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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Richard Varma tosses a chair into a dumpster during cleanup efforts in Lakewood Village last weekend.
Digging out of the Dumps
North Sunnyvale residents put some muscle into cleaning up neighborhood image
By Daniel Hindin
Jeannie Jenesse has lived in Lakewood Village since 1966, and has seen the neighborhood go through a lot of changes. She knows her neighborhood is seen as one of the questionable neighborhoods in Sunnyvale. "When I drive through my friends' neighborhoods I wonder, 'Why is their neighborhood so neat?'"
The sidewalks of Lakewood Village are dirtier, the yards aren't as well landscaped and the houses are a little more run down than those of Sunnyvale's other neighborhoods. "This creates the idea that no one cares about the neighborhood," says Neighborhood Preservation Officer Laurie Aguinaga.
Lakewood Village also is easily distinguishable from the rest of the city because of its geography. Located in the northeast portion of Sunnyvale, Lakewood is noticeably separated from the main residential portion of the city. Bordered by the sound wall of Highway 101 to the south, Calabasas Creek to the east and Tasman Drive to the north with no through-streets connecting to Fair Oaks Avenue to the west, Lakewood Village is set back in its own little area.
Some residents of Lakewood Village feel that their neighborhood is ignored by the city administration because of this separation. They say that when the city is confronted with the problems of that area, they often take the attitude of, "Don't worry about them, they're all the way up there."
Despite this feeling, it is clear to most people that the neighborhood has taken steps toward becoming more reputable. Sunnyvale City Councilman Fred Fowler, who resides in the Lakewood Village area, says, "Fifteen years ago it was a much different place. The neighborhood has really begun to clean itself up."
There is also another issue involved in the cleanup of Lakewood Village. People like Jenesse and Aguinaga have sympathy for many of the people who are violating city codes because, as Jenesse says, "People let these things go because they don't have the money to do anything about it."
But many neighbors like 11-year Sunnyvale resident Thomas Mayer feel that Aguinaga and the city are being too soft on code violators. Mayer complains that once he calls the city about a code violation, they give a harmless warning and that's the end of it. He doesn't see any real action being taken.
Mayer complains of extreme code violations in the neighborhood. He talks not only of junk cars but of illegal businesses run out of homes, unauthorized construction and illegal housing situations. He points out car repair shops running out of garages, commercial vehicles parked overnight on the streets and garages transformed into units which families rent from homeowners. "Would you want to pay $400,000 to live in a neighborhood like this?" Mayer says.
Like Mayer, many individuals have been attracted to the Sunnyvale area by the high-tech companies that are gaining power in the business sector of the city. And high-tech companies translate to high-tech salaries. But because the number of people who have moved to Sunnyvale to work far outweighs the limited amount of living space available, property values in the area are skyrocketing.
So far this year, Sunnyvale houses have sold for an average of $586,808 as opposed to $337,750 just four years ago.
An annual report from the Santa Clara County Assessor says that although the average assessed value of single family homes is about $250,000, the average market value is well over $500,000. Before March 17 of this year no house had ever sold for $1 million in Sunnyvale, but in the past four months, 11 houses have sold for at least that. Only three of these 11 actually listed for $900,000 or more. In Sunnyvale during the month of May, the average house stayed on the market for 11 days.
Most houses are selling for much more than their list price, which could suggest that houses are now going to the highest bidder. During a recent city-led study session on large house construction, one resident commented that most people who have lived in neighborhoods like Lakewood Village for more than five years couldn't even afford to buy their own house at the current market value.
As far as renting goes, the picture is drearier for potential Sunnyvale residents without inflated salaries. Average rents for one-bedroom apartments in Sunnyvale rose 25 percent from January to June. Out of 13,785 apartment units in the city, only four, or .03 percent of the total units, were vacant, according to survey conducted in June by the city.
Mayer and the other new neighbors say they paid a lot of money to move to Sunnyvale and want to feel as if it was worth it. Neighbors who were there before the housing boom say they feel like they are being pushed out by the affluent residents. They argue that they were there first.
Despite a certain amount of friction, progress is being made in Lakewood Village. Much of the improvement can be attributed to a joint effort between the neighbors and the city.
Concerned neighbors started the Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association (LVNA) in the 1980s. During a time when tight-knit neighborhoods have gone the way of outdoor plumbing, the association is one of the most active neighborhood groups still around. Some of the events they organize include a neighborhood picnic, the annual Sunnyvale Christmas parade and an interesting event called Dumpster Days.
Dumpster Days happens once a year during the summertime months. The activities, which are sponsored by the city and run by LVNA, consist of 21 dumpsters strategically placed throughout Lakewood Village that are filled to the brim with various junk that the neighbors want to get rid of. "Four or five years ago people had to be turned away because there was so much garbage," said Fowler, who this year volunteered as a bin monitor.
Activities like this one--which strive to make the neighborhood cleaner and bring the neighbors closer together--along with efforts by the city to enforce code violations have begun to make a big difference, says Aguinaga.
Recent amendments to the city's code enforcement laws have given people like Aguinaga more authority to make changes happen. New laws concerning the length of time a car can be parked on a street and a new $100 per day fine that Aguinaga can assess have made it easier to impress some of the neighbors who have been slower to clean up their properties.
These kinds of violations can be enforced when Aguinaga receives a complaint from a neighbor. Her first step is usually to contact the homeowner and educate him or her about the laws being broken. Much of the problem in Lakewood Village, Jenesse says, is that people don't know what the rules are.
Often times, once the neighbor is educated, the problem is taken care of. If the problem is not taken care of, Aguinaga says that she will issue a warning. After the warning, she can give the resident a $100 fine for each day the code violation remains.
Mayer says he is not happy with how the city handles code enforcement, but Aguinaga emphasizes that they do everything they can. When people such as Mayer file a complaint, Aguinaga or someone else from the city will always go to the site and check it out. However, she says, "It's not difficult to clean out a room for a few days."
She asserts that often times when she goes to a home that she has received a complaint about, they are ready for her and have taken the necessary actions to cover up the violation. Undoubtedly, though, some violators go right back to what they were doing after she leaves.
"The problem is that the case is then closed until we receive a new complaint," says Aguinaga. "There is no mechanism for that kind of follow-up."
Because Aguinaga cannot make follow-ups, the job is then left to people like Mayer to keep calling and calling until something is done. But Mayer says it shouldn't be his job to have to monitor the neighborhood. He wonders why the city can't do something more about it.
So what is a city to do when the issue of code enforcement comes up during these changing times? Aguinaga respects the law and responds to all of the complaints she gets, but says she doesn't want to be too harsh on the code violators because she knows that the reason some people don't comply is because they can't afford to.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
