Meeting Report
PRESENT: Chair, Cindy
Chavez, Vice Char, George Shirakawa, Jr. Councilmember Pat Dando, Councilmember
Ken Yeager
STAFF: Jim Holgerson, Norm Sato,
Mark Linder,
Jim Norton, Ron Sato, Sharon Russell, Caroline Bloom
The
meeting was convened at 3:35 P.M.
The
following item was heard out of order.
b. Quarterly Progress Report on the new Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
(Library)
Sharon Russell,
Program Manager for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, introduced
Caroline Bloom, Fundraiser for the library and Ned Himmel, the Assistant City
Librarian Director. Sharon stated the mat slab pours would be completed by the
end of August. San Fernando Street will
be open again from the utility relocation by the end of August. Chair Cindy Chavez voiced her concerns over
the safety of the site. Sharon stated
the Redevelopment Agency and Gil Bane Construction Company have hired full-time
safety personnel and are issuing safety reports. Cindy stated she would like to
have a meeting with the Agency and Gil Bane as soon as it can be arranged too
discuss the safety program they have implemented. Given that the City will have other construction activities in
the downtown, a safety strategy needs to be established that works well. Councilmember Ken Yeager said he also has
concerns since San José State starts next Thursday and will compound the safety
issues. Ken requested a report on
safety issues be sent to the Committee by Friday, August 31 (two days after San
José State began) with their plans to improve safety around the construction
site.
Caroline Bloom,
Fundraiser for the Library stated we are in the quiet phase of the campaign,
which means they are going for the major donors. The strategy being that when about half of the money is raised,
the campaign will be taken public. She
also stated they are meeting their timeline, which calls for them to go public
with the campaign in the spring of 2002.
Caroline presented new released collateral material, and stated the
theme is “Learning for Life”, indicating that the library’s focus is on serving
children at their earliest ages through to the senior years.
Upon motion of
Councilmember Dando, seconded by Councilmember Yeager, the Committee accepted
the staff report with the following directives to Staff:
§
A meeting is set
with Chair Cindy Chavez and the contractor, Gil Bane Construction as soon as possible.
§
Once San José
State begins on Wednesday, August 29, a report is sent by Friday, August 31, to
the Committee on strategies to improve safety near the construction site.
a. Youth Commission Monthly Report (Parks,
Recreation and Neighborhood Services)
Mark Linder, Director
of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, presented the June Youth
Commission Monthly Report.
Upon motion of Vice
Chair Shirakawa and seconded by Councilmember Ken Yeager, the Committee
accepted the staff report.
b. Final Approval of the Blueprint for Bridging the
Digital Divide (Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services)
Jim Holgersson, Deputy
City Manager, discussed the “Blueprint for Bridging the Digital Divide
supplemental report. He stated that one
of the actions that was in the original memorandum indicated allocations of
$600,000 and the supplemental memorandum defers that allocation of dollars
until Council has had the opportunity to complete their review and accept the
plan.
Mark stated they would
come back in October with an allocation plan, if Council approved the
Blueprint.
Mark introduced Ron
Soto, Acting Deputy Director, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, to
introduce the Youth Commissioners and the presentation. (Presentation attached)
Ron stated that early
in the process they focused on a vision for the Blueprint. The Vision states that San José youth will
develop into healthy adults that will live, work, play, compete and thrive in
Silicon Valley. The Mission, which was
developed alongside the Vision, was to provide safe opportunities for youth to
be successful and productive.
The Youth
Commissioners, Alex Berger, District 3, Amy Lee, District 5, and Justin Imamura
, District 6, presented the outcomes, strategic goals and highlights of a
3-year plan objective. (Attached)
Councilmember Pat
Dando commended the group for their presentation and stated she was concerned
with some of the percentages quoted.
The first is that 60% of students do not feel safe in their schools and
the second was that 32% of Latino families do not believe Santa Clara County is
a good place to raise a family. She
asked for clarification on these two percentages. Ron stated it was a Santa Clara County study, done by the County,
as part of a report they gave. The
County is very large and very diverse and there are many perspectives. The
results themselves were from asking the question of how they felt about living
in the County. Pat stated that without
the specifics it is difficult to know what goals to set in order to try to rectify the problem. If 60% of our students are feeling
threatened or not safe in their schools we need to know very specifically why.
Prior to going to Council, Cindy requested more in-depth material for any of
the key questions from the survey.
Ken discussed the action plan that was handed
out and requested information on who had input into the action items so he
would have a general idea of who was involved.
He was also concerned at the number of action items and the possibility
of being unable to complete all of them.
Ron stated that the criterion for the action plan is that 85-90% are
items that have been scheduled into the Business Plan for this year. Their
desire was to align what they had planned and what had been funded with what
they expect of themselves with the new Vision.
Ron also said most of the items were underway. Their objectives would be met and within the context of where
they have invested, so that they maximize what they presently have. Ken requested information on the procedure
for accountability. Ron replied that as the Blueprint Implementation Committee
they would be in charge of the monitoring.
What we are dong is aligning
what we had planned and what we had funded and what we expected of ourselves
with the new Vision. He also said that
they would give updates on the Master Plan accomplishments for each objective
area and then any recommendations as to what is working and what is not. He stated they would be reporting back in a
year on each one of these to have a basis for the strategic plan for the second
year. Ron also stated the Youth
Commissioners will be involved in monitoring the results and at their next
meeting they will discuss how the Commissioners want to track these goals. Ron also said they are looking at an Oakland
program where the Youth Commissioners recruit youth to go out and do site
visits and do their own evaluations.
Cindy requested adding
timelines to the recommendations. When
the report is brought back to the Committee, she would like to see the top ten
issues they would like to test. There
is a need to bring the Master Plan for young people more alive and
present. Perhaps this means bringing
the entire presentation before Council.
By doing the presentation, we can align the Council in terms of priority
setting. Cindy also requested feedback
from the Youth Commission. She
asked that the Youth Commissioners’
feedback become part of the Youth Commission Reports. Cindy stated it is important to know who is the best person to
provide a service. There are
non-profits doing an unbelievable job working with parents, creating parents as
advocates and also as partners in learning, so that may not be a business we
want to go into. If someone in the
community is amazing at what they do, give them the results we are seeking and
let them do the work and not recreate the wheel. Cindy requested that
cross-cultural awareness in tolerance and anti-violence initiatives be brought
to the elementary school level. We also
need to be more proactive in meeting with the youth between the ages of 13 and
17 on what they would like the City to do, so money can actually be set aside to do these prior to the trend
ending. Pat stated that drag racing is
an issue in the City and some cities are setting aside streets for this,
listening to trends that are occurring and working with the youth is the key.
Justin asked to bring
“Tigerman” to San José. “Tigerman” is
non-profit and puts on a program promoting anti-violence. He has all the material and “Tigerman” wants
to come to the schools in San José – funding is the only issue. Cindy requested staff work with Justin.
Upon motion of Vice
Chair Shirakawa, seconded by Councilmember Yeager, the Committee accepted
Recommendation #1, Accept and approve the Blueprint for Bridging the
Digital Divide and directed Staff to forward this portion to Council for
action with the following inclusions:
§
Adding timelines
to the recommendations on the Action Plan
§
Bringing to the
Committee in-depth information on they key issues from the survey, i.e., 60% of
youth feel unsafe in their schools and 32% of Latino families do not believe
Santa Clara County is a good place to raise a family.
§
Procedures for
accountability on action items.
§
When reporting
back to the Committee, include the top ten things we would like to test, the broad ways that we are going to know how
you young people feel, regardless of
the category.
§
Report on top
ten issues from Action Plan staff feels need to be tested.
§
Bringing the
entire presentation before Council in an evening session on September 4.
§
Quarterly
reports to the Committee on the Youth Services Master Plan to include updates
on monitoring Action Items in the Blueprint for Bridging the Digital Divide.
§
Notify schools
collaborative and the City’s non-profit partners of the evening Council meeting
Staff was directed
to return to the Committee with Recommendations #2 and #3.
d. Skate Parks Update (Parks, Recreation and
Neighborhood Services).
Mark introduced Jim
Norman, Deputy Director for Recreation/Community Services who is replacing
Terry Eberhardt who is retiring. Jim
N. discussed the report which sole purpose is to update the Committee on what
they have been doing during the summer.
A focus group was form, which included a number of community members,
police, public works, youth commissioners and vendors. Their goal is to present
to the ENYS Committee on October 15 a strategy with the following
options/recommendations:
§
Cost for a variety
of options from a modest version to a full scale version
§
Recommendations as
to what other cities have found. as well as Council experiences in the
community.
§
Funding options
Skate Parks will have
to be brought out very carefully with the public that surrounds the sites. The group plans on working very closely with
the Council in selecting sites. Cindy
stated there needs to be mechanism in place to accelerate the process for
specialty opportunities, whether a dog park, a skate parks or BMX parks. It is important to be pro-active rather
than reactive. Jim said they will bring
their implementation plan before the October 15 ENYS Committee meeting and
before Council October 30. Cindy
requested assurance that once Council approves the “Implementation of Skate
Parks”, work on the skate parks begins
immediately. Cindy requested Staff to
begin their proposals for Skate Parks that were going to be built on City land,
i.e., Watson, so there will be no delay once the plan is approved by Council.
The report was
accepted with two (2) members present.
Upon motion of Chair,
Cindy Chavez, seconded by Councilmember Dando, the report was accepted with the
following directives to Staff:
§
Approval of
Final Draft for the Implementation of Skate Parks is brought to the October 15
ENYS meeting.
§
Request for
approval for the “Implementation of Skate Parks” is brought before Council on
October 30.
§
Proposals are
begun for Skate Parks on City-owned land prior to Council approval on October
30.
e. Distribution of Homework Center Funds (Parks,
Recreation and Neighborhood Services)
Chair Cindy Chavez requested this item be deferred to a Special Meeting
on August 28, 11:00 a.m.
f.
Oral Petitions
None
g. Adjournment
The Committee adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
Councilmember Cindy Chavez, Chair
Education, Neighborhoods, Youth and Seniors Committee