June 1, 2006

LOCAL MEETINGS

Yeager convenes tree meeting

District 6 City Councilmember Ken Yeager will hold a community meeting on Thursday, April 6 to share the latest proposed revisions to the illegal tree removal ordinance and gather input from the public. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.

In addition to Yeager, the Departments of transportation, planning, building and code enforcement will be there.

To obtain further information or to access the staff proposal, visit www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/CommitteeAgenda/Rules/030106/Rules030106ItemG1.pdf.

For questions, contact Tony Filice at Tony.Felice@sanjoseca.gov or 535-4957.

MetroED offers vegetable garden workshop

The Metropolitan Adult Education Program (MAEP) is offering a free new World Garden Workshop for gardeners on April 8 at the Erikson Adult Center located at 4849 Pearl Ave, San Jose.

Master Gardener Susan Zaslaw will lead the Summer Vegetable Gardening workshop from 10 a.m. to noon in room 18, rain or shine. The free workshop will teach gardeners of all skill levels about the vegetables that grow best in our valley’s climate, characteristics of plants, buying plants, transplanting, seeding in the garden, special hints and pests.

To register for the workshop, call 723-6450 or e-mail ritab@metroed.net.

Lincoln Avenue BevMo discussion tops WGNA agenda

The Willow Glen Neighbor-hood Association spent much of its March board meeting discussing the possibility of Beverages and More coming to Lincoln Avenue (see related story, page 5).

President Ed Rast noted that there were 78 e-mails discussing the matter with about 50 percent for and 50 percent against. He also described the March 2 community meeting held by the Planning Department to discuss the matter. Concerns, he noted, had to do with yet another liquor store in close proximity and competition amongst the existing stores as well as health and safety for the community and its families and adequate parking.

On the other side, board members and some in the audience mentioned that if too many businesses get turned down by the community, it might scare other businesses off. “San Jose losses 25-30 percent to other cities. We are under funded on services. The city is looking at getting more businesses to operate and more people to shop within the city limits,” said Rast.

The board expressed concern in three areas: an over-concentration of liquor/wine stores, they would prefer the store to carry more items other than wine, beer and spirits and parking.

In addition, some on the board noted that Willow Glen is perceived in the business community as a hard place to have a business.

On the other hand, according to several audience members, there is already too much traffic on Lincoln Avenue and a chain store would get away from the small town atmosphere of Willow Glen. Then there is the parking problem.

But others attending the meeting noted that most people walk downtown Willow Glen. No person walking is going to go into BevMo and purchase a case of wine—it’s just too heavy.

In the long run, Rast suggested that people consider how the store would impact the quality of their lives before making a decision.

Finally, the board decided to remain neutral. First, this type of question belongs in the lap of the business association rather than the neighborhood association. “We should remain neutral,” said former board president Helen Solinski. “We shouldn’t take a position, but we should encourage people to write letters and tell them to be present at the planning commission meeting.”

Noise
Several people at the meet were there to ask for help with noise problems. First, a neighbor of the American Legion Hall, who has written letters, contacted the police and planning departments about the noise to no avail.

On weekends, he noted music blares, there are boom boxes, live bands and sometimes deejays. “We can’t stay in our house because it’s vibrating so badly from the music. We’re thinking about moving because we can’t have a quiet weekend,” he said.

The Alano Club is still a problem, noted another member of the audience. “There is no leadership and no accountability at the club. We know it serves an important purpose, but when it destroys our quality of life it’s not right.”

Rast noted that he planned to work with the city and see if they couldn’t come up with abatement measures for both situations.

The next WGNA meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 12 at the Willow Glen Baptist Church, 1292 Minnesota Ave. at the corner of Minnesota and Hicks. The agenda had not been posted at press time.