With the fate of Fire Station #6 now apparently separate from the Station 37 question, we have the November ballot measure to ponder. WGx wonders what the response will be from the rest of the city to the public safety priorities of the Cambrian and Willow Glen neighborhoods.

In response to the unsavory possibility of closing one station to open another, the City of SJ did formally adopt an official policy on closing fire stations. In theory, this preserves Station 6 for years to come, although that doesn’t make the Hose Wagon feel any better.

Mixed in with a Presidential ballot, a statewide debate on gay marriage, and a variety of school bonds, the parkland-for-fire-station question will probably get little consideration beyond a cursory one.

Since WGx World HQ is much closer to the Senior Center than it is to the current Station 6, officials can expect at least one “yes” vote in November …

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.

Another of those “only in San Jose” political dramas is unfolding before your eyes this week, with Councilmember Oliverio recently asking the Council to reconsider it’s earlier vote putting proposed Fire Station #37 on the November ballot. It’s not quite Little Saigon, but …

Consider This: WG residents along with the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association are actually lobbying against building a new fire station. (more…)

Remember that whole sycamore hullabaloo last year? The guilty party in the tree-cutting fiasco has quietly moved on, and the property has apparently completed escrow for sale to a new buyer.

At least that’s what we are all left to assume. Real estate agent Terry Kelly has remained secretive about the sale, and never returned WGx phone calls. Other realtors have also noted Terry’s silence on the property.

So, it’s sold. WGx – and undoubtedly the neighbors along Willow and Camino Ricardo – can’t wait to read the next chapter.

The famous WG Hose Wagon will soon be history.

Whether or not the firefighting relic was worth it, this morning’s SJ Mercury bills this aging piece of fire-fighting equipment as the primary reason that Pierluigi Oliverio was the lone dissenting vote as the rest of the City Council approved of the City Budget last night:

The only council member to vote against Reed’s budget plan was Pierluigi Oliverio. Normally an ally in Reed’s effort to solve San Jose’s chronic deficits, Oliverio opposed plans to eliminate an outdated fire hose wagon in his district and reassign three firefighters.

Oliverio’s alternative proposal, to come up with the expected $368,000 to keep the wagon by closing the Willow Glen library in his district one day a week, garnered no support.

“I’m a little speechless at this point,” a disappointed Oliverio said.

But Councilwoman Judy Chirco said the city’s fire chief had stated the proposed staffing and equipment changes would not affect firefighter response.

She also noted that Oliverio had not sought community support for reducing library hours.

Ouch. Chirco is correct that Oliverio has taken some heat for the library proposal from members of the WGNA eList, although quite a few constituents understand the difficult decisions that needed to be made to close the budget gap.

On the other hand … from here in WG, it looks like our Councilmember’s efforts to honor other districts and respect the integrity of the entire city — rather than support the “mini-mayor” concept that has been the de facto operating standard for the City — have backfired. Dropping five hours of library service in the name of emergency medical services seems a reasonable trade-off, especially while the City debates a new Fire Station #37. WG will be the last new fire station built under an earlier bond measure, and full funding has evaporated as other districts have had their fancy stations built. So it’s unfortunate (and ironic) that Oliverio’s lone effort to protect services in his own district fell on deaf ears.

Oliverio’s response to the eList — via Chief of Staff Denelle Fedor — is reproduced in the comments below.

Amidst all of the Budget Circus playing out this week at San Jose City Hall, fire station sare on the minds of a lot of WG neighbors. For those of you keeping score at home, the Station 6 Hose Wagon is likely to be discussed this afternoon at the Council’s 2:00 session.

In what amounts mostly to a procedural motion, the San Jose City Council will vote this Thursday morning** to place a question on the ballot regarding the proposed Fire Station #37, which could be built next to the Willows Senior Center.

The ballot measure is required in order to convert the designated — but unimproved — “park land” to a fire station. Following voter approval, SJFD will proceed with feasibility studies and response time assessments for the areas surrounding the proposed station and the existing Fire Station #6.

Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio supports putting the measure on the ballot, but so far insists that Station 6 should remain open under any future scenario:

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.

The hyper-local Lincoln Court blog discusses the station’s potential impact on the Senior Center, and comes out against the new station:

The Willows Senior Center has been threatened in many ways before and has always pulled through due to the actions of its members. I’m not suggesting that what the San Jose City Council is doing next week is a threat to the center, but it’s worth considering. They plan to build a large fire station next door and close the current fire station #6 on Minnesota. The reasons they give are that it is needed to better protect the Cambrian Park area, AND they can get the park land virtually free!

Next week, … San Jose City Council plans to put it on the ballot. Once that happens it is expected to pass because no one outside this area cares. I agree with our District 6 Councilman about keeping #6 open, but he still wants to give away the park land. I suggest we insist that the city look for land to buy, and build a smaller station elsewhere.

** The City has recently changed the date for consideration by the Council. The ballot question will now be heard on Thursday morning, June 19, at 8:30 am.

Another fire station might be coming to Willow Glen. SJFD Fire Station #37 — proposed to replace the parking lot along Lincoln Avenue next to the Willows Senior Center — will be the topic of a preliminary community meeting on Thursday, March 27.

The City of San Jose invites you to a Community Meeting regarding new Fire Station #37

Please join the City of San Jose Fire Department for an overview and community discussion regarding a new Fire Station proposed to be located adjacent to the Willows Senior Center.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 @ 6:30 p.m.
Willows Senior Center

But it’s only in the site selection stage, so don’t go counting your emergency response times just yet … although a closer fire station would have been helpful last summer. And the new fire hydrants along Curtner are just a coincidence of course.

At this community meeting, City and SJFD staff will present their plans for existing City lands. The proposed site fronts Lincoln and is a portion of the Willow’s Senior Center site currently used for parking. The Senior Center and adjoining park will remain intact. Staff will present a diagram of the proposed land use and describe the general project scope, timeline and operational benefits on Thursday.

But according to Pierluigi Oliverio’s office, the new station would occupy a portion of the Willows parking lot (facing Lincoln to the left), and would require voter approval since it would replace set-aside park land. The new station would augment or replace existing Station #6, and add an additional fire fighter (from 5 to 6) to the neighborhood service.

While any talk of a “capital project” is at least two-year’s premature, the City does list Station #37 on its Capital Project Management System.

There will undoubtedly be lots of questions:

Aside from the cost of the property, why wouldn’t the City consider acquiring the parcel on the corner of Curtner & Lincoln, and put the new fire station there? That corner has hosted a school, a grocery store, and most recently a gas station. Anything would be an improvement over the vacant lot and chain link fence.

Where will SJPD set-up their Senior Center speed trap, if the fire station occupies the parking lot?

So, we’ll wait for the meeting. … and then the political process? (more…)

The news passed rather quietly last weekend, but voters in San Jose’s District 6 won’t have much to do on June 3 …. incumbent Pierluigi Oliverio is the only candidate for City Council.

The filing deadline for candidates was last week, and Oliverio is unopposed. Other city districts will have some interesting races, but not here.

Oliverio has had a fairly uneventful term replacing the departed Ken Yeager, and has been just as visible in the community as his predecessor. The WG Times recently published a review of his first year, and he continues to engage with citizens across SJ with his weekly SanJoseInside column.

WG voters who live east of Meridian Avenue will still get to vote on the Santa Clara County Supervisor’s race to replace Blanca Alvarado, but George Shirakawa Jr seems to be the only candidate with a realistic shot.

At least we’ll still have some online polls to complete …

Hey, is anyone gonna chop down the Lincoln Avenue Stump? On this Super Bowl Sunday, WGx is taking bets on its over-under prospects. How long ’til someone puts it totally out of its misery?

Sure, it used to be a tree … and a few big branches did fall off during January’s big storm, but did it deserve to be clipped so mercilessly?

It may not be an infamous sycamore tree, but it is part of a residential property, squeezed in between two commercial buildings on Lincoln Avenue, just south of Malone. Just across the street, a horribly-pruned, multi-stumped tree awaits city permits to bulldoze the whole building.

If the homeowner won’t chop this one all the way down, maybe the city can help. Or maybe the owner of the no-longer-obscured billboard can chip in to cover some of the cost.

It’s an annual debate in Willow Glen, fought between Christmas and the Epiphany (aka January 6): Do you take the holiday lights down right away, or do you wait for the end of the 12 Official Days of Christmas (aka Christmastide)? Will the storm brewing for this weekend hasten the removal of your lights?

Keep an eye on the local rainfall totals (and the seven-day forecast) with WG’s own weather station at Hacienda Elementary School. You can even follow the wind speed, which is also forecast to be “damaging” in a current National Weather Service High Wind Watch.

Sure it’s only Wednesday, but maybe it’s OK to take the lights down before the big storm. Either way, your excuses dry up next week. Will the weather?