What have we accomplished.?

On Tuesday, a "deeply divided" City Council postponed hearing of Irvine project on the corner of Zanker Road and River Oaks parkway for two weeks, pending some planning activity -- mainly a plan of action for North San Jose Task Force.

In my opinion, fight for this project seems to be in its last stage. It's not because I am giving up; but because there are few, residents and council members alike, who oppose the specifics of this project, barring the location of the park. These two weeks also give an opportunity to reconcile on this matter with a specific suggestion coming from our own District 4 Council member Kansen Chu to see if 5 acre semi-circle park, which borders River Oaks Parkway, can be split into two -- a park that occupies currently proposed location and the other park that can be on the corner of River Oaks and Research place.

So as some of you are wondering what has been accomplished by the hubbub from RONA regarding sending emails to the City council, showing up at Planning Commission meeting, giving up a speech in front of the City council? My Answer -- the campaign, which I consider to be successful, so far has had multiple effects:

One, the specifics of this project have been altered after input from the community. Parking garages no longer have outlet on River Oaks Parkway, height of buildings has been tapered to increase gradually with shorter ones towards Research Place and taller ones towards Zanker. Parking is still a concern though and that needs to be watched carefully.

Second, we forced the City to setup a Citizens' Task Force. In 2005, when Vision North San Jose was approved, there was no plan for the task force. And, while the vision plan intended to avoid piecemeal planning, it did nothing to prevent it, as was evident from City Planning Staff's response to this and other projects. The proposals were adjusted to meet local project requirements instead of looking at bigger picture (I am not talking about ever important goal of connecting Coyote Creek and Guadalupe Creek by a trail) . It was strong showing at Planning Commission meeting and emails of support for better planning that put pressure on Mayor Chuck Reed to put together the Task Force. It was also a election promise kept well by Councilman Kansen.

Final, process so far has forced other developers and Planning Staff to be more cautious and conscientious. Sure, developers are still going to look at their bottom line and Planning staff, sadly, look at following procedures rather than instincts. But, they now know that Citizens are watchful. We are not sleeping. With organization like RONA pouring over details of every proposal and picking out holes from the proposal, they know they can't just slip things past the finish line anymore. I see that already the builders -- residential and commercial -- with new proposals pro-actively contact RONA to seek opinion.

So as I see it, if it is not for us working together, we would not have a Task Force; or a Blue box for school that suddenly appeared on Agnews site in Staff's presentation[1]. I know it's tiresome but if we want make sure that City is doing the job they are hired to do in first place, unfortunately, we need to be engaged. There are few more proposals, like 401/405 ROP, and who can forget Cadence location on the corner of Seely and ROP, coming up closer to our home So let's keep our energy up and get what we want ultimately -- a good place to live, work, and play.

[1] For some time after not talking anything about the location of the schools in formal communication, Staff's presentation in front of the City Council, suddenly showed a Blue, floating box named School at the South-East corner of Agnews facility slated for conversion.

Tips for August 14th City Council meetings

I just put together some tips for those who are planning to attend the City Council hearing for Sony/Irvine Project on Tuesday 14th of August. These is something I wish I'd known for Planning Commission meeting.

• Venue: 7:00 P.M. in the City Council Chambers. City Hall is located on the corner of Santa Clara St. and 4th Street.

• Parking: Park car under the TOWER of City Hall. Entry to the garage is on from 6th Street. Take the parking ticket with you as it can be validated during/at the end of public hearing.

• Go through the specific item on the Agenda
• Item 11.3: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/Agenda/081407/081407_11.03.pdf

• If you plan on speaking at the meeting:
• Prepare a draft of what you are going to say and get it with you.
• Start with your final recommendation, a summary statement, if you will. This will allow you to go on the records before running out of time. This happened to me and few others in the Planning Commission meeting where TWO minutes were alloted
• As you enter the City Council Chambers and face the council desk, at the bottom-right entrance is the card that you need to fill to speak on a topic. In this case, the topic title is -PDC06-038 – District 4.
  
• As the public hearing begins, and your name is called, you will need to line up towards the left.

I hope many of you will show up to support the cause of better development and halt this project before quite a few questions are answered. Those who don't want to or can't come, please at least send email to:
andrew.crabtree@sanjoseca.gov,
ru.weerakoon@sanjoseca.gov,
kansen@kansenchu.com,
District1@sanjoseca.gov,
District3@sanjoseca.gov,
District5@sanjoseca.gov,
District6@sanjoseca.gov,
District7@sanjoseca.gov,
District10@sanjoseca.gov,
forrest.williams@sanjoseca.gov,
dave.cortese@sanjoseca.gov,
judy.chirco@sanjoseca.gov,

to let them record of your objections.

See you.. (or not)

Schools in NSJ

We are told -- we will have adequate park land with every project, never mind what location/shape. We are told -- don't you worry, retail will follow the increase in population. Traffic?? Not a problem --- everyone is going to walk, bike, ride the train to work. But still nobody's telling anything how the schools will be taken cared of, if at all. And that's one of the weakest links in North San Jose plan.

Unlike retail, industrial, and residential development done by businesses, school requires land to have been bought by the government at market or sometimes slightly below market rate. More money is needed to build and run the school. This is where not allocating enough resources today can and will come back and haunt the City and finally its residents as the money has to come from somewhere. Worse yet -- success of rest of the NSJ plan will make it even more expensive to build and operate the school. That's why Planning Commissioners, in June 27th meeting, clearly stated the need to assess the monetary requirements and levy adequate fees on the developers even before first project is approved.

To dispute this and Santa Clara Unified School district study, City planning staff (and Mayor) point out that only 18 students came out of first 1400 units in North Park apartments. Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy? Enough students are not being generated is indicator for future projects or whether folks with school going kids don't prefer to live in this area BECAUSE there are no good schools. I am in my early 30s and just had a kid; and I am prepared to move out of this area in 3 years for the same reason. At least couple of my friends looked over River Oaks area for buying house because they didn't find any schools. One of them continues to rent at Mansion Grove apartments instead of North Park because it HAS the new school. Has Irvine found out whether prospective renters are declining to rent because of lack of schools? This can't continue with 8000 more units in this area. Even if we (and the City) was not to believe the projections from SCUSD's study, it's a no-brainer that you are not going to find 8000 singles or couples with no school going kids.

So I would urge all the stakeholders in the community to get involved in North San Jose planning task to force the City to at least allocate resources for future need. Remember to be part of or provide your feedback to the Citizen's Task Force for NSJ whose first meeting is on 25 th July:

Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Location: Orchard Elementary School (Pod C)
921 Fox Lane,
San Jose, CA 95131

It's our future generation after all.

[One interesting piece of information about North Park apartments. Because of lack of funds and resources, a measure in 2002 transferred Moitozo Property (area between Zanker/River Oaks/North First Street/Tasman) from Santa Clara Unified School District to Orchard Elementary school district. The reasoning --
"With the development of the Moitozo Property, the Santa Clara Unified School District will see an influx of 250-400 additional students attending its schools. Because the district relies on property taxes for its funding source, it will not receive any funds to educate these students from the State of California and all property taxes will go to the City of San Jose because the property is in a redevelopment area. The Santa Clara Unified School District has determined that it is not in the best financial interest of the district to retain the Moitozo property within the jurisdictional boundaries of its district. The potential cost to Santa Clara Unified, after this property is fully built upon, would be over $1 million per year."
]

Victory for the small guy!

On June 27, 2007, I was there to witness a small victory for the small guy. It didn't create a huge news outside the circle, but it was a victory indeed. I am talking about San Jose Planning Commission public hearing about residential project proposal by Irvine corporation in North San Jose. For me, coming from India, it was a good introduction to civic process at city government level.

It began with presentations from City Planning Staff and Irvine to justify the project and to show how the project conforms to City guidelines. Anticipating reprisal from citizens for lack of planning for North San Jose, City Planning Staff tried put a 'Clintonesque' move by contesting the meaning of 'Master Plan'. Master plan to the staff meant having a trail from Guadalupe creek to Coyote creek (WOW!).

First public statement was of Santa Clara Unified School District's business consultant, whose initial estimates projected a lot more students to come out of NSJ than the City and the developer would admit. For details, see http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_6326382?nclick_check=1. That was followed by consistent and well-articulated series of statements from RONA board members and other concerned residents; statements that reiterated concerns about lack of planning and zeal to push piecemeal projects through. At the end, luckily -- and rightly -- most of the commissioners sided with the residents when it comes to meaning of 'Master Plan'. They recommended to the City council that the project be put on hold until a real master plan (or a process towards one) is put in place -- the one that at least identifies the resources needed for the essential services for better quality of life. Congrats RONA! Congrats River Oaks Community!! and Thank you commissioners!!!

The best part of the evening was when one of representatives from Irvine , during the rebuttal of public statements, on topic of schools, said, and I quote,
"...and we are looking at other options with Council member [Kansen] Chu to solve the student generation concern in this area.." [Click to listen to mp3 recording]

I really don't know what they have in mind but boy! I would be scared to rent apartment in such a community!

Now, on to August 14th hearing at City Commission.

RO-NA (River Oaks Neighborhood Association)

On Thursday, I became at-large board-member of a non-profit community association - RO-NA (www.ro-na.org). This is a nascent organization to watch over City of San Jose's plans for development and rezoning of North San Jose corridor. And there sure are plenty of things to watch over. Main intent of the organization is to make sure that redevelopment happens at a gradual place and is well planned such that there is minimal effect on the infrastructure and livelihood of the community. Currently this area is quietly snuggled in the middle of commercial real-estate. It's green, calm, and very well organized. It's not perfect, but it's home! Converting commercial real-estate in housing is essence of the plan. However, the organization wants to make sure that housing plans are well-balanced with other community interests. This includes parks, roads, grocery shops, and schools. It also wants to make sure that like big SUVs dwarfing other cars on the road, tall buildings don't crowd the skyline and change the landscape to cut the sunlight from smaller condo complexes and town-homes. In that sense, it's really for responsible development and not just political opposition. Like any other not-for-monetary profit association, it's certainly for-profit of the community it lives and thrives in. And I am glad as I became part of my very first community involvement venture.