Last Farmer's Market of the year

Saturday, October 29 is your last opportunity to visit the Willow Glen Farmer's Market this year. It's been a great year with wonderful fruits, vegetables, specialty foods, plants, crafts, and more. Come support local vendors at the market, behind the Garden Theatre at 1165 Lincoln Avenue, 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Local events calendar has many festive activities

WillowGlen.org has a local events calendar with lots of info:

• Live music, children's events, book clubs, author readings, classes in art, cooking, and exercise, and more.
• The season's last Farmer's Market is this Saturday, Oct. 29
• Kids' trick or treating downtown 10/31, 2-4 pm
• Dog costume parade, 10/30, 5-6:30 pm

The calendar is at http://www.willowglen.org/events.php

Free documentary film: "Radiant City"

On Monday, Nov 7 at 6:30 p.m., Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio is hosting a showing of the documentary film Radiant City, an examination of the nature of modern suburbia. Seating is limited so please email Tina.West@sanjoseca.gov if you would like to attend. The film's trailer is also available online.

After the film there will be a group discussion on the General Plan 2040 with the Directors of both our Planning and Economic Development departments.

Supervisor Ken Yeager's Oct. 20 newsletter

Topics for this newsletter include:

• CalTrain avoids fiscal emergency through smart budgeting
• Yeager hosts community forums on senior issues
• Three Creeks Trail reaches another milestone
• County works toward 100% renewable energy use
• Yeager speaks at national childhood obesity conference
• Volunteers and donations needed for local Halloween events
  Calendar of events

North Willow Glen Holiday Tree Lane

For many years, in early December, the streets of Willow Glen begin to light up with the sparkle of miniature evergreens. We would like to invite you to join in this tradition. We have set up a way for you to order a tree for your yard.

If you are interested in having a tree in your yard, and do not already have one for this purpose, please read below for more details.

• Orders need to be received by Monday, October 31, 2011.
• Rebar available if requested. This is used for anchoring the tree in your yard.
• We are expecting delivery of the trees to the neighborhood Sunday, December 4th.
• You will have to set up the tree on your own.
• You are responsible for putting on your own lights. A very old tradition is to use the large colored lights and to put one white light at the top of the tree.
• Trees will be available for pick up at the Shukait’s house (1023 Bird Ave) on Sun., Dec. 4. We will email you the pick up time as we get closer to the date.
• Trees are $16 each and four-foot pieces of rebar are $2.50.

* * * This year, we are also offering 22” Noble fir and Cedar wreaths decorated with pine cones. The wreaths will be $15 each. * * *

Fliers are being delivered to your door, but you can also complete the online order form with a check made payable to: Pam Shukait or PayPal pshukait@me.com. (Trees will be from Enchanted Forest Christmas Trees.)

Booster seat law is changing Jan. 1

Starting January 1, the California state law for children's booster seats is changing. If your kids are under eight years old or a height of 4'9", you will want to know about this upcoming change. The Mercury News article has more details. Mr. Roadshow has a few more details.

Signs on Posts and Trees

Throughout the neighborhood we often have some great garage or yard sales cropping up here and there and sometimes we have the unfortunate lost pet. In either circumstance, we often see signs affixed to poles or trees. Sometimes this is done properly and sometimes not so much. So if you're planning to have an event and would like to post signs to our neighborhood poles, please follow our tips, because the city does not maintain the look of our poles for us; our friendly neighborhood volunteers do that. So let's make it a bit easier on them and keep our neighborhood looking great. The number one rule is to take your sign down after your event is over. We know that after a long day, this can be the last thing anyone wants to do, but old expired signs can pile up and contribute greatly to blight. When you post your signs, please use zip ties, wire ties, or painters tape to attach signs to poles or trees. These methods are secure enough to do the job and they do not leave behind a sticky residue or remove paint from the poles. The same can not be said of duct tape or packing tape which are much too aggressive for this purpose. By all means, let's not use nails to attach signs to trees as this can be very damaging. We appreciate your help keeping North Willow Glen looking great and we wish you great success with your garage sale or the recovery of a pet.

Supervisor Ken Yeager's Oct. 5 newsletter

Topics for this newsletter include:

• County moves forward on plan to protect endangered species
• Yeager featured in Eucalyptus Magazine
• Smoking policies reduce the number lung of cancer cases
• Almaden Expressway improvement project underway
• Youth task force now accepting applications
• County offers rebates on home energy assessments
• Calendar of events

Your voice is needed!

The City of San Jose Department of Transportation is planning to remove shrubs within the Bird Avenue median due to budget cuts for maintenance. If you disagree with this plan, please speak up ASAP to Mike Zapein, Landscape Supervisor, 408-975-7165.

Here is the text of the notice currently posted along Bird Avenue:

Notice of City of San Jose Landscape Removal Project
"No Established Tree (s) Will Be Removed"

This is to inform you that the City of San Jose Department of Transportation will be removing shrubs and/or ivy with the Median Island landscape. This work is scheduled to begin on or about 10/14/11. This work is being done in response to the current budget situation and significant reductions ion personnel to the Landscape Management Program. Removal of shrubs enables the landscape staff to more efficiently maintain all landscape parcel Citywide to an acceptable condition. If you have any questions about the work proposed at this property, please contact Mike Zapein, Landscape Supervisor at 408-975-7165.

High-speed rail visual designs: last chance for input

Wednesday night is your last chance to weight in on what you want high-speed rail to look like. The final meeting of the Community Working Group on Visual Design Guidelines for the High Speed Rail project is Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the MLK Library downtown.

The latest draft of the visual guidelines is available online as well as more visual simulations.

Public comments are welcome, either at the meeting or to Ben Tripousis via email.