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Politician in the Making: Judy Chirco has worked with the grassroots organization People Acting in Community Together and has been a member of the Cambrian School District board for more than nine years.
Photograph courtesy of Judy Chirco
District 9 to elect new city council representative in March election
Chirco, Hemingway bring experience
By Kate Carter
On March 5, voters in South San Jose's District 9, which includes parts of Willow Glen south of Curtner and Husted avenues, will be choosing between two different kinds of experience as a replacement for City Councilman John Diquisto.
Due to term limits, Diquisto must move on after serving two terms at the end of this year. Both Judy Chirco, 55, with her longtime experience in the community, and Chris Hemingway, with his years of experience in City Hall, say they are qualified to take on the task of replacing him.
Judy Chirco
Chirco is a neighborhood activist--a seven-year member of the grassroots organization People Acting in Community Together--who has served nine years on the Cambrian School District board.
Chirco grew up in Cambrian Park and graduated from Camden High School in 1962. She and her husband, Ed, live and raised two sons, now 24 and 18, in District 9. She is a registered Democrat.
Most of Chirco's community work has been on school and health-care issues. She works with homework centers in local schools, is a member of the San Jose Schools/City Collaborative and encouraged local legislators to pass the Children's Health Initiative to provide medical insurance to the county's needy children.
"The work I've been doing has deepened my commitment to and knowledge of the community," Chirco says. "I like that community focus when the school becomes the hub of the community" as are other community resources such as libraries, parks and community centers. "How are you going to connect to people? Through agencies they identify with," she says.
Her husband is also a member of the Cambrian Community Council, and together they run a property management business.
Chirco says the most important thing about being on the council is being a good listener and including the community in discussions on the issues that affect them.
One of the more recent issues in District 9 has been a proposal to redevelop the Hacienda Gardens Shopping Center at the intersection of Foxworthy and Meridian avenues into a mixed-use retail and residential complex. Neighbors vocally opposed building heights of more than two stories and supported between 80 and 160 apartments. The developer, KT Properties, had requested approval for three- and four-story buildings and about 600 apartments. In August, the city council, at Diquisto's encouragement, approved three- and four-story buildings to total about 240 apartments.
Chirco says the community needs to make its voice heard early in the planning stages, rather than at the last minute.
She also says she's concerned about increased occupancies in recovery homes for substance abusers, such as one on District 9's Kilo Avenue. Neighbors there are opposing an increase in the number of residents at the home from six to 17, and Chirco says she supports addiction recovery but thinks that homes with more than six people could be a problem in residential areas.
She plans to work for local affordable housing, improving roads and public transportation, and establishing better programs for youth and senior citizens. Chirco says her goals for her term would be to encourage the building of community by supporting open space for general use and continuing to establish connections between schools and other agencies. She says those are the same goals she has for both her district and the rest of the city.
"All of these issues, they're citywide issues," Chirco says. "We're such a spread-out community that those hubs are very important."
She also says she can work with the rest of the council in mutual respect, collaborative thinking and agreeing to disagree.
"That's a lesson that you learn on the school board," she says. "I love it; it's good work. I enjoy interacting with people and I'm touched by the people in the community."
Chirco has received endorsements from former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer, District 1 City Councilwoman Linda LeZotte and Santa Clara County Supervisors Jim Beall and Blanca Alvarado.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Willing to Lead: San Jose's District 9 council seat contender Chris Hemingway has been a seven-year council aide to Councilman John Diquisto, who is vacating his seat due to term limits.
Chris Hemingway
Hemingway, 33, has worked in Diquisto's office since Diquisto took office seven years ago, after working as campaign manager for Diquisto's first election. His father's job moved him around the country as a youth: Hemingway started high school at Willow Glen High and finished in upstate New York, where he also graduated from college. After graduation, he moved back to the Bay Area, where he has lived for the past 10 years and worked for San Jose's high-tech Conner Peripherals until running Diquisto's first campaign. He is a registered Democrat, is single and has no children.
Hemingway plans to work on developing more activities and education programs for children in District 9, using his experience establishing homework centers at all the district's schools before that became a citywide goal, he says. He also wants to establish a daily nutrition program for seniors in the district, which currently has none. In addition, he believes traffic calming should be a top priority for District 9.
"We need to fight to make sure that stays in the budget," Hemingway says. "It's going to take somebody who knows the system."
He believes the city's priorities should be increasing the availability and affordability of housing, improving its transportation systems--he supports extending BART to San Jose--and encouraging the development of businesses in areas throughout the city.
"Business provides jobs," he says. "I believe business can be part of the community."
He also believes he will work effectively with Mayor Ron Gonzales, the rest of the city council and city departments and staff as he has for years.
"I intend to deal straight up and honestly," he says. "I believe in honesty and a certain amount of loyalty and doing what you're elected to do."
Hemingway says he would have "probably gone with a lesser density" at the future development at Hacienda Gardens and tried to better balance the needs of the city for more housing with those of the neighborhood. He says of the situation that resulted in heated and long planning commission and city council hearings, "I might have handled it differently."
Hemingway says he would install a policy of including residents earlier in the discussions of future projects in their areas, to avoid high-emotion controversies at the last minute.
"My overall goal is, I want to be more in touch with the residents" and keep them better informed of what's going on nearby and in the city, he says. "I'm not doing this to collect a paycheck. I've been doing this for seven years. I want to put that experience to use."
He says he is also working with residents near the Kilo Avenue recovery home. Hemingway says the issue is coming before council later this month and believes there can be a way to balance the needs of those recovering from addictions with those who live near them.
Hemingway has received endorsements from Diquisto, District 6 City Councilman Ken Yeager, District 7 City Councilman and Vice Mayor George Shirakawa and District 2 City Councilman Forrest Williams. He has also been endorsed by Santa Clara County Supervisor Pete McHugh, State Assembly members Elaine Alquist and Manny Diaz, San Jose Unified School District Superintendent Linda Murray, the San Jose Police Officers' Association, the San Jose Fire Fighters Union Local #230 and the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.
For more information about the candidates, visit their websites: Chirco's at www.judychirco.com and Hemingway's at www.chrishemingway.com.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
