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SELECTION PROCESS FOR NEW RESIDENT COMMISSION IS UNDER REVIEW

By Tiffany Carney

Caucuses to choose leaders for San Jose's Neighborhoods Commission are set to start this month, but an unanticipated loophole in the delegate selection process has prompted a review committee to re-examine who is eligible to participate.

The city doesn't require neighborhood groups that want to send delegates to help select commissioners to have a minimum number of members, only that these groups must contain members from more than one household.

"This means a group can theoretically be two people," said neighborhood development director Ernest Guzman, who is organizing the caucuses.

Residents of Willow Glen's Palm Haven area are worried that their neighborhood association doesn't have enough members to fairly represent them on the commission. They are asking the ad hoc advisory committee that oversees the commission's implementation process to review whether the group qualifies for participation in the caucus. Those who attend are allowed to vote for who should serve on the commission as representatives for their council district.

Palm Haven resident Susan Porter said the Palm Haven Neighborhood Association has only three members, and few others in the nearly 170-home area have been asked to join even though the group registered with the Neighborhood Development Center in July 2007.

"I am not opposed to a neighborhood association," Porter said. "They are truly

not representing us. That is the issue."

The Willow Glen group has yet to hold its first meeting, and other residents are questioning the validity of their association as they begin the registration process for the Neighborhoods Commission.

Gina America, acting president of the new association, said the group's acting officers were not in a hurry to form the association, but they do have draft bylaws and have set May 28 as the first meeting date.

America thought the association should join the commission sooner than later.

"I think it is good that we get involved and have a say in what happens," America said, adding that the group's involvement will be even more beneficial once the association is fully operational.

"We had everything in order as far as what the requirements were," America said of registering for the commission.

Guzman said neighborhood groups from throughout the city have asked to send delegates for possible inclusion on the commission. The Palm Haven group is the first that the ad hoc committee has been asked to review.

"We accept applications, and part of criteria is that we pretty much take people at their word that they are who they say they are," Guzman said. Only when a concern is brought up would the application go to the ad hoc committee for review, he added.

Anyone emerging or existing association is allowed to send one delegate to help choose who will serve on the commission, which includes homeowners and neighborhood associations but excludes business associations. Delegates will choose three commissioners in caucuses in each of the city's 10 council districts starting May 17.

The new commission could tackle city policies that affect neighborhoods, such as the process by which business districts are named.

"The purpose of the Neighborhoods Commission is to encourage formation and involvement of neighborhood groups," said Shafron-Mukai, chair of the ad hoc committee.

Shafron-Mukai said the committee is in the process of reviewing the Palm Haven group.

On the surface, the group meets the criteria, he said, and it followed proper protocol by registering with the Neighborhood Development Center.