BUENA VISTA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION Minutes of the Meeting Tuesday, September 29, 2009 At the Home of Loui Tucker and Sabine Zappe at 153 Race Street
Meeting called to order at 7:10 PM
PRESENT: [7 people present] Brian Ward (President) Loui Tucker (Secretary) Sabine Zappe (Treasurer) Sally Henning
MINUTES - Approved as presented and posted.
Rick Infantino Steve Rogers Lara Tran, representing City Councilmember Pierreluigi Oliverio's office
TREASURER’S REPORT Sabine Zappe reported that the bank balance is $719.12 with no bills outstanding. The prior balance was $919.12 $200 was returned as unused grant funds. What remains are BVNA discretionary funds.
STATUS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Lara reported that the saga of the paving on Page Street that was botched 9-10 months ago continues. She did receive the photos Robin Rogers took and transmitted them to City Maintenance staff and asked for a status report. She didn’t get a reply prior to tonight’s meeting but will follow up. This has remained a problem since it happened and was reported around the time those streets were annexed by the City.
Loui reported that Nashmeel Sadjadi at Code Enforcement is making progress. There appears to be only one property (a rental) where the resident insists on parking a red pickup truck on the front lawn. There are still issues remaining with illegal signage, but the situation has improved.
The trees near the corner of Willard and Scott are still an issue and Lara reported that the City is working with the property owners to come up with a solution. The City does not have the funds for tree removal or street repair. There was some discussion of “shaving” the edge of the trees back to the sidewalk, and repairing the road. A comment was made that the tree roots act as a speed bump and traffic calming device.
McVeigh’s lot at 435 S. Willard continues to act as the local dump. While the Water Company is good about coming when someone calls about couches and other furniture and car parts being abandoned on the sidewalk by that property, McVeigh continues to uncooperative unless called by Code Enforcement personnel.
Parking Enforcement is doing a better job of getting the flagrant violators of the 72-hour-rule to move their cars or have them towed. Cars are still being “stored” on Willard, Douglas and Page by local used car dealers and amateur auto mechanics.
Brian still has concerns about 911 dispatchers understanding that Willard, Page and Douglas are now in the City and the SJ Police need to promptly respond to calls for assistance. While several City officials have been contacted and made aware of the problem, nobody from Dispatch and verify that the problem has been corrected and maps now consistently show this area has been annexed and is now part of the City.
Residents reported a loud BOOM, explosion of some kind earlier in the month. It was heard from Page Street to Menker Avenue, but nobody was able to provide a reason for the noise.
Minutes of BVNA General Meeting 9/29/09
There are some palm trees near the street at approximately 394 South Buena Vista that are going to be come (if they are not already) a fire hazard. The dry palm fronds extend from ground level 20 feet above the ground.
There were two houses for sale on Menker that were purchased by people who plan to fix them up and live in them. This is good news for the neighborhood.
Equipment that Buena Vista Park on Menker needs repair. Sally was told by maintenance staff Dave Arroyo that they do not do repairs. Will the City be liable if some child is hurt because the playground equipment is not safe due to bolts having been removed?
OLD BUSINESS
Buena Vista Park Extension. No one at the meeting knew the status of the extension of Buena Vista Park. Lara was asked to check on the status.
Alcohol License for Mini-Mart. The alcohol license was approved with some conditions for the mini-market on Scott near Arleta. Conditions include no video games or other coin-operated games on the premises, the building owner/manager has to remove graffiti with 48 hours, no entertainment is allowed on the premises, no signage advertising alcohol, no payphone on the premises, alcohol may not be consumed on the premises, and the property must be kept free of litter, debris and trash.
VTA Project. Also known as the Ohlone Project, on the old VTA property. The project’s Environmental Impact Report is available for review. Oct. 7 is the last day to lodge objections. This project currently calls for three 15-story buildings, five 6-story buildings, plus some green space. The VTA does not plan to build a light rail station there unless the developer kicks in some funds.
Sunol Court. This represented a big win for the local neighborhood associations which worked together to get this project axed. There were big concerns about parking in that area. 95% of the adjacent home- owners initially objected and that was reduced to 67% when one large owner was “bought out.” It is now zoned commercial and the developer cannot come back and revisit this site for two years.
San Jose City College. The Evergreen Board decided to stop all development on the area adjacent to Leigh Avenue and put the field back the way it was. The original plan was to revert the field to former use in the next three months. At the next Board meeting they will be deciding when to take down the enormous poles and when and where to put back the trees that were removed.
NEW BUSINESS
1. It was suggested that the City could raise revenue by fining people who leave their yard sale signs up past the day of the sale. If they are treated as litter ($1,000 per sign!), and someone was assigned to driving around the City pulling them down and writing up the fines, that employee would easily earn their salary each month, with funds to spare. Eventually the residents would learn the cost of leaving their signs up and the blight problem would be solved. Lara was instructed to mention this to the Councilmember.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. The next BVNA meeting will be on Tuesday, October 27 at the home of Robert and Linda Solis. Mark your calendar and plan to attend.
Meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM.