I have stepped down from my position as President of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association (WGNA) and from the WGNA Board, effective December 31st, 2008.  I did this with sadness and yet also with a sense of anticipation: I am going to miss WGNA, but I look forward to serving on the San Jose Neighborhood Commission: I just do not have enough time to give both WGNA and the Commission the attention that each deserves.  I am working with the WGNA Board and the WGNA Nominating Committee for a smooth transition.

 

I have been on the WGNA Board continuously for fifteen years now, and served for another five-year period in the decade before that. 

 

I’ve seen a lot of changes in WGNA over the years:

 

I remember the monthly Board meetings used to be around a coffee table at the home of whoever was the current President: Toby Kramer in Palm Haven, Suzy Philips in the Eichlers, Joan Doss near Cambrian.  Even though WGNA was founded nearly a decade before I joined, a number of the original founders – Becky Worsham, Hannah Kennedy, Jack Stallard, Dave Fitting, and Nadine Casserino – were still on the Board.  Some time later the meetings were held at a local coffee-shop/bookstore so that the public could attend if they wished (and, on occasion, one or two people actually did).  For the last dozen years or so we’ve met at local churches: St. Francis on Pine, WG Methodist, and now WG Baptist.  Lately we have regularly had an audience at the monthly Board meetings as we have discussed topics such as the recent planned fire station relocation and proposals for nearby high-density developments.

 

WGNA started out small, it and dealt with very localized issues.  Initially, before my time, it was about the traffic impacts of a planned road extension.  I remember several months’ worth of meetings were devoted to getting a stop sign at Pine and Newport and, later, more meetings for a stop sign on Willow at Camino Ramon.  Other meetings were held to oppose the proposed development of a single bank building on Lincoln.  (We did save the historic Buffington House in the process.)

 

But WGNA was not a just a “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) organization: we took on positive issues as well, and reached beyond just Willow Glen:

• First Charlotte Teichner, then Chris Svensson, and finally I were representatives on the County’s Los Gatos Creek Streamside Park Committee, and later San Jose’s Los Gatos Creek Trail Master Plan.
• Then-President Suzy Phillips attended General Plan Update meetings in the 1980’s, working on the “Horizon 2000”: I remember concerns raised decades ago that City revenues could be spread too thin if services were extended out to Coyote Valley, potentially reducing the level of services such a police, fire, and libraries in the established neighborhoods.  WGNA also participated in the 2020 Plan and the discussion of the Urban Growth Boundary and the role of in-fill, and now we have a representative on the “Envision 2040” update.
• WGNA participated in the numerous studies to define what should be built in and around Willow Glen: the Lincoln/Auzerais Study, followed by the MidTown Study, and now the Diridon Station Study (with other meetings for Hacienda Gardens, Tamien, and the St. Leo’s district thrown in for good measure).
• Rather than fight an individual parcel subdivision proposal, WGNA worked with Council to get a “Flag Lot” policy (to regulate new developments behind existing homes); rather than fight plans for a drive-through restaurant in a residential area, WGNA worked with Council on “the 24‑hour Policy” (to limit late-night operations adjacent to residential areas); rather than fight a single over-sized development, WGNA worked with Council on the “Monster House Policy”.  There’s also the Riparian Corridor Setback Policy, the Transportation Level of Service Policy, and recently the Tree Ordinance.  And now we are working with the Council on the “Neighborhoods of Distinction” policy to preserve historic neighborhoods.
• WGNA worked with the local business community.  Then-Councilmember Nancy Ianni got a Community Development Block Grant for studying the Lincoln Avenue Business District in the early 1980’s.  WGNA Boardmembers served on a task force that resulted in the Downtown Willow Glen Revitalization Strategy, adopted by Council in 1984, which lead to the crosswalk improvements, the planting of the street trees, the reestablishment of a Business Association (WGBA), and the first Founders’ Day Festival.  (And the Strategy is still in effect: it guided the design of the Long’s Drugs, and can serve for future developments as well.)  We also had a joint WGNA/WGBA committee for WG Beautification which raised funds and commissioned artworks for Lincoln Avenue and several local parks.

 

WGNA has been involved out in the community.  I remember Boardmembers, lead by then-President Tiralisa Kaplow, would regularly volunteer to go out and paint over graffiti.  Sometimes we would join neighboring communities (e.g., Gregory Plaza, or the Hannah/Gregory district north of I‑280) and help them organize their own paint-outs.  We also helped plant trees (we planted the median of Meridian north of Fruitdale), and we held events (such as free hotdogs and root-beer floats) at local parks.

 

The project I’m proudest of is our Los Gatos Urban Stream Restoration Project, completed about a decade ago.  (See the technical paper we presented at the Urban Streams Conference in Arcata, online at www.wgna.net/arcata.htm.)  WGNA applied for and won a grant from the Calif. Dept. of Water Resources to do an erosion control project along the Los Gatos Creek.  We wrote proposals, developed plans, and negotiated with groups ranging from neighbors, City, County, and the local water district/landowner (SCVWD), to agencies such as the State Dept. of Fish & Game and the US Corps of Engineers.  It took over two years to work out a “Memo of Understanding” and to get the needed permits (changing State Policy and setting a statewide precedence in the process), and then we were able to organize 200 volunteers to install a solar-powered computerized drip-irrigation system with a mile of pipeline and to plant a thousand native trees and shrubs along the top-of-bank of the Los Gatos between Meridian and Leigh Avenue, creating in the process a 10-acre park, all with just a $66,500 grant.

 

And there’s the community outreach: Newsletters and General Meetings (with Town Hall discussions and Candidate Forums).  WGNA has had an electronic presence since before the advent of the World-Wide-Web, and now we have the www.wgna.net website.  And then there’s the eList, our active and much-appreciated community forum.

 

I am going to miss the WGNA Board and the connections it provided.  I will continue to participate in the community: working on the GreenPrint Update (San Jose’s Parks strategic plan), attending the General Plan Update and Neighborhood Roundtable Forum meetings, and serving on various task force groups on creeks and trails.  I’ll assist in maintaining the website, and I will continue, along with Helen Solinski and Ellen Santomauro, to serve as a Moderator of the eList.

 

I look forward to working on the Neighborhood Commission and getting even more involved in the citywide neighborhood issues.  Nearly a half-million new residents are projected to join San Jose in the next few decades, and I hope the Neighborhood Commission will work to help adapt and improve city policies so that the new residents and the inevitable in-fill projects will be welcomed.  And I’m sure I’ll be seeing many of you at the various civic meetings and local coffee shops.

 

It’s been an honor.  (And it’s been fun!)

 

~Larry Ames, WGNA President (resigned)

December 12, 2008.

 

 

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