San Jose neighborhood updates

City Memo on Changes to the Police Department Download Document: 09-24-10 CMO.pdf (413.9 KB)

City Memo on Changes at Code EnforcementDownload Document: 10-04-10 PBCE.PDF (62.12 KB)

Neighborhood Leadership Institute Training: Saturday November 13 at San José State For inquiries, please contact Natalie de Leon at (408) 279-2600

Caltrans Problem Report (i.e. Troubles Along 280) http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/msrsubmit/

Video of the September 22 NAC Meeting (Thanks, Mark Warlick, Blackford NAC)
CNAC is the Coalition of the "Strong Neighborhood Initiative" (SNI) areas identified by the City of San Jose as requiring the intervention of City resources and neighborhood volunteers to handle problems such as blight, crime and street gangs. This part two of the September executive board meeting held 22 September 2010
http://www.youtube.com/user/CNACSanJose

The latest from the Redevelopment Agency on Neighborhoods in Crisis http://www.sjredevelopment.org/inforMemos/20100927StrongNeighborhoodsBusinessPlan.pdf
 

Spread the word!

The North Willow Glen neighborhood has had a great surge of information in the last year via the Yahoo! Groups list and the blog (which copies over to Facebook). All of this means that we are all sharing more information with each other and contributing to our great neighborhood. We now have more than 125 people on Facebook, and over 200 people on the Yahoo! Groups list.

So, help us spread the word by letting other neighbors know about these resources. If you are chatting with a neighbor, ask them if they know about these forums to help include more people.

If neighbors need more info, they can send an email to nwgna-owner@yahoogroups.com.

Please help find Bingo

Sadly, Bingo is still missing from North Willow Glen after several weeks. Bingo is a volunteer dog in senior living communities and his family misses him greatly. Please help find him! He is a Shih Tzu, neutered, white with black spots.

Click on the photo to see it larger.

CALL IF FOUND - 1-888-833-4208

Reminder: half marathon in San Jose on Sunday

The 5th Annual Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon will be held on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 8am. The race begins and ends in downtown San Jose, running through Japantown, University Ave, Rose Garden, and Cory neighborhoods. Please plan your Sunday travels accordingly.

Course Map: http://san-jose.competitor.com/files/2009/04/SJ_10_CourseMap.pdf

No fruit/veggie share this weekend

As a reminder, there will be no fruit and veggie share this weekend. Discussions are taking place to see what the schedule and location might be going forward into the fall and winter. If you expect to have goodies to share as the seasons change, please post a comment so you can help us gauge interest.

Please report graffiti to have it removed

There has been an increase in graffiti in the neighborhood recently, which is not good. For those who have lived here more than a few years, you will remember the kinds of problems that we all worked hard to leave in the past, and we don't want to return to those days.

So, if you see graffiti, please report it to the San Jose Anti-Graffiti Program via their phone system. It's a simple step to take a phone with you on your walks and make a quick call to report the location, surface color, and other info to the anti-graffiti team. They will come out to help remove the markings -- all you have to do is make a call, and it can even be anonymous.

Anti-Graffiti Team 408-277-2758
If you see graffiti in progress: 408-277-8911 (direct 911 call to San Jose Police)

A short, but long history

For those who have never seen it, there is a "Short History of North Willow Glen" available online, going back to the 1870s. This information was compiled by Dan Erceg and others and is part of the old NWGNA web site that was maintained by Ken Eklund. It is an interesting read, especially as the historical survey of our neighborhood gets underway. Check it out!

Agenda for Tuesday's general meeting

We look forward to seeing you at Tuesday's neighborhood meeting, 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the Word of Faith Church, 873 Delmas Avenue (corner of Fuller and Delmas Ave). Here's the agenda:

* Upcoming holiday events
     - Decorating contest
           Organization, promotion, hosting
     - Yard trees
* Fruit & veggie share feedback, next steps
* Historic survey
     - Guest speaker: Franklin Maggi, Architectural Historian
* Neighborhood news

Willow/Lincoln project begins, free valet parking

View from Lincoln Avenue

Construction began this morning on the 41,000-square-foot mixed-use project at Willow and Lincoln. The project, from Paja Investments LLC and designed by Kahn Design Associates, will include about 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and about 23,000 feet of second- and third-floor office space.

One important note: the demolition that should begin this week for this project affects the parking lot behind Jamba Juice, Noah's, Peet's, etc. The project is providing free valet parking to all customers. So, if you are a regular customer who drives to these businesses, you will be able to park using the free valet. Some of the businesses are concerned about a big drop in business due to the construction, so let's spread the word that you can still enjoy these businesses just like always.

You can read more about the project on the architect's web site. Info on project tenants are also available.

Flier Delivery: More Help Needed

We have a few more streets that need fliers delivered for next Tuesday's NWGNA general meeting. It's a great way to see the neighborhood and the weather will be great!

Bird - 64 homes
Fuller - 86 homes
Hull - 71 homes
Delmas - 66 homes

Call Bill at 408-893-6684 if you can help.

Trick or Treat on Lincoln Avenue: Help Needed

The Willow Glen Business Association is very excited to coordinate the 2010 Trick or Treat event on Lincoln Avenue. Our goal for this year is to focus on safety and organization! To achieve this goal, we need volunteers to fill the position of Cross guards or Trail Monitors. You can volunteer for either one or both time slots. Let’s make this a safe event for San Jose’s children!

What: Trick or Treat Event on Lincoln Avenue
Where: Lincoln Avenue, Downtown Willow Glen
When: Friday, October 29th
Time Slots: 10am-12pm AND/OR 2pm-4pm
Positions Available:
Cross guards: 8 for morning shift; 4 for afternoon shift – adults only

* Stationed at key crosswalks
* Safely crosses trick-or-treaters
* Stops pedestrians to allow cars to pass in order to minimize back-ups

***Equipment: safety vests, whistle, stop sign or flag

Trail Monitors: 10-15 per shift

* Directs trick-or-treaters to follow trail (clock-wise)
* Informs trick-or-treaters and businesses that shift has ended
* Backs up cross guards as needed

Contact: If you are interested in volunteering for this event, please contact Cynthia Gutierrez at 298-2100 or cynthia@willowglen.org.

Help needed: flier delivery this weekend

We will have fliers later today for next week's NWGNA general meeting and are looking for flier delivery help around the neighborhood for this weekend.

Please call Bill at 408-893-6684 or email to bill@networds.com if you can help.

Kittens!

The Terry family on Spencer had two kittens show up just inside of their fence on Wednesday. It's possible that they've been abandoned, but it's also possible that someone was taking care of them and the momma kitty decided to find a new home. They are walking, but, not very steadily.

If you know of a good shelter that would take them, they would love to get the info. Or, if you want to adopt them, feel free!

Please contact john@foobert.com.

San Jose's redevelopment agency lays off 14 employees

See the article in today's Mercury News about the latest round of layoffs at the San Jose Redevelopment Agency.

"Among notable employees let go was Deputy Executive Director Abi Maghamfar, who helped oversee the popular Strong Neighborhoods Initiative and some downtown projects. Sal Alvarez, the interim Strong Neighborhoods manager who focused on several Eastside communities, also was on the list.

"Money for the initiative, which invests in neighborhood improvement projects, has been slashed from the new budget as Mavrogenes tries to focus his dwindling resources on big-ticket economic development projects such as the proposed downtown baseball stadium and a face-lift for the city's convention center."

Fresh & Easy planning one more store in the area

Fresh & Easy now says that they are adding another store in the area, this one in Sunnyvale. Their local stores are slated to open in early 2011, including the one at Bird and Minnesota.

If you would like to follow news about Fresh & Easy, check out  http://freshneasybuzz.blogspot.com/