I would like to thank Pastor Jon Talbert from West Gate Church and the team of Beautiful Day for completing two service projects in the Alviso community on November 14, 2009.
A team of 200 volunteers participated in a beautification effort to clean up the Alviso Community Garden and George Mayne Elementary.
In addition, another team of 50 volunteers participated in Beautiful Day’s Better Homes Projects that serves the elderly, low-income, or disabled property owners by providing a home makeover. Volunteers worked together to clean, repair, repaint, and redesign the landscaping for a home located on Grand Boulevard.
Abandoned boats have been an ongoing eyesore to the Alviso community,
The South Bay Yacht Club was instrumental in completing a project to remove these boats from the marina. There was no funding available for this and the South Bay Yacht Club used their savings to remove the abandoned boats.
In addition, they repaired the dock and made all repairs with the environment’s sensitive ecosystem in mind, taking the necessary precautions not to disturb the Marina.
The South Bay Yacht Club has been an important fixture in our Alviso community and I would like to thank for their work to beautify our community.
Traffic calming issues continue to be a major concern in the City of San Jose. My Office has been working closely with the City Manager’s Office and the Department of Transportation to address traffic safety in the Alviso community.
I am pleased to announce that the Department of Transportation has recently installed additional pedestrian signage by George Myne Elementary along First Street.
Pedestrian advisory signs were installed in both directions prior to the Tony P. Santos intersection. In addition, another advisory sign was installed for eastbound traffic near the Alviso Youth Center.
In order to ensure the safety of our students, the Department of Transportation installed yellow crosswalks at all four corners of Liberty Street and First Street.
In addition, new speed limit signs were installed along Gold Street at Liberty and First Street. Existing signs were relocated for better visibility.
Approximately $500,000 has been invested by the City of San Jose for the Gold Street Pump Station.
Alviso has received $480,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding for the North First Street -- Grand Boulevard Storm Drain Improvement Project. This project is located along North First Street between Tony P. Santos Street and Grand Boulevard and will eliminate the unlined draining ditch across from the school and Library. The ultimate widening of the roadway and the installation of sidewalk, curb, and gutter would occur when the adjacent property is developed.
A similar project will occur along Liberty Street between Moffat Street and North First Street. The work consists of the installation of new storm laterals, inlets, wheelchair ramps, driveways, and approximately 1.300 feet of sidewalk and curb and gutter.
Construction for boty storm drain projects are anticipated for this spring.
Alviso has also received $350,000 in CDBG funding for sidewalk improvements along the Alviso Health Center. This project will install a curb, gutter, and sidewalk along the frontage of the health center. Construction is anticipated to begin this spring.
On Tuesday, August 4, 2009, neighborhoods throughout San Jose were invited to participate with other communities nationwide for the 26th annual National Night Out.
National Night Out is designed to heighten crime and drug awareness, generate support for and participation in anti-crime efforts, and strengthening neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships.
National Night Out involved over 100,000 communities and over 34 million Americans participated this year.
Approximately 70 neighborhoods in the City of San Jose showed their support in “America’s Night Out Against Crime” by enjoying an evening with their neighbors and local police officers by hosting a variety of events, such as block parties, ice cream socials, barbecues, and informal gatherings.
This year, my office, in partnership with the Alviso Youth Center, hosted the first National Night Out event in Alviso. Over 50 community members participated in the event, which included an ice-cream social and arts, crafts, and games for the children.
On September 19, 2009, the San Jose Goes Solar kick off event was held at the Alviso Branch Library with nearly 100 people in attendance. This event celebrated the installation of 6 solar power systems (30kW), funded by Community Development Block Grants, on City buildings in low and moderate income neighborhoods, with the Alviso Library being the first of six to go green.
This project advances two of the City’s Green Vision goals to reduce per capita energy use by 50% and receive 100% of San Jose’s electrical power from clean renewable sources by 2022. In addition, these projects help reduce energy consumption and increase use of renewable technologies.
Big box retail.
Hotels
@First Properties have begun constructing a project on North First Street that will bring retail to the residents of District 4. This project includes a Target and 77,000 square feet of retail.
The project will also have over 1 million square feet of office space, and over 300 premiere hotel rooms.
Construction for the prioject is moving forward as planned and continues to have a planned completion date of 2012.
There will also be several traffic improvements to plan for future traffic. One particular improvement is a street-light planned on North First Street and Holger Way, which will also provide a safe access to Lamplighter Mobilhome Community.
In December 2008, I submitted a budget request for consideration by the City Council and Redevelopment Agency for funding to install LED lights for the North San Jose Redevelopment Area.
Using North San Jose industrial area as a starting area, funding was approved for 200 streetlights.
LED lights require much less energy and lasts much longer than the Low Sodium lights and therefore maintaining them is much more cost-effective. The average life span of the LED is 15-20 years as compared with the 4 years for the current Low Sodium lights.
As the City of San Jose continues to face tough economic times, it is important to continue looking for creative and innovative ways the City can reduce costs.
The lights and control systems are on order and should be installed early this year.
The Great American Litter Pick-Up is an annual event where hundreds of volunteers come out to help pick up litter in their neighborhoods.
In 2008, out of nearly 1,000 total volunteers in the City of San Jose, District 4 had the largest turn out of almost 400 volunteers and a total of 107 bags of litter picked up.
I want to encourage the Alviso community to participate in the 2010 Great American Litter Pick-Up which takes place on Saturday, March 20, 2010. My office will be providing more details in the coming months.
