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Around The Glen
Commissioners tackle The Glen's closing time at a public hearing
It's judgment day for The Glen. On July 14, the Planning Commission will decide if the popular brew pub and restaurant will be allowed to serve alcohol till 2 a.m., or if closing time will return to midnight--the current recommendation from city planners--with the exception of 10 private parties per year.
Co-owners John and Stella Karamanos also want to add live entertainment, and again were told no by the planning department, with the exception of the 10 private events.
Planners say the past-midnight closing time is too late for Willow Glen's neighborhood business district. The Karamanoses respond that the upscale restaurant and bar brings much desired business to Lincoln Avenue. Some neighbors argue that noisy revelers walking to their cars at 2 a.m. keep them awake. Commissioners will have their say on Wednesday.
The Glen's public hearing will be at 7 p.m., July 14, in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
--Jessica Lyons
SJ Unified's Teacher of the Year looks toward the future
A teacher, coach and hero to his students, Jason Morella, an English and robotics teacher at Broadway High School, was recently named San Jose Unified School District's Teacher of the Year.
"The kids are a lot of fun to work with and to teach," he says. "But it has been a roller coaster. There are some lows with the kids, and it takes a lot of work to get through to some of them, but the highs are really high when you see some of the kids turn it around and really realize their potential."
At 28, and with only 4 1/2 years of full-time teaching under his belt, Morella is one of the youngest teachers to win the award. But he's already looking to the future--and the new millennium--for another year with Broadway.
"I want to continue what we've been doing at Broadway and hopefully try to get through the move to John Muir as easily as possible and help the kids adjust to that and understand that and do the best they can regardless of the situation."
Morella also wants to expand Broadway's nationally recognized robotics class, he says.
"It's a big goal of mine to get the rest of the San Jose schools involved in this program, so instead of only impacting 10 to 20 kids a year, we can impact a couple hundred kids a year--even a couple thousand."
--Jessica Lyons
Willow Glen tai chi master brings qigong back from China
Now tai chi instructor Mark Saia can add qigong to the long list of alternative health procedures and classes that he performs and teaches.
Saia, co-owner of the Center for Integrated Medicine and founder of the Healing Arts Academy, both located on Lincoln Avenue, recently returned from a 16-day seminar in Beijing, where he learned the ancient Chinese discipline that combines meditation, physical activity and breathing exercises. He went to China on his own dime to learn from Dr. Lu, who Saia said is a world-renowned grand master of medical qigong.
"It's all about breathing," Saia said, explaining that qigong is the "cultivation of energy."
Saia has taught tai chi, which he calls the DNA of all martial arts, for years. He applies his recent qigong training to his tai chi classes, which now incorporate acupuncture (by partner Rick Barnard) and acupressure.
He also teaches cross training, breathing, kick-boxing, tae kwon do and aikido. He offers classes at the center, at Sam Hall's Martial Arts and Fitness in Campbell, at homes, offices and just about anywhere else.
Saia is a certified masseuse who specializes in Eastern massage techniques. His newest type of therapy is the oxymassage: a chair massage in which oxygen from a small tank on the ground is directed upward around the client's face.
For more information, call (408) 291-0179.
--Kara Chalmers
Volunteers are needed to lend their ears to crisis hotline
The Santa Clara Valley Department of Mental Health is looking for a few empathetic listeners to volunteer on the department's Suicide and Crisis Hotline.
The hotline, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, requires 14,560 volunteer hours per year. Volunteers will receive training.
Willow Glen resident over 21 years old, willing to help people in crisis situations, who can commit to volunteer four hours per week for at least one year, can call 885-2267.
-- Jessica Lyons
County is calling all green thumbs
If it's always been your dream to be a Master Composter volunteer, now's your big chance.
The county Home Composting Education Program is looking for volunteers who want to train to work in the program, which does public outreach programs for adults and children on backyard composting and worm composting.
The class is limited to 35 people. Deadline to apply is August 11. For more information, call the county "rotline" at 299-4147.
--Shari Kaplan
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
