Willow Glen Neighborhood Association Meeting
Minutes of Board Meeting
June 11, 2008
Attendees: Larry Ames, President; Hugh Graham, 1st Vice President; Ed Rast, Treasurer; Rod Rankin, Secretary; and Board of Directors; Nell Acello; Harvey Darnell, Chris Prekarski, Richard Zapelli, Bill Cardoza and Charles Luckehardt.
Absent: Jean Bohnett, 2nd Vice President; Steve Tedesco, Board member.
The meeting was called to order at 7:09 p.m. by President,Larry Ames.
Agenda updates/revisions were called for and Larry added an update on District #6 Fire Station to new business.
WGNA business matters
The newly elected board members introduced themselves to each other and the general public in attendance.
The vision and expectations the coming year remain consistent with the current focus as detailed in the Committee and Project Reports later recorded.
Specific Committee assignments were highlighted and discussions ensued. Those discussions are recorded under Committee and Project Reports. The assignments include:
Planning and Zoning issues Hugh and Ed
Neighborhoods of Distinction - Charles, Harvey and Joan
Tree Removal- Bill
Community Reports
San Jose Police Department - no representative was in attendance.
City/County - Aaron Quigley from the District 6 Council office announced that after a Public information Meeting hosted by the City Council, Police Department and Department of Transportation, May 12th, the City Council will vote on the proposed Traffic Calming Policy in Council Chambers on June 17th. The flyer announcing this meeting is attached to this record.
CAP Grant has made it through the Mayor’s Budget though reduced but not eliminated.
A county representative was not in attendance.
WG Business and Professional Association - a lively discussion ensued including:
Closure of some businesses
Prevailing rents vs. revenue potential
Fees intended to promote WG
San Jose license and assessment fees
Examples of other business districts and their success with traffic calming, parking and pedestrian corridors
It was suggested that WGNA work more closely with WGBPA going forward. Commitments to attend WGBA meeting were made by Richard, Ed and Bill.
Michael Mulcahy (President MGBA) has requested the opportunity to address the WGNA Board in the near future. Larry will coordinate.
San Jose Unified School District - no representative was in attendance.
WGNA Treasurer’s Report
Due to the transition of Board Members, a treasurer’s report was not submitted.
Nell volunteered to assume responsibility to the Association’s P.O. Box
CAP Grant request was $4,100. Anticipated receiving $2,000.
Sound System will be purchased. Rental Fees will offset cost to purchase. Bill offered his wholesale pricing. Ed to speck models. Assuming proper care and maintenance, the sound system could be used for other WG activities such as block parties.
No update on the status of WGNA donations due to Steve’s absence. Larry will follow up.
New Business:
District #6 Fire Station - Denelle Fedor, from Councilman Oliverio’s office was recognized. She provided a comprehensive historical perspective:
Why the hose wagon is in Willow Glen.
Why the citywide air wagon is in Willow Glen.
Historical staffing vs. other stations in the City.
Type of calls handled, primarily medical emergencies.
Population and demographics growth and aging.
Additional new station proposal (past) and its location, funding.
She then went on to the current situation.
Citing “Health and Safety issues”.
Proposed staffing reductions.
Potential extended response time.
Keeping hose wagon equates to staffing.
New proposal to site new station at Senior Center on Lincoln and its logistical issues. Finding shortfalls.
She then shared Councilman Oliverios’s thoughts.
Keep hose wagon to ensure staffing and ability to respond to both medical and fire calls simultaneously. The Councilman has sent a memo to his peers in support of keeping the hose wagon.
He supports prioritizing spending what money the city has and supporting safety issues first.
Councilman continues to point out the growth in the area’s population and the aging of same.
The City Manager has proposed selling or eliminating the hose wagon. For now the Mayor, at the urging of Councilman Oliverio, has removed this item from the budget but reserves the right to revisit in the future.
After board discussion a motion was made by Harvey and seconded by Nell that a letter be drafted and sent to the Mayor and City Manager with copies to the Fire Chief and Councilman Oliverio supporting keeping the hose wagon at Fire Station #6. In addition, the letter should address opposition to reducing core city services, acceptable response times, staffing reductions and its ramifications to residence, and support of keeping Station #6 at its current location for the long term, whether an additional station is built or not to ensure adequate response to Lincoln Avenue and North Willow Glen.
The motion passed unanimously.
Larry with input from Ed will draft the letter, a copy of which will be attached to this record.
Santa Clara County Creeks Coalition. A powerpoint presentation was made by Richard McMurtry. As the presentation went on and in interest of time he was asked what he wanted from this body. He asked the board to support a Citizen’s Petition to the SCVWD, a copy provided by Mr. McMurtry is attached to this record.
It was suggested by Ed and supported by Hugh that his group is running down parallel paths with other like organizations and that they should better coordinate with each other to ensure greater success.
No further action was taken by the WGNA Board.
Committee and Project Reports
Neighborhood Commissions. Ed reported the process of selecting neighborhood representatives went well thanks to the guidance of the League of Woman Voters, united objectives, and that the representatives were chosen by the neighborhoods, not the City. All city districts have representatives except District One, which has, as yet, not selected their delegate.
District 6 representatives are: Larry Ames, Frank Throckmorton & David Dearborn.
District 9 representative is: Hugh Graham
General Plan Update The Neighborhood advisory Committee is working with the City.
Discussion was had about housing vs. business, tax base vs. general services costs, San Jose’s absorption of 67% of the housing but only 52% of the jobs in the valley.
By 2040 the population is expected to exceed 1.5 million people in San Jose. The General Plan hopes to address the inherent infrastructure issues with this growth.
Planning and Land Use Hugh discussed the ongoing issues of the VTA site development (San Carlos/Sunol). With proposal by developer Swenson, this multi-building project of 90 feet in height and density of 100 residential units per acre, the project should have public involvement in planning. It was suggested that if there was an advisory committee created WGNA should be represented.
Hugh also reviewed the four new projects under way in the WG area. Complete details are presented on the website.
It was suggested that the District 6 land use committee also take a specific and ongoing look at jobs and retail tax issues.
Communications The E-list was discussed and Larry, as moderator asked that Ed and Helen be a sounding board for him regarding questionable issues or topics that may be presented by the users.
The issue of Officers and Directors insurance came up relative to the E-list and how we respond. The topic was tabled for a later date.
Airport Charlie talked about the current reduction in flights and the benefit to WG relating to noise.
Also older planes are being retired and taken out of service.
Traffic Calming Bill reviewed the revised policy draft. Items of note were the better measurement of average speed and the provision for neighborhood funding for traffic calming solutions.
Bill also stressed the importance of attendance at the City Council’s June 17th meeting as introduced by Aaron Quigley earlier in the meeting.
Founder’s Day Participation It was recommended that we scale back our participation and get better booth positioning. This issue was tabled to the planned July off-site meeting.
District 6 Neighborhood Leaders Group Ed mentioned the need for all WGNA Board Members to be a member and part of this leadership group. He will send out information to Board Members not already members.
Ed also reviewed the Sunshine Ordinance. Phase One is complete and went well. Next tuesday’s meeting is potentially the last meeting of Phase Two. Then it goes on to the Rules Committee which could take 2 to 3 years to complete recommendations, then on to the City Council.
Bylaws Current bylaws were distributed and are attached to this record. Subcommittee is in review and has tabled this issue until the next board meeting.
The following agenda items were tabled until future meetings.
Greenprint update
History
Touring Historic Willow Glen Book
3 Creeks trail update
Reparian Policy
Tree Preservation
Complimentary VIP Passes for Dancing on the Avenue were given to Board Members by Norma Ruiz, WGBPA.
Offsite meeting was discussed and recommended that the proposed two hours is not enough time. Larry will coordinate date and time sometime in July.
There will be no Board Meeting with public attendance in July.
Next meeting is scheduled for August 13, 2008, Willow Glen Baptist Church @ 7 p.m.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:31 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
Rod Rankin
Secretary