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Improvements on tap for Gardner/Atlanta
Officials introduce strong neighborhoods program to neighbors at weekend workshop
By Kate Carter
Residents in north Willow Glen will have the chance to use redevelopment money to make their neighborhoods safer and better places to live, but they want to make sure that improvements made in their community will be kept up by the city departments that propose to make them.
A collaboration of city offices held a morning workshop on Oct. 28, at Gardner Academy for neighbors in the Gardner, Atlanta and Gregory Plaza neighborhoods to learn more about how they can become involved in the city's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative (SNI).
City officials, including District 6 city Councilman Frank Fiscalini and District 3 (downtown) city Councilwoman Cindy Chavez, were on hand to introduce neighbors to SNI, to present them with preliminary ideas for how to redevelop their neighborhoods and to solicit information about what problems should be addressed and what solutions should be implemented.
The area, currently identified as the Gardner/Atlanta area, falls half in District 3 and half in District 6, and is 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.
It is a mostly residential neighborhood characterized by older homes and large trees. But it struggles with foundational problems and broken streets and sidewalks, unattractive businesses and residences and graffiti, according to a report done by students and faculty at San Jose State University's Department of Urban Planning.
The report also stated that neighborhood residents are mostly Hispanic and many people who live here have lower than average incomes.
"SNI projects are designed in such a way that they truly bring neighborhoods together," Fiscalini told the group. "You will be the determinants in your future, and that's the way it should be."
Chavez said that, as politicians, "this is a new way for us to think about our role as it relates to you. The goal is to make the neighborhood areas as strong as in other neighborhoods."
The initiative is a program begun by Mayor Ron Gonzales and the city council in 20 neighborhoods throughout San Jose. They were identified by the Redevelopment Agency, city council offices and other city departments as areas that could benefit from redevelopment funds. It is a 30-year redevelopment plan affecting areas where 200,000 people live, said Redevelopment Agency neighborhood business district program coordinator Richard Keit.
"The whole goal is to really strengthen these neighborhoods and make them more livable," Keit said.
The city council could designate the 20 areas as one redevelopment area in the fall of next year, Keit said. If so, the improvements to homes, streets and businesses could be largely covered by redevelopment funds.
Residents in the identified areas are being included in the very early planning stages of changes that could take five to 10 years to implement.
"The SNI is driven entirely by the community," said city planner Deborah Kim.
Neighbors are invited to participate in Neighborhood Advisory Committees for each of the areas, to identify specific areas that could be improved and devise plans to remedy problems.
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.
Norma Mendez, a resident of the Gardner neighborhood, is president of the Gardner advisory committee and is running for a seat on the project area committee. She said that the initiative will help improve her neighborhood that she feels has been neglected.
"Before when we made complaints, it was always brought up that there was not enough money," she said. "There are no excuses anymore."
At the Oct. 28 meeting, residents heard about plans that have already been developed for their area.
The Gardner/Atlanta area is the only one that had a plan proposal drafted before neighbors were 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 the project funded by 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.
Their community revitalization plan includes building a larger community center to work closely with the park and the school and to be accessible to people of all ages, to redevelop underused vacant spaces and to rehabilitate commercial facilities and homes, Salazar said.
The plan also proposes establishing an L-shaped "spine" along a stretch of Fuller and Delmas avenues around which to create a landscaped area with commercial areas suitable for people to socialize and build community.
"The intent is to make it more pedestrian-friendly and to assist in slowing down traffic" along those roads, Salazar said. "The idea is to connect all the commercial uses and quite a few of the open spaces. It really ties it all together."
The university team is working as a consultant on the initiative plan, along with urban planning consultant Terry Bottomley, Salazar said.
Bottomley gave meeting participants a slide show presentation of specific locations that could benefit from redevelopment, specifically areas near train tracks and highways, open spaces, and residential and commercial locations that are blighted.
Most of the residents, business owners and community representatives agreed with many of the experts. But they pointed out that what would really benefit their neighborhoods would be maintenance improvements to parks, roads and buildings.
Redevelopment money is only for capital improvements and cannot be used for maintenance purposes, according to Martin Magaña, development specialist with the Redevelopment Agency. He said that the majority of the money for SNI will be redevelopment funds, accompanied by some community development block grants.
Magaña said that there will be provisions for the maintenance in the project plans, however.
"That's something that really needs to be looked at starting now, but also in the future," he said.
Salazar said that the city requires some maintenance provisions in the plans for new construction.
"When there is an attempt to develop a park, maintenance comes with it," she said. "If they don't think they will be able to maintain it, they won't go for it."
Kim of the planning department said she was encouraged by the neighbors' concerns about maintenance.
"I appreciate that the group is talking like that," she said.
She said that the plan drafted by community members and other participants should be a "wish list." The community will then figure out what parts of the plan they will actually be able to accomplish and how they can bring them about.
"This is not intended to be a project where the city is running it," Kim said. "The idea is to get people active and taking care of their neighborhood in some sense, of course with city support."
Some neighbors are afraid that the initiative could improve areas so much that current residents would be priced out of the area's market.
"We're trying not to lose sight of that," Keit of the redevelopment agency said. But he added that doing nothing to help the neighborhood won't necessarily keep the costs down.
"A cooling off of the economy is the only think that's going to help overall prices," he said.
The city and the county are involved in a conflict over redevelopment funds and how they should be used, which Keit said could affect the plans for the neighborhood initiative.
"We're not sure how this is going to play out," Keit said. "It's not until the final adoption of the redevelopment plan that there could be a challenge by the county. We hope it will work out."
Meeting participants were also asked to come up with a name for the oddly shaped region at the north end of Willow Glen that, according to city officials, actually includes three different neighborhoods. Some ideas included using the name Delmas after the history of the road; calling it the Greater Gardner area; or identifying it as North Willow Glen.
Many of the residents in the area shop at Lincoln Avenue or downtown San Jose, and historically the neighborhood was part of "Goosetown," Willow Glen's predecessor. The railroad line, then Interstate 280 and Highway 87 created a division of the area from Willow Glen and may have led to some of the problems that it now faces.
"If it wasn't for the freeways and railroads, it probably wouldn't have any needs, it would be just as nice as Willow Glen," Keit said.
Members of the area will have the chance to vote on who will represent them in the Neighborhood Advisory Committee by mail on Feb. 2. The deadline to file as a candidate is Nov. 21. Candidates do not have to be citizens or registered voters. To obtain a candidate qualification form, call Sandra Escobar at the Redevelopment Agency offices at 408.277.4744.
The next Neighborhood Advisory Committee meeting is on Dec. 4, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Gardner Community Center, 540 W. Virginia Street. The next community meeting is on Jan. 27, from 9 a.m. to noon at Gardner Academy, 502 Illinois Ave.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
