Boy would I hate to be the city council tonight – here we go again having to show our true colors to the residents that vote for them.  Hopefully, they will know that we are not small children who need to be ‘guided’ and ‘convinced’ that what they are doing is a good thing for us – but they will hear the words of the residents that go something like this regarding the proposed project at 900 Kiely, Gallery on Central, fairfield residential project in Santa Clara;

The current project is;

Too Dense – too many units proposed for this site – as it currently stands 806 units amounts to 2% of the local Santa Clara population

Traffic concerns  – some of the local intersections have been deemed as failures by the vTA and this project will add more traffic to these interesection ans the surrounding streets

Trees – most of the trees at the current site will be cut down being replaced by saplings – how sad when those current trees add to the current feel of the area and blend in with what is already there.  why cut down mature trees when we already know so much about global warming?  Odd idea

Schools – do we have right numbers – it seems that we have conflicting reports on numbers – this is alarming. how can we get the right figures? is there some way to have this clarified.

Swim center – apparently there is mail out there from the developer attempting to have the local swim center swamp (excuse the pun) the meeting with supporters for the project.  But unfortunately for the developer he does not realize that some of those swim center emails went out residents who are not in favor of the project as it now stands.  Oxy Moron stuff don’t you think?

Also the developer has been talking to the chamber of commerce and local businesses attempting to have them speak in favor of the project because businesses need economic assistances and they are touting the idea that more residents will increase their business.  Yes maybe some truth to that but perhaps many of these business need to reassess what it is their business does and what their service is like.  Just a thought – rather than look to the potential new residents as ’saving grace’?

oh dear the list goes on and I pity the city council tonight – because I am sure like me in their heart of hearts they know that the project as it now stands is not ideal but we do need something there but not this.  This developer has only talked to people who seem to benefit from the project such as the swim pool center and the local stores, they have continously refused to listen to local residents who share streets with this new developer.  They have refused to be a part of the community but rather are waging a war of ‘hate’ behind the scenese by attempting to create a ‘us’ and ‘them’ attitude.  We are the old wiser parent who has done this many times before and we know what we are doing – but do they?

They are attempting to turn small Santa Clara with heart into a concrete jungle – just as was mentioned in the mission city lantern blog.  Hopefully the council will stand up to this giant corporate America and say ‘Yes we hear our residents’ and ‘come back with something that is more in keeping with the area and have your project blend in’.

This developer has turned this project into a political debate – how sad – had they worked with the locals and heard their requests for less density, more parking, more open space, fewer units, more amenities for the general public, it might have been an enjoyable working relationship.  However as it now stands we have disgruntled residents who look to their elected leaders for resolution.

So it’s been a while since I posted here – I’ve been busy with traveling, illness, Obama elections, Christmas (yes I still like to use that word rather than Holidays), family etc.  I’ve had people ask me what is going on in Santa Clara regarding the old Kaiser site – the Fairfield Residential project or rather what’s the fancy name for it.  “Gallery on Kiely” I think that’s its official name – the 900 Kiely Boulevard project.

You know the one – the one where 806 units are slated to be built of which 536 are to be rental properties.  And ‘X’ amount of single family residents with those wonderful 10 x 12 backyards.  Yes everyone needs a cell block for a back yard don’t you agree?

Anyway forget my tongue in cheek attitude to the project, what annoys me more is the wonderful report that the Santa Clara weekly did on the project.  They made the project sound so glowing and so in line with what we need in this wonderful small city that hasn’t got enough housing to house the masses.  And the fact that the weekly has never taken the time to sit and talk to residents or if they do they tend to argue how the city is right and they know what is best for us.  I guess if I continually advertised in the Santa Clara weekly or had a stake in it they might hear my point of view, but I don’t so they continually show no understanding for the general public.  I think this is why Blogging is called ‘freedom of the press’.  Because it occurs to me that Freedom of the Press does not occur in the press.  In fact I would say that freedom of the press is dictated by who advertises in the press.  It’s like those special interest groups that ‘ear mark’ special projects.  Sigh…….

This being said brings me to the point of my update on the 900 Kiely site – right now in the city of Santa Clara there are 329 units/apartments/homes/condos/townhomes/single family residents with big/small back yards  FOR SALE at the time of writing this.

The average days on market for these properties are 112 days at the time of writing - that’s in effect three months worth of inventory.  Wait till that new block  town homes with the 10×12 backyards on Lawrence are on the market – and the ones by KB homes near the Scott. 

Why not sell these before the city permits more building any more? 

I don’t even know how many places are for rent in Santa Clara city but seems to me there is enough for sale.  It also seems to me that there is a down turn in the economy – the city needs to be thinking about bringing business back to it rather than building more cell block homes.

I cannot help but think of George Orwell – and reflect on some of his quotes

“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. “Or this

“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. “Or this
” If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. “

I believe it’s time to put a hold on building or at the very least start to listen to what the residents would like. Let’s clean up El Camino, bring back small businesses, focus less on building, and give us Hope! Listen to the average Joe resident please.

Zuma Dogg is running for Mayor and tomorrow is the day to vote him in, though I know here in Santa Clara in the heart of Silicon Valley you are not voting tomorrow but if you have a heart and you care about your community you too will find why Zuma Dogg is interesting.

He’s saying that special interest are running how the city council is run in L.A., developers tell council how to run their city etc.

I’ve said it before we need a Zuma Dogg in Santa Clara – and though we don’t have all the problems that L.A. is experiencing you just can’t help but listening to Zuma ‘David Saltsburg’ and not hear someone underneath it all that is concerned about your average Joe.  Maybe he should be talking to McCain as well!??

I guess our Zuma Dogg here in Santa Clara is Kevin Park who has been an underdog and an advocate for many of the residents in Santa Clara who have complaints against, the council, the commissions and the planners of this city.  Certainly in these times the average person who lives in a city is the underdog, we the people are often forgotten when decisions are being made in ‘our best interest’.  I feel like a five year old, all over again. 

Is it in my best interest that we allow homes with 10×12 backyards, is it in my best interest that we still have an El Camino that looks like we are living in the 50’s, is it in my best interest that we continue to have developers do deals with the city in my best interest?

Anyway bottom line if you know someone in L.A. remind them tomorrow is an election and the man to consider for the race is Zuma “David Saltsburg” Dogg!  Go Zuma

And remember to support Kevin Park when he asks for your time when the Kiely / old Kaiser project comes up – he’s been supporting many of you on your different projects – just like Zuma does for the average Joe out there!

This coming Tuesday is a regular meeting for City Council at the Santa Clara Council Chambers starting 7pm at 1500 Warburton Avenue Santa Clara. 

I just went to the website to look at what is on the agenda for this week as I believe that there are some residents who have requested an extention of reading the Draft EIR for the Gallery at Central Park – which is the 900 Benton, Fairfield Residential, old Kaiser site development.  These residents have petitioned the city for an extension to read the draft EIR because it is quite extensive.  The request is in view of the holiday season and the elections just gone that they need extra time to read this report.

Copies of the report can be obtained by going to the reference desk at the Santa Clara Library upstairs.  They have copies if you want to understand the impact of this development on the local community.  It discusses trees, transportation, business – you name it it’s there.  There are also images of the proposed project.  If you like a “prison cell block” look in your neighborhood you will be happy.  If you are hoping for something with a mission flavor or a Rivermark feel to it, forget it, it’s nothing like that.  More like large cynder block concrete mass construction or known in the industry as ‘budget buildings’.  The report also shows you which trees are planned for the logging mill, of which I would say MOST!  Darn it I guess the birds and the local wildlife will have to move out for a time, as will a lot of the local residents while they build this puppy over the next five years or so.

Now I’m hoping I’m right about this being on the Agenda, because as of 11.25am today the City Council agenda was not on line.  And if my memory serves me right, they should have been on line a week before the council meets but Santa Clara might do it differently.

One thing the city of Santa Clara gets right is the 4th of July Fireworks in Central Park.  People come from all over to sit and enjoy the fireworks.  Since we live in walking distance to the park our family leaves late in the evening to find our spot and wait.  We have this ’secret’ little spot.

This years events were spectacular and the police definitely had the whole thing under control.  This year they had Kiely drive completely closed off.  With Kaiser closed there was no need to have the street open except for residents with parking passes or a drivers license with the same street address.  This made navigating the area on foot much easier than in the past. 

Just before the fireworks started someone came to the podium and welcomed everyone to Santa Clara.  I was surprised he didn’t do an advertisement for over 2,000 proposed new apartments and homes.  Hey here was a chance to really sell Santa Clara – the city is always wanting to let people know what a great city it is, they had thousands of people there why not some unashamed blatant promotion?  Are they not always looking for more people to come and live here and pay taxes? 

I was also a little surprised that our Major Ms Mahan was not there to say something or perhaps some other City Councilmen/women.  Heck what would it take to be there and say a dozen words at one of the cities biggest events that brings out most of it’s residents and people from other cities.  I’m okay if you promote yourself – George Bush does it, Obama would do it, Mclean would jump at it.  I’m surprised our star wannabe politician Mr Caserta wasn’t there promoting his favorite developers  – he could have said something about the Fairfield Residential complex – in fact the city could have had someone from Fairfield tell all these residents about the wonderful 806 proposed residents they are going to build and the 536 of them that will be for rent that will over look the park.  Man what a golden opportunity to sell your product.  Or maybe they just aren’t proud of this development …. makes you wonder.

The fireworks were fabulous and clearly the city knows how to turn on a good show.  Well done to the company who put on the show was Fireworks America - the music was great.  And I guess as my first 4th of July as a citizen I found it all so more inspiring and patriotic. 

Great Job!

PS Rick if what you say is true – then all I can say is she has a deep voice and sounded just like a man – perhaps she needs to take voice lessons.

©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008

I have the privilege of having a few days bed rest due to a some surgery.  So as I have time I’ve been thinking about what would you do improve El Camino – if I had millions of dollars and total power to alter the state that currently is – here is my master plan.  Please read this with tongue in cheek and the right to freedom of speech.

I think I’d sit down with some landscapers and see what we could do about greening El Camino – so it is more in line with Mountain View and Sunnyvale.  Perhaps the trees that sit on the 900 Kiely Site where the old Kaiser hospital was could be moved to selective locations along El Camino.  After all common sense tells you that Fairfield Residential is going to “conveniently” ‘loose’ most of those established pines!  We all know that trees have a habit of ‘disappearing’ when developers take over a lot – even though they make big commitments to ‘keep’ or ‘move them’  hmmm.   I’m not a genius but my gut tells me it’s more wishful thinking on a developers side vs reality. New York City Cracks down on Slumlords

Then all the stores on El Camino that require painting be issued with a selection of different paints – actually be issued with the paint not the money but the paint, rollers, brushes, tarps, tape etc and the city sets a clean up store front month.  Imagine a community painting month – much like the community Spring Clean up.  Perhaps we could have this month after the Spring Clean up period.  

Of course this would happen after the building inspectors have done their due diligence and checked all the properties that look like they need inspections and to be up to code!  Imagine that – just humor me this is my dream.  But imagine if we had inspectors check that signs were approved as per building code, and that properties have fire alarm inspections by a person of authority - not just the owner!  And what about cleaning store fronts and back areas.  Or perhaps maybe all this is done and I’m just not aware of it – but it seems to me that it should be done more often!  Quarterly for the next two years till owners and tenants get into a routine and develop some pride of their store fronts.  You may find this article interesting about how NY city council introduced regulations to clamp down on slum lords

Now humor me on the signage along El Camino – perhaps we could have a change in policy and we don’t advertise ‘24 hour book stores’ or ‘tattoo store’ or ”24 hour video stores’ or ‘liquor stores’ – heck someone took on the tabacco companies and Joe Cool is no longer to advertise.  Or the sign be no bigger than 20×30 inches!  Let’s face it those that frequent those stores already know where they are and with the internet it’s possible to find anything if you really want it.  So why the need for the urban blight?  I ask you is it necessary – what are we advertising here in Santa Clara?  We know how to tattoo you while you drink liquor flip through magazines that show not much but skin or watch a movie that demeans women and stay in a hotel that the police regular drive by in the evening to see who is frequenting it! Charming!

Speaking of hotels and motels it’s sad to have to tell prospective visitors that they really should not consider one of the more well known motels along the SC El Camino Strip – and as one of my friends said to me last Thanksgiving: “that explains why the reviews on line were very negative”. 

Don’t get me wrong I’m all for helping and assisting those that need accommodation when they are in bad times. However, sticking them in a hotel that you know is frequented by people of interest to the local police is not nice!  Surely those people who are looking for low income housing assistance deserve better.  How low do we have to go?

Am I the only one that notices how little planning has gone into our section of El Camino? sigh….

©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008