Fifteen volunteers from five streets spent four Saturdays digging, painting and planting to "spruce up" the city-owned strip lots, Erceg said.

And Erceg credits 40-year resident Russell Richmond with making it possible. Richmond, 80, owns the north side of the lot at the corner of Atlanta and Bird avenues and was "very receptive to the project and lent us his tools," Erceg said.

The project is similar to the fences that were constructed in other sections of the North Willow Glen community—Hummingbird Park and Fuller Avenue.

The fences on Fuller Avenue were built in 1991 when neighbors were tired of seeing trucks come at night and dump trash on the city-owned lot adjacent to the railroad tracks.

The city originally suggested a chain-link fence, but "we said no, we're not into the prison-camp look," Erceg said.

With the Fuller Avenue white fence completed 12 years ago, and the Hummingbird Park fence finished for the park's opening in February 2003, the Atlanta and Bird avenues section adds "continuity," said Alison England, a director with the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association.

"All the improvements are fantastic," said Clark Williams, who lives on Spencer Avenue. "It makes it attractive for young families," added the stay-at-home dad, who was returning from Hummingbird Park with his three-month-old daughter.

Residents on Atlanta Avenue also approved of the new fences.

"They look really cute," Tammy Thies said. "It's good to keep it consistent."

Chris Yuan-Farrell, who lives on the corner of Bird and Atlanta avenues, allowed the neighborhood volunteers to use his water and electricity to mix the cement.

"We were very pleased," Yuan-Farrell said about the outcome of the project.

Susie Williams said she gave it thumbs-up and liked the flowers that lined the painted fence but wished that the landscaping extended farther along the street. "More plants would be nice," she said.

Erceg said the fence "creates a color spot" for the flowers beneath it, but that there were no plans to extend the fences or landscape the area along Bird Avenue.

"We want to avoid overkill," he said.

The message he does want to send is that "this space is cared for."

Neighborhood beautification in this area has roots back to the 1800s, he said.

Back in 1869 the land, which is now part of the Greater Gardner Association, was a hops farm owned by the Bird family. When real estate proved to be more lucrative than farming, the family subdivided the property and sold the land in the early 1900s.

Without streetcars, electricity or gas lines, the land was difficult to sell, because it was outside the reaches of San Jose at that time and had no amenities, Erceg said.

To create distinctive neighborhood boundaries, developers designed attractive and unique communities using signature touches such as Palm Haven's elaborate lamp posts in 1913, he said.

While these amenities are no longer a problem, community pride remains strong in the area.

"Now 100 years later, we're creating what should have been here in the first place," Erceg said.

And through a proactive approach, the North Willow Glen residents applied for and received a $1,100 Community Action and Pride grant, which they used to help beautify their community.