Willow Glen Neighborhood Association
P. O. Box 7706,
San Jose CA 95150
408/294-WGNA
www.WGNA.net
February 2007 editor: Larry Ames
Candidates’ Forum!
Tuesday, February 13, 7 PM
Willow Glen Baptist Church
(on Minnesota at Hicks)
Come and ask questions
of the candidates for
San Jose Council, Dist. 6.
Letter from the President
Ed Rast
We look forward to seeing you and your neighbors at the upcoming San Jose Council District 6 Candidates’ Forum: Tuesday, February 13th, 7 ‑ 9 PM, at the Willow Glen Baptist Church, 1292 Minnesota Ave. at Hicks, Basement Social Hall. Parking is available in the rear.
WGNA continues to focus our volunteer efforts on very significant neighborhood planning and land issues, the business district, and school issues that substantially affect the character and quality of life of Willow Glen and surrounding neighborhoods. Our Board meetings are 7-9 PM on the 2nd Wednesday of most months (check the wgna.net website). In addition to the upcoming candidate forum, we have community meetings on specific topics, such as the recent meeting about illegal tree removal, and General Membership meetings, generally in May and the Fall. These meetings are generally announced by flyer or newsletter, and are also announced on our web site wgna.net and by our eList. Instructions on how to join the eList are at wgna.net/ how2elist.htm.
Please encourage your family and neighbors to join or renew your annual WGNA membership. You can copy and use the form at the back of this newsletter, or download a form from the website: Instructions are at wgna.net/membership.htm.
The Willow Glen Business & Professional Association (WGBPA) has a Willow Glen Community Events Calendar on their web site downtownwillowglen.org/events.php. If you’re having a Willow Glen activity or event and would like to publicize it, you can submit your event through Social Wave. (Social Wave registration required.) If you have questions, please contact Norma Ruiz at info@downtownwillowglen.org or 408/298-2100.
In order to enhance communication between WGNA, WGBPA, and other school, church, business, and community organization leaders, WGNA is establishing a new, separate Willow Glen Community Leaders email list. Our goal is to enable us to better coordinate and discuss details of community activities, events, projects, and other Willow Glen community issues. If you feel it appropriate to join and we haven’t contacted you yet, please email me at president@wgna.net with your organization’s Officers and Directors names, titles, email addresses and phone numbers, and we will add them to the wgleaders@wgna.net roster.
We encourage our members and all Willow Glen residents to become more involved in WGNA activities and events, and to participate in improving our Willow Glen community. If you have questions, please contact me at president@wgna.net or at my work number: 408/297‑2800. The best time to reach me is early weekday evenings.
Call for Candidates for the WGNA Board
Helen Solinski, Chair, WGNA Nominating Cmte.
It is time for our association to begin the annual process of identifying volunteers for the next WGNA Board, which will be elected in May. In accordance with our bylaws, a five-member nominating committee solicits members who are interested in serving on the Board of Directors. The 2007 Nominating Committee was elected in last May’s election and includes Helen Solinski (Chair), Kris Cunningham, Sharon Fierro, Jim Gardner and Lynn Repetsky.
Our Bylaws stipulate that officers of the Association (President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) must be members of WGNA for at least one year prior to the May election date, and can serve for only two consecutive years in any one office. Besides the officers, four Directors and next year’s Nominating Committee are elected. The Directors and Nominating Committee do not have term limits, but typically there is a good mix between new and experienced members on the Board.
Here’s your chance to make a difference. The Nominating Committee is actively soliciting WGNA members who would like to become more involved. You may have helped organize your street concerning traffic problems or land use considerations. You may have volunteered to work on the local trails or community events. Or maybe you just want to help keep Willow Glen a special place to live. And there are new issues, such as the proposed baseball stadium. WGNA is involved in all of these activities and issues. It’s community involvement that has helped make Willow Glen one of the most popular places to live in the South Bay.
Board members attend the monthly WGNA Board meeting and work to preserve and enhance our neighborhood by responding to residents’ concerns, attending appropriate meetings, and participating in neighborhood projects. Please submit your nominations by March 15th to the Nominating Committee by mail (P.O. Box 7706, San Jose, CA 95150-7706), by phone (408/294-WGNA), or by email (nominations@wgna.net). Contact us if you have any questions.
The Nominating Committee will present to our membership a specific slate of recommended officers and directors for possible election. Any qualified candidate that submits their name to the Nominating Committee by the March 15th deadline can request that their name appear on the ballot. The ballots will be mailed to all WGNA members in good standing in a newsletter several weeks before the May General Meeting. The membership then votes by mail or in person at the General Meeting. The ballots are tallied about a week later, and the results announced on the wgna.net website, the media, and in the next newsletter.
“Fly Quiet”
Charles Luckhardt
Last year, the City Council approved the establishment of a “Fly Quiet” program for the airport. This has been successful at San Francisco. The design and software is custom prepared for each airport, so it will take some time before installation.
In the meantime, keep calling the Airport Noise Recorder at 408/452-0707. The statistics of these calls are reported to the Airport Commission and the Noise Committee. These complaints support the efforts of the Airport Noise Department.
During winter months, through March, we often have southern winds, which reverses the normal take-off pattern. Persons living south of the airport may experience increased noise during those months.
We are attempting to trace the source of a strong kerosene or jet-fuel odor occurring early evenings between 5 – 7 PM. If you experience this, please call me at 264-2343 with the time, date, and the location.
Schools News
Pam Foley, Vice President,
San Jose Unified School District Board of Education
At San Jose Unified School District, our students just finished their first semester of the 2006-07 school year. Teachers, administrators, parents are all working hard to help their students achieve the educational standards set by the State and Federal governments. Testing will occur in May, but results of the year’s efforts will not be known until late summer.
Inside the classrooms learning is taking place, while outside construction is underway. At Willow Glen Elementary, the steel framing is going up on the two story building. Construction is on track for classes to be conducted in this new building in the Fall of the 2007-08 school year.
At Willow Glen High School and Middle Schools, the field work is just about complete. New construction is underway behind the Library/ Media Center. This new building will have a multi-media studio and a community room. This might be a good location for future WGNA board meetings. Thanks to the Measure F bond funds, we are getting a new state of the art science lab at WG Middle School. WGHS will get new science labs funded through the Measure C bond.
Over the past two months, SJUSD has held community meetings to gain input regarding the possible installation of stadium lights. Concerns expressed by neighbors include increased noise, traffic, trash, parking and the frequency of use, while the school community supports the concept as a way to build community spirit and support for Willow Glen High School. The District has contracted with an outside agency to prepare a report conforming to CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) guidelines. This CEQA report will be presented to the Willow Glen community on February 12 at 7:00 PM in the Media Center at Willow Glen High School. All are invited to attend. The CEQA report will address any areas of concerns and possible ways to mitigate these concerns. This is the community’s opportunity to hear the results of the report. I have attended the two meetings held and will attend the future meetings. From these meetings I am able to listen to the advocates for the stadiums and the concerns of the neighbors.
Finally, while construction may seem to be our side business our main focus is the education of our children. I am very proud of our students, staffs and parents at all the Willow Glen schools.
Letter from the Willow Glen Business
and Professional Association (WGBPA)
Tom Trudell, WGBPA President
Greetings all! Well, 2006 sure was an eventful year! The WGBPA Board was able to meet or exceed the vast majority of its commitments, the highlights of which included publication of the long awaited business directory, a makeover of the WGBPA website (downtownwillowglen.org), a new logo for the shopping district, and a very successful “Dancin’ on The Avenue.”
Another highlight was the successful installation of the beautiful “Sassy Seat” VTA benches up and down the Avenue, a joint project by the WGNA Beautification Committee and the WGBPA Avenue Infrastructure Committee. I especially want to recognize Kitty Mason for all the work she did on that project! Plans are already underway by that same joint committee to “spruce up” Lincoln Avenue and designate April 2007 as “The Pride of Willow Glen Month” and I’m sure you will hear more about that in the days and weeks ahead. Additionally, discussions are afoot for a joint WGBPA/WGNA effort to recognize Founder’s Day in September with a parade or some other suitable event.
We are especially grateful for the support of your WGNA President, Ed Rast, the WGNA Board, and the residents of Willow Glen in the reduction of the City’s ordinance requirements regarding on-site retail/commercial parking in the Business Improvement District. We will continue with our efforts to seek additional ways to optimize parking throughout the District. Throughout 2006, the WGBPA Board was hard at work discovering ways to improve the business climate in Willow Glen and the opportunities of its members to succeed in their businesses. Our ultimate aim is to improve the desirability, access and success of Willow Glen as a shopping, eating and strolling destination for the residents of Willow Glen.
Finally, as I close out my term as President, I’d like to publicly thank the residents of Willow Glen for their outstanding support throughout the year; we recognize that our neighbors are our primary customers and we will continue with our commitment to work with the WGNA Board in many areas. Best wishes to all for a great 2007!
Sunshine Reform Task Force
Ed Rast
The San Jose City Council authorized the formation of the Sunshine Reform Task Force as a community-based advisory task force, reporting to the Mayor and City Council. The Task Force is to make recommendations on improving everbody’s access to public information, meetings, and records. This will enhance resident, neighborhood and community participation in public policy and spending decisions, and will ensure city government accountability to the public.
The Sunshine Task Force website is www.sanjoseca.gov/ clerk/TaskForce/SRTF/SRTF.asp. [Note: the website addresses are long, so we’ve put links to them on our wgna.net website. –editor.] We invite you to view Council Memos and Reports, Public Records, the California Constitution and Declaration of Rights, the Task Force’s Work Plan, and Sunshine Ordinances from other cities. Our adopted Code of Ethic and Conduct is also on-line: see the link on the WGNA webpage.
The Task Force Work Plan was developed after receiving numerous City Council and public recommendations. We organized the workload and developed the Sunshine recommendations into seven categories: Public Meetings, Closed Session Meetings, Public Information and Outreach, Public Records, Technology, Enforcement, and Ethics and Conduct, so that City Council could more efficiently implement them into the San Jose city government.
The Task Force meets on 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at San Jose City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St., Rooms W118 and W119. You are invited to attend in person and speak on agenda topics. You can also watch the meetings on Comcast Cable Channel 26, or view live or archived video (see WGNA webpage link). Meeting Agenda and Minutes are also online.
WGNA has been actively involved in the Sunshine issues and has two members on the task force: Virginia Holtz and myself; I was elected Task Force Chair. If you have comments or recommendations, please email me at president@wgna.net.
Tree Removals
Larry Ames
By now, you may have noticed that the tall sycamore trees were cut down at the corner of Camino Ricardo and Willow, or you may have read about them on the eList or in the newspaper, or have seen them on TV. What more can be said? Two large sycamore trees, each over 3 feet in diameter and well over 60 feet tall (plus a weaker third one), cut down on a Saturday morning, apparently without permits.
These weren’t the first trees felled in a questionable manner so as to make way for some development or other, but hopefully they will be the last. This is not to say that all trees are sacrosanct, or that all development should cease, but rather this is a wish that the orderly process defined by City Ordinance will be followed in the future: that the fines and other penalties will be harsh enough that unscrupulous developers won’t just view them as a minor irritant and a “cost of doing business.”
It is heartening to see the response. On quite short notice, WGNA hosted a community forum. The interest was so high that about 75 people attended, even though it was at the same time as the football playoffs. Of special note was the participation by the City: the Arborist, his supervisor, Planning/Code Enforcement, the City Attorney and Chief of Police, the Councilmember or Chief of Staff from three Council districts, and the Mayor’s Chief-of-Staff. The Community listened and then presented thoughtful comment and well-reasoned suggestions, and the City heard and responded with firm schedules for positive measures. Assuming all goes on schedule, by the time we meet for the Candidates’ Forum, the City will have enacted rules requiring tree removal companies to post approved permits on-site, and the Police will be authorized to issue stop-work orders if the permits are not available. That alone would have been sufficient to have saved the largest of the sycamores. The other proposed measures, such as loss of contractor’s license, should make it so that developers will work with Planning and Code Enforcement to arrive at designs beneficial to all, developer and community alike, rather than just taking matters (and a chainsaw) into their own hands.
The following poem (author unknown) was presented at the community meeting, and it nicely summarizes the situation:
I think that I shall never see
A McMansion as lovely as a tree
Indeed unless we change the law
We may never see a tree at all.