The Eden Examiner

May 2000

President’s Message

At our May meeting, Dr. Rhonda Farber, Superintendent of the Campbell Union High School District, will seek our input about the future use of Blackford High School. This important input is part of the District’s long-term planning. Blackford is now used as a Continuation High School and by several community groups. We welcome Dr. Farber’s visit to build good community relations.

Concurrently, the city of San Jose is initiating a long-term plan for all of their parks. I attended one of three meetings in our District 1. City officials requested community input about near-term and long-term goals for their plans. Where possible, these plans will be coordinated with the school districts for the most efficient use of funds and facilities. Upgrading and repairing present facilities is an immediate priority. In our neighborhood, we have no park so cooperation with the Moreland School District is very important to us. So far, that has worked out well at Amber School. This is a good time to plan for the educational and recreational needs of the community for the next 20 or so years.

Our community garage sale was a big success. About 50 families participated and our advertising attracted a large number of buyers.

Be sure to reserve Saturday afternoon, June 24 for our annual family picnic! This year we have a group from the Peninsular Banjo Band for entertainment. Plan to come and have an old fashioned good time for all members of the family. Carl Shoemaker

Beautification Committee

Carl Shoemaker

Thanks are due Bud Newman for hanging the garden sign on the fence behind the flowers. The attractive sign was provided by the maintenance dept of the Moreland School District. We also thank Bob Leverett for removing graffiti from the wall on Payne Ave. There are many others who are faithfully picking up trash in our neighborhood and pulling weeds in the flower garden. Have you noticed the much neater appearance of our community? The flowers are doing their part too.

Response to Complaints

We’ve recently received comments about the association calling Code Enforcement about illegally parked cars and boats. Please be aware that the Board’s policy is to give people information—to tell them where or how to report infractions. However, the Association does not call in violations. If you have a complaint or a question, you’re invited to leave a message on the hotline. We’ll do our best to share information, but we cannot call in complaints for you.

Traffic Committee

Although we’ve had a great deal of input from people regarding traffic in the neighborhood, only 3 people attended the first traffic committee meeting. Maybe my timing was bad. Maybe there is less interest than we thought. We’re going to have another meeting.

Thursday, May 11^th

3264 Amherst Lane

7:00 p.m.

If you have concerns or idea, please join us.

Betty Kabanek

Check the Web!

Jump to ena.com (jump.to/ena) to see for yourself. Wayne & Mona Hall have built a web-site that we can all be proud of. It includes information about the organization, links to other interesting sites and a bulletin board.

We’re hoping that the Neighborhood Services Directory can be put on the web-site. As you recall, the original directory was set up to list the names of service providers that neighbors had used and were willing to recommend. If, for instance, someone hired a plumber and was happy with the work that was done, that neighbor could put the plumber's name into the directory. We also published the names and addresses of various service providers who live in the neighborhood. We’d like to keep that directory current. However, to do that, we need each person’s permission to list his or her name on the web site.

Are you willing to call people from the current directory to see if they want to be listed on our internet version of the Directory? If so, please leave your name on the hotline.

April 28,2000 Dear Neighborhood Association: I am writing to alert you to the proposed rerouting of tens of thousands of additional San Francisco-bound flights over San José and other Silicon Valley neighborhoods. I ask for your support by joining me in fighting this plan. Let me provide you with some background information. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have issued a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) outlining new aircraft flight patterns that would result in rerouting hundreds of SFO-bound flights each day to fly over San Jose and other Silicon Valley communities. The City of San José has asked the FAA to reject this plan and start a new study addressing the concerns of San José and other South Bay communities.The City has concerns with the FAA/SFO plan in three major areas:1. The FAA/SFO proposal itself would result in rerouting hundreds of additional SFO-bound flights each over San José and other Silicon Valley communities, with a potential of more than 200,000 additional flights a year. We believe this could result in significant adverse environmental impacts. 2. The FAA environmental assessment fails to analyze the significant impacts on San José and Silicon Valley that could result from changing SFO air traffic patterns, such as noise, safety, and air quality. The FAA's own policies require a full environmental analysis, not an abbreviated environmental assessment, because the proposal involves major federal action that could be controversial on environmental grounds.3. The process used by the FAA failed to consult with San José International Airport and other regional airports in the preparation of the proposal. It also failed to use adequate public notice of the proposal or to reach out to South Bay communities with an opportunity for genuine public participation.I will continue to voice my opposition to FAA's overflight plan, and I hope that you will agree to add your voice to oppose this plan in three ways:*Write a letter to President Clinton, Vice-President Gore, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, and our Congressional delegation. Information is attached.*Testify at FAA's public hearing on Tuesday, May 2, at 7:00 p.m. in the Isaac Newton Senter Board Room in Santa Clara County Government Center at 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose. *Circulate this letter to your membership and ask them to participate.The Federal Aviation Agency must reject this plan until it has conducted a complete evaluation of its impacts on our community. If you have any questions please call Guisselle Nunez or Jim Webb on my staff immediately at (408) 277-4237. Our website can provide you with additional information. I encourage you to visit us at www.sjmayor.org/426faa.html.Again, I ask for your support to protect our quality of life.Sincerely,Ron Gonzales

Lost & Found

Two keys were found after the garage sale. To claim them, leave your name on the hotline.

Garage Sale

Success Many thanks to Jim Kono, Bud & Evelyn Newman, and Yvette and Brett Carpenter for helping make the garage sale a great success. They put up signs so people wouldn’t miss our sale. I think we’ll agree that we had a lot of people looking to find their treasures and the signs were a big help. Many, many thanks. Dick & Betty Kabanek