BUENA VISTA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION Minutes of the Meeting Tuesday, January 25, 2011 At the Home of Robert and Linda Solis at 359 Mayellen Avenue
Meeting called to order at 7:07 PM PRESENT: [11 people present]
Members: Robert Solis (President) Brian Ward (Vice President) Loui Tucker (Secretary) Sabine Zappe (Treasurer) Jose Gonzalez Brian Habekoss Beth Kramer John Leyba Linda Solis
Guests: Lara Tran, representing City Council- member Pierreluigi Oliverio's office
Jason Ta, San Jose Police Department
MINUTES - Approved of prior meeting presented and approved as posted. TREASURER’S REPORT BVNA currently has $495.27
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS
1. Jason Ta made a short presentation about current problems in the neighborhood. The area has been largely quiet for the last three months. Some unmarked police cars were spotted and Jason explained that they were doing surveillance on a suspected “marijuana grow house.” They following items showed up on his incident report sheet.
A pair of women assaulted an elderly man on crutches and stole his laptop on Chiechi.
Someone brandished a weapon on Emery near The Alameda and stole a bicycle.
A dead body was found in a car at Morrison and Julian
There was an armed robbery at the jewelry store that is inside the supermarket at
Race and Park.
An assault on a bartender (suspect hit him with a bottle) at the Red Stag
Some people are noticing increased tagging. The Graffiti hotline (277-2758) was once again mentioned. It is important to report the tagging as soon as possible so it can be cleaned quickly. The longer the tag stays, the more likely it is that the tag will be repeated once it is removed or covered.
Officer Ta will probably not be back to these meetings because he will be working a different shift (Wed-Saturday) in the same (Western) division. He expects our new contact person for the meetings to be Lieutenant Ford.
2. Lara Tran was present to receive comments and complaints. One was the leafleting that is being done around San Jose City College, particularly “Nadia the Spiritualist” who leaves her fliers under the windshields of cars parked across from City College on Moorpark. When the occupants return to the cars, they remove the flier and typically just toss it on the ground where it become litter. Lara said she would look into the City Code regarding such advertising.
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting 1/25/2011
John wondered if the San Jose City College could be approached about cleaning the north side of Moorpark, since it is a de facto parking lot for the college. The students park along that side and leave their fast food trash, etc.
Lara also reported that District 6 will have a Community Budget Meeting on Monday, May 2 at 6:00 at the Hoover Theater on Park. Mark your calendars.
Loui asked about the use of the “CitySource” software for smart phones that allows citizens to photograph and email problems (graffiti, abandoned cars, dumping, etc.) to the City. Apparently only District 1 is receiving the emails and only the ones that are managed by the City (Department of Transportation picks up dumped furniture throughout the City) are being forwarded. If the problem is in another district’s area, it may not get handled. Lara said she would look into the policy for handling emails through this software.
She also mentioned sending an email regarding a survey with respect to San Jose budget priorities. Some people at the meeting reported seeing the email, others did not. She will send it again. John said he had a copy and would forward it to the yahoo group. This survey allows participants to prioritize the possible cuts and taxes being proposed.
Brian reported that there two sofas, two tires and a car hood were dumped at the San Jose Water Company property on Willard. Someone moved the car into the middle of the road (so a car could be parked?). Lara said Department of Transportation personnel would be sent out to pick it up. Brian believes the majority of this dumping is done by the managers and landlords of the various apartment complexes on Willard when a tenant moves out and leave furniture behind.
NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESS
1. The extension of the Buena Vista park has $600,000 available. John and Robert did a “walk-through” of the existing park and the adjacent lot on Wednesday with City personnel. Some items discussed:
The wire extending from the utility pole along the lot line will have to be
moved/removed, and PG&E will contacted to take care of that. The two metal units
that are on the lot line will also have to be moved.
The goal is to make the park look like one park instead of two that have been stuck
together.
The “tot-lot” will probably be moved west, to where is currently grass, which will get it
out of the way of stray balls from the larger grassy area being created on the new lot.
John described an “oval-ish” grass area with a path of crushed granite that would
cover the majority of the new lot. They will use “slow-grow” grass and not artificial turf.
They will need some sort of lock-able shed to store tools and maintenance equipment.
Maintenance was discussed and everyone is looking to the neighborhood to do some
if not all of the maintenance on a volunteer basis. A sign-up sheet was passed around to get names of people willing to do some of the work. This park will be a pilot program for other communities hoping to get parks put in and then maintained with volunteer labor.
There was a discussion of having an area with seasonal planting or native plants that will either re-seed themselves or provide year-round greenery.
There will not be any sort of par course.
There was a discussion of having some fruit trees. Some were in favor of them;
others were not. Other types of trees were discussed, particularly ones that would
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting 1/25/2011
provide shade but not be too messy (Australian Willow was mentioned as one
possibility). This will be discussed again at future meetings.
Wooden benches and tables were also discussed.
The old house foundation will have to be blasted out so that the grass area will be
level.
The park sign will be moved onto the fence so a bit more space inside the park can be
gained.
The north-side fence will be removed and slower-growing plants will be used, and
possibly trees planted to provide shade as well as screen the adjacent yards from the
park visitors.
It was very important that the NEW portion of the park be set up BEFORE the old park
is refurbished or modified. The members do NOT want the park rendered un-usable
by the local residents during this process.
A bird-watching foundation was mentioned that provides grants to people who will use
the funds to created natural, bird-attracting settings.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The next BVNA meeting will be on Tuesday, February 22 at the home of Brian Habekoss and Jose Gonzalez on at 322 Mayellen.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM.