BUENA VISTA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION Minutes of the Meeting Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Meeting called to order at 7:09 PM
PRESENT: [18 people present] Brian Ward (President) Loui Tucker (Secretary) Larry Cress
Sally Henning Scott Hraban Brent Jensen Michael Larocca Brian Leipzig Shelby Palms
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Michael Larocca (Sherman Oaks meeting. He had come to personally thank BVNA members who participated in National Night Out. Michael also announced that the Bascom Library (and Community Center) was approved by the City Council after the bid protest. The contact went to the #2 bid. Construction will hopefully begin in the next few months.
MINUTES - Approved. TREASURER’S REPORT - Treasurer was not present, but sent a report
OLD BALANCE: $925.42 Income $20.00 Income $1,350.00 Income $120.00 Expense ($350.00) Expense ($213.92) NEW BALANCE: $1,851.50
PRESENTATIONS
Balance in the bank end of July Check waiting to be deposited (Home Tour brochure ad) Grant funds Home Tour tickets sales through Antiques Colony National Night Out contribution by BVNA to NAC One-night at Cliff Crest B&B given as Home Tour 2008 prize
Robin Rogers Robert Solis Jerry W hite Michael W hite Ruth White Sabine Zappe
Lara Tran (representing City Councilmember Pierreluigi Oliverio’s office) Jim Weston and Hong Cao (representing County Supervisor Ken Yeager’s office)
Community Association) was present but could not stay for the entire
Sheriff Clark (a five year veteran of the Buena Vista Neighborhood) spoke to the meeting and answers questions and addressed concerns.
There have been two stabbing in the County area - 1 on Willard and 1 at Scott/Leigh. Sheriff Clark feels there has been a change in gang activity. Five years ago the area was 95% Norteño (the ?red” gang). Now the area is split about 60%-40% between Norteño and Sureño (the ?blue” gang).
A San Jose Police representative arrived and the two officers continued to address community questions and concerns.
It was agreed that 425 South Willard ?is a dump.” The Sheriff has been out repeatedly to the address. The landlord will rent to anyone and the landlord is the problem because there is no accountability by the landlord or the tenants.
Funding has been cut and will probably continue to be cut with the current City and State budget crisis, so many programs that would help the neighborhoods are being eliminated or cut back.
Both law enforcement officers commented that the BVNA is a positive influence and factor in the area.
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Page 2
SJPD advised us that if we look at on-line reporting of crimes, we should be aware that reports such as rapes are listed where they are *reported* not where they occurred. Therefore, the area around hospitals always appears to have a high rate of rapes reported. The rapes are *reported* at the hospital.
STATUS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Lan Tran, from Councilmember Oliverio’s office and Jim Weston and Hong Cao (new liaison from Ken Yeager’s office to the BVNA) representing Supervisor Yeager’s office being present, members offered their input and observations regarding activities and circumstances in the Neighborhood.
Brian Leipzig expressed thanks for dealing with the ?renter from Hell” on Laswell. There was evidently an illegal massage business being operated on the premises.
Thank you expressed by Sabine Zappe for getting the crossing assistance at Race and San Fernando by St. Leo’s school The crosswalk was painted and lights were installed.
Thank you from Sally Henning for keeping an eye on Buena Vista Park.
Shelby Palms express concern about people going through recycling bins put out on the street. It was confirmed that, once the recyclables are in the bins and on the street, they
technically belong to Waste Management and people going through the bins are technically stealing from Waste Management. However, Loui Tucker commented that people who are bad off financially that they have to resort to recycling as a source of income can hardly be prosecuted for it. She recommended anyone bothered by the noise and/or mess to pre-sort the recyclables that are worth money (aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles) and put them in a separate bag next to the bin. That way people who would ordinarily rifle through the contents of the recycling bin can just take the separate bag and move on.
The underpass over Moorpark by Valley Medical Center (reported as being encrusted with bird droppings last month), is a Caltrans issue. The County will be power-washing to get rid of the mess now, but it will continue to be a problem unless Caltrans does something, like put spikes on the ledges which make it difficult for the birds to roost.
Landscaping on Bascom just south of the bus stop at Moorpark is planned and should happen this month or next.
Sign for Window Tinting that are being put up around the neighborhood are usually coming down as fast as they can be reported. If you see one, send an email with the location to Loui and she will pass it along to the City or County staff responsible for dealing with them.
There are two old green mailboxes on Race Street near Park Avenue. They are graffiti magnets and are not being used the Post Office. Can they be removed? Lara Tran will look into the situation.
At 415 South Willard there were plans to demolish the home on the property and put up 5 condos. Now they appear to be fixing up the house possibly to sell it. If they can sell the property they will. If they can’t the owners have said they would rent the home and build condos on the back half of the property.
Across the street from 415 South Willard, they were going to put in 12 condos. After protests by the neighborhood, it was reduced to 9 condos. Now, reportedly, the plans show 12 condos once again.
The apartment complex at Willard and Douglas was a new paint job and the bad tenants have been evicted. This is said to be a ?responsible landlord.”
The apartment complex at Scott and Willard is being fixed. New garage doors are already in place and the old appliances are being torn out and replaced. Lots of sheetrock and wood in the front yard waiting to be hauled away.
One of the trees planted during the landscaping last year on Scott has died – on the south side of Scott near Willard. Since this was a cooperative effort between the City and the County, someone needs to determine whose responsibility it is to replace the dead tree.
The Quiznos in the building on the northwest corner of San Carlos and Meridian is gone. The owners could not deal with the lack of parking, despite efforts to have curbside service if people called in orders.
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Page 3
MISC. OLD BUSINESS
1. Buena Vista Park Expansion The purchase of the land for the Buena Vista Park extension was passed by the City Council on
August 5. The next meeting of the BVNA will be about the Park, and will provide an opportunity for public input. More trees? More benches and grass? A soccer field? The cactus currently on the lot will be removed and the old tree will be replaced. The electric box cannot be moved so the park will be built around it. Once the plan for the park is in place, a contract will be put out for bid and the awarded.
2. The Meridian-W est San Carlos Project The meeting originally scheduled for August 20 was moved to Wednesday, September 10 at 6:30
PM before the San Jose City Planning Commission. One major item being considered is a left turn on Meridian into the complex, in order to limit visitors turning left onto Douglas and driving through the neighborhood to get to the entrance on West San Carlos. The developer is claiming that this left turn from Meridian will mean only 3 more cars per day will be turning onto Douglas. However, the study that shows this was paid for by the developer, which brings into question the validity of the study. A light a Douglas is warranted, but nobody wants to pay for it. There are still 218 units being planned for the complex.
3. 513 Page Street The property at 513 Page Street is long laid dormant (since 2002). The permit to build will soon
lapse so there is a director’s meeting for September 10 at 9:00 AM to decide if the permit can be extended. This complex as originally proposed had tandem parking, something the BVNA is on record as opposing. There is no signage on the property as required, so there is some question as to what other steps and procedures were skipped. The design on the website the developers put up appears to be the same as the old design: remove everything on the property and replace it with 4 new buildings with tandem parking for the residents.
4. Fiesta Lanes Development Not much is happening right now. The developer is making agreements with the homeowners on
Sierra, North Buena Vista, and North Willard to put in their new fences. The abandoned houses for sale that are across the street from the new townhomes on North Buena Vista have been painted and minimally landscaped in order to make the area more attractive to buyers.
5. VTA-Sunol Development The developer Green Republic is still on record as ?wanting it all.” There will undoubtedly be a
protracted battle between the developer and the neighborhoods.
6. Annexation September 23 at 1:30 the annexation process will be started by the City Council. Step #1 is a formal declaration that ?The City wishes to annex Such and Such.” Step #2 will be on October 21 at 7:00 PM when they will pass a resolution ordering annexation. Step #3 will be for the County to say ?Yes, you can have Such and Such.” Step #4 the Board of Equalization has to agree to the exchange. Step #5 the paperwork returns to the County for sign-off Step #6 the paperwork goes to the County Recorder for filing And the land in question becomes part of the City of San Jose. According to some sources, this
could all be done by the end of November 2008! However, there are several points along the way when the annexation process could be halted. BVNA members are encouraged to write emails to City and County representatives.
7. ION Project (Improve Our Neighborhood) It was suggested that the BVNA could write ?Bravo!” letters to homeowners and landlords who are
fixing up their properties - such as the apartments at the corner of Scott and Willard, or the property at 415 S. Willard, or the property at Menker and San Carlos. Loui Tucker said she had the letter on her computer that was written to the owners of the property on Menker next to the park to thank them for fixing up their
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Page 4
property. If someone will provide her with the address of a fixed up property, a similar letter could be sent to those owners.
8. Newsletter The BVNA has not published a newsletter in almost a year. Robert Solis and Loui Tucker have
been the primary contributors in the past. If anyone has a suggestion for articles or would like to write an article, they should submit ideas and articles to Robert Solis.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be Tuesday, September 30 at an as yet undetermined location. Because the meeting will involve community input about the Buena Vista Park, it will probably have to be at a more ?public” venue such as Burbank School or Sherman Oaks Community Center.
Adjourned at 8:25 PM
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