SAM'S CORNER

The D3 Community Is Invited To This Wednesday’s
NAG Summer BBQ
Everyone in the district is invited to join the Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) for a Summer BBQ at Backesto Park at 13th & Empire (not Bamboo Gardens as previously stated in the July newsletter). The BBQ will begin with brief updates from the three NAG working groups and then commendations will be presented to Katrina Loera and Cathy Novello for their long records of dedication to the community. Please join us and invite your neighbors. Remember to ask everyone to RSVP to the event so that we can properly prepare.

Event Details & RSVP
When: Wednesday, August 29 from 6-9 pm
Where: Backesto Park
Please RSVP (required) to khanh.bui@sanjoseca.gov OR if you are already a member of our Big Tent Online community click here .

Back To School
As fall closes in, most of the kids in our neighborhoods have already started their early-morning jaunts to classes. Some will take a new route to school this year: this morning, I spoke to an audience of dozens of bright-eyed, mostly bilingual children at Rocketship Enterprises’ public charter school, which just opened on South 10th Street. We welcome Rocketship’s innovation and energy to our downtown. Although our school districts manage the schools, City Hall can play a significant role in supporting learning. I’ve already hosted two breakfast meetings with our San Jose Unified School District principals, with an eye to learning about the additional help that the City can lend. I’m grateful for the principals’ participation, and for the leadership of Don Iglesias and our school district officials to foster this collaboration. Our efforts have already started to bear fruit—highlights include:

• With our community partner, Neighborhood Housing Services, we hosted a session to enable principals to better inform their educators of available city-funded affordable housing rental and home-ownership programs for teachers.
  
• In this year’s budget, in collaboration with my Council colleagues, I pushed to increase funding for our homework centers, and we directed $100,000 to those centers serving our lowest-performing students. Leveraging this city money with private sector funds and volunteers, the San Jose Education Foundation will target its efforts to help children at these sites.
• We’re working to improve safety at youth sites, by initiating a pilot project with Catholic Charities to use video cameras to deter gang activity at the Washington Youth Center.
• In the spring of 2008, we’ll be launching an initiative with our Libraries Director, Jane Light, to put a library card in the hands of every child in our district, and to introduce families to our libraries. (We’ll need volunteers from our neighborhoods to help us hosting our “Family Nights at the Library,” so please contact youth services coordinator Sandra Stewart, at sandra.stewart@sjlibrary.org if you can help, and keep your eye on upcoming newsletters for more details!)

The City continues to improve our libraries with Measure O bond funds. A rebuilt Joyce Ellington Library in Northside appears on schedule to re-open in 2008; and this fall, we’ll begin the expansion and renovation of the East Carnegie Library.

The City has continued its efforts to improve child safety; the City has recently obtained a $790,000 grant from CalTrans to install crosswalk warning signs at over 250 San Jose schools, and we’ve already started to improve the signage at Peter Burnett Academy. Near our McKinley Elementary School, we’re soon breaking ground on a project to install sidewalks around the future Martin Park site to ensure that children are safely making their way to school without encountering traffic.

Working together, we’ll make our neighborhood schools the pride of San Jose, as we boost the achievement—and college-bound ambitions--of our kids.

Sincerely,

Sam Liccardo

Contact Us
P: (408) 535-4903
E: district3@sanjoseca.gov
W: www.sanjoseca.gov/district3

D3 Staff
Sam Liccardo, Councilmember
Roma Dawson, Policy Director
Khanh Bui, Staff Director
Kevin Schwaba, Council Assistant
Ruth Cueto, Council Assistant
Ragan Henninger, Council Assistant
Rhonda Hadnot, Exec. Assistant

San Jose Medical Center Meetings
While Sam works with City staff and nonprofit partners to bring badly-needed medical services to our downtown neighborhoods, the community continues to monitor developments at the former San Jose Medical Center site closely. City staff is recommending that the Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SAC) complete their recommendations by the end of this year. There are meeting dates in the next few months that you may want to attend. The October 17th date is planned as a community meeting for updates on the process (to date), a presentation of preferred land use scenarios, health care recommendations, and a forum for public comment.

Keep reading our newsletter for further details. Call Roma Dawson in our office at (408) 535-4903 to confirm the dates and locations for the September and October meetings. You can also look at the Department of Planning, Building & Code Enforcement's webpage for background and current information at www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/sjmc/.

Renter’s Insurance Outreach
The Rental Rights and Referrals program in the Housing Department recently began an outreach campaign on the importance of Renter’s Insurance. “Think You Don’t Need Renter’s Insurance? Think Again” is an educational pamphlet (available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese) describing commonly held misconceptions and how to go about finding the right policy. Renter's insurance generally covers the cost of replacing things like clothing, bikes, TV/VCR/DVD and stereo equipment, jewelry, computers and gives you protection from liability if an accident happens in your home and someone is injured.

The San Jose Housing Department has already distributed pamphlets citywide to community centers, libraries, the Tri-County Association and other city organizations. They want to further expand their efforts to our district’s neighborhood associations. Association members can call Delores Cisneros at (408) 975-4432 to request brochures. You can also view a copy of the brochure on the Housing Department’s site at:

www.sjhousing.org/public/RR_RentersIns.pdf

Greenprint 2008 Update
Greenprint 2008 is the City’s update of its 20-year strategic plan to guide City policy-makers on how to improve health and wellness through parks, programs, and community facilities. It is designed to be a broad, citywide, long-term plan which will be presented during the City’s General Plan in Spring 2008.

The "community input" phase has already started and the two meetings set for our district are excellent opportunities to voice our ideas and enthusiasm to Greenprint’s organizers. The meetings will address issues such as financing and partnerships, neighborhood/district strategies, pedestrian and trail connections, long-term capital projects and maintenance, staffing needs, and more.

Our NAG Parks Working Group is already tackling the high-priority issues of parks, pools, trails, community centers and libraries for our district. Sam’s office is working on combining the September NAG meeting and the Greenprint meeting to further the discussion and consolidate the subject. The Greenprint meeting is tentatively set for Thursday, September 6 from 7-9 pm at the Northside Community Center (located at N 6th St and E Empire St), but keep watching your email for further information on a new date to combine the two meetings. Further information is available at: www.sjparks.org/greenprint

Thanks to All of Our Summer Interns
The summer is coming to an end and so we must wave “Farewell” to our fantastic team of interns, each of whom made a significant contribution to our district and Sam’s team. Our high school New Vision America Interns, Nikhil Sheel and Sherry Wang developed informational brochures for "Helping Homeless in Your Neighborhood" and the "Living Green Initiative" respectively. Our college interns, Anngiely Salvacion and Kevin Starry, supported the NAG working groups, facilitated community meetings and developed work plans. Our law intern, Matt Salmonsen, researched and drafted important policy on the group homes issue in our district. And last, but not least, our superstar intern and future USC student, Eric Hernandez started his internship with Cindy Chavez, and helped to ensure a smooth transition of our team to the office. Eric’s long-term commitment and his dedication to helping us reach out to his neighborhood, the Washington neighborhood, were invaluable. You all have bright futures ahead of you and we are proud to have worked with you.

Two New Members In Our District 3 Team
Welcome Ragan and Ruth! We’re thrilled to announce the recent addition of Ruth Cueto and Ragan Henninger to our team.

Ruth, a bilingual graduate of University of California at Berkeley, will support the Washington-Guadalupe, Tamien, Spartan-Keyes, Goodyear-Mastic, McKinley-Bonita, and Gardner neighborhoods, and she’ll also focus on policy relating to housing and public safety. She’s worked in the district for several years at San Jose State University.

Ragan, a resident of Horace Mann, comes to us with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector, having served as development director at EHC Lifebuilders. She’ll assume responsibilities for the Naglee Park, Northside, Horace Mann, Julian-St. James, and Hensley Historic neighborhoods, and she’ll handle the budget, environmental policy, and office communications.

We’re grateful to have two people of this caliber join us, and we welcome their great energy and talent, which will serve our District Three residents well!

SoFA - Plans for A Walkable Community
Lots of changes and additions are taking place in the SoFA district these days (South Of First Street Area between San Carlos and Reed Street). The nearby Convention Center is planning its expansion and the 360 Residences condominium project is underway. There are also new restaurants opening such as Motif Restaurant & Club and Hunter’s Nightclub. Original Joe’s has tentative plans to reopen in late September.

SoFA's local art and entertainment community is looking at growth and change with proactive meetings with the Redevelopment Agency and presentations of the future street plan by consultants Ken Kay & Associates. The vision is for a walkable community with an urban atmosphere and an organic quality, both visually appealing and welcoming. Future design plans might include widening sidewalks, reducing car traffic, a widened and redesigned Gore Park, active paseos and alleys, colorful benches, and temporary public art.

Should you wish to participate in the development discussions, the next meeting of SoFACommittee is September 26, at 4pm with a location to be announced shortly. Email Rick Jensen, the Communications Director at the San Jose Downtown Association for further meeting and location information at rjensen@sjdowntown.com

Northside Home Tour

On Sunday, September 30, you have the chance to visit some of the Northside neighborhood’s most beautifully preserved vintage homes on the annual Northside Home Tour. Six vintage homes, including a City landmark and a backyard wildlife habitat, will be on display for all to admire. This year will feature a Craftsman bungalow, an American Four-Square bungalow, a Double-Gabled bungalow and the San Jose Historic Landmark #34, the McKee-Lundy house (c. 1880). In addition, author Jane Powell will attend, accompanied by her many books on old home restoration (available for purchase).

Advance tickets are $15 either online at the Northside Neighborhood’s Homepage , or in person at Café Aragon, 856 North 13th St. Tickets may be purchased for $20 on the day of the event from 10 am to 2 pm at the registration booth on the corner of North 15th and Empire Streets in Backesto Park. The tour starts at 11 am and ends at 5 pm.

Proceeds from ticket sales will be used by the 13th Street NAC to commission a tile mural for the Joyce Ellington Branch Library (scheduled to reopen in 2008). The artwork will be a permanent tribute to Joyce Ellington, who helped found and lead the neighborhood association and advocated for the local library. She lived her entire life of 75 years in the same house where she was born on North 11th Street, within a block of the library, and cared deeply about her neighborhood. Her husband, Bob, continues to remain active in neighborhood affairs.

For further information about the tour email either, Dezi DeSiervi or call her at (408) 999-0590 or email Gloria Flores-Cerul or call her (408) 291-5041.

Taking Control of Your Diabetes Conference & Health Fair
A nationally renowned conference for all ages to learn more about the care and control of your diabetes featuring:

• Top physicians, dietitians, & diabetes nurse educators
• State-of-the-Art technologies
• Physical activities for everyone
• Healthy lunch, and
• Special program for kids & teens

When: Saturday, September 15
Where: Santa Clara Convention Center (5001 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara)
Online registration at: www.tcoyd.org