The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap Regular Joe: Soon-to-be San Jose mayoral aide Joe Guerra is making himself at home in the halls of power downtown. 'Mr. Willow Glen' goes to San Jose Longtime Glenite moves on to a post as senior staffer for Mayor Ron Gonzales By Cecily Barnes When I first met Joe Guerra two years ago, he drove a functional black 4-Runner, returned phone calls within the hour and had something to say about everything happening in Willow Glen, big or small. As chief of staff for District 6 Councilmember Frank Fiscalini, Guerra had become the second-biggest fish in the small Willow Glen pond--only Fiscalini himself carried more weight. As past-president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, the Business and Professional Association and the Willow Glen Elementary School PTA, and as the founder and former publisher of the Willow Glen Resident, the only place for Guerra to move up in local politics would have been to run for City Council. But public office is not an aspiration for Guerra--at least not anytime soon. When he married at age 28, Guerra promised his wife no public office--at least not until his children were grown. He still has a few years: daughter Ashley is 10 years old, and daughter Gina is 6. So instead of vying for a bigger position locally, Joe Guerra is taking his talents into a bigger pond. About a year ago, Guerra swapped his second car, a Volvo, for a 1996 convertible Mustang with tan leather interior. And just recently, he solidified plans to move down one floor at City Hall and set up in the mayor's budget office. Beginning Jan. 1, Guerra will leave the small, thriving neighborhood of his childhood to take a top job on the staff for Mayor-elect Ron Gonzales. Guerra says that although he loves Willow Glen, it's time to move on. "This isn't where I should be spending my time," Guerra says. "This is the place I point to as a model. I don't think I need to do anything in Willow Glen anymore. Willow Glen's done." Instead, Guerra will focus his energies on other parts of the city that he believes need more help. His official title under Gonzales will be Budget and Policy Director, but Guerra will not sit in a corner with a calculator all day. He will oversee the Redevelopment Agency, and housing, economic development and land-use issues--several of the most pressing concerns facing San Jose. Already he has a few projects coming down the pike. Guerra promises that he will hammer away to get the city to pay for an increased 50 percent more housing units annually. He will also crack the whip on the Redevelopment Agency, reviewing its budget and funding priorities. The problems to be solved are larger in scope than those contained within Willow Glen. "I'm the type of person that always wants a bigger challenge," Guerra says. He doesn't finish the thought, but seated in the Taiwan restaurant on Lincoln Avenue during the bustling lunch hour, the sentiment is clear. Willow Glen ain't broke, and Guerra wants to fix something. Training Wheels Guerra vividly remembers his first time speaking at a San Jose City Council meeting. It was 1985, he had just graduated from Santa Clara University, and, uncharacteristic of most 21-year-olds, he had joined his local neighborhood group. "I think I set up the folding chairs or something," Guerra laughs. "But they liked me because I was willing to work." After a few months, former WGNA president Hannah Kennedy (now Hannah Jacobson) and boardmember Joan Doss asked Guerra to join the board, and not long after that he was asked to go before the City Council. Attorney Al Ruffo, previously the mayor of San Jose, was present to represent a client who wished to develop an old fruit stand on Meridian Avenue. Opposed to the project, the neighborhood association asked Guerra to speak on its behalf. "I was so nervous," Guerra recalls. "I was up there with Al Ruffo, the former mayor." Whether or not to Guerra's credit, the project was denied. The experience was his first exposure to what has turned into a full-time career in Willow Glen politics. Guerra credits his time with the neighborhood group for forming the foundation of his career. "I think so much of what I've done has been an evolution of that," he says. "I will really give a lot of credit to [Doss and Kennedy] for their neighborhood activist sensibilities. They were clearly the people who taught me about grassroots political activism." But it's a lesson he had learned earlier on. Guerra's father, who worked as an aide for Dom Cortese both at the county and the state, taught him about politics from the other side of the podium. Guerra knew about the need to promote growth and vitality on the one hand, and to protect quiet neighborhoods and constituents' concerns on the other. Guerra describes this "bilingualism" as one of his greatest strengths. In 1985, when speaking before the council was no longer a paralyzing experience, Guerra moved into his Lincoln Avenue home (where he still lives today), began selling real estate and was elected president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association. The next year, he presided over the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association. And then he founded this paper, The Willow Glen Resident, which he ran until it was bought by Metro Publishing, Inc. in 1992. During these years, he first began working with political candidates. It was then that Guerra began the tightrope walk from activist constituent to staffer. "In 1988, I ran Nancy Ianni's reelection campaign out of my living room," Guerra says. And in 1990, he worked on Fiscalini's unsuccessful mayoral campaign--only to help him into the City Council in 1992, where Guerra landed his chief of staff job. Cutting Ties For the past eight years, Guerra has been Fiscalini's righthand man--the eager staffer has even been jokingly called "Councilmember Guerra." Anyone in Willow Glen who has had a problem with anything knows to call Joe. When I first began as a reporter for the Resident, Joe, I was told, would be my number one source. "We have all the neighborhoods divided up between our staff, and Willow Glen has been Joe's," says Michelle McGurk, who will replace Guerra as Fiscalini's new chief of staff. "Also in general, Joe has been the last stop when a constituent has an issue." Key players in Willow Glen say Guerra's move was not unexpected. "It comes as no surprise, says Kris Cunningham, president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association. "He makes a point of knowing what's going on in the whole city, and he's quick with numbers. I would have suspected that he might move up." Fiscalini, Guerra's longtime boss, says he encourages his staff to move forward and continue to excel in their careers. After their long years together, Fiscalini has sent Guerra off with his blessing, and a sentiment echoed by others in the community. "It's not like he's going to the moon," Fiscalini says. "He'll just be a phone call away if we need him." [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, December 16, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.