News

Was Santa super nice this year?  And bring you that tv, appliance or stereo you always wanted?
 
Now’s the time to get rid of the old! 
 
Santa Teresa Foothills Neighborhood Association is holding an e-waste event.
 
The proceeds from this event will help fill the general coffers for the association to continue operating and will also help to fund our annual senior scholarship program where we try and give away a $1000 scholarship to a college bound senior.
 
  
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18TH   2012  –  9:00AM-3:00PM
SANTA TERESA HIGH SCHOOL
 
Here is what will be accepted:

Mark your calendars now to participate in the annual Curie Drive Clean-up Day

Saturday, July 23, 2011

7:30am-11:30am – meeting at corner of Los Pinos and Curie Drive

Something for everyone to help out with – volunteer hours for high schoolers – here’s your chance.

Doughnuts/coffee and community working together to beautify our neighborhood is what this is all about!

Looking forward to working and meeting with you.  We will be digging up weeds, removing old bark from planter boxes, reshaping the watering bowls and putting in new bark.    

We will be in need of someone (or two) to donate the use of an open bed truck to help haul the bark from one park strip to another.  The city will be supplying most of our tools needed.

We're also looking for member of our neighborhood who is a painter (maybe even someone with a crew?) who can help touch up some of the walls after our clean-up day.  Paint provided.  If you can help, please send email to contact@stfna.org, or register for the event and indicate so in the comment field on the registration form. 

Date/Time: Monday, November 8, 7pm to 9pm

Where: Santa Teresa Library (Community Room) at 290 International Circle, San Jose, California 95119

Did you know there is a new law coming soon that will limit use of plastic and paper bags?

Come learn more about it at our neighborhood meeting!

If you’ve never been to a neighborhood meeting before, why not come to this one?  It’s a great opportunity to learn about the neighborhood association and meet your neighbors.   We’ll cover the following:
 

• Crime and police activity - the new police commander, Captain Rikki Goede has been invited to attend
• A representative from the city’s Environmental Services Department will let us know the issues and law being considered for banning bags
• City Councilmembers Nancy Pyle and Ash Kalra will give us an update on city activities that affect our neighborhood
• We’ll also elect new board members for the neighborhood association, and discuss volunteer opportunities and ongoing activities such as the neighborhood scholarship, hillside preservation, and trail development

We look forward to seeing you on November 8th!

A large grass fire broke out in the hills above the Santa Teresa Foothills Neighborhood earlier today. The fire broke out just after 2 p.m. and has burned about 50 acres. The fire is being attacked by the San Jose Fire Department, including water bombers dropping chemical retardants and helicopters. No homes are threatened.

The Association's Board of Directors is considering whether to adopt a resolution regarding the City's budget crisis.  A draft of the resolution is printed below.  Given the importance of this issue, the Board does not want to adopt this resolution without first hearing from you, the members of STFNA.  So, we are asking for your thoughts and input on this draft.  Are you in favor?  Are you opposed?  Do you want changes made to this draft?

PLEASE RESPOND BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 26th.  THE BOARD WILL CONSIDER ALL INPUT BEFORE VOTING.  THANK YOU!

DRAFT  RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SANTA TERESA FOOTHILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION REGARDING THE CITY OF SAN JOSE BUDGET CRISIS

 In recognition of the ongoing structural budget deficit that is significantly affecting, and will continue to affect, the ability of the City to deliver a variety of critical services to its residents, the Board of Directors of the Santa Teresa Foothills Neighborhood Association hereby adopts the following:

• The Association supports the Mayor's call for a 10% permanent reduction in City employee pay and benefits.  While this reduction will represent a burden to City workers, it is necessary to save the employees' jobs and to preserve the delivery of City services to the greatest degree possible.

• The Association supports changes to the compensation and benefits packages, including retirement, of all future employees to be hired by the City, such changes that will solve the City's ongoing structural budget deficit.  The Association supports a pay-as-you-go system such as the 401K retirement system that covers many private sector employees.  A pay-as-you-go system avoids the problem wherein future liabilities are left unfunded and future generations are left to pay these obligations.

Best Regards,
STFNA Board

Where:
Santa Teresa Library - Community Room
290 International Circle
(Santa Teresa & Camino Verde)

Who:
Mayor Chuck Reed

When:
Wednesday May 12th, 2010 7:00pm

Come out to meet Mayor Chuck Reed, local police & fire officers, our two city council members and your neighbors! It’s time once again for our biannual neighborhood meeting, which will give you a chance to learn more about what is going on in the neighborhood from projects that STFNA is working on to crime activity. We’ll have the following presentations/discussions:

• Learn from Mayor Chuck Reed about the budget crisis the city is facing and how it may impact our neighborhood services. Also learn about Neighborhood activities & projects such as the foothills trail, cleanups and any hillside development.

• Police – learn about any recent crime activity and preventative measures that can be taken. As always, there will be time to ask questions about specific neighborhood problems.

• City Councilmember Nancy Pyle will provide details on what is going on in city council district 10 (west of Blossom Ave )

• City Councilmember Ash Kalra will provide details on what is going on in city council district 2 (east of Blossom Ave )

The City’s budget crisis will be the main topic discussed at our Spring general membership meeting on May 12th. Meeting info...

Come hear the latest, make your views known, and get your questions answered. Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmembers Ash Kalra & Nancy Pyle will be in attendance.

The current crisis is unprecedented and the proposed cuts in service (see below) will affect every citizen. Worse yet, the crisis is expected to continue beyond the coming year. The solution requires strong input from neighborhood associations and citizens throughout the City. Your attendance at our May 12th meeting is critical to letting City leaders know that you care!

Background:
The City is entering its 9th year of budget shortfalls. The anticipated 2010-11 shortfall is roughly $116 million. According to the City, here are some of the service cuts that are being considered for implementation starting in July:

• 140 sworn police officer positions eliminated (10% of total)
• 73 firefighter positions eliminated (10% of total - loss of 4 engine companies and 1 truck company)
• All branch libraries to be open only three days per week (45% reduction in library hours)
• Main library hours to be reduced by 16%
• Community centers to be closed
• Defer all new park projects
• Delay the completion of the new police substation in South San Jose
• Further reductions in park hours and maintenance
• Further deferrals in roadway repaving projects
  

These cuts - and more - will occur unless there are significant increases in revenue or significant reductions in costs or some combination of both. New sources of substantial revenue are unlikely. Also, as of late-April, none of the City’s 11 employee unions have agreed to any reductions in wages or benefits, although the City Council has called for a 10% reduction.

Saturday, May 15, 2010
Event Times: 9:00AM– 12:00PM

District 2 Location: Coyote Creek - Hellyer Park to Metcalf Rd. (Visitor Center - 985 Hellyer Ave.)

District 10 Location: Guadaloupe River, Blossom Hill Rd. to Coleman Rd - Volunteer Meeting Area at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, 5750 Almaden Expressway

Come help keep our local waterways clean and join others in the Community as we pick up litter and trash along the Guadaloupe River and Coyote Creek.

Many sites request that you sign up before you show up, since they have limited parking, facilities and/or space.

To see locations, please visit www.cleanacreek.org.

Dear Santa Teresa Foothills Neighborhood Association Members,
As many of your know there was a tragic accident on the Los Alamitos Creek Trail that resulted in the passing of a beloved member of our community, Beverly Head. Since that accident many of you have come forward with suggestions about how the City of San Jose can improve safety on our trails. Guided by your community input, analysis of best practices, and deployment of planned improvements, staff has developed a set of recommendations to present to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the City Council including:

• Limiting the length of a dog leash on trails to 6 feet
• Requiring owners to be responsible for both their dog and their leash
• Installing centerline striping and signage instructing users to “keep to the right” and other cautions
• Installing new, graphics-based signs
• Posting new trail rule signs to include the leash clarification
  

Later this year, staff will begin deployment of Milestone Markers. These devices will be placed every ¼ mile and provide a landmark for trail users to track distance travelled and emergency services to improve emergency response for accidents on trails. Each marker will be associated to site-specific data so that emergency services can quickly find a preferred entry and exit point, understand physical limitations for vehicular access and other parameters.

A volunteer program will also be launched entitled Trail Watch. We seek to encourage regular trail visitors to provide condition and incident reports to our Park Concerns Hotline. By receiving data from the community, we can better target staff to address maintenance and/or enforcement issues.

San Jose has the largest urban network of trails in the Nation and has ambitious plans to nearly double our network in the next 12 years. The trail network is used by commuting cyclists, recreational cyclists, park rangers, skaters, joggers, pedestrians, pedestrians with dogs, cyclists with dogs, young children, people with disabilities and senior citizens. These recommendations will be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission to gather feedback and then to the City Council. I will announce the date of the Parks and Recreation Commission Hearing in my newsletter so that you can attend and participate if you are interested.

All the Best,
Nancy Pyle, Councilmember
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/district10/