OK. Aside from completely throwing in the towel, WGx isn’t sure what to do anymore. And neither, apparently is WG’s own taxi-driving roving reporter Joann Landers.

In the past few days, she has filed two completely separate reports on two completely different accidents — both at the exact same intersection: Combine a curving two-lane road with an unofficial commuter cut-through, and the intersection of Hamilton/Pine & Hicks Avenue has been quite unsafe this past week.

Via her San Jose Metblogs website, Joann published pictures of a pedestrian accident on August 30:

A gentleman walking with his wife … was hit in the crosswalk, when a woman driving a white Toyota made a left turn from Hicks on to Pine. The gentleman, bleeding profusely from a head wound, was taken to the hospital via ambulance.

Another accident on September 4 included two cars, with one ending up upside down. Joann again published pictures.

Hey! Slow Down! … Here’s to safe week of driving in Willow Glen!

It may be a shocking headline … but the enemy is us.

Following the tragic death of a middle school bike-rider last June – run over by a parent picking up her own child from the same school – this year’s school opening week comes with an urgent safety message: Slow down!

The full court press comes from many sources, including the SJ Mercury News, bicycle safety training from SJPD, this week’s WG Resident, and SJUSD Superintendent Don Iglesias. Iglesias used a prerecorded voicemail message to remind parents to slow down and be safe:

I want to ask you to make safety a high priority for your child and all the other children who attend your neighborhood school. School zones are busy and hectic particularly at beginning and end of the school day. Please model safe behavior, so that all of our kids can have a safe journey to and from school
… There’s nothing more precious than the life of our children.

In an ironic development first “uncovered” by WGx, well-intentioned citizens across WG have been turned into criminals! … Either that or they are avoiding suspicion by canceling “Produce Exchanges” that had been planned between neighbors.

The growing – and suddenly illegal – trend of swapping backyard-grown fruits and and vegetables seemed like a good idea at the time, but is now under fire from the Santa Clara County Department of Agriculture: “Home gardeners within the quarantine zone are not allowed to move fresh produce or plants from their properties.” The non-fermented vegetable prohibition is the result of a quarantine in place to protect commercial farms from the Light Brown Apple Moth.

Just to make things more confusing, not all of the vegetable swapping options are verboten. Community gardens and school life labs are exempt from the sharing ban. Kevin O’Day from the County explains, via the WGNA eList:

… I think what may be a source of confusion on this topic are the provisions for those with plots at school or community gardens. These sites operate under a compliance agreement, are trapped and they receive a regulatory inspection on a 30-day cycle. Because of these safeguards, harvested produce is allowed to move freely out from the community gardens within the quarantine zone. This protocol is similar to that used for commercial growers with fields within the regulated area.

Thus, tonight’s exchange planned on Settle Avenue has been canceled.

And now the once-great idea will whither on the vine, along with some really great tasting tomatoes.

The Fire Station 6/37 debate – which needs a snappy nickname if you ask WGx – migrates in a less dramatic direction this week, with the publication of a City Council memo signed by Pierluigi Oliverio, Judy Chirco, and Mayor Chuck Reed.

Oliverio distributed the memo to community stakeholders late last week, and it will be addressed by the SJ City Council Rules Committee this Wednesday, August 20:

Please see the attached memo … requesting (1). that the San Jose City Council remove the potential sale of Fire House 6 from the budget and 5-year forecast (2). adopt a policy regarding selling, consolidating or closing any fire house in the city. Further, any sale, closure and/or consolidation will include using scientific data and extensive community outreach and council approval before a decision of selling, closing or consolidating a fire house is placed in the budget.

As many of you have been aware, the city placed the sale of Fire House 6 (located on the corner of Minnesota and Cherry Avenues in Willow Glen), in the City of San Jose budget last year without making the community or councilmember aware of their actions. Because the public safety bond money has been spent, the city wanted to sell Fire House 6 to help pay for construction costs for the new Fire Station even though current response data from the San Jose Fire Department does not warrant closing Fire House 6.

Following discussion by the Rules Committee, the idea of a new policy will be presented for council consideration at its regular meeting at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

The issue of fire station closures and capital budgets for new stations was the primary agenda item at last week’s WG Neighborhood Association meeting. Although the WGNA obviously leans toward opposing the closing of Station #6, they have yet to publish an official stance.

Everyone at the Music in the Glen finale last Thursday witnessed a tragic human drama, as one of the Kiwanis volunteers experienced a scary seizure while staffing the event.

Fortunately, paramedics were on the scene as part of the planned celebration, and others were able to respond almost immediately.

A WG community member recalls the moment on her weblog:

As we were ordering, the old Kiwanis Club man serving the food, began to collapse, his brain, you could see was being attacked — aneurysm? stroke? He fell to the ground right in front of me, shaking violently from the seizures that overcame him. I was horrified, frozen.

I couldn’t move back and I couldn’t move forward, I was trying to stay calm for the kids and people scurried to his side. …

The fire trucks and ambulance came and the music finally stopped. We all stood there stunned. The kids all wanted stickers from the fire fighters. The EMT was calling out, “Hurry!”

Samantha Fein had originally shared the event through the Twitter microblog system, and followed up with her full thoughts on Friday.

Of course, our thoughts and prayers are all with the injured man.

No, it’s not a fancy new reminder service provided by WGx … unless your own library books actually are due back today.

Today is the day that the new collection is set to arrive at the brand new Willow Glen Branch Library! The official Grand Opening is still scheduled for Saturday, August 23, 2008.

If you can’t wait until August 23, you can make a donation in support of the library, and join others for a special Donor Preview Event on August 20. There is still time to support the new branch and have your name — or the name of a business or organization — added to the donor wall at the entrance of the library.

• Donors at $100 -$999 will be listed on the Community Wall
• Donors at $1000-$4999 will be listed on the Legacy Wall
• Donors at $5000+ will be on the Laureate Wall

There are also opportunities to have specific areas of the library sponsored by individuals or businesses with special plaques thanking them. Contributions of $1000 and above can be paid over a three year period.

Please visit www.sjplf.org/donationform.pdf for the pledge form.

It’ll be just like the old fashioned drive-ins, right?

The Willow Glen Movie Night was so successful last year, that it will return this summer for a second showing, hosted by Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio. This time around, it’ll be “Cars: The Movie” (yeah, the Disney one), scheduled for 6:30 pm at Willow Street Park.

In August, I will be hosting my 2nd Annual Movie Night and Safety Fair at Willow Street Park. Last year’s movie night was a success. Over 500 residents came out to see Happy Feet and Schurra’s chocolates gave out complimentary candy. This year it will be held on August 29, 2008.

– Pierluigi Oliverio

By complete coincidence, WGx was on a tour of Bramhall Willow Street Park this morning. Note to Councilmember: If the movie is going to be shone in the amphitheater, you might want to turn on the sprinklers so the grass is alive by the end of August …

——

Also, if cars aren’t your thing — and you would rather watch bees — Oliverio is presenting a Rosegarden Movie Night a week earlier, on Friday, August 22. The RG equivalent will be hosted at the Rose Garden, featuring Bee Movie.

Realtor Holly Barr continues her ongoing WGx column with a twist this time around. During a quiet week for the home tour, she instead brings word of a Produce Exchange hosted by neighbors in the Rosegarden area:

Highlights of July 17, 2008 Willow Glen Realtor Tour

Tricky to find a theme this week. I did see a lot of unusual homes.

Just for the record if your third bedroom does not have a closet it is not a bedroom. Also, if your third bedroom is in a separate structure, like a garage, appraisers state that it is technically not a 3 bedroom house. I recommend you put a clear description of where that bedroom is.

On a neighborhood update note I went to the first neighborhood produce exchange. Well, the neighborhood was Rose Garden, but we are all neighbors right? Anyway, gotta love the idea. Basically you bring some produce in 2 to 4 lbs. bags between 4:00 and 7:00 and Cass has a table in her front yard. You trade what you brought for a mixture of the items other people brought. I brought two bags of large nectarines, I walked away with a big zucchini, some apples, plums and lemons. All organic and fresh let me know if you want to exchange produce next month.

Here are some interesting numbers about this past week in Willow Glen’s real estate scene:

• 10 sales last two weeks in area 10 (Mostly 95125)
• 229 active listings in Willow Glen this week 7/17/08

210 active listings is the gold standard for a sign of a healthy market for this area. The fact that we are consistently in the 230-240 range indicates Willow Glen to be a stable market.

If you ever have any questions about what I put here, or would like to see me take a different approach with this weekly summary of the tour, please let me know!

It hasn’t been a very good summer for WGHS, which is receiving undue negative attention following summer student violence over the last few weeks, potentially unraveling recent successes supported by the community.

As WGx mentioned earlier this month, summer school is in session through July 31, and that brings additional students from across the district into the neighborhood.

The district rotates its summer school location each year, and this is WGHS’s turn for the first time in six years. Students are attending voluntarily, but it is also true that attending students are recovering credits lost to poor performance during the regular year. Typically, students with serious discipline issues are not allowed to attend. Nonetheless, violence has occurred.

Recent violence related to SJUSD summer school hosted at Willow Glen High School has prompted the District and the City to increase police patrols and administrative presence on campus and around the WG neighborhood. A stabbing a few weeks ago, followed by a larger street brawl on Tuesday has raised the issue of student safety amidst the possibility of gang violence.

The district is responding, as posted this morning to the WGNA eList:

In the four and a half weeks we have been in session, there have been no violent incidents on campus during the school day. A recent incident after school and off campus, however, has caused us to increase the number of agencies involved daily on and around the summer school campus. These agencies have been on campus at various times throughout the summer but to ensure the safety of our students both on and off campus, we are working with the City to bring more services to the area.

For the remainder of the summer session through July 31st, The Safe Schools Initiative (a part of SJ Parks and Recreation department) will have people within the neighborhood to monitor student movement after school. The School Liaison Office, run through the San Jose Police Department, will visit the schools, as will “black and whites.” We have 5 administrators, 4 campus supervisors and 2 on-site police officers already at the school, monitoring student movement and activity. We will have District Office employees (including our own SJPD officer) in the neighborhood paying close attention to the bus stops at Cottle & Curtner, Pine & Newport, and Lincoln & Malone, making sure students are safe and acting appropriately.

Please know that this incident involved less than 1% of the students attending summer school and that the rest of the students are on task and focused on learning. No one, parents of summer school students, those who live in the neighborhood, nor District personnel wants a repeat of this incident and we will do everything with in our control to prevent it.

Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Donald V. McCloskey,
Director of Student Services,
San Jose Unified School District

As an ongoing initiative, the District continues to support an anonymous tip-line for inappropriate behavior (including graffiti, cheating, unsafe driving, bullying, and other concerns), that anyone may call: 886-344-TELL.

With the new library slated to celebrate its Grand Opening on Saturday, August 23, the San Jose Public Library Foundation is heading down the home stretch for donor solicitation to herald the event.

Many WG residents received letters last week detailing the features of the new library and inviting community members to be a lasting part of the library’s future:

Your Willow Glen neighbors are pitching in to help us make your new branch library a reflection of neighborhood identity, and one of the finest facilities of its kind in the nation.

Our story is not complete without you. Your generous donation will help us provide multimedia resources, books, technology and furnishings. Donors will be recognized in the library; for a gift of

• $100+ you will be honored on the Community Donor Wall
• $1,000+ you will be honored on the Legacy Donor Wall
• $5,000+ you will be honored on the Laureate Donor Wall

Please make your donation today. …