Willow Glen Resident

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Neighbors should work together on park

My family and I care about our neighborhood and honor the work done to continue to build and enhance the sense of pride we have in our community Rose Garden. I want to commend all of the neighborhood leaders, especially the president of the Rose Garden Neighborhood Preservation Association, on their strength and courage in defeating the proposal to contract out workers at the Rose Garden. Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio should learn that he needs to work with the residents, not attack them, in order to build a sense of community. We need to work together to find creative solutions, and I thank our neighborhood leaders for coming up with alternatives.

Rose Popovich

San Jose

Not every neighbor supports privatization

The coverage in the May 18 issue of the Resident on the vote of the Rose Garden maintenance missed a key point: the residents were not united behind the privatization proposal. I don't want the care of my park put up on the auction block. I wanted to thank those leaders who spoke in favor of keeping the Rose Garden public--publicly maintained, publicly accountable. Our council member should have enough respect for our neighborhood leaders to not assert that they don't have the best interest of our neighborhoods in mind.

While I may not live right next to the Rose Garden, I do work nearby, and I live in District 6. The Rose Garden is an important place for me, and our city. It is important to our city to have neighborhood leaders who provide alternatives to half-baked ideas about how to solve the problem at the park.

Andrew Ryan

San Jose

Sidewalk is not the
place for vendors

Willow Glen Farmers Market is a welcome addition to my Saturday morning ritual; it's a great place to shop. But the vendors belong in the market, where health codes can be enforced, not out in front by the Blockbuster storefront. After all, it is a sidewalk.

On Saturdays, Willow Glen is full of dogwalkers, children on bikes, babies in strollers and wagons, and real estate open house signs. These vendor tents are an impediment to foot traffic.

Perhaps these vendors would rather not pay their fee to the administrator of the market, or they think business will be better out on the street where they can block pedestrian flow. Isn't there a reason why pets are not allowed where produce is sold?

This practice should be stopped, or it will creep up Lincoln Avenue like a cancer.

Martha Steffen

Willow Street

Oliverio's outsourcing
idea is the right call

Newly elected Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio is right.

Lately I have seen a number of letters against outsourcing city services. This is Silicon Valley; we have been outsourcing services for years.

A local author, Michael Malone, wrote a book on the subject, The Virtual Corporation. In his book he describes how companies no longer do functions like janitorial, maintenance, printing and a host of others services. These functions are subcontracted out on an as-needed basis; a staff is not kept on the payroll if they are not required. Some functions are ongoing; however, many are not.

Our cities and county are in a serious deficit situation and cutbacks are looming. This translates into lost jobs.

Under the virtual corporation model, a smaller permanent staff is required to manage the other functions, which are subcontracted out on an as-needed basis.

Keith C. De Fillippis

Miriam Court