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Mayor will address housing in State of the City speech
Gonzales will also present WGBPA with an award
By Kate Carter
Affordable housing and downtown developments top the list of topics Mayor Ron Gonzales will likely address in his third State of the City address this week.
Gonzales has been challenged in recent months to respond to concerns about the high cost of housing in his city. City officials have proposed broadening the ongoing revitalization in the downtown core--which has focused largely on office high-rises and commercial ventures--to include more housing in mixed-use developments.
Gonzales will address other pressing San Jose issues, such as education, the economy, traffic and neighborhoods: "core areas that the mayor has talked about in the past and will continue to talk about," mayoral spokesman David Vossbrink said.
Gonzales will also tout his accomplishments of the past year, most notably the passage of county Measure A at the polls in November, which authorized a 30-year, half-cent sales tax beginning in 2006, for improvements to mass transit and to extend BART to San Jose.
Vossbrink said Gonzales will also highlight the success of Measures O and P, which allow $440 million worth of municipal bonds for much-needed improvements to the city's branch library system and neighborhood parks and community centers.
Gonzales will also present the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association with a Good Neighbor Recognition Award. District 6 Councilman Ken Yeager recommended the business association, based on its contributions to the Willow Glen community.
"Ken was looking at what the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association has wanted to do and tried to do," Yeager aide Denelle Fedor said. "Sometimes it succeeded and sometimes it did not. But when businesses try to reach out, it shouldn't go unnoticed."
The State of the City will be on Feb. 1, at 5:30 p.m. in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center ballroom. The event is free, but tickets are required. To request tickets, call 408.345.2000. Free parking will be available in the convention center.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
