February 17, 2005

Mayor Ron Gonzales and City Council members present Good Neighbor, Pride of
San Jose awards to community leaders, organizations and public employees

Honorees will receive commendations during special council meeting

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Seven outstanding community individuals and six community groups and organizations were under the spotlight Feb. 9 when they received the city’s Good Neighbor Recognition awards for outstanding public service.

Departing from tradition this year, the honorees were presented to the more than 1,200 people who attended the seventh annual State of the City address at the newly remodeled California Theater in downtown in the form of a video clip narrated by Brian Adams.

“The people that the mayor and council honor every year represent the best quality of our community. They’re committed volunteers. They’re engaged to make a difference and they lead by example. We’re fortunate to have people like this in our community and we’re proud to honor them every year,” said San Jose mayoral spokesman David Vossbrink.

Receiving the coveted Good Neighbor Recognition award from San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales was Dr. Vajiramala (Vaji) Dharmasena, who has dedicated her time to the tsunami relief efforts in Southeast Asia.

Gonzales and members of the San Jose City Council thanked her for her compassion and dedication to the people affected by the Dec. 26 disaster.

Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Dharmasena is an obstetrician and gynecologist at Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Teresa facility. During the past month, she has joined a busload of 30 doctors traveling across Sri Lanka to help devastated communities by performing medical checkups on the men, women and children and distributing donated drugs and toiletries.

San Jose City Council District 10
Almaden senior Edith Keep received the Good Neighbor Recognition award from San Jose Councilwoman Nancy Pyle’s office.

Keep has dedicated her life to improving the lives of children. She was a teacher for more than 20 years.

Five days a week, Keep is said to leave her home at Senior Resident Le Mirador at 5:45 each morning to take three buses and travel for more than an hour to get to the Santa Clara County Children’s Shelter.

Through her nurturing and generous love, Keep welcomes and comforts the children who are new arrivals at the shelter where she acts as mentor and “grandma.” She helps each child grow a garden and she teaches them about the values of caring and giving.

2005 Pride of San Jose awards
Receiving the 2005 Pride of San Jose awards were two individuals and three teams of city employees.

Another individual who left his mark on the Almaden Valley was San Jose Police Sgt. Mike Fehr, who was recognized for his 33 years of service in the field of law enforcement.

Through Fehr’s desire to improve quality of life in the South San Jose neighborhoods he served, he inspired his team of officers to excel. He motivated and directed his team to provide a consistent community presence, which especially contributed to positive changes in the Hoffman/Via Monte Neighborhood in Almaden Valley.

Fehr engaged San Jose residents through many personal efforts that model service and leadership. He joined team foot patrols, assisted in community clean-up events, coordinated graffiti abatement and parking enforcement, and successfully implemented a shopping cart removal program.

Fehr and his team regularly received praise from residents through an effective customer feedback system that has helped San Jose to continually improve its service to the community.