Speak Out
Johnston Ave. parents are protecting children
Hi, my name is Ashley. I am a 10-year-old kid who lives on Johnston Avenue. I personally enjoy having a street where people care about each other. If people are speeding down our street, they need to be told that they are going too fast. It is our parents' job to protect us.
As a kid, I don't like having people speed down my street. And I know, for a fact, that the adults on our street don't go outside glaring up and down the street yelling at people that are going too fast. They go outside to protect us and that's their job as parents. There are kids from the age of 9 months to 14 years. We all need to be protected, and from a kid's point of view, I think we are!
Although the backyard is fun to play in I would miss out on being part of my street community.
An up-and-coming adult,
Ashley Haight
Johnston Avenue
Fund education and traffic safety first
I've come up with a list of a few things that I would like the city of San Jose to fund with the estimated $150 million windfall that we will soon receive by not building the $343 million "Taj Mahal" city hall.
Education: I propose a multi-year, multimillion-dollar commitment to hire and reward quality teachers for our public schools. Recently unemployed tech professionals could be hired to establish and conduct programs that would provide students with the skills desired by Valley employers.
Traffic safety: I propose that the city hire 100 traffic enforcement officers and purchase 30 new unmarked patrol cars. There are presently only 63 full-time traffic enforcement officers for a city of nearly one million. Our streets are filled with reckless drivers who make the city an increasingly dangerous place.
Return the Arena's name to San Jose: The name of the San Jose Arena should never have been sold to a corporation in the first place. The name change was part of the deal to extend the lease with the Sharks, yet their ownership was not required to make their financial records public to confirm the claim that they were losing money. Hewlett-Packard/Compaq can keep all of the external and internal advertising, but the name of the building should be restored to the San Jose Arena.
Here's my list. Where's yours? How would you spend $150 million?
Pete Campbell
San Jose
Shouting at speeders to slow them down
I must begin by confessing that Sara Arnott's April 10 letter to the editor in the Willow Glen Resident is correct. Yes, we on Johnston Avenue are breeding intolerance--intolerance of scofflaws, who flagrantly put our children at risk, disregard the safe speed limit, and roll through our newly installed stop sign.
I will also confess that I consider myself blessed. I live on a street where I know all of my neighbors. My sons have 30 other children on this block to play with. We have block parties, group yard sales and impromptu barbecues throughout the year.
And why is this? I'm sure there are many reasons. Not the least of which is that we all spend a significant portion of time in our front yards. Our children play together. Neighbors stop and chat: retirees, young families, single folks and married with no kids. People are always out walking, jogging, biking, and playing. We watch each other's children; track down lost pets and help when something goes wrong.
So, I am unwilling to banish my children to the backyard as Arnott suggests. I am unwilling to forgo the joy I get by socializing with my neighbors in my front yard in order to allow people to use my street as a cut-through when Bird Avenue is too crowded. I am unwilling to stand idly by as people race down my street jeopardizing the well-being of my friends, children and pets.
But, I am willing to shout at speeders on my street. Why? Because safe neighborhoods are important, and if drivers forget to motor slowly down our street, I'll gladly remind them.
Alicia Allen
Johnston Avenue
WG teens need recreation areas
Within walking distance of my house there are three children's playgrounds. Two of them are brand-new; the other will probably be rebuilt in the near future.
These playgrounds cater to the 3- to 12-year-old set and cost us in excess of $1.5 million. I am referring to the Senior Center, River Glen Park and Wallenberg Park playgrounds. If you stand on the playground at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Curtner, you can actually see the older Wallenberg facility.
In the neighborhood there is a large number of teenagers, and the Willow Glen Middle and High School facility attests to the fact that a large number of the students are local because they walk or bicycle to school every day. Yet, with the vast amount of money being spent, there is not one facility that caters to their interests.
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales has declared that a few portable skateboard facilities may be made available this year on a trial basis. As of now there is no place for these young people to engage in BMX biking or Xtreme skating. As a matter of fact, the whole neighborhood is ringed with "No skateboarding" signs, and even River Glen Park proudly declares that skateboards may not be used there. The hyper-organized baseball league has implanted five diamonds on River Glen Park. They cater to the tiny T-ball set all the way up to high-school-aged kids. Yet again, there are no facilities for soccer, rugby, field hockey or any other sports except baseball. And when the baseball season is over, the fields remain sacrosanct. By the way, in the absence of a women's baseball league, the message is also clear: No women allowed in our park!
With nowhere to go and not much to do, the teens in Willow Glen hear a clear message: Go away!
Could we possibly open one or two facilities for these kids? They had a bike park in Calabasas that was bulldozed without prior notice and may have been rebuilt, but it is miles away. The small skatepark in Campbell is self-policed, and there are no problems there. Should we expect any less from the Willow Glen teens?
Peter Brown
Fairview Avenue
Correction
The Café Willow Glen column about Sushi Kazoo Willow Glen in the April 10 issue of The Willow Glen Resident incorrectly priced the six-piece California roll and the six-piece cucumber roll. The actual prices are $2.50 for the six-piece California roll and $1.75 for the six-piece cucumber roll. The California roll is included in combination sushi packages that range from $5.25 to $11.50. The column also wrongly identified the gender of female co-owner Mika Ashida.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
