Today
	Missing Man May Be Near WG - A substantial police presence including multiple squad cars and a circling helicopter... http://ow.ly/15GHXr [#] — 11:31am via Twitter

A substantial police presence — including multiple squad cars and a circling helicopter — rolled out Wednesday night along Meridian Avenue between Interstate 280 and the Los Gatos Creek Trail. Search teams were looking for a missing Campbell man, who was separated from his family in downtown Campbell on Tuesday night.

Authorities had detected a “ping” from his medical bracelet, but they were unable to locate 63-year-old Ross Abinanti, who suffers from dementia:

Campbell police have issued an updated urgent alert regarding a missing Campbell man with severe dementia who has not been seen for more than a day and who is likely wandering around without his medications. …

Abinanti is described as a white man, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 270 pounds. He was last seen wearing a plain white baseball cap, a dark gray polo-style shirt with vertical stripes, khaki shorts, white socks and tennis shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Campbell Police Department at (408) 866-2101.

WGx is not short on stories about the historic Garden Theater on Lincoln Avenue, and so it’s fun to add one more, courtesy of this week’s Metro, where Gary Singh reviews the latest historical release in the Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing.

Theatres of San Jose (Images of America) begins with early theaters and 5-cent movie houses before moving on to the glory days of San Jose movie palaces from the 1920s to the 1940s. Back in those days, downtown San Jose was a thriving locale, filled with theaters and retail. The streets were always jammed. People flocked to places like the Mission Theatre, the Liberty Theatre and the Jose Theatre, which is now the San Jose Improv.

… the book tells a few stories of theaters that never actually happened. For example, consider the legendary southwest corner of Bascom Avenue and San Carlos Street, where one finds Time Deli, Alex’s 49er Inn and Saver’s thrift store. On page 87, Parks reveals an artist’s rendering of what was supposed to be the original Garden Theatre–right in the middle of that quarter-circle strip mall. Otto A. Deichmann designed the theatre, but eventually the plans gave way and the Garden Theatre opened in Willow Glen instead.

In his review, Singh highlights one more landmark theater that undoubtedly used to call to patrons from Willow Glen:

The last chapter, “Domes and Starlight,” depicts the last vestiges of San Jose’s drive-in era, with haunting images of such forgotten landmarks as the El Rancho Drive-In, which in 1950 opened at 1505 Almaden Road. Today, El Rancho Liquors at Almaden and Alma sits right across from where the drive-in used to be.

WGx has been spreading the word about the “Help a Mother Out” diaper-collection bin being hosted downtown over the last few weeks, so it’s exciting to see the organization getting attention for other sources.

Their latest effort will be a live, in-person collection event on Wednesday, July 1, with a goal of gathering 1000 diapers between 5:00 and 7:00 pm.

Here’s an update from world-famous WG resident Janet Fouts, hosted by SJ MetBlogs:

Hey! It’s hot! The National Weather Service has declared an “Excessive Heat Warning” through Sunday night for the SF Bay Area.

In response to the high temperatures forecast for this weekend – plus the “Spare the Air Day” already declared for Saturday – the City of San Jose is opening it’s city-wide “Cooling Centers” on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Willow Glen Senior Center will be open 12:00 noon to 8:00 pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

Cooling Centers will be open in the community. The Centers will be open until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Temperatures ranging from the mid-90’s to low 100 degrees are forecasted throughout Santa Clara Valley.

Elderly persons, small children, chronic invalids, those on certain medications or drugs (especially tranquilizers and anticholinergics), and persons with weight and alcohol problems are particularly susceptible to heat reactions, especially during heat waves in areas where a moderate climate usually prevails. Please take proper precautions and recognize the symptoms.

Keep cool … and check on your neighbors!

Willow Glen’s Stone Church, located on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Clark Way, is hosting a electronic waste recycling event this Saturday!

Girl Scouts to Hold e-Waste Collection Drive

The Girl Scout Troop that meets at Stone Church is holding an e-Waste Collection Drive on Saturday, June 27, between 9 am and 3 pm, at the church. … A dropoff table will be on the Patio for collection. Thank you for supporting this effort, which benefits both the Girls Scouts meeting in our facility and Stone Church.

The waste collection is being managed by ASL Recycling, based in San Jose. They accept televisions, computers, laptops, microwave ovens, and a long list of recyclable e-waste items.

If that’s a sudden turn-around for your own personal e-waste disposal plans, mark your calendars for July 25, for the next local e-waste collection event at Willow Glen High School.

It’s that time of year. No sooner does WGx — and its local Twitter Force — wrap up “coverage” of Downtown Willow Glen’s “Dancin’ on the Avenue” … that many of the locals start complaining about the annual event.

The crux of the problem: The street party seems to appeal to a broader audience than the family-friendly social networks of WG residents.

Among the complaints voiced on the WGNS elist:

• Extra parking and traffic on neighborhood streets.
• Get there too late, and the locals are already gone.
• Fewer stages — and less musical variety — than years past.
• Trash and empty bottles scattered on streets well beyond Lincoln Avenue.

And, on the other hand …

• Many who went reported a “great time had by all.”
• Great music, good food and lots of fun.
• Friendly and responsible SJPD presence.

And WGx isn’t sure which side of the fence this falls on, but at least one person complained that they ran out of wine.

UPDATE: DOTA isn’t being well-reviewed on Yelp at the moment either. Only 1.5 Stars so far …

——————–

Whew! Now that that’s over, everyone can move to the next big musical festival, the weekly Music in the Glen concert series, which launches July

Curious what’s going on Downtown on Saturday night for the annual Dancin’ on the Avenue street party? Courtesy of local Willow Glen Twitter users, WGx is hosting live coverage of the event.

To join in, use or follow the #wgDOTA hashtag in your updates. Or read on …

Today’s edition of the San Jose Mercury News names WG High School (graduated) senior Marcus Mancuso to the paper’s all-star volleyball team:

Mancuso earned most valuable player honors in the Mount Hamilton Division and then backed it up with a dominating performance in the playoffs, leading the Rams to their first Central Coast Section championship. He had 24 kills in a CCS semifinal win over Harker and added 24 kills and nine digs in the Division II title match against Valley Christian. “He basically willed us to the win in the championship,” Willow Glen Coach Jef Wind said.

The mercury also singled out other Rams for “honorable mention” in boys volleyball, including setter Greg Belgum, Willow Glen and outside hitter Joe Davis.

WGHS varsity volleyball coach Jef Wind was also named the team’s honorary coach:

In his 11th year coaching the Rams, Wind led his team on an undefeated run through the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mount Hamilton Division. Then the Rams won their first CCS title by defeating Harker in the semifinals and Valley Christian in five games to win the Division II crown. Known for his laid-back approach and Hawaiian shirts, Wind is nonetheless a fierce competitor, and his team took on his persona. “Coach Wind is real fiery,” senior Marcus Mancuso said. “He’s tough, but he knows what he is talking about.”

Congratulations to Marcus, Joe, Greg, and Coach Win!

Summertime is “construction time” at Willow Glen High School.

Even before they’d sent the Class of 2009 on their way, crews at WGHS had already begun demolition of an old building in preparation for building a new one.

The architectural rendering below shows what the Building X and the remodeled Building W – which will be new state of the art science buildings – will look like when finished. The school also gets a new quad area with landscaping for students to gather in between the two buildings.

In addition to these buildings, both the High School and the Middle School will be painted during the summer, with a new, warmer color palette.

The long, dusty, bumpy wait is over. Pedestrians can now walk the length of Bird Avenue in Willow Glen on actual sidewalks.

Believe it or not, the City of San Jose actually maintains a “Sidewalk Gap Database” … and an 80-foot stretch of dirt on Bird Avenue south of Willow Street has been on it for a while — since at least 2006, when many residents made a concerted effort to fill the gap.

Three years — and countless emails and phone calls later — the sidewalk is complete. Kara Sjoblom-Bay celebrated it on the WGNA eList, and many other residents can share the credit, along with the local council member’s office.

View Where the Sidewalk Used to End in a larger map

As early as 2006, WG resident Mary Ellen Petrich wrote to the City seeking 80 feet of cement:

I’m concerned about the sidewalk gap at 1197 Bird Avenue south of Willow, so I’ve contacted the city of San Jose. It turns out that there is a Sidewalk Gap program, for sidewalks that were never put in.

If you want all the details, you can see my web page at:
http://www.make-do.org/Sidewalk/Index.htm

There is no sidewalk at 1197 Bird Avenue on the west side of Bird Avenue between Willow Street and Cristina Avenue, approximately 80 feet in length. … This house is close to many pedestrian destinations, and that sometimes the wet, muddy trail forces pedestrians out into the busy street.

The City estimated the home along this stretch of road is an early 1900’s era house, built long before modern building codes that require sidewalk construction.

Despite this success — and perhaps illustrated by the total elapsed time — current funding levels for the Sidewalk Gap program allow the City of San Jose to construct three to four sidewalk projects of up to about 250 feet in length annually. But the database contains more than 100 requests. Projects like this one can cost anywhere from $50,000 (for projects with few easement and right-of-way issues and simply sewer upgrades) up to $300,000.