October 2007
VOLUME1/ ISSUE 10
| DISTRICT 3 | October 2007 |
VOLUME1/ ISSUE 10 |
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Spirit of Japantown Festival 2007 |
Greening Our Neighborhoods Marni Kamzan is leading several dozen of her neighbors to install solar panels for their homes, but with a catch: they’re looking to leverage the power of the many. By coordinating the purchase and installation with several dozen neighbors, they’ll seek to negotiate a better price from one of several solar vendors. Our office has already hosted a meeting at City Hall for interested participants, so City staff and experts like Fat Spaniel’s Gordon Smith could inform them about the costs, permit requirements, and benefits of photovoltaic panels. We’ll host more meetings soon. If you have any interest in “going solar” with your neighbors, please contact Ragan Henninger at our office at ragan.henninger@sanjoseca.gov. Ragan can inform you about next steps, and insure that you receive the information shared by the group. Now’s the time to act: although panels continue to become less expensive and more efficient, tax credits and rebates may not last much longer. Residents have taken the lead in creating healthier communities in other ways. Last Saturday, I participated in a tree-planting effort led by Robert Abatecola, a resident of the Hensley Historic District. By providing trees along the perimeter, Robert sought to address the visual blight of a barren grocery store parking lot adjacent to his home. With the help of our office, Robert persuaded the store’s owners to regularly water and tend the trees. He obtained donated trees and expertise from a local nonprofit, Our City Forest, and its committed band of volunteers. He also recruited a couple dozen neighbors from the nearby Hensley, Northside, and the Horace Mann neighborhoods, and all generously enjoyed the fun, photos, and food. If you’re interested in leading a similar effort, check out www.ourcityforest.org, or call (408) 99-TREES. Along the Coyote Creek, resident Marley Spilman has spearheaded a dedicated team, Friends of Coyote Creek, who endeavor to restore the creek to its more pastoral state. The group organizes creek clean-ups and conducts educational outreach; best of all, they’ve got great T-shirts! Find out more by contacting Marley at spilogs@rawbw.com or look at http://www.nagleepark.org/focc/. Finally, a concerned Horace Mann parent, Sally Schroeder, recently started a recycling program at her child's school. Scroll down our newsletter to learn about Sally's efforts and how you can help other schools "go green." Thank you Marni, Robert, Marley and Sally in helping us make our communities greener, safer, and cleaner. We know there are many others out there like them – let our office know how we can support your efforts! Sincerely, Sam Liccardo |
Contact Us D3 Staff |
Plans to Calm Traffic The traffic calming group will include Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio as Chair, Jim Helmer, Director of Transportation; Captain Diane Urban and Lieutenant Jeff Smith with San Jose Police Department as members. After the traffic calming meetings are complete, the group will report to the City Council in December with suggestions and updates. To see the Citywide meeting schedule for traffic calming meetings or for more information visit www.sjcity.org.
VTA/Google Trip Planner Japantown Corporation Yard Update Demolition for the Corp Yard site is currently out to bid; details on the bid can be found at http://www.sjredevelopment.org/opportunities.htm. City staff is developing a plan to coordinate the demolition process with the community. In addition, there will be a community meeting before finalizing the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project so that community can give input to environmental issues before the document is certified by the City. The EIR report considers elements like traffic, sewage and water runoff, pollution, construction hours and material storage. Williams & Dame has posted a website that will provide project updates and information at www.japantowncorpyard.com. While the Japantown Corporation site is undergoing construction, one can visit and subscribe to email updates to maintain current information on the project.Williams & Dame architect recommends visiting www.pwpla.com to view the landscape firm they have used on past projects to get a feel for their potential work on the Corp Yard's future Japanese American landscaping. If you have any questions about the project and/or planning process, please contact one of the following representatives: City Planning Ron Eddow at Ron.Eddow@sanjoseca.go, Developer Trevor Rowe at Trevor@wddcorp.com or Neighborhood leader John Ristow at John.Ristow@sbcglobal.net.
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Neighborhood Annual Conference The UNSCC annual conference on November 17, 2007 brings all of these elements together. The conference offers an opportunity to network with your neighbors and take classes in topics such as; Home and Family Disaster Preparedness, Code Enforcement 101, Working with Elected Officials and Their Staff and Event Insurance and Risk Management. Registration is $10 before November 7th and $15 after, so register today at www.unscc.org.
San Jose Wins Most Walkable City Rate the Airport As A Neighbor |
Downtown Residents Compete in World Barbecue Invitational In August, the "155 South Bar-B-Q Team" won the Grand Championship at the West Coast Barbecue Championships in Fairfield. As part of the festivities at "The Jack," Bram and Matthew will take part in a parade of teams and will decorate their "California" cook site by proudly displaying the City of San Jose flag.
Horace Mann Elementary Goes Green In the coming year, Sally hopes to expand the recycling effort to include batteries and e-waste to help raise money for the school. Composting for a school garden may also be tackled in the near future. An ongoing obstacle is the school custodian job descriptions that do not mandate custodian participation in recycling efforts. Meanwhile, on a broader initiative the City of San Jose will host an upcoming "San Jose Go Green School Conference" within the 2007 Earth Summit conference. Public and private K-12 school teachers, faculty, parents, school and district administrators, school board members, custodians, students and other interested community members are invited to this special conference on November 3, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees will learn how schools can go green with; recycling, composting, school gardens, funding for green programs and much more. The cost is just $25 with a scholarship available to San Jose teachers, parents and principals. For more information, please contact sjgreenschools@sanjoseca.gov. Anyone interested in volunteering at Horace Mann Elementary to help with recycling should email Sally Schroeder at sallybschroeder@sbcglobal.net. Join Us at the Turkey Trot Benefiting Local Charities
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Halloween Neighborhood by Neighborhood General Safety Guadalupe Washington Neighborhood Association McKinley Bonita Neighborhood Association Gardner Community Center Northside Neighborhood |
New Bus Service Community Meeting The Route 11 community bus is coming to downtown. This exciting new service replaces VTA's larger 40-foot bus with small, more fuel-efficient 25 passenger buses. They are better able to circulate within local communities while serving downtown neighborhoods, schools, employment centers and other popular destinations. Our office, along with the VTA, Japantown Neighborhood Association and Downtown Residents Association will host this community meeting to gather input regarding suggested routes and stops. Walk to End Domestic Violence In recognition of October as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the City's 10th Annual Walk to End Domestic Violence is Friday, October 26, 2007. The program and victims tribute begins at 11 am with featured speaker Denise Brown, sister of Nicole Brown Simpson. The tribute will be followed by a 1.8 mile walk through downtown and ends with a community luncheon and resource fair in City Hall Rotunda. For more information call (408) 535-8101. Guadalupe Gardens Community Meeting This community meeting will discuss the future development of the Guadalupe Gardens and is an important part of the planning process designed to add detail to the Guadalupe Gardens master plan and strategy for implementing the next phase of development. One new element to be considered is the location of a possible future dog park within the Gardens area. Please RSVP to info@grpg.org or (408) 298-7657. Neighborhood Organizing Training This workshop will focus on different ways to identify neighborhood leaders and recruit participation in neighborhood group activities. Learn about the cycles of organizational development and how to create an outreach campaign. This includes coordinating one-on-one meetings and house meetings in your neighborhoods, which can increase the size of your organization. To register, contact the City of San Jose's Neighborhood Development Center at (408) 723-4114 or email ndc@sanjoseca.gov. Come support a great event and pick up wonderful gifts for the Holidays. For more information contact Patt Curia at (408) 294-6919 or email pcuria@sbcglobal.net. |
On Saturday, October 27, 2007 two local Naglee Park residents, Bram Britcher and Matthew Brailey, called the "155 South Bar-B-Q Team," will compete in the 19th Annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue. The competition is one of the most prestigious barbecue competitions in the world. Teams from across the United States and around the world compete in the categories of pork ribs, pork shoulder, beef brisket and chicken. To qualify for "The Jack" invitational, teams must have already won a competition in which 50 or more teams participated, or they must have won a competition of at least 25 teams that has been designated a "state championship." However, not only must these teams be culinary experts, they must be lucky. With more than 100 teams qualifying each year, and because of limited space, the names of qualifying teams go into lotteries to select the final competitors.
Holiday Crafts Faire presented by San Jose Woman's Club