October, 1998 editor: Larry Ames

As the season for football and pumpkins and big yellow moons wedges its way into our bustling lives, two traditional autumn activities are planned by WGNA. Gardeners will agree that the fall is the best time to plant trees in our temperate climate. We have been anxiously waiting out the hot dry summer so that our planting project at Meridian and 280 will take advantage of the cooler days and wetter weather that is approaching. The date is Saturday, October 17th at 10:00 AM. You will find an article in our newsletter spelling out the details, and I urge you to grab your shovel and join us! I believe that beautification projects like the Meridian Avenue project are a very tangible and lasting way of realizing the mission of our Association – to preserve and enhance our neighborhood.

Also on the calendar for October is our fall general meeting. We are pleased to present a forum highlighting both the City Mayoral and the County Sheriff races. On Wednesday, October 28th, 7 PM, candidates will present statements and answer questions, followed by a social time for mingling and enjoying delectable treats. The Board enjoys meeting and talking with our members – hearing new ideas, listening to your opinions. Our membership is growing and we extend a special invitation to our new associates, encouraging you to attend this interesting and fun evening.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our tent on Founders’ Day. The return of the Arts and Crafts Fair was gratifying, and the hometown parade is always Americana at its finest. We look forward to seeing many of you at our planting and general meeting. Mark those busy calendars now – you won’t regret it!

Rwice a year WGNA holds a general meeting of our membership. For our fall gathering, an evening of information and stimulation is being planned. With only six days following, the campaigns for City Mayor and County Sheriff will be heading into the final stretch. Questions and answers could prove to be quite interesting. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the candidates in an intimate neighborhood setting. Once again time will be set aside for socialization and wonderful foods will be prepared by member Lupi O’Malley. Mark your calendars now. Bring a friend – the public is welcomed! (A flyer has been included in this newsletter as a convenient poster for your bulletin board or refrigerator.)

After over a year of planning and working with Caltrans, WGNA, led by Boardmember J. Michael Gonzales, will beautify the barren strip that for years has greeted travelers entering Willow Glen on Meridian from Highway 280. Ten large trees, forty shrubs, and lots of groundcover will be planted. Mulch over the entire area will keep down weeds and add that finishing touch. Caltrans plans to close of one lane to ensure a safe working condition. Because we will be "out in the middle of traffic", and in accordance with Caltrans regulations, children under 18 years will not be allowed to participate.

We are excited about this opportunity for our membership to positively impact our community. Think of how you will feel as the trees begin to grow and blossom, as the shrubs begin to spread and fill in. Every time you pass by you will feel proud. So join us. Give whatever time you can offer. While we will start at 10:00 AM., we expect to be planting for most of the day and fresh muscles will be appreciated! Please bring a shovel and work gloves. WGNA will provide lunch, free souvenir project T shirts, and lots of smiles.

A quick call to 294-WGNA, as soon as possible, will help us greatly in the planning process. If you have any questions or if it should rain hard, call 294-WGNA for information. (A flyer has been included in this newsletter as a convenient poster for your bulletin board or refrigerator.)

On September 22nd an audible sigh of relief beamed through the air waves of San Jose’s neighborhoods, hit the inversion layer, and bounced down into Willow Glen. A call from County Supervisor Blanca Alvarado’s office informed WGNA that County consultants would advise against an outdoor entertainment center and recommend pursuing a smaller, indoor facility. Reasons listed were:

1. An indoor theater would eliminate issues relating to noise and the probable delays which could result in reaching agreement on mitigation.

2. Impacts from traffic will be significantly less with an indoor theater.

3. The indoor theater would provide year round entertainment and thus increase the availability for community use.

4. The indoor theater would expand the entertainment programming from concerts to Broadway productions and private uses.

5. The land required to develop the indoor theater would be reduced by 50%, and thus this surplus land would become available for other uses within the Revitalization Plan.

It is believed that WGNA’s strong and immediate stand against an open air venue, and our collaboration with other neighborhood associations such as McLaughlin Corridor and Yerba Buena, impacted the early decision to abandon the amphitheater idea. Thanks go to all WGNA members who expressed concern and especially to Charles Luckhardt and Helen Solinsky who attended meetings and helped track developments. Thanks also go to Blanca Alvarado and her staff who kept us up to date on agendas and breakthroughs in the planning process.

The County Fairgrounds is a large and important piece of public land. It is commendable that the County Supervisors have committed to emphasizing family entertainment and recreation uses and have adopted a Good Neighbor Relationship Policy. The plan is to seek a public/private partnership which will generate revenue so that the County Fair can continue on the site and capital improvements such as a new exposition building, refurbished sports fields and new parking and traffic changes, can be made. Self-sufficiency is a goal. The revitalization of the Fairgrounds will be an exciting development for our valley and the WGNA Board supports the Supervisors efforts to formulate a plan which will benefit our entire community.

Negotiations for a new school site at Tamien, taking place for the last year between San Jose Unified School District and The Valley Transportation Authority, seem to have broken down. As the WGNA newsletter goes to press, the word is that the VTA is asking a price that the school district finds much higher than expected and above what SJUSD can pay. The new plan calls for building a new school on the River Glen Elementary site and relocating the existing magnet language immersion program to the Broadway School site. No word yet as to where the Broadway continuation program will be placed. We will keep you informed of developments.

Preliminary plans have been submitted by the owner of La Concha Spa for a new "La Concha Inn and Spa" to be located on the vacant lot at 1030 Lincoln Avenue. A three story, 18-bedroom structure with underground parking is proposed. The City Planning Department is now reviewing the plans to check for zoning compliance and to formulate recommendations. Introductory drawings show an open courtyard setting with shops and a tea room on the ground floor level. A roof garden on top of the underground parking includes a deck, a spa, and four saunas. City Planners will review the proximity to neighbors for noise and privacy impacts. It should be noted that this project is at the beginning stages and questions can be directed to the San Jose Planning Department, 277-4576.

At the September WGNA Board meeting, we passed a motion to support Meredith Avenue residents in their request that conditions of the Garden Theater’s Site Development Permit be enforced. Elements of the permit, which is legally binding, were never put in place by the original owner:

• Tire grates were written into the permit to prevent Garden Theater traffic from flowing out onto Meredith: these were never installed;
• Lights located adjacent to back and side yards were to be regulated in order to minimize their impact on the surrounding neighborhood: this never happened; and
• An easement through the property to the north, bordering Willow Street, was to be sought: today cars still weave their way through the adjacent apartment parking lot.

On September 23rd, after waiting for three hours, residents were told that they would have to come back because the easement issue had inadvertently been omitted from the noncompliance list. The residents of Meredith Avenue were not happy. They voiced their vexation and frustration with the failure of promises made. The Planning Commission assured the neighbors that the matter would be resolved at the November 4th hearing. In the meantime, homeowners continue to brainstorm on ways to improve the traffic and parking problems that are unique to this narrow, vintage Willow Glen street.

WGNA Consolidates Funds

In an effort to organize and better utilize the funds that WGNA has accumulated over the last several years, the WGNA Board consolidated several accounts by opening a new checking and a new money market account with Home Savings of Willow Glen. Our previous treasurer, Joan Doss, began the process by identifying regular budget expenses such as printing, mailing, office supplies, phone service, post office box, etc. Our present treasurer, Margaret Hardy, consolidated the accounts and helped determine the amounts to be kept in checking and those funds which should be placed in the interest-bearing money market account. Home Savings supplied new updated checks and registers free of charge. WGNA chose Home Savings in part because bank manager David Machado has shown a consistent interest and dedication to the Willow Glen community where he resides. He presently serves as the president of the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association.

We are currently at a very busy time financially. We have taken in approximately 100 new memberships in the last year, we are utilizing old grant money on the Meridian/280 project, and we recently bought a web site domain name. In our next newsletter, we plan to give you an update on our financial status, what we have spent and what our balance shows. As always, feel free to ask questions, our financial information is open to our membership and we will be happy to answer any inquiries that are made.

WGNA has about 600 active members. Roughly a third are individual memberships, and two-thirds are households.

We are a diverse group, both home-owners and renters, that geographically span Willow Glen north to south and east to west. We also have a wide range of interests: based on the "interest boxes" on the renewal forms, we find that members are concerned about and/or involved in everything that WGNA is involved with. Some members are most concerned about airport noise and graffiti, others are more interested in parks and tree plantings: many have multiple interests. The relatively even distribution of interests itself is interesting. The response for schools is large, considering it was only recently added to the list and wasn’t on all versions of the form.

We’ve recently added two more information fields, for when you next renew: e-mail address and volunteer positions. Feel free to drop us a line at any time, and we can update your record.

The short answer is: nothing. We don’t trade, sell, disclose, or otherwise give out any personal information.

• We do use the addresses for mailing flyers and newsletters.
• We sometimes use the interest boxes for special mailings. For example, if we hadn’t already planned a newsletter for this time, then we would have specially mailed the centerfold flyer to those members who had expressed an interest in tree plantings. The interest boxes also serve as a public opinion poll, and help us respond to our members’ interests.
• We use the phone numbers only infrequently, such as when we can’t read the address on a renewal, or to accept an offer of assistance. We also use the phone for emergencies, such as last winter when the San Jose Office of Emergency Preparedness asked us to warn residents in a particular area of an impending flood danger.
• The e-mail addresses will allow us to start sending out meeting reminders, and to forward short-notice announcements (e.g., special city hall meetings, etc.).
• And those who check the volunteer boxes are much appreciated, and may be asked at some future date to help.

WGNA has a new website address: www.wgna.net. This new address is much easier to remember, and much quicker to type. We have transferred over all of our existing material, and soon (with the welcome help of WGNA volunteer Rand McKinney) it will have more visual appeal.

We are thinking about setting up an "electronic community bulletin board", on which anyone could post notices for distribution to interested members. We have the software and accounts to set this up, but we need volunteers to routinely moderate the postings and to maintain the e-mailing list. If your are interested in seeing this become a reality and are willing to help, contact us through the web page.

Evelyn Ucovich, who organized the Founders’ Day historic tour, and also to Paulette Ornellas and Linda Herschbach, who, along with Evelyn, were docents for the tours. Over 200 people went on the tours – it was such a popular event that we had to turn others away in the afternoon.

Jean Dresden, Helen Solinsky, and Nell Aiello, who helped boardmembers greet community at the WGNA booth. We appreciate that many members and friends stopped by WGNA tent to renew memberships, get the latest information on the goings-on in the neighborhood, or just to chat and visit.

Also: Congratulations to Demetri Rizzo, David Machado and the WGBPA board for a job well done! It was so nice that the Art and Craft Fair returned!

Tuliptree: Scale and aphids have been raising havoc on tuliptrees throughout Willow Glen for a number of years. The visual cue is the dripping sticky honeydew all over sidewalks and minor to major limb dieback on affected trees. There is research currently being conducted to introduce a beneficial insect to help control the scale. The parasitic wasp Metaphycus flavus may have some potential, but the jury is still out. In the meantime, it may be necessary to join together with neighbors and jointly hire a spray company to control the pest.

Sycamore: This is the huge tree canopying across many of the streets in the core area of Willow Glen with dusty looking foliage that drops throughout most of the year. This type of tree gets three noticeable pests – Anthracnose, powdery mildew, and sycamore scale. The solution is to live with it or replant with the most insect and disease resistant tree variety, ‘Yarwood’. To really control the powdery mildew found on the big old sycamores (which were widely planted until about 12 years ago), you’d have to spray multiple times throughout the spring and summer with a fungicide. If you see sycamores that look healthy with very big, dark green leaves, you’re probably looking at a Yarwood: check them out on Settle Ave. – there are nearly 30 on the block between Willow and Minnesota. Another variety is the ‘Bloodgood’, in downtown Willow Glen on Lincoln Avenue, which are resistant to Anthracnose but still susceptible to powdery mildew.

Eucalyptus: There is a very new lerp-forming Redgum psyllid (plant louse), Glycaspis brimblecombei, which has been found on a number of eucalyptus species. The psyllid forms a "lerp" which is a secretionary structure produced by the nymph as a protective cover that is conical in shape, and will reach a size of approximately 3mm in diameter and 2mm in height. The nymphs are yellow, or yellow and brown in color.

Currently the psyllids are causing production of a lot of honeydew, which is staining the ground underneath the trees; they are also causing very severe leaf drop. New growth is immediately attacked. Heavy populations and leaf drop on the red gums is forcing the psyllids off onto other species of eucalyptus that are not usually attacked.

The possibility exists that the trees will be weakened enough through psyllid attack to invite infestation by the eucalyptus longhorn beetles (Phoracantha). There are a number of ladybird beetles that have been found feeding on the psyllids including Harmonia axyridis, Chilochorus bipunctulatus, and Hippodamia convergens, but the resident populations are not providing adequate control. At this point the introduction of parasites is being researched.

Most often, when sidewalks, streets and curb repairs are made, tree roots are cut and often quite severely. Unless great care is taken during these processes, trees can decline. This may show up in branch die back and/or overall poor growth. When I see repeated major sidewalk repairs near large camphor trees, I often observe subsequent tree decline within three years.

Carefully thinning the tree canopy to compensate for damaged root systems can enable the tree to recuperate better. It is far preferable to make a "thinning cut" (where a branch is pruned at it’s point of attachment) than a "heading cut" (which indiscriminately chops off a branch midway along it’s length).

A certified arborist, who understand the difference between the two types of cuts and is able to maintain the form of the tree so that you can hardly tell it’s been pruned, is highly recommended for any important tree pruning. Always ask for local references and check the work they’ve done to see if it shows the level of skill you desire. A well pruned tree will have far fewer problems in subsequent years and pay off by requiring less repeat work and reconstructive surgery. If you would like our certified arborist list, send a self addressed stamped envelope to Rhonda at UCCE, 1005 Timothy Drive, San Jose, CA 95133.

If you have gardening questions call our Master Gardener Hotline Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM - 12 noon. We also are conducting year round gardening classes through the Metropolitan Adult Education at Ed Park on Tuesday evenings.

… or will expire in the near future, please renew now. Click here for membership form. Thanks!

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