The year in review

2011 has been a positive one in so many ways for North Willow Glen. Many dedicated volunteers have worked on their favorite events and issues to help make our neighborhood a better place. Here are just a few highlights from the last year:

Spring
Street tree planting
Neighborhood garage sale

Summer
Fruit/Veggie Share in Hummingbird Park
Party In The Park

Winter
Holiday decorating contest and party
Neighborhood street decorating
Holiday yard trees

Throughout the year
High-Speed Rail meetings and planning
Neighborhood beautification and maintenance
Anti-Graffitti Task Force

Our first meeting of the year will be January 24 -- come join us to lend a hand to your favorite project in 2012. We will be meeting at the Word of Faith Church at the corner of Fuller and Delmas at 6:30.

Supreme Court says state can raid redevelopment

From today's Mercury News:

The California Supreme Court on Thursday found that state lawmakers had a legal right to seize $1.7 billion in redevelopment money to help solve the state's budget woes, at the same time reaching a result that may put the state's nearly 400 local redevelopment agencies out of business forever.

California's high court concluded the Legislature had the authority to raid redevelopment funding earlier this year, rejecting arguments from redevelopment advocates that the budget gambit violated voter-approved Proposition 22, a 2010 measure designed to bar the state from seizing local funding to pay its bills.

City no longer supplying dog waste bags

The city is no longer providing dog waste bags for city parks. The San Jose Parks Foundation is taking over the City’s program of providing Dog Waste Bags in parks throughout the park and trail system. This sign is going up shortly in North Willow Glen parks.

If you would like to donate any amount towards purchasing additional bags, you can either contact Bill at 408-893-6684 to target your donation to North Willow Glen parks or make an online donation towards bags city-wide at the SJPF web site.

SJPD changing how they respond to alarms

San Jose Police are planning on changing how they respond to reports of audible alarms. From the SJPD web site:

In 2008, The San Jose Police Department conducted a study of false alarms in the City and found that over 98% of all alarm calls were indeed false alarms. The cost of these false alarms to the Department was $662,000. In 2010, the Department responded to 12,450 alarm calls throughout the City. While this represented approximately 6% of all calls for service, it was the second largest percentile category of all call types. Only two arrests resulted from these alarm calls and only 113 resulted in police reports being generated. It is clear that false alarm responses place a significant demand on police resources.

Consequently, the San Jose Police Department will no longer respond to alarms solely on the request of alarm monitoring companies.

There has been a request sent today to the mayor asking to delay this policy until it can be better understood. You will want to follow this issue especially if your home or business uses an alarm system.

New law Jan 1 for children riding in cars

A new California law goes into effect on Jan. 1 requiring children under age 8 to be buckled into a car seat or booster seat and they must ride in the back seat. After age 8 or a height of 4 feet 9 inches, kids can ride in the back seat with a lap or shoulder belt.

Read a summary of the new laws for California and San Jose in the Mercury News.

City's single-use bag ordinance effective Jan 1

From the City's web site:

San José customers will soon be shopping greener than ever. All grocery and retail stores in San José can no longer provide single-use carryout bags at checkout beginning January 1, 2012. Consumers will have the option to bring or purchase their own reusable bags or purchase recycled content paper bags at checkout. Consider the following to prepare for the ordinance:

• Read the City of San José’s ordinance.
• Sign-up for regular e-mail updates at http://www.sjrecycles.org/bags/retailers.asp.
• Use up your supply of plastic and non-recycled content paper bags.

For additional resources and updates, including a list of reusable and recycled paper bag suppliers, visit www.sjrecycles.org/bags/retailers.asp. If you have questions, please e-mail or call (408) 534-BYOB (2962).

You can also read more about this new law in the Mercury News.

PETCO's Unleashed boutique coming to Willow Glen

PetCo's Unleashed boutique pet store will be opening in the old Blockbuster location on Lincoln Avenue. Read more about it in the SJ Mercury News. You can see more about the Unleashed store, too.

Replace retiring library workers with volunteers?

Read about Councilmember Oliverio's proposal to replace retiring library workers with volunteers. From the Mercury News:

In an effort to preserve the cash-strapped city's budget, a San Jose councilman wants to replace retiring city library workers with community volunteers or face the more serious alternative of outsourcing the libraries altogether.

"We have beautiful libraries, and if we allow volunteers to augment current city staff, our libraries would be open more days per week," said Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, who has consistently sought to outsource the city's union employees with less expensive contractors.

The full article is here.

Supervisor Ken Yeager's Dec. 13 newsletter

Topics for this newsletter include:

• Yeager Appointed VTA Chair as Bart to San José Gets Underway
• Caltrain Station Improvements at Diridon and Santa Clara
• Lynbrook High School Named Intel School of Distinction
• Air District Board Meetings Now Streaming Online
• VTA Connects Residents to Holiday Adventures
• Calendar of Events

The Swiss approach to high-speed rail

Swiss Approach Map

Would you prefer that high-speed rail cost significantly less than current estimates and didn't divide our city? There's a plan specifically for California high-speed rail from Switzerland for an optimized, interconnected, and flexible system at a reduced cost. This was released six months ago and brought to the attention of rail decision makers at last night's high speed rail town hall meeting. Click this link to download the three page executive summary Acrobat file. What do you think? We'd love to hear from you. Comment here publicly or via e-mail: board@nwgna.org.

Thanks to the Shukait family!

If the holidays are here, the Shukait family on Bird Avenue must be helping to make the neighborhood festive. Again this year, they organized the ordering of yard trees and wreaths for everyone. It's a family affair, with Pam's son helping to keep things organized as orders were picked up.

More photos are available on Facebook. You do not have to be a member of Facebook to view the photos.

Big thanks to the Shukaits!

Please note: tree delivery after 10:30

Holiday trees are expected tomorrow after 10:30 due to truck trouble.

Sunday: Holiday Yard Trees/Wreaths Arrive

The Holiday Yard Trees and wreaths will be here tomorrow, Sunday, Dec. 4 starting at 9:00 am! Please come by and pick yours up at 1023 Bird Ave.

Ho, Ho, Ho!
Pam and Keith Shukait

Have you ever cried over spilled milk?

Read about North Willow Glen neighbor Taffy Dugan and her dilemma over a burst gallon of milk. It has a happy ending and communicates a lot about a nearby grocery store.

Here's the article.