JANUARY 2008
VOLUMEI1/ ISSUE 1
| DISTRICT 3 | JANUARY 2008 |
VOLUMEI1/ ISSUE 1 |
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Looking Back and Moving Ahead We spent much of the year working with our neighborhood leaders to establish the Neighborhood Advisory Group, which meets every month to set priorities and propose solutions on issues ranging from parks to traffic claming to gang prevention. Leaders from twenty-three neighborhoods participated in last week’s meeting. We look forward to seeing you on February 20th, at 6:30pm, in room 225 of the MLK Library, where we’ll discuss capital funding priorities for parks and neighborhood amenities. On that subject, we were able to move forward with some important projects throughout our neighborhoods in 2007, by securing funding to:
Of course, credit goes to my predecessor, former Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez, for getting the ball rolling on many of these efforts, as well as to neighborhood leaders and city staff who have worked diligently to advocate and push these projects along. The fruits of their collective efforts could also be seen with the opening of a new park in Bonita, the installation of antique-style lights and additional parking around Backesto Park, and the (soon-to-be-completed) construction of the Joyce Ellington Library. In 2007, we made a difference on several citywide issues, including our efforts to:
Obviously, we’ve got more work to do. In particular, we plan to be taking a proactive approach on gang violence, downtown medical care access, transit, and economic development issues in the coming year. We want to know about your priorities for 2008 and how we can serve you better. Please call us at (408) 535-4903, or send me an email at sam.liccardo@sanjoseca.gov, and let us know. I look forward to serving you in 2008. Sincerely, Sam Liccardo |
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Contact Us D3 Staff |
A Community Response to Gangs
The training is a great way to learn from experts on keeping your neighborhood, schools and communities safe. A Community Response to Gangs
For more information please download a flyer at: Neighborhoods' Can Efficiently File a Traffic Enforcement Report Visit https://www.sjpd.org/_forms/TEU_Request_Form.asp . The page will ask for your contact information, the problematic intersection, time periods that are troublesome, if it is a freeway area or residential neighborhood area, and other information useful to the police. Once you submit the information, the report will automatically log into the Traffic Enforcement Unit's system. The more specific and thorough the report, the more able SJPD will be to respond. Parks Update Watson Park The District 3 office and the Department of Parks and Recreations Services will present the Watson Park final draft Master Plan at a community meeting on February 7th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Upper Watson Annex. The meeting will include a dog park focused discussion. For more information please download the flyer at http://www.sanjoseca.gov/district3/newsletter/200801_watson_dog_park_cm.pdf Additionally, if you or someone you know would like to participate on a design subcommittee for the Watson dog park element of the master plan, please contact Marybeth Carter at (408) 793-4183 or MaryBeth.Carter@sanjoseca.gov . The subcommittee will work separately to provide input, review and comment on design plans. The Watson Park Master Plan graphic can be viewed on the City website at: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/prns/watsonpark/MPImage11x8.pdf. |
Japantown Corporation Yard’s Historic Roots City of San Jose Planning staff and Redevelopment Agency staff are working together with developer Williams & Dame, Japantown Community Congress and other Japantown stakeholders in planning the reuse of the Japantown Corporation Yard. The Corp Yard is in important part of downtown history with great ties to our cultural roots. During the late 1860’s the first Chinatown was built in San Jose on the intersection of Market and San Fernando, presently the Fairmont Hotel. Racism and hostility towards the Chinese dramatically increased in the 1870s and this sudden burst in racial sentiment led to riots and attacks on Chinatowns’ throughout the west coast. On May 4, 1887, Chinatown was completely destroyed by an arson fire. The San Jose Daily Herald stated, “Chinatown is dead. It is dead forever.” Just ten days later Chinese merchants and John Heinlen, a local businessman who leased land to Chinese people despite death threats, began working on plans for a new Chinatown at the current Corp Yard site. Heinlen owned the land bounded by 6th and 7th Streets, and Jackson and Taylor Streets leading the Chinatown to be known as “Heinlenville”. This time they built structures with brick, piped water and sewers and rectified a high wooden fence with barbed wire surrounding their homes.
In 1949, the Ng Shing Gung temple, the remaining structure of the Chinatown was demolished. The block was bought by the City of San Jose and used as a Corporation Yard, most known for housing the Del Monte Cannery. Many San Jose residents either worked or know someone who worked for the Del Monte Cannery at the Corp Yard. Today the site is being excavated as part of the demolition process by archaeologists from Sonoma State University who hope to find historical artifacts, as they did during the construction process for the Yu Ai Kai Senior Center, that can enlighten and remind us of our neighborhood and cultural history. |
Housing Education Seminars Courses are FREE and will focus on homebuyer education and foreclosure prevention counseling. The "First Time Homebuyer Orientation" course is an opportunity for attendees to learn about the home buying process and the benefits of NHSSV's down payment assistance programs. Other courses include "Foreclosure: What it is and How to Avoid It” and "Bad Loans: How to Identify a Predatory Lender.” The overall message is home buyer education is the key to finding the right home, keeping families safe and preventing foreclosure.
A total of 22 classes will be held in the SNI areas with each class covering these topics. It’s estimated the classes will serve over 500 people by the end of June 2008. NHSSV aims to fulfill its mission to improve the living environment of lower income families in the City of San Jose and its broader metropolitan areas. To download the schedule of classes visit http://www.nhssv.org/files/HEPflyerEng.pdf Santa Clara County Children's Report |
February NAG Meeting Location CHANGE Join Councilmember Liccardo and your neighbors at this monthly meeting of downtown neighborhood associations. The focus of the February discussion will be capital funding priorities for parks and neighborhood amenities. For more information about the meeting contact Khanh Bui at (408) 535-4932 or khanh.bui@sanjoseca.gov. |
Saturday Fun Walk In a true community-wide event Healthy Silicon Valley, in partnership with Selma Olinder Elementary School, is throwing a Saturday Fun Walk event at the Olinder Neighborhood Center. The event will feature two walks, 9a.m. and 11 a.m., along with a flea market and health fair. Adventures of Eddie Fung The MLK Library is proud to present a discussion with author Eddie Fung and Judy Yung featuring their new book, The Adventures of Eddie Fung. The book features his life from Chinatown childhood through World War II POW in Burma and after. For information visit www.sjlibrary.org. Artist Reception Local artist, Richard Tucker, will display his impressionist collection at a reception hosted by Café Pomegranate. Tucker was formerly homeless and lived in his car for 25 years, but with hard work and help from First Christian Church he graduated from San Jose State University with a BA degree in Art. Neighborhood Business District Summit Dinner & Keynote Join the Redevelopment Agency and San Jose’s Neighborhood Business District’s at their 2008 summit and dinner featuring a keynote address by Matt Roloff, from TLC’s “Little People Big World.” Roloff is an entrepreneur, author, businessman, advocate for the rights of little people and father of four. For more information, contact Teresa Faz at (408) 795-1853 or teresa.faz@sanjoseca.gov. Recycled Art in the Garden Begin spring cleaning early this year and attend a unique workshop on recycled art with Friends of Guadalupe River Park & Gardens. Start with an introduction to using “junk” materials and see a presentation of how others have turned their trash into timeless treasures. Then, use your own creativity to make something for your garden that will impress your neighbors and encourage great green practices. Some materials will be provided, but we would love for you to clean out your closets and garages – one person’s junk is another’s treasure. All workshops take place at the Visitor & Education Center located at 438 Coleman Ave, San Jose, CA 95110. Pre-registration is required. Call (408) 298-7657 to register. Have a Heart How many times will your heart beat during your lifetime? If you live to be 66 years old it could beat as many as 2.5 billion times! Join Friends of Guadalupe River Park & Gardens as we spend the time around Valentines Day discovering how our hearts work. Travel inside your body and take a closer look at how this muscle functions and compare your heart to those of other animals. Make a valentines craft to take home and show someone just how big and caring your heart is. Come on, have a heart! All workshops take place at the Visitor & Education Center located at 438 Coleman Ave, San Jose, CA 95110. Pre-registration is required. Call (408) 298-7657 to register. Parents need not be present during children’s workshops. An Historica Reconstruction of the Black Community in Santa Clara County The Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History at San Jose State presents an exhibit called "An Historica Reconstruction of the Black Community in Santa Clara County." The exhibit is sourced, in part, from the collection of N. 11th St. resident Bob Ellington and information in the Northside Neighborhood Association newsletter, which several years back ran an article on the neighborhood as the historical locus of San Jose's small but vibrant African-American community. For more information visit www.sjlibrary.org. |
St. James Park 
The new Chinatown quickly flourished and became the epicenter of Chinese immigrants’ lives. Chinatown contained a temple, numerous merchants, butchers, barbers and herbal medicine shops. Soon Chinatown began to grow on to adjacent vacant land, merging with the nearby Japantown. It was not until the 1920’s that the Chinatown population began to decrease as Chinese Americans who had grown up in Chinatown left the area. In addition, the Great Depression hurt the John Heinlen Company and in 1931 the company filed for bankruptcy. As a result, Chinatown was sold to account for the company’s debits. 
Starting mid-January, Neighborhood Housing Services Silicon Valley (NHSSV), the City of San Jose's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative (SNI) and other supporting organizations, will launch a Housing Education Program.