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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Project Plan: Dayana Salazar, an assistant professor at SJSU and acting consultant for the project, addresses a Strong Neighborhoods Initiative meeting regarding the Gardner/Atlanta/Gregory Plaza neighborhood.
Northern area of Willow Glen is part of improvement plan
Community making plans to revitalize with city money
By Kate Carter
Residents in northern Willow Glen are making choices about how to improve their communities with the help of city money and support. But while they are being encouraged to think big when faced with budgetary constrictions, neighbors say what they want most of all is to reverse the blight that makes their low-income neighborhoods unappealing and even dangerous places to live.
Consultants, at a Dec. 18 neighborhood advisory committee meeting between residents and city officials, estimated the cost for implementing a fraction of the proposed upgrades for the neighborhood at about $5 million. But the city has so far only committed to providing $100 million over the next five years to 20 neighborhoods in similar situations, which breaks down to about $1 million per year for each neighborhood.
City officials tried to reassure residents of the Gardner, Atlanta and Gregory Plaza neighborhoods that the expensive ideas proposed to help spruce up the area were merely a 'wish list.' Concerns about how much money is available to make the improvements would be addressed later, officials said.
"The important thing is not to worry right now about where the money is coming from," Parks and Recreation Director Mark Linder said. "The important thing is to decide what you want to do."
It's not often that the city gives a community virtually a blank check and the people, time, research and advice on how to make its neighborhood the best it can be. But that's what San Jose is providing to this and 19 other communities that are part of its Strong Neighborhoods Initiative.
The redevelopment agency identified these neighborhoods, located mostly near downtown, as underdeveloped and blighted locations that could benefit from city funds. A collaboration of the city's planning, building, parks and recreation and streets and traffic departments is working with the residents of these communities to identify what improvements the areas really need and want.
The Gardner/Atlanta area is the only one that had a proposal drafted before neighbors became involved. Graduate students at San Jose State University spent a year gathering information about Gardner and surrounding neighborhoods and identifying specific needs by talking with residents, youth and city officials about solutions.
Dayana Salazar, an associate professor at SJSU, is the project director for the team of faculty and staff that worked on this project, which receives funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She said they chose the Gardner area after working with the community and city agencies to identify an area that could benefit from and welcome their involvement.
The SJSU report cited 1990 Census data, which found that the majority of people living in these neighborhoods were Hispanic and most spoke Spanish at home. Over a quarter of the residents lived below the poverty line and most had never graduated from high school, according to the report. In 1990, most residents were making less than $25,000 a year, and unemployment in the neighborhood was 10 percent.
The report also said that these circumstances may have worsened since 1990, and the increasing cost of living in San Jose may force those who live here to leave. Improving the neighborhood, then, could price current residents out altogether, a concern that was raised at a community workshop last October.
The area's neighborhood advisory committee, a group of residents, property and business owners from the effected neighborhoods, reviewed neighbors' comments from the October workshop and heard from project consultants about ways to incorporate that feedback into the plan.
Consultants Salazar and Terry Bottomley gave some specific suggestions for upgrading business areas, open space and pedestrian walkways throughout the mostly working class neighborhoods and provided some cost estimates.
Salazar discussed improvements to open space in the neighborhoods, including building a skatepark at an empty lot at Willow and Highway 87, improving the park and ride lot at the Virginia Light Rail station and adding landscaping, a path and a parking lot at Fuller Plaza.
The two had also proposed making landscape and road improvements along W. Virginia Street and Delmas Avenue, improving pedestrian safety and fixing up buildings along the main thoroughfares. Neighbors had suggested that Bird Avenue be included in the spine, which the consultants agreed was a good idea.
Streetwise Safety: The intersection at Willis and Virginia streets is one that project consultants say could be improved with brick or cobblestone crosswalks.
Bottomley suggested that speeding traffic on Virginia and Delmas could be slowed by adding trees and lighting along the sidewalks and "bulb-outs"--extensions of the sidewalks at corner curbs, forcing cars to go slower on turns--at intersections along those streets.
He also proposed measures to scale Bird Avenue down from a seven-lane arterial near the Interstate 280 onramps to a five-lane road as it enters residential neighborhoods south of the freeway by widening the center median. This would make the road easier and safer for pedestrians to cross, he said. He also said the tapering wouldn't affect traffic because not many drivers travel along Bird in that area.
Bottomley suggested adding bulb-outs at Fuller and Coe avenues and a round-about to replace the light signal at the large and unattractive intersection of Coe, Bird and Fisk avenues. It would be one of the few round-abouts in San Jose, if approved.
"You don't have to stop on a roundabout," Bottomley said. "You just go slow. And there's no light signal; there's no green light to try and make."
The costs to make the improvements would be $800,000 each for Virginia and Delmas and $3 million for Bird.
"It's not an inexpensive project, Bottomley said. "If you really want to make it nice, it costs money."
While neighbors liked Bottomley's proposals, they stated that some of the community's other needs were more important.
"I like the idea," said advisory committee member and resident Dan Erceg. "But we've got areas that are just unacceptable."
Redevelopment director Susan Schick said the city has committed to provide $100 million for the first five years of the 30-year project for all of the 20 areas.
"Obviously, it will cost more than that," she said.
However, the neighborhoods are on track to receive some redevelopment agency funds. Because of the way decisions about improvements in these communities are being made, reviewed and approved, they could be designated a redevelopment area as early as the fall of this year.
A 50-member project area committee will oversee the plans for the entire proposed redevelopment area, a process that is required in order for the area to receive redevelopment funds. The committee will be made up of elected residents, property owners and business owners, as well as representatives from community organizations, that are appointed by the city council.
The Gardner, Atlanta and Gregory Plaza neighborhoods are bordered by Interstate 280 and Highway 87 on the northwest and northeast, and by the Palm Haven Conservation Area, Coe Avenue and from Delmas Avenue to Willow Street on the south.
Residents are still trying to agree on a name to identify their area: the three favorite options are the Greater Gardner Area, Gardner/Gregory Plaza/Delmas and Willow Glen North.
Community members will have the chance to choose who will represent them in the project area committee by mail-in voting between March 26 and April 24.
The next community meeting is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 27, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Gardner Academy, 502 Illinois Ave. The next neighborhood advisory committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 26.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
