Did you lose a ring?

Neighbors found a ring last weekend at Hummingbird Park. If you think it is yours, send me an email to bambooplanet@earthlink.net to describe it and they'll get it back to you.

Neighborhood Spruce Up - Sunday

A reminder that we will be sprucing up some areas of the neighborhood tomorrow, July 31, and would love a big turnout of helpers. With the city unable to afford the same degree of maintenance that they were able to just a few years ago, it falls on the neighborhoods and individuals to step up to keep up the same level of maintenance in the parks and streets.

The "official" meeting time is 9:00 am. at the Bocce court in Fuller Park (on Fuller between Bird and Delmas) but some neighbors will be out earlier in an effort to beat the heat.

Coffee, bagels, and cold beverages will be available. Bring gloves and your favorite garden hand tools. Other tools will be available.

Contacting your NWGNA Board Just Got Easier

If you've got questions or concerns about your North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association we'd like to hear about them. Got a great idea for a new event? Maybe you're thinking of ways to make our events even better. Maybe you'd like to make a change in the neighborhood and would like our support. Whatever it is, we'd like to know. And reaching us has just gotten a bit easier. You can reach all the NWGNA officers by sending an e-mail to board@nwgna.org. We'll discuss your query and get right back to you. So let's hear it North Willow Glen. What can we do together to improve our neighborhood?

Last week's produce share

For those who may have missed it, here is the report from Roy Nordblum about last week's Produce Share -- join us this Sunday from 1 to 3 in Hummingbird Park, corner of Bird and Fisk to join in the fun:

July 24th - Biggest and most successful Produce Share event so far. Lots and lots of people, so many I did not count them all. Tons of great food came and went across that table. There was a decent children turnout, and Dove and her little friends made pine cone bird feeders with peanut butter and breadcrumbs. Fresh-baked bread, home-made raspberry jam, banana-coconut-walnut bread, it was all very yummy, we had a great time meeting each other and sharing recipes and neighborhood talk. Our Councilman Oliverio showed up and handed out cloth grocery bags with the City graphics, beautiful! Lots of veggies and fruit and plenty of extra everything, the kids were great, the participants wonderful. You shoulda been there!

Agenda for tonight's Friends & Neighbors gathering

Come join us tonight at the NWGNA Friends & Neighbors gathering, 6:30 p.m. at the Word of Faith Church, 873 Delmas (cross street is Fuller Ave.). The agenda for tonight is:

• Introductions
• Debby Rice, Master Gardner, Fall Vegetables and planning your fall veggie garden, Q&A to follow
• Upcoming NWGNA elections, all board positions are open for nominations, elections will be Sept 27
• Party in the Park 8/13, volunteers needed!
• Neighborhood Maintenance Day this Sunday 7/31 9:00 at Fuller Park bocce court
• Park maintenance updates
• Veggie Share updates
• Next Friends & Neighbors meeting Sept 27

Help needed: flier delivery this week

We are looking for help in delivering fliers to the neighborhood sometime this week or weekend. The streets where we need help are:

• Prevost
• Warren/Sheppard/Snyder
• Fuller (between Bird & Prevost) 

Our usual team of helpful delivery people have the other streets handled, but we still need help with the sections listed above. It's a great way to see more of the neighborhood and get a nice walk in. If you can help out, please call Bill at 408-893-6684.

Sinkhole closes lane, off-ramp on Hwy 87

KTVU.com

Check out news coverage of a sinkhole that has developed this morning at the Alma off-ramp to Highway 87.

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_18475993

http://www.ktvu.com/news/28544999/detail.html

Infrastructure for All

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has produced a video which demonstrates the opportunities for turning blight into something great. What do you think? Is this a vision we could use for guiding the development of our neighborhood and city? If so, where do you envision the implementation of these suggestions?

Infrastructure for All from ASLA on Vimeo.

High-speed rail visual designs: have your say

From the city of San Jose:

City of San José High-Speed Train Aerial Alignment Visual Design Guidelines:
San José Community Working Group (CWG) Meeting: July 18, 2011

High-Speed Train Visual Design Guidelines: The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority), working in coordination with the City of San José, is preparing visual design guidelines for the elements of the proposed High-Speed Train project within the city limits of San José. Once developed and adopted by the San José City Council and the Authority board, the visual design guidelines will guide the development of high-speed train components in San José.

Community Working Groups: To gather community input during the development of the visual design guidelines, the City has formed two Community Working Groups (CWGs), each composed of 10 San José residents that represent a cross-section of the San José community. The two CWGs will meet several times between March and July to provide input on the visual design guidelines.


CWG Meeting Dates: The next CWG meeting will be a combined meeting of both groups on Monday, July 18, 2011 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Willow Glen Library (1157 Minnesota Avenue). At the meeting, the CWG members will review a revised draft of the visual design guidelines and provide additional feedback to the project team. The guidelines have been revised by the project team based on input from the June 28 meeting and formatted to include images and visual simulations to provide a visual description of the guidelines.

How to Get Involved: The members of the two CWGs have already been appointed by the San José City Council. All San José residents and interested parties are welcome to attend the discussion and provide comment during the public comment period of the meeting. Please contact Ben Tripousis with the City of San José for more information.

Ben Tripousis, City of San José Transportation Systems Manager
(408) 975-3717
Ben.Tripousis@sanjoseca.gov

 

Missing child

The San Jose Police Department has issued an alert about a missing child. In the area of 8th and Julian Streets at approximately 6:55 am today, a missing 13yr old who is autistic and has the mental age of 6-7 years old was reported missing. Units are in the process of searching the area for Jesus Garza, a Hispanic juvenile who is 5 foot 8 inches tall and 150lbs. Jesus was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, black shorts and black shoes. Pictures of Jesus are available on the SJPD website at www.SJPD.org or via the Mercury News. If you see Jesus, please call 9-1-1 immediately.

The Share is today -- what do you seek or offer?

Fruit Canning Factory, San Jose

San Jose was once famous as The Valley of Heart's Delight, a major center of fruit and vegetable farming and processing. In our own small way, we are continuing this tradition with the North Willow Glen Share, every Sunday from 1:00 to 3:00 in Hummingbird Park, corner of Fisk and Bird.

What are you bringing today to the share? What are you seeking at the share? Even if you don't have an offering, come by to chat about the neighborhood, gardening, cooking, even canning -- but not on this big factory scale!

Trail clean-up has begun

Neighbors have noticed recently that work has begun on the old railroad lines in our area. Prior to selling the land to the city so it can be converted into the first part of Three Creeks Trail, Union Pacific is required to clean up any hazardous materials on the property. The materials that are being cleaned up are mostly diesel fuel from train engines and creosote from railroad ties. Crews will be digging down two to five feet, mitigating dust, and removing contaminated soil for 20 feet on either side of the center line. Then, crews will be bringing in clean fill, packing it, and leaving a gravel top. The full build-out of the trail by the city will happen in a later phase.

You can read more about this effort on the web site for Save Our Trails.

Share goodies available now!

Lemons, grapefruit, plums, catnip still available! Come now!

Plums!

Available at the share now, corner of Bird and Fisk, until 3:00.

Produce share on Sunday

Don't forget the produce share on Sunday, in Hummingbird Park, corner of Fisk and Bird, from 1:00 to 3:00. We will have zucchini and lemons and more. If you have something to share (plants, veggies, fruits, goodies made from your garden, etc.), come on by and drop it off. You don't need to offer anything to receive something great -- the goal is to keep great food from going to waste.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday from 1:00 to 3:00.