City Beat

City floats a plan for teams of neighbors

RDA earmarks $20 million for new community-based teams

By Chantal Lamers

Juan Mendoza, president of the Washington Neighborhood Coalition, has seen amazing changes in that area over the past two years. Neighbors that were once estranged are now united. Alleyways once tagged with graffiti are clean. Mean streets, once gang territory, are now safe.

San Jose city officials hope 18 other neighborhoods will be as successful as the downtown Washington and Guadalupe Neighborhood Coalition has made their neighborhood.

The strong neighborhoods initiative, backed by Mayor Ron Gonzales and council members, is a way to put muscle into city neighborhoods. Officials want to cut the bureaucratic red tape and put city government on the front lawn of renters, homeowners and business owners across the capital of Silicon Valley.

Neighbors will meet on weekend afternoons or weekday evenings. They'll review existing neighborhood plans and create new plans. Residents will set priorities such as adding traffic lights, repaving streets, adding health clinics and building neighborhood parks.

Mark Linder, director of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood services, says this is a new way for San Jose to do business. Linder told council members on Aug. 8, that he's confident the city can pull-off the unprecedented project.

The 19 San Jose neighborhoods include about 200,000 residents. One Willow Glen neighborhood, Gardner and Atlanta, is included in the strategy to make streets safer and cleaner.

While some neighborhood associations, like Washington's, have been in the works for years--others, such as in the Gardner and Atlanta neighborhood, are just getting started.

The Redevelopment Agency is committing $20 million each year, over the next five years, to the project.

Citywide, different departments have the opportunity of making the San Jose neighborhoods stronger. Departments including planning, building and code enforcement; parks, recreation and neighborhood services; department of streets and traffic; public works; police; housing; library; and the office of economic development will be a part of the picture.

Neighborhood teams, comprised of representatives from the city, will conduct community outreach to promote resident participation. Teams, staffed with architects and city planners, will help residents build a new neighborhood.

Redevelopment Director Susan Shick says part of the city's role is to build these strong neighborhoods by engaging neighbors through their natural leadership.

Under the plan, the 19 neighborhoods will be established as a single redevelopment project area. City officials say for the neighborhoods to be under one umbrella project, a Project Area Committee must be nominated by residents within the neighborhoods. An election is slated for February. Each of the respective neighborhoods will choose representatives to form a total of 50 committee members. The committee will be made up of residents, property and business owners.

PAC's job is to review plans for each neighborhood and provide recommendations to council members.

Dave Vossbrink, the mayor's communication director, says the goal is to make neighborhood improvements that are long lasting.

Mayor Gonzales says that, due to a fruitful economy, the city is finally in a position to improve neighborhoods. He says the city is going to invest in neighborhoods the way residents want to invest.

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For information about the strong neighborhoods initiative, including meeting times and locations, visit www.strongneighborhoods.org.

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