Blossom Hill Pedestrian Overcrossing Bridge Ribbon Cutting

Aerial View of the site before
construction.

When September 28, 2012

Time: 11:00 am

Where: Meet in Lowe's Parking Lot at 5550 Cottle Rd., San Jose

Speakers:
Ash Karla: San Jose City Council Member, District 2 and VTA Board Director
Bijian Sartipi, Caltrans District 4 Director
Forrest Williams, Former City of San Jose Council Member
Michael Burns, General Manager VTA
Nicole Williams, former resident

Please RSVP to Jennie Loft at jennie.loft@vta.org or call (408) 321-5965 by September 26.

Here are some facts on the bridge:

Overview

This project constructed a bicycle/pedestrian bridge over Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) tracks, Monterrey Road and Endicott Blvd, south of the intersection of Blossom Hill Road and Monterrey Road in San Jose.   The project will facilitate safe bicyclist/pedestrian access between residential neighborhoods and commercial developments on both sides of the UPRR tracks and Monterrey Road.

Objective

The purpose of this project is to meet the demand for safe and efficient pathways for bicyclists and pedestrians across UPRR tracks near the intersection of Blossom Hill Road and Monterey Road.

• A 315-ft long prefabricated steel bridge structure with an inside width of 12 feet crossing over UPRR tracks, Monterey Road and Endicott Blvd (just south of the intersection of Blossom Hill Road and Monterey Road)
• A 10-ft wide ramp that complies with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and stairs to allow users to access Cottle Road and Endicott Blvd pedestrian paths on the west side of the UPRR corridor
• A 10-ft wide ramp that complies with ADA requirements and stairs to allow users to access Monterey Road pedestrian paths on the east side of Monterey Road
• New sidewalks and curb ramps connecting to existing paths
• Fencing to deter unsafe at-grade crossing of the UPRR tracks.

Operations

Upon completion, the City of San Jose will own and maintain the improvements.

Project Funding

2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program funds	$0.98 million
2006 State Proposition 1B Infrastructure Bond funds	$6.79 million
Federal HighwayAdministation	$2.48 million
City of San Jose	$0.25 million
Total	$10.5 million

Project Schedule

Environmental Documents Approved	February 2009
Project Study Report Approved	May 2009
Advertisement/Bids Anticipated	Fall 2010
Construction Begins	Late 2010/Early 2011
Construction Ends	Summer 2012

Where have all the tables gone?

Starbucks at 3rd & Santa Clara
Says good-bye to street life.

I've been meaning to write about this for several weeks, maybe waiting for some downtown denizen to comment, but I have not heard a peep. While Mountain View and San Fransisco add street furniture to their business districts, downtown San Jose's tables and chairs have been missing faster than my mother's enchiladas at a family party.

Last year I wrote about Peet's coffee getting rid of their modest street inventory of exactly one table and two chairs with some lame excuse (Cafe Culture is for Canadiens, not Californians). Then a month ago I notice that the overly hyped up Safeway market, located in the 88 building, with its soft focus pictures of bikes with a basketsful of flowers, got rid of their street furniture as well. At the same time the store installed very inconvenient entrance turnstiles as well (see photo). Is this a sign of the times or a part of a corporate policy to start nice and "purty", and then slowly change the look and feel after the newness and grand opening publicity wears off.

There used to be tables right there.
Right behind the cyclist.

Well now the 3rd St. and Santa Clara St. location of Starbucks, one block from city hall has pitched they tables and chairs in to the trash bin. Gone are the tables that fit rather well on the west side of the building, where (you can see in the picture) the sidewalk is wide and now sits on the quiet bike lanes just installed just last month.

What makes this even worse is that the interior of this Starbucks is so small, there almost isn't a time of day when you can find a vacant chair. Bad business on your part Starbucks on 3rd St. and Santa Clara, and just as bad as the San Pedro Square Starbucks. With no restroom available to customers, employees at the San Pedro Square store instruct you to use the "porta potty" around the corner.

 In a recent Metro article titled "Dreams of Instant City" by Michael Malone, the Metro introduced the article with the following comment on downtown business;

While trendy, small, owner-operated restaurants sprout up in Willow Glen, the downtown restaurant mix leans toward seafood and steak chains and Italian restaurants for executives on expense accounts. (emphasis is my own).

Welcome to Safeway. Now try and
squeeze you and your bags through
turnstile.

To this I would add any chains. Whether its Starbucks, McDonald's, Jack-in-the-Box, or Walgreen's. Large chains do not encourage community with street furniture or actual windows when the focus is solely on the bottom line.

To show you what a real effort at invigorating street life looks like I have included a street view of Rues de Forges in the town of Trois Rivieres in the Canadian Province of Quebec. Trois Rivieres is a town of only 130,000 along the banks of the St. Lawrence river, but after you view the photo from different angles you get the feeling that its a city of over 1 million. Don't forget this is a city that has a daily average of 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the month of January and gets only a couple of months of really good weather. On midweek summer days and evenings that I have visited the street life is dense and lively; leaving me completely dumbfounded as to why we can't do that here.

Sometime you'd think we lived in Alaska instead of one of the most wonderful climates on the planet. Any comments? See any other instances of disappearing street furniture? How can we create a vibrant street life?


 I will be commenting on the article "Dreams of Instant City" in a future post.


View Larger Map

September's Reading List

Cadillac Desert by
Marc Reisner

Any Suggestions?


Currently Reading:
Canals for a Nation - The Canal Era in the United States 1790-1860, Ronald E. Shaw
Cadillac Desert - The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Marc Reisner
The Age of Heretics - Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change - Art Klein (Tribes Biography)
The Leaderless Revolution - How Ordinary People Will Take Power and Change Politics in the 21st Century, Carne Ross
Ill Fares the Land, Tony Judt  


On my reading list:

Doing More with Less, Burce Piasecki
The Icarus Syndrome - A History of American Hubris, Peter Beinhart (recommended by Chuck Marohn of Stongtowns.org)
The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways : Earl Swift
Small is Profitable - The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size, Amory Lovins
Reinventing Fire - Bold Solutions for a New Energy Era - Amory Lovins
Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation, Richard Sennett
Placemaking, Charles Bohl
The Quest - Energy Security and the Remaking of the Modern World - Daniel Yergin
The High Cost of Free Parking : Donald Shoup
ReThinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking : Eran Ben-Joseph
Better Together: Restoring the American Community : Robert Putnam
The Witch of Hebron: A World Made by Hand Novel : James Howard Kunstler
Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation : James Howard Kunstler
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century : James Howard Kunstler

Railroaded: The Transcontinental Railroads and the Making of Modern America : Richard White
The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger : Marc Levinson
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York : Robert Caro (Open Road Biography)
Stealth of Nations - The Global Rise of the Informal Economy : Robert Newwirth
Now Your See It - How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn : Cathy N. Davidson
America The Philosophical : Carlin Romano
Small Town Rules - How Big Brands and Small Business Can Prosper in a Connected Economy : Larry J. Molitz & Becky McCray
The Nonprofit Board Answer Book - A Practical Guide for Board Members and Chief Executives
No Way to Run A Railroad - The Untold Story of the Penn Central Crisis : Stephen Salsbury
Derailed - What Went Wrong and What to Do About America's Passenger Trains : Joseph Vranich
End of the Line: The Failure of Amtrak Reform and the Future of America's Passenger Trains : Joseph Vranich
The Powers That Be : David Halberstam 
The Best and the Brightest : David Halberstam 
Supertrains: Solutions to America's Transportation Gridlock : Joseph Vranich
Bold Endeavors - How our Government Built America and Why it Must Rebuild Now : Felix Rhoyhatyn
Moving Millions - An Inside Look at Mass Transit : Stan Fischer
Stuck in Traffic - Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion : Anthony Downs
Breaking Gridlock- Moving Towards Transportation That Works : Jim Motavalli
Making the Car Pay Its Way: The Case of Minneaapolis Roads : John Biley, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
The Pressue Boys: The Inside Story of Lobbying in America : Kenneth Crawford
The Interstate Commerce Omission: The Public Interest and the ICC : Robert C. Fellmeth
The Pavers and the Paved - The Real Cost of America's Highway Program 1971 : Ben Kelley
The Motorization of American Cities : David J. St.Clair
Superhighways Super Hoax : Helen Leavitt
The Automobikle and American Culture 1986 : David Lewis
The Going Rate - What it Really Costs to Drive : James J. McKenzie World Resource Institute, Washington DC
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 David McCullough
The Economics of Competition in the Transportation Industries : John Robert Meyer
The Era of Thodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America : George E. Mowry
Railroads - The Free Enterprise Alternative : Daniel Overbey
No Way to Run a Railroad: The Untold Story of the Penn Central Crisis : Stephen Salsbury
Building the American Highway System: Engineers as Policy Makers : Bruce E. Seely
The Interstate Commerce Commision and the Railroad Industry: A History of Regulatory Policy 1991: Richard D. Stone
Silent Spring : Rachel Carson
Suburbia - It's People and Its Politics 1979 : Robert C. Wood
The Prize - The Quest for Oil, Money and Power : Daniel Yergin (Age of Heretics -Biography)
On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors 1979 : Patrick J. Wright (Age of Heretics -Biography)
What Are People For - Essays : Wendell Berry (Age of Heretics -Biography)
Voluntary Simplicity - Towards A Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich, Duane Elgin  (Age of Heretics -Biography)
A Grunch of Giants : Buckminster Fuller  (Age of Heretics -Biography)
The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers, Robert Heilbroner  (Age of Heretics -Biography)
Let Them Call me a Rebel - Saul Alinsky, His Life and Legacy : Sanford Horwitt  (Age of Heretics -Biography)
The Glory and The Dream,William Manchester  (Age of Heretics -Biography)
The Seven Laws of Money, Michael Phillips (Age of Heretics -Biography)
The Seven Sisters: The Great Oil Companies and the World They Shaped, Anthony Sampson (Age of Heretics -Biography)
Superhighways Superhoax, Helen Leavitt (Open Road Biography)
Interstate: Express Highway Politics 1941-1956, Mark Rose (Open Road Biography)
The Last Landscape, William "Holly" Whyte  (Open Road Biography)

Save Our Trails to host Trail Cleanup of recently expanded section of the Three Creeks Trail

Save Our Trails Fall Trail Cleanup

Put this date on your calendar; October 20, 2012.

That's the date that the folks from Save Our Trails, will be hosting a trail clean-up in Willow Glen. They'll have trash bags, t-shirts (with donation), tools, water, and the latest news about their mission to expand the trail. Volunteers are asked to meet at the corner of Coe Ave. and Leona Ct., in the Willow Glen Area of San Jose. Leona Ct. is two blocks east of Lincoln Ave.

The Three-Creeks Trail is envisioned as a multi-use trail running over a former Union Pacific railroad line stretching from Lonus Street near Lincoln out to Kelley Park. Originally this trail was named after the railroad line, which was called “The Willow Glen Spur” because a portion of it went through the town of Willow Glen.

In 2008 a community advocate recommended that the name of the future trail should be the Three Creeks Trail because it intersects three creek trails: the Los Gatos Creek trail, the Guadalupe Creek trail, and the Coyote Creek Trail. This trail would be extremely useful for anyone who travels cross town because of the intersections with so many other trails in the city. Trails are important to people who walk, bike, push strollers, walk dogs, or ride wheel chairs. Trails make it easier for people to commute, get exercise, and socialize.


View Three Creeks Trail in a larger map

This line was abandoned for use in 2000, and in the same year the City of San Jose Parks Department strategic plan envisioned the purchase and conversion of this land for trail use. Union Pacific removed the rails in 2004. Since then some of the land has been purchased by other landowners, and is threatened in other ways. It is our goal to assist local government in creating a workable trail on this property.

Over the course of several years, from 2008 through 2011, the City of San Jose was engaged in a process (“Envision 2040″) to involve the community in updating the City’s General Plan. During the update process, city staff proposed to change the location of the eastern portion of the trail from the railroad right-of-way to bike lanes on Alma Street, a high-traffic truck corridor. SAVE OUR TRAILS successfully fought off this proposal, getting the Council, the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Envision 2040 Task Force to keep the trail alignment on the railroad right-of-way. In addition, SAVE OUR TRAILS persuaded City Council to rename the trail as “the Three Creeks Trail”, in recognition of the fact that the trail will be providing an essential east-west path, linking three separate north-south trail corridors.



Save Our Trails is also on Facebook.

Mark Gorton energizes the crowd at the Pro Walk Pro Bike Conference in Long Beach

Yesterday, Mark Gorton stirred up the crowd with a rousing keynote speech at the 2012 Pro Walk Pro Bike Conference wrapping up yesterday in Long Beach. In a speech titled "Rethinking the Automobile" he delivered a message on the need for change in the priorities of our elected officials and highway engineers.


The following was included as subtext to a Streetfilms.org post with an included video titled "Rethinking the Automobile".

For more than 100 years New York City government policy has prioritized the needs of the automobile over the needs of any other mode of transport. Working under the faulty assumption that more car traffic would improve business, planners and engineers have systematically made our streets more dangerous and less livable. As a result, even the idea that a street could truly be a “place” – a shared space for human interaction and play – has been almost completely destroyed.

During his decade long effort to understand and improve the streets of New York City, entrepreneur and livable streets advocate Mark Gorton has gathered together a compelling set of examples of how transportation policy impacts the quality of our daily lives. Mark is regularly invited to speak in public about these issues.

In his current presentation “Rethinking the Automobile” Mark explores the history of autocentric planning and considers how New York and other cities can change. Filled with ample video footage of dozens of Streetfilms, we’ve worked with Mark to create a version of the presentation here.

As the founder of Streetfilms, Streetsblog, OpenPlans, and the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign, Gorton has been on the front lines of the battle to transform New York’s streets. But Mark is not done fighting. He contends that the recent improvements that have been implemented in New York should only be considered as the “tip of the iceberg” and that a truly comprehensive set of changes are still necessary.

For more on Mark’s continued efforts to make our world more equitable, livable, and safe visit www.rethinktheauto.org

Here's a new one...A Tour de Coop...that's chicken coops.

The first annual Tour De Coop
coming next month.

Here's a first, that I know of. The first annual Silicon Valley Tour de Coop,  a self-guided bicycle tour of chicken coops and gardens, announces its call for coops.

The tour is designed to educate visitors about keeping hens, inspire the bike rider and gardener in all of us, and build community. Open to adults and children, the tour will feature various hen houses and breeds.

Want to Show Off Your Coop?
If you have a chicken coop and are available from 9am-4pm on Saturday, October 27, you may be eligible as a featured coop in the tour! See the Coops page for more details. Coop owners are expected to be on hand at each location to discuss the how-tos of chicken keeping. The tour is seeking a wide variety of coop styles as well as surrounding back yard gardens for added interest.

A self-guided tour map will be available on the Maps page one week before the tour. The map will highlight a longer 20+ mile tour as well some smaller, 2-5 miles local tours. You can choose the tour that’s best for your cycling ability. The tour will maximize the use of bicycle-friendly streets and highlight up to 20 coops and their coop’sters in Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills,  Sunnyvale, and Cupertino.

This event is FREE and open to anyone with an interest in coops and chickens!  Simply register, download and print out the Tour De Coop map, select your coop tour, and GO!  The event and coops will be open from 9 AM to 4 PM.

For more information or to contact the event organizers,  please contact Scott Vanderlip at (650) 793-0475 or by email at SVTourDeCoop@gmail.com.

The new Parque de los Pobladores is ready for it's debut at tonight's Zer01 art festival

New sod was put down today
in preparation for
tonight's festival

Contractors have been moving quickly to get a newly redesigned Parque de los Pobladores (the old Gore Park) ready for tonight's Zer01 art festival. The park which consist of the sliver of property between the split of Market Street from 1st St. on the south side of downtown San Jose will be reincarnated as a pedestrian friendly park. Through traffic has been permanently block on the 1st street side of the park.



Riding through the SOFA district, along South First Street, workers were seen busily preparing for the opening night of the festival. Also evident was workers putting on a new asphalt topping to San Carlos St., in preparation of that streets new street-scape improvements which will include wider sidewalks and more pedestrian friendly street crossings.   (see "Downtown San Jose becoming friendlier for cyclists") The new San Carlos improvements will extend from 1st. Street to the west until 4th Street, the entrance to the San Jose State University campus.

San Carlos Street gets a new
asphalt topping in preparation
of improved streetscape.

A look northward from the south
side of the new Parque de
los Pobladores.

Bike Party participant and Ultimate Frisbee enthusiast places Ghost Bike to honor fallen rider

Ghost bike for a fallen cyclist.
Charles Schaffer.
RIP

A friend of mine who will call Melanie, is an avid San Jose Bike Party rider and volunteer. She's frequently seen on the monthly ride along with the test rides beforehand. What I didn't know is that she is also a Ultimate enthusiast. This week both of those worlds will come together for here as she places a ghost bike in honor of her Ultimate teammate and fellow cyclist Charles Schaffer. (For more information on Ghost Bikes refer to this Wikipedia enty)

As I mentioned in a recent post;

While riding down Campbell avenue west of San Tomas Aquino on the evening of July 26, traffic was diverted near Kirkwood Shopping Center due to a traffic incident. At the time I did not know a bicyclist was involved. That cyclists turned out to be Charles Schaffer of Cupertino, a 56 year old valley native who was passionate about Ultimate (also know as Ultimate Frisbee).

At a San Jose Bike Party volunteer meeting last night, Melanie mentioned that she is just about finished putting the bike together along with a memorial plaque in honor of Charles.

In honor of Charles, this months San Jose Bike Party ride is planning to pass slowly and silently by the bike in a quiet rolling memorial. Riders may leave candles, notes, flowers, etc. at the scene to remember this fallen cyclist.


View Larger Map

New dates announced for "From Blight to Bright" community improvement events

Community Volunteer lll... Swanson
trims trees over the Guadalupe Creek.

Three new events dates have been announced for "From Blight to Bright" community improvement events sponsored by the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association. The dates, which are all on Saturdays are:

September 22
October 13
November 10

Volunteers are asked to meet in the Foyer of the Elements Luxury Apartments at 1201 Parkmore Ave. in San Jose, next to the Race St. Light Rail Station (see map below). Participants are asked to show by 8:30 am. We expect to finish just before noon.

Tools: We will have some tools but feel free to bring your own brooms, hoes, and gloves. See registration via link below.

From Blight to Bright is a series of crowdsourced community organized events to clean up the area surrounding Lincoln Ave. north of Broadway St. to Parkmoor Ave.

If you have any questions or comments just drop me a line in the comments section.



View Larger Map

Bikes collide on a downtown street; one injured.

First responder to the incident
scene comforts a young cyclist.

In what has become on almost weekly occurrence, I came upon a traffic incident; although this time I was not the first responder. Last night at approximately 9:45 pm two cyclists collided on the walkway at Paseo San Antonio and 1st. St. (on the south east corner of the Fairmont Hotel).

The incident involved a young man riding eastbound on Paseo San Antonio and a young woman riding southbound on the sidewalk on 1st. St. Now here is the sad but strange part of this unfortunate event;

• Both riders were riding at night without lights.
• Both riders were not wearing helmets.
• Both riders were wearing earbuds and listening to music when they collided
• One rider's bike has no brakes.

The woman in the picture was in severe pain and the male rider mentioned that she might have hit her head. The male rider did not appear to have any injuries.

San Jose Bike Party to commemorate fallen cyclist

Charles Schaffer
July 26, 2012
R.I.P.

While riding down Campbell avenue west of San Tomas Aquino on the evening of July 26, traffic was diverted near Kirkwood Shopping Center due to a traffic incident. At the time I did not know a bicyclist was involved. That cyclists turned out to be Charles Schaffer of Cupertino, a 56 year old valley native who was passionate about Ultimate (also know as Ultimate Frisbee).

One of his Ultimate team members and fellow cyclists has built a ghost bike to honor Charles. San Jose Bike Party will be memorializing Charles next Friday during their monthly ride. A procession will be led past the ghost bike so that participants can honor a fellow cyclist.

Here is Mr. Schaffers obituary from the San Jose Mercury News.


Resident of Cupertino

Charles was a fourth generation Californian, born in San Jose to Walter Dickson and Laverne Abston Shaffer. He grew up in San Jose, except for a 3-1/2 year period during elementary school when the family lived in Switzerland and Belgium. He attended Pioneer High School, graduating with the Class of 1974. He attended San Jose State for several years, studying Molecular Biology and Psychology while working part-time in various jobs. Ultimately, he secured a position as a travel consultant, wherein he found his professional calling. He stopped his college schooling a few credits short of his degree and proceeded to work in the travel business full time, touring the world and being able to provide personal testimonial to his clients. Ultimately Charles owned Oaks Travel in The Oaks Shopping Center, an agency he ran for 12 years until it closed for business in the post 9/11 on-line shopping era of travel. Along the way he garnered numerous awards and recognitions for excellent service and professionalism. For the last several years he struggled to find employment, working odd jobs when available.

While at San Jose State Charles also found his passion – the sport of Ultimate. Charles played constantly, combining the sport with his travel calling, touring the world while playing. He played recreationally and competitively, including representing the U.S. at the World Championships, but the accomplishment for which he was most proud was co-founding the Kaimana Klassic Ultimate tournament in Oahu, Hawaii, an event he conceived once his brother Tom had relocated to Hawaii. That tournament is now in its 26th year and routinely has 32 teams competing annually. A lifelong road and mountain biking cyclist, for the past several years he played ultimate nearly every day, always riding his bike somewhere to play. He used his rides for a workout, and though an attentive rider, always with helmet on and with good situational awareness, tragically it was while riding a bike he was killed.

Charles was a people person and family was important to him. He was preceded in death by his father Walter Dickson Shaffer in 2001. He is survived by his mother Laverne (Abby) Shaffer, his brother Tom Shaffer, sister-in law Vernette Shaffer, nephew Alex Shaffer, niece Megan Shaffer, one aunt, one uncle, and 17 first cousins. Memorial services will be held on Saturday August 11, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. at St Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Avenue in San Jose. If so compelled, in lieu of flowers the family requests donations in his memory to the Sempervirens Fund (http://www.sempervirens.org/) or to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (http://www.wish.org/).

Diverse cycling crowd meets in San Jose's historic Faber Cyclery

A good sized crowd at
Fabers waiting for the
program to begin.

A crowd of about 65 people (well after a show of about 64 hands we'll call them cyclists) showed up last week for food, drink and a discussion the "State of Bike Planning in the South Bay". The event was hosted by Faber's Cyclery, the mysterious old house on S. First St. with the equally mysterious history. The building was erected in 1882 and was home to a saloon and a rumored house of prostitution for a while before become a bike shop at the turn of the century.

From the treehouse. Photo: Justin Tirano

San Jose's first velodrome was built in the 1890's and by the time the bike shop opened up soon after the turn of the last century, cycling was all the rage in America. Alex La Riviere, the longtime owner of Faber's, welcomed the crowd last week with a bit of history. He spoke about the introduction of the modern bicycle predating the automobile and the airplane

Got an older model bike. Well,
Faber's has the parts.

Prior to the informal get together John Ciccarelli of  Bicycle Solutions led a bike tour throughout downtown San Jose highlighting many of the new bicycle improvements.

John Ciccarelli, Colin Heyne of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, Oxo Slayer of Kimley-Horne & Associates, John Brazil of the City of San Jose's Department of Transportation each gave a brief presentation on their contribution to cycling in the San Jose Area.

Oxo Slayer has been working on planning for the new San Jose BART extension for five years now and shared some info on station area planning, especially at the proposed Berryessa station located next to the San Jose Flea Market. This station's importance will grow as cyclists start to become familiar and use the planned bicycle lanes on Hedding St., which will create a vital corridor to the west connecting with the City of Santa Clara at Valley Fair Shopping Center.

Katja Irwin American Planning Association received much praise last week for her putting the whole event together.

Downtown San Jose becoming friendlier for cyclists

Downtown Liveable Streets Projects.

At a recent meeting in the inner lobbies of the San Jose Department of Transportation I spotted this map (photo on right) on the wall. The title of the map was "Downtown Liveable Streets Project".

At that moment it occurred to me that many times we (cycling advocates) get news piecemealed regarding individual projects that we forget to see the overall trends focusing instead on what one piece of the pie means to us. At that moment I realized just how the downtown area has changed and been made better for all of us with these improvements.

I rendered the projects on a Google Map below including the recently approved Hedding Street Project seen at the north end of the map. If you include the current paving project of the Guadalupe River Trail to Alviso along with the coming Bikeshare and Bike corrals, we are really starting to see all our hard work pay off resulting in a true change for the better.

They've Designed it, Approved it, Built it now its our turn to Use it!

Show your support to the City of San Jose for all of the wonderful improvements to the downtown area by getting out and using them.There is nothing worse to an elected official than supporting bike infrastructure from a noisy constituency; and then not seeing it used as promised.

So, if you can, write or call your elected official (see district map), and be sure to thank them. Even more dramatic, hand make (and hand-write) a thank you note and deliver it by bike. I have but together a list of the current city council with links to more pages for each district/councilmember.

Personalize your thank you by picking one of the projects you use the most and tell your elected officials how it makes your ride easier, safer, or faster. Stay positive, stay focused on the issue at hand, and end with a thank you to the elected official and their staff.

Once the see how many cyclists there are, how pleasant we are, and how appreciative we can be, they'll definitely want to work with us in the future.

Contact information for Council Offices.

Map of the Downtown Liveable Streets Project

View Downtown Liveable Streets Project in a larger map

San Jose City Council - At a Glance



San Jose Mayor
Chuck Reed

 Mayor Chuck Reed
200 East Santa Clara Street San José, CA 95113
(408) 535-4800 fax (408) 292-6422
mayoremail@sanjoseca.gov

Staff

                 Chief of Staff

		Peter J. Furman Pete Furman was born in Pennsylvania and raised in many parts of the country due to his parents’ job commitments. Pete brings a wealth of management experience and a unique variety of skills honed through both his working career and his personal development. Read the Entire Biography
		Back to Top
		Senior Policy Advisor, Budget & Finance
		Armando Gomez Armando Gomez was born in San José and raised in nearby Milpitas. In November 2000, he joined Chuck Reed’s District 4 Council office (first as a Policy Analyst, then as Chief of Staff) and has served as a key advisor on budget, transportation, and land use issues. Read the Entire Biography
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		Senior Policy Advisor / Public Information Officer
		Michelle McGurk Michelle McGurk was born in Vallejo and raised in San Pablo. She brings twenty years of experience in media relations, journalism and public policy to the role of Public Information Officer. Read the Entire Biography
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		Senior Policy Advisor, Economic Development
		Ru Weerakoon Ru Weerakoon was born and raised in Sri Lanka. Moving to San José in 1983, Ru joined the San José Redevelopment Agency in 1989. Read the Entire Biography
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		Senior Policy Advisor, Government Affairs
		Jeff Janssen Jeff Janssen was born in San Mateo and raised in Santa Clara. He became interested in politics in 1978 when he first heard former Governor Jerry Brown speak at De Anza College. Read the Entire Biography
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		Senior Policy Advisor, Public Safety
		Jose Salcido Jose Salcido is a San José native and longtime Willow Glen resident of over 25 years. He brings more than 32 years of experience from law enforcement and community service to the Mayor’s staff. Read the Entire Biography
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		Policy Analysts
		Christina Fernandez David Low Joyce Chen Kristina Peralta Richard Hong Sara Wright
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		Assistants
		Celia Miller Cindy Escobar Kimberly Oliver Norma Gutierrez Phuong Le
		Back to Top

San Jose City Council

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Council District 1 Pete Constant

Councilmember Pete Constant
District 1

(Detailed Web Page)

 

 

Staff

Meet the District 1 Staff

Rhovylynn Antonio, Chief of Staff
Rhovylynn.Antonio@sanjoseca.gov

Shane Patrick Connolly, Budget & Finance Director
shane.connolly@sanjoseca.gov

Jerad Ferguson, Council Aide
jerad.ferguson@sanjoseca.gov

        Chelsey Seagraves, Council Aide
         chelsey.seagraves@sanjoseca.gov
         Transportation & Environment Committee

Transportation Related Committees

None

District 1 (Map)

  District 1 Neighborhood Associations (Map)

Contains the Blackford and Winchester Strong Neighborhoods Areas

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Council District 2 - Ash Kalra

Councilmember Ash Kalra
District 2

(Detailed Web Page)

Bio
Councilmember Ash Kalra earned his seat on the San José City Council in the November 4, 2008 election.Council District 2, which is located in the Southern region of San José bordering Morgan Hill. D


Councilmember Kalra earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a law degree from Georgetown University. Ash is a Professor at Lincoln Law School of San José, where he teaches “Race and the Law,” and he previously was an instructor at San Jose State University. For 11 years, Ash Kalra worked as an attorney for the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office representing indigent clients in Drug Court prior to being elected. He has been a resident of San José for over 30 years and is proud to be the first Oak Grove High School graduate on the San José City Council. Ash is the first Indian-American to be elected to the San José City Council.



Staff

Joseph Okpaku
District 2
Chief of Staff

Joseph Okpaku, Chief of Staff

joseph.okpaku@sanjoseca.go

408.535.4924

Stacie Shih, Community Outreach Director
408.535.4925
stacie.shih@sanjoseca.g

Steven Aponte, Policy Director
408.535.4923
steven.aponte@sanjoseca.gov

Kimberly Hernandez, Executive Assistant

408.535.4919

kimberly.hernandez@sanjoseca.gov

Katherine White, Policy Analyst

408.535.4902

katherine.white@sanjoseca.gov

 Transportation Related Committees

 San Jose Council Committees

• Co-chair Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan Update Task Force

 San Jose City Boards, Commissions, and Committees

• Co-chair Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan Update Task Force

 Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

• Valley Transportation Authority (VTA Board)
• Caltrain Board (VTA Representative) 
• Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) Board 
• Serves on four committees
• Vice Chair Budget and Finance Committee
• Secretary - Executive Committee
•  
• Association of Bay Area Governments - Executive Board
• Santa Clara County Cities Association



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Councilmember Sam Liccardo
District 3

Council District 3 - Sam Liccardo
(Detailed Web Page)

District 3 - Downtown, Japantown, east to Diridon Station
Sam Liccardo is an avid cyclist both for recreation and transportation around his central San Jose city district. Sam is a supporter of the Amgen Tour of California and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. Many of Sam's constituents ride bicycles to downtown events, commute to work, or do not own cars (for personal or other reasons). The number of cyclists in his district has been growing. His districts also includes the planned Hedding Street Bicycle Improvements, the new bike lanes on 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th, and Almaden, and the planned bicycle and pedestrian improvements on San Carlos and San Fernando Streets.

Staff

Regan Henninger, Chief of Staff

regan.henninger@sanjoseca.gov

Ruth Cueto, Council Assistant

 ruth.cueto@sanjoseca.gov

Fred Buzo, Council Assistant

 fred.buzo@sanjoseca.gov

Jennifer Kim Luc, Council Assistant

jennifer.kimluc@sanjoseca.gov

Rhonda Hadnot, Executive Assistant and Scheduler

rhonda.hadnot@sanjoseca.gov

San Jose Council Committees

• San Jose City Council Transportation and Environment Committee
• San Jose City Council Community and Economic Development Committee
• Co-chair Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan Update Task Force

 Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

Sam also holds leadership positions on several regional agencies, as:

• Cities Association of Santa Clara County (CASCC) - President
• Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - Board Member
• Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) - Board Member and Past Chair
• Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) - Executive Board

District 3 (Map)

Neighborhoods

 13th St. NAC, Anne Darling, Berryessa CAC, Delmas Park NA/NAC, East Santa Clara Business Association, Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace, Gardner Advisory Council, Goodyear-Mastic NA, Guadalupe-Washington NAC, Historic Hensley


His district includes bicycle retailers I-D, and Bicycle Express

Chairperson of the Council's Transportation and Environment Committee,

as the Vice Chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee and as

Co-chair of the Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan Update Task Force.  

Sam also holds leadership positions on several regional agencies, serving as the

Chairperson of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), as committee member of the

VTA's Transit Planning and Operations Committee, as

Board Member of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG),

the Capitol Corridor Rail Commission, and on the

Executive Committee of the Santa Clara County Cities Association

Election History



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Councilmember Kansen Chu
District 4



Council District 4 - Kansen Chu

(Detailed Web Page)

Staff

Stephani Fong, District Director

stephani.fong@sanjoseca.gov

Margie Espinoza, Executive Assistant
Margieespinosa @sanjoseca.gov

Sheila Ngo, Policy Analyst
Sheila.ngo@sanjoseca.gov

Rosa Santiago, Council Assistant
rosa.santiago@sanjoseca.gov

Anh Tran, Council Assistant 
Anh.tran.sanjoseca.gov

Committees 

San Jose City Boards, Commissions, and Committees

Airport Commission - Council Liaison 

Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

Association of Bay Area Governments - Executive Boardmember

League of California Cities - Boardmember

District 4 (Map)

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Councilmember Xavier Campos
District 5

 Council District 5 - Xavier Campos
(Detailed Web Page)

Staff

Josue Garcia, Chief of Staff
408.535.4948
josue.garcia@sanjoseca.gov

Kathy Tsukamoto, Executive Assistant and Scheduler
 408.535.4905
Kathy.Tsukamoto@sanjoseca.gov

Diego Barregan, Policy Analyst
 408.535.4949
diego.barragan@sanjoseca.gov

Joseph Sanchez, Policy Analyst, Communications
408.535.4943
joseph.sanchez@sanjoseca.gov

Committees

San Jose Council Committees

San Jose City Boards, Commisions, and Committees

Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

Other Boards

District 5 (Map)

Xavier's District is highly dependent on bicycles for basic transportation, mainly to get to and from work.

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Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio
District 6

 Council District 6 - Pierluigi Oliverio
(Detailed Web Page)

Staff

Denelle Fedor, Chief of Staff

(408) 535-4952 

 Denelle.Fedor@sanjoseca.gov

Melrose Cacal, Council Assistant

 (408) 535-4954

 Melrose.Cacal@sanjoseca.gov

Lara Tran, Council Assistant

 (408) 535-4957

 Lara.Tran@sanjoseca.gov

Frances Reyes, Council Assistant

(408) 535-4956

Frances.Reyes@sanjoseca.gov

Committees

San Jose Council Committees

San Jose City Boards, Commissions, and Committees

Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

Other Boards

Council Votes:

August 21,2012 Agenda Item Agenda - 6.1 Hedding and Ocala Bike Lane Projects Absent

News

Santana Row tweaks expansion plans, asks city for rezoning (San Jose Business Journal, August 7, 2012)

District 6 (Map)

Staff

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Councilmember Madison Nguyen
District 7

  Council District 7 - (Vice Mayor) Madison Nguyen
(Detailed Web Page)

Staff

Louansee Moua, Chief of Staff
 louansee.moua@sanjoseca.gov

Yen-Chi H. Nguyen, Executive Assistant
 Yenchi.nguyen@sanjoseca.gov

Noelle A. Vergara, Policy Analyst
noelle.vergara@sanjoseca.gov

Diego Inzunza, Community Outreach Coordinator

diego.inzunza@sanjoseca.gov

Committees

San Jose Council Committees

San Jose City Boards, Commissions, and Committees

Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

Other Boards

Council Votes

August 21,2012 Agenda Item Agenda - 6.1 Hedding and Ocala Bike Lane Projects Voted Yes (In favor)

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Councilmember Rose Herrera
District 8

Council District 8 - Rose Herrera
(Detailed Web Page)

Councilmember Herrera has been a supporter of cycling and cycling events in the city. She has participated in the Via Velo street closure event as well as the "Mayor's Ride" with the mayor of Dublin, Ireland

Staff

Mary Ann Groen, Chief of Staff
mary.groen@sanjoseca.gov

Shelly Opsal, Executive Administrative Assistant
shelly.opsal@

Aaron Quigley, Senior Policy Advisor
aaron.quigley@sanjoseca.gov

Angie Vazguez, Council Assistant
angie.vazquez@sanjoseca.gov

Committees

San Jose Council Committees

San Jose City Boards, Commisions, and Committees

Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

Other Boards

Council Votes
August 21,2012 Agenda Item Agenda - 6.1 Hedding and Ocala Bike Lane Projects Voted Yes (In favor)

District 8 (Map)

Demographics

Councilmember Donald Rocha
District 9

Council District 9 - Donald Rocha
(Detailed Web Page)

Staff

Kimberly Oliver, Executive Assistant Scheduler

kimberley.oliver@sanjoseca.gov

Peter Hamilton, Senior Policy Aide

peter.hamilton@sanjoseca.gov

Anne Grabowski- Policy Aide

anne.grabowski@sanjoseca.gov

Bradley Ruebusch, Policy Aide

bradley.ruebusch@sanjoseca.gov

Marina Melroe, Policy Aid

marina.melroe@sanjosecagove

 

TransportationRelated Committees

San Jose Council Committees

San Jose City Boards, Commissions, and Committees

Regional and Agency Committees (Includes Transportation)

Other Boards

Council Votes

August 21,2012 Agenda Item Agenda - 6.1 Hedding and Ocala Bike Lane Projects Voted Yes (In favor)

News

District 9 (Map)

Demographics

Councilmember Nancy Pyle
District 10

Council District 10 - Nancy Pyle
(Detailed Web Page)

Nancy Pyle Terms Out. This is the Election of her successor
Election: June 5, 2010

Staff

Kathleen Sutherfield, Chief of Staff
Kathy.Sutherland@sanjoseca.gov

Linda Alexander
Linda.Alexander@sanjoseca.gov

Laura Cowen
Laura.Cowan@sanjoseca.gov

Nitilia Patel
Nitila.Patel@sanjoseca.gov

Tom Johnson

Frank Mcglaughlin

District 10 (Map)

Demographics

 votes 10.62%