Last week, City Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio gave his support to keeping Station #6 open even after #37 is built at its proposed location:

—–Original Message—–
From: Oliverio, Pierluigi
Subject: Re: [WGNA] fire station meeting 3/27

Dear eListers,

Normally I do not make comments on the eList as I respect its community aspect. However in this case public safety is important to me for our city and our neighborhood.

The staff presentation from the fire department is on the District 6 website under “staff presentations”

I stated at the public meeting Thursday I prefer to keep station 6 open at no ongoing labor cost by distributing the fire personnel between station 6 and station 37. (We will have small expenses for the extra station like utilities) To staff both stations fully would cost between 2.5 and 3 million every year.

There are currently 5 fire personnel at station 6 per shift. If station 37 were to open we would add 1 additional fire personnel per shift. I would suggest splitting the personnel between both stations for a few years and see how actual situations, traffic and response times workout. One station would focus more on the medical calls which are 80 percent of the calls in our area mostly because District 6 has the most people over the age of 70 that live by themselves in San Jose and many of them in Willow Glen.

Let’s hold onto the land because if we sell it for 800K after station 37 is open there will not be land available should we need to add another station later in Willow Glen.

The Council has made decisions that I voted against that would have fully funded this station without the sale of station 6 land.

Station 2 on the east side was planned for a 150,000 remodel however the council voted to spend 1.9 million on a complete rebuild ( I voted against)

When San Jose residents were polled about the upcoming budget the number one response was for the city to maximize its assets like property. We should look at reusing property for maximum gain with public benefit. So in contradiction to this the council voted to spend 2.26 million on nets for the Los Lagos golf course out of construction and conveyance tax funds. (These funds can be spent on parks, libraries, fire dept). This golf course loses money every year on top of the 24 million we spent to build it. I suggested to hold off purchasing the nets and put this item into the budget process because if we spend the money on the nets we will never look for a more profitable use of that land. We waited 9 years why not wait 3 more months for a full discussion. For example I suggested turning the golf course into soccer fields and retail which would be profitable and not spending the 2.26 million on nets. Council voted to purchase the nets ( I voted against plus we have 2 other public golf courses in SJ)

my hand is cramping now on my blackberry.

If you have any questions or concerns contact me directly (not via eList) at the email above or at 535.4906

Enjoy the balance of the weekend.

Pierluigi Oliverio

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Device
Please excuse brevity and misspellings.

Reprinted with permission. … WGx

The location, size and availability of the parking lot adjacent to Willows Senior Center at 2175 Lincoln Ave. have made the property San Jose’s top choice to build a new fire station in Willow Glen.

San Jose fire officials unveiled a preliminary plan to community members March 27 that includes turning the 204 parking spaces in the city-owned lot on the south side of the senior center into Fire Station No. 37. …

The Willows property is currently set aside for park use only. As a result, voters would have to approve it as a site for the fire station.

The earliest the project would be put on the ballot is November, Bohn said.

If the fire station is approved, construction is slated to begin in June 2010. If not, the search for a new site could delay the project for three years, Bohn said.

March 27, 2008 - Meeting started on time at 6:30 and lasted until after 8 PM. Tom Bohn, Deputy Director at City of San Jose, made the presentation.

The money to tear down Station #6 and build this one is coming from the Library Bond Measure “O�. It provides $6.4 million to build a brand new fire station. $800 will come from selling the old #6 Fire Station land to developers. It was stated that the money is not allowed to be used for anything else.

More research is planned before this becomes reality. Risk, Hazard and Value Evaluation, or RHAVE, is the program expected to show the impending effect of Signal Pre-emption, the technology allowing emergency vehicles to get through traffic signals faster.

It was stated that no evidence was found that having a fire station built next door to a property had any effect on its value.

The issue of noise pollution was avoided completely until questioned about it, and even then with evasion. Apparently, noise pollution is a sore spot with proponents, too.

San Jose officials have been thinking of asking voters to approve a host of measures concerning taxes, election rules, a fire station, even their own salaries.

But after seeing the more than $2 million price tag Wednesday for putting all those requests on the ballot, they’re having second thoughts. …

Suggested ballot measures include: …

• Approval to build a fire station on city park land.

Would a Station #37 be worth the expense? Go to the meeting tonight to find out!