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I see an article in the San Jose Mercury news today where a group of residents in Palo Alto are holding up a project that involves a developer. The developer is wishing to build a new plaza. The residents have taken legal action to fight this proposed development.
Clearly the ‘little people’ are starting to say enough is enough and looking for ways to fight councils and developers. These residents have taken legal action. To read more about what they are doing here is a link to the article in the SJ Mercury . I think it is worth noting that home owners are seeing that these developments affect their property prices. In this case this development is a plaza with stores and businesses associated with it. It is worth noting that the residents are attempting to completely block this project but that their voices are heard and that they have some say in the feel and look of this project.
The argument that project reflect the cities ordinances and the plan are no long really relevant as I see it. Many years ago when some of these ‘plans’ were set life looked different. We didn’t have many of the issues we have today as we write. We didn’t have 8% unemployment, we didn’t have words like ‘recession and depression’ used in the same sentence. We didn’t have the strength of the internet spreading news and bloggers out there writing opinions and becoming watchdogs of our governments. Many bloggers out there are just individuals with opinions not ‘paid’ employees of newspapers, PR organizations or lobbyists.
Santa Clara city council has argued for a long time that we need more housing for the jobs around the city? What jobs? Sun Microsystems announced two fridays ago that they would be letting 18% of their work force go, Along with Sun, there are other Santa Clara tech companies following suit. Thanksgiving is a time when comes tradional lay off HR feels it’s a time people will be around family and they will be ’safe’ to send them home with out a job. Nice.
I would continue to ask the city rather than focus on more housing focus on updating our section of El Camino – clean up the ’strip’ please. I know it’s very boring to hear me say this again, but I would rather this than a 49ers Stadium or another 806 residential units – such as the Fairfield Residential project. Find some developers that will give us something to be proud of and that brings true business to our city. As we loose tech companies we need to look at other forms of businesses. With the car industry in turmoil some of our Stevens Creek car lots will disappear and with it big dollars from taxes.
liquor wine bear
- tattoo stop or is that “stop Tattoo”
adultworld
house of pain tattoo
- tell her nothing
Pictures can say a thousand words. Great place to raise a family? but don’t go out at night!
©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
For the longest time I’ve wanted to write about El Camino in Santa Clara – am I the only one that notices how disgusting our section of El Camino is? You leave Sunnyvale heading south on El Camino and you enter “THE ZONE”.
House of Pain, Karaoke Bars and ill fated book stores that seem to have cars parked out the front 7/24 and these cars are all in need of a wash as I think are the book stores! The real question is does anyone buy a book in there? The thought makes me shudder!
Does Ms Mahan, Dominic, Will or Joe go into these stores or are they just proud of the fact we don’t have a pot hole in Santa Clara? Cringe …. here we are in what we consider modern times and you get to our section of El Camino and the place looks like the back streets of Thailand. Even the chief of police for BangKok some years ago closed down the bars after 2am in the hope of cleaning up the city. He stirred up the seedier part of his world and clamped down on pimps and druggies – though I think in Bangkok it’s an uphill battle but surely in Santa Clara we can do something about it? Or does the City Council not see what I see?
I’m happy to drive around during the day but at night I lock my doors and don’t venture out anymore and if I’m like this how many others are?
Have you ever noticed that we have more $49 oops it’s now $53 a night hotels than any other part of Silicon Valley El Camino? Have you ever noticed the Tattoo stores in Santa Clara? House of Pain – what a great name – I think that’s what we should call our part of El Camino – the Row of Pain because it pains me to go down this section. I avoid it at all costs.
It also saddens me that we feel obliged to have developers ‘fix up’ our urban blight. Why can’t we as a community take this on? Where are the grandma’s that forced druggies out of communities? Where are the greenies that hang out in trees? Where are the mothers that are up in arms about school scores? Come on guys time to let City Council know that we see what they aren’t doing – one person speaks out for us at the moment and she is ostracized and criticized for having an opinion that is against the other six ‘family’ members!
I don’t know about you but I’m a little sick of the ‘family’ running the town – time for change!
The first time I came to Silicon Valley was 1991. I came here to do a course in Santa Rosa. I had organized for my now husband who was living here to pick me up at SFO. I thought he lived closer to San Francisco than I thought. He warned me that he lived quite a bit south of San Fransisco – I did not realize how south!
I remember him driving me down 101 and thinking – what are all those tall panels on the side of the freeway were. At that stage I didn’t realize they were sound barriers. I wasn’t used to that coming from Australia. Our free way systems at that stage were all open it seemed. No barriers – of course that has changed over the years but in 1991 seeing these tall barriers was odd – you could not see the surrounds.
I also recall that we drove and drove and drove and drove to my now husband’s house. It seemed there were houses after houses, businesses after businesses. It just kept going and going. Like Kylie Mole would say “it goes it goes it just goes”. I was starting to wonder where I was going?
That same trip we went out to the Great Mall to do some shopping. There was nothing out that way but space – aahhh at last space. Oh and the prison. One needs space around a prison don’t you think? Well if you know anything about Milpitas now that has all changed. That open sapce has all gone. Imagine that was only 17 years ago. How that has changed. Now you can buy a condo that has a balcony that looks over the yard of the prison. Nice…..
So this was my first experience of Silicon Valley how little did I realize that 7 or 8 years later I too would be living in Silicon Valley. Fortunately for me my husband had sold that original home he owned in EAST San Jose and now owned a place in Santa Clara! Phew because if you know anything about East San Jose you would know that it is an interesting part of the Valley. Imagine he had to declare a drive by shooting on his property disclosures when he sold the place. again Nice…..
