I am writing on behalf of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association (WGNA) to support your actions to preserve the recently abandoned Union Pacific Rail corridor in northeastern Willow Glen.

This corridor is identified in "the Greenprint", San Jose Park's strategic plan, as the future alignment of a trail that will connect Willow Glen over to Kelley Park. It will tie our community to three regional trail systems: the Los Gatos, the Guadalupe, and the Coyote Creek Trails. As the density in the area increases through in-fill development (e.g., at the cannery area and by the Elks Lodge), the need for recreational resources increases while the available land decreases.

This corridor would provide some much-needed recreational facilities in an area of the city with little if any open land. It would also enable residents to go to nearby regional parks, such as Kelley, without driving, thereby allowing the park to be more "park" and less "parking lot".

We understand that some of the neighbors adjacent to the corridor may be interested in purchasing portions of the land so as to extend their backyards. So long as this can be done while preserving a suitable trail alignment, we encourage this, both as a means of reducing the total project cost and as a means of increasing the neighborhood support.

Please contact us if we can be of any assistance, such as giving private site tours or sponsoring neighborhood meetings.