Diridon Station planning community meeting

From the City of San José:

The City of San José, VTA, Caltrain, and the California High-Speed Rail Authority have launched a collaborative effort to develop a Concept Plan for Diridon Station. On December 10th, the partners are hosting a Community Kick-off Meeting for this planning process. 

Diridon Integrated Station Concept Plan Community Kick-off MeetingMonday, December 10, 6:00-8:00 PM
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1100 Shasta Ave, San José

Four partner agencies are working together on a plan to expand and redesign Diridon Station. Electried Caltrain, BART, and High-Speed Rail service will add to the trains, buses, and light rail that currently use the station. The goal is to develop a world-class center of transit and public life that provides smooth connections between modes and integration with the surrounding neighborhood.

Come learn more about the Diridon Integrated Station Concept
Plan process and share your feedback on the initial vision and objectives for the station!

At this meeting, we will oer light refreshments, supervised activities for children, and Spanish and Vietnamese interpretation. After the meeting, your feedback will be shared with the four partner agencies, who will consider it as part of the Concept Plan process.

Save the date: holiday party Dec 2

Celebrate the holidays with your neighbors! You and your family are invited to an open house with holiday refreshments and cheer at Lila and Joel's house at 562 Fisk Ave. on Sunday, December 2 from 5:30-8:00pm. Snacks and desserts are welcome, but not necessary.

During the party, we will take a brief moment to elect new board members. Let us know if you are interested in a role.

Many thanks to our neighborhood elves!

An amazing group of volunteers helped to install holiday decorations around North Willow Glen this morning. Many thanks to the group for brightening our neighborhood!

Dan prepares the wreaths for installation

Getting the wreaths ready for installation

Bill adds a bow for some flair

 

Adding bows to the wreaths

First step, unwrap the wreaths

Thanks to our amazing volunteers of all ages!

Dan's decorating rig

Volunteers were fed!

Dan and Chris work as a team to install the decorations

Holiday decorating, 9:00 am tomorrow!

We are meeting at 9:00 am Saturday in Fuller Park, corner of Delmas and Fuller, to start decorating our neighborhood for the holidays with garlands and wreaths. We will have bagels and coffee, come on down!

Neighborhood holiday party, Dec 2

Celebrate the holidays with your neighbors! You and your family are invited to an open house with holiday refreshments and cheer at Lila and Joel's house at 562 Fisk Ave. on Sunday, December 11th from 5:30-8:00pm. Snacks and desserts are welcome, but not necessary.

Holiday neighborhood decorating: 9:00 am Saturday

We will be decorating the neighborhood again this Saturday and we would love to have your help. It doesn't take very long and it's a fun way to kick off the holiday season by brightening the neighborhood for everyone. Join us at 9:00 am on Nov. 24 in Fuller Park at the corner of Delmas and Fuller! 

We will provide bagels and coffee!

"Trash Talk" with Dev Davis cancelled

From Councilmember Dev Davis:

Due to the unhealthy air quality in San Jose, I am cancelling the “Trash Talk” event scheduled for tomorrow, November 16th at Zanotto’s. Our next “Trash Talk” will be December 7th at the same location.

For information about health and smoke from wildfires, please visit the following sites: https://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=topics.smoke_events
http://www.baaqmd.gov/

Payment for holiday yard trees is due Monday

Payment for holiday yard trees is due *Monday* by midnight.

You can place your tree order online at willowglentrees.com or get a check made to Willow Glen Tree Account to Pam at 1023 Bird Avenue. If you are dropping off a check, give Pam a heads up ASAP. 

Trees are $21 each if you order online but $20 if you order by check. All trees will be delivered this year, not picked up.

Weigh in on Biebrach Park Improvements

Many of you in North Willow Glen may use Biebrach Park, particularly if you or your children are over six years of age. Parks Recreation and Neighborhood Services (PRNS) will be addressing the playground at Biebrach Park soon. They are asking for preferences among two options they have created as well as what changes the community would like going forward. For details on the options, they have provided a link to a slide deck. Follow this link for the PRNS presentation and survey.

Crime prevention meeting tonight

Join the San Jose Police Department Crime Prevention Unit tonight for a community meeting and learn how to recognize and report suspicious activity.

Date: Thursday, November 8, 2018
Time: 7:00 to 8:45 pm
Location: Gardner Academy Cafeteria, 502 Illinois Avenue

Co-hosted by the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association and Greater Gardner Committee, North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, and Gardner Neighborhood Association.

From SJPD: Due to the nature of this meeting, only adult members of your households should attend.

Deadline to order holiday trees: One week from Monday

The Shukait family is being awesome yet again by organizing the ordering of holiday yard trees for our area. Many thanks to them!

PLEASE NOTE how this year’s process has changed:

Ordering

• Trees will be smaller than in the past, which neighbors have requested.
• Informational fliers are being distributed to the neighborhood in the next few days. 
• Even without the flier, you can place your tree order online at willowglentrees.com 
• An alternative to ordering online is to get a check made to Willow Glen Tree Account to Pam at 1023 Bird Avenue. Trees are $21 each if you order online but $20 if you order by check.
• Payment is due *early* - Monday, November 12 at 11:59 pm.
• Only trees will be available through this process. Wreaths and rebar will not be sold this year.

Delivery

• Your tree will be delivered to your front yard on Saturday, Dec 1. There will be no opportunity to pick up trees, delivery only. 

Read more about this tradition at http://willowglencharm.com/news/history/willow-glen-yard-trees-2/
Read information about mounting your tree: https://www.willowglentrees.com/faq.html

An update about holiday trees

An update from Pam and Keith Shukait about the holiday yard tree orders:

"Wanted to give everyone an update on the holiday yard trees. I have found a source that has agreed to supply us trees! The process will be a little different this year, with the ability to order and pay for your tree online. For those not online there will be the option to get me payment. There will be no wreaths or rebar sold. As soon as I receive the flyers, I will be posting here, along with asking volunteers to deliver for me. The trees will be smaller than we have had in the past (which many of you have asked for). They will be 4-5 feet tall. At the time of delivery (Dec. 1st), I will need volunteers to help pick up and deliver the trees to my house (about 100 trees). There is a central distribution site and they don't deliver. Any help will be appreciated and I am more than happy to give students volunteer hours! " 

MANY THANKS to the Shukait family who have organized these tree orders for quite a few years. :-)

Robbery Prevention Workshop

Marta Dominguez, Crime Prevention Specialist, San Jose Police Department, is inviting all neighbors to attend a Robbery Prevention Workshop at the Willow Glen Community Center on September 19, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Topics include:

• How to discourage, deter and prevent crimes such as robberies and carjackings 
• Robbery trends in San José 
• Judicial process 
• Information on how to host a Neighborhood Watch Meeting 

A flyer is available in English, Vietnamese, and Spanish.

BART community working groups & workshop

From Erica Roecks at VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Program:

VTA is currently in the process of preparing a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and Access Planning Study (TOD/Access Study). The Study will identify strategies to develop housing and commercial space near three future BART stations (Alum Rock/28th Street, Downtown San Jose, and Santa Clara). This study is being conducted as part of VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Phase II Project.

As [Community Working Group] members for VTA’s BART Phase II Project, we need your help in notifying your various networks about the TOD/Access Study and encourage them to participate in the scheduled workshops. Dates and times for these workshops are listed in: Upcoming Meetings and the next set of workshops are scheduled for September 11th through September 13th from 5:30-6:30 PM, immediately following the CWG meetings.

The September workshops will focus on TOD Opportunities and Constraints and the November workshops focusing on TOD Strategies and Guidelines.

Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested in transit-oriented development in your station area and encourage them to attend the workshop. More information on the TOD/Access Study can be found on the Study’s webpage: http://www.vta.org/bart/tod-access-study.

In addition, the Background Conditions Report has been posted to the TOD/Access Study webpage under "Quick Links" on the right side.

Saturday: South Bay creeks clean-ups

South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition has some great volunteer opportunities this Saturday:

...it’s time to prepare for the winter rains that will sweep trash into the Bay and beyond with a cleanup on September 8th. The need has never been greater as we battle to keep our creeks free of trash.

Please join us for our next cleanup on September 8th from 9 -11 am. You’ll be surprised how much we can accomplish in just two hours with your help. As Margaret Mead once said “We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment”.

We will have two sites open for this event:

Los Gatos Creek - Willow Glen Trestle
Coyote Creek - Notting Hill Drive

We supply the tools, gloves, and drinking water (please bring your own bottle). Bring a hat, wear sturdy shoes, and wear clothing that can (and probably will) get dirty.

And, don't forget we are subject to Park Department rule regarding participating minors which means: Persons under the age of 18 must obtain written consent (which you can download here) from parent or legal guardian to volunteer. The minimum age of a PRNS volunteer shall be 13; volunteers between the ages of 13 and 15 must have a parent, legal guardian, or other parent-authorized program or school representative present during their service. A volunteer over the age of 15 may provide service without the presence of a parent, legal guardian, or program supervisor.

Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.

Carol Szymkiewicz
Operations Manager
South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition
408 835 0156