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New board in store for members of WGNA
Meeting on May 9 will also include discussion about traffic calming
By Kate Carter
Members of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association will vote for a new president and other members of the board of directors next week, but most of the candidates are already familiar faces on the board.
Association members will also be able to learn about options for calming traffic on Lincoln Avenue, at their twice-yearly general meeting on May 9.
Outgoing President J. Michael Gonzales will be replaced by lone presidential candidate John Gibbs, who says he hopes to build closer relationships with Willow Glen's city council office and business association.
The general meeting will focus on a discussion with three presenters who have experience with neighborhood and business district traffic-calming. Scheduled speakers include Jill Escher, president of the alternative transportation advocacy group Walk San Jose; and Leslie Wambach, an architect and neighborhood leader from San Mateo County who helped gain county and city support for specific traffic calming measures on a business district street. A representative from San Jose's department of transportation will also speak, and members of the police department will be present to answer questions.
Gonzales is term-limited out of office after serving two years as president. WGNA's bylaws stipulate that officers, including the first and second vice presidents, secretary and treasurer, cannot hold the same position for more than two consecutive years. The four elected board members are not subject to term limits.
The ballot includes only one candidate for each officer position. Gibbs, who served as WGNA's first vice president for the 2000-01 and 1999-2000 years, is the candidate to replace Gonzales. Former second vice president, Helen Solinski, is slated to replace Gibbs. Sharon Fierro, an elected board member last year, is the candidate to replace Solinski. Jim Gardner, who was one of Gonzales' appointed board members last year, is on the ballot to replace Lynn Repetsky as treasurer. Margaret Hardy, a former elected borad member, is the candidate to replace Cathy Marshall as secretary.
This year there are five candidates for the four elected board member positions. They include Larry Ames, who is a former WGNA president and was an appointed board member last year; Harold Schapelhouman, who was appointed to the board by Gonzales at WGNA's last board meeting on April 11; Jim Spence, who was a candidate for the District 6 city council seat the March 2000 primary election; former secretary Cathy Marshall; and former elected board member Vern Ladd.
Candidates for the five members of the nominating committee, who will oversee next year's election, are former committee members Ames, who will serve as the committee's chair; Linda Herschbach and Ann Leever; as well as Gonzales and Kris Cunningham, also a former WGNA president and a former candidate for the District 6 seat in the general election last November.
The association president's duties include running the board's minimum of nine meetings every year and overseeing the board's activities. The president is also authorized to appoint up to four board members each year.
Gonzales, who served one year as an appointed board member and two years as first vice president, said the job, as all the board positions, is time-consuming but rewarding.
"You just see the hours disappear," he said. "We're not a low-key board; we're proactive. I feel real good about what the WGNA board has done over the last two years."
Gonzales mentioned the association's involvement and leadership to help develop the city's design-review ordinance; support the city's policy regarding after-midnight business operations, work with Longs Drugs on plans for the new store coming to Lincoln Avenue and open discussion on possible traffic-calming measures in Willow Glen's downtown areas.
Future issues for the new board and boards to come, Gonzales predicted, include in-fill residential developments and the traffic impacts those could have on surrounding neighborhoods.
He also said the association would have to think about new ways of making its concerns known to developers, city planners and other local officials. As it now stands, he said, most people who participate on WGNA's board work full time, and are less able to attend meetings and play a large role in projects that affect the community.
"The future holds some kind of new relationship for neighborhood associations," Gonzales said. "When neighborhood associations have to challenge entities with unlimited funds, like companies or energy generators, how can WGNA, which has $10,000 in the bank, how can we do that? I don't know. The future begs that question be answered."
He added that some neighborhood associations have begun hiring professional political lobbyists to represent them and their interests.
Gonzales said he has plans to remain actively involved in WGNA, serving as a member volunteer on the association's traffic-calming subcommittee and working on a project to put public information kiosks along Lincoln Avenue. The kiosks, Gonzales said, are a way Willow Glen residents can communicate with each other, without always resorting to email.
"It creates real community, not cyber," he said.
Gonzales, who works as a public information officer for the city of Menlo Park, said he also plans to spend some of his newly freed-up time on his own personal interests.
WGNA's presidential candidate Gibbs has been on the association's board of directors for six years and has served as first vice president for the past two. He works as county Supervisor Don Gage's chief of staff and is also secretary of the Willow Glen Beautification Project and president of the board of directors of Willow Glen's St. Elizabeth's Day Home.
Gibbs agreed with Gonzales that in-fill development will be an issue in Willow Glen and across the county and that it is always a challenge for the association and other volunteer organizations to find the time to work on their projects. He said he hoped to spread responsibilities among the board members and call on the general membership for help.
He also said he has already had meetings with District 6 City Councilman Ken Yeager and Willow Glen Business and Professional Association President Karen Naegeli to discuss ways of collaborating on ways to focus on common goals.
"We all want our quality of life in Willow Glen to stay high," he said. "Very little can be accomplished by a neighborhood association itself. We need to work together."
The neighborhood association board's newest member, Schapelhouman, was appointed by Gonzales last month and is now a candidate for an elected board position for next year. He is a captain in the Menlo Park Fire Protection District ,and he and his wife, Lada, have lived in Willow Glen for about six years. Gonzales said he appointed Schapelhouman after working with him on the Longs issue.
Schapelhouman said he is interested in working on the issue of traffic-calming, especially as he brings the perspective of someone working in emergency services. He also wants to work on issues of zoning, education and downtown's cleanliness, he said, as well as work more closely with the business association and bring more activities to the community.
Elected board member candidate Spence is the only person on the ballot who has not served on the association's board in some capacity in the past. He is a San Jose police sergeant who has worked as an officer in Willow Glen "on and off" for more than 30 years, he said. He has lived in Willow Glen for more than 20 years, he said, and has been a member of WGNA for about a year and a half.
Spence said he decided to run for the position after coming in third in the council District 6 run-off election last year. He wants to become more involved in the neighborhood association and the community, he said, and he thinks his experience with crime prevention and traffic-calming will benefit the board.
At least 10 percent of the membership must vote in the association's yearly board election, according to its bylaws. Members will receive ballots in the mail this week and can drop them off at the meeting or send them in, postmarked by May 9.
Nominating committee member Ames said members of the League of Women Voters are expected to oversee the ballot counting later this month. The new board members will be installed at the next board meeting on June 13.
The general meeting will take place at the same time as a community meeting on the city's redistricting efforts at the Willows Senior Center. The redistricting will adjust the city's 10 council district boundaries to reflect changes in population from the 2000 U.S. Census.
Gonzales said the association will send a letter to the city's redistricting advisory commission, asking it to put the Willow Glen neighborhood in a single council district. Until the last redistricting changes in 1990, most of Willow Glen had been in District 6, but for the past 10 years some of Willow Glen's southern areas have been in District 9. The mailing with the letter will include a map of Willow Glen's city-chosen boundaries, which the association also uses.
WGNA's general meeting is scheduled for May 9, at the Willow Glen United Methodist Church, on the corner of Minnesota and Newport avenues, from 7 to 9 p.m. For more information, visit WGNA's website at www.wgna.net.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
