the city's biggest and most prestigious corporate citizen isn't doing enough to solve the crowding and traffic problems the company helped create.
"Apple need to step up and do their share," he said.
Chang tried to pass a resolution, calling on Apple to pay $100 million to help redesign roads, traffic patterns and mass transit infrastructure, but it was rejected by his council colleagues.
The mayor now finds himself in the bull's eye of a recall effort that will be on the ballot next fall.
Residents blame him for helping create the problems he now says he wants to solve.
Neighbor Liana Crabtree said, "Those of us who supported Mayor Chang when he was elected in 2014 are very disappointed. We really feel that our city council has not stood up for the people."
But it may be too little too late.
Workers are nearing completion on the massive Apple Spaceship campus, which the council approved with little opposition. It will concentrate 12,000 employees in one spot.
Sharon, who did not give her last name, says she's lived in Cupertino for 29 years. She says walking and riding around her neighborhood with Apple's silver buses whizzing through is now dangerous.
"Living in this community with them at my doorstep, has decreased my quality of life," she said.
She says it's changed her mind from once being proud to have Apple as a neighbor.
"Apple has brought more negatives at this point, than positives," she said.
