April 13, 2006

Almaden Valley Community Association meeting update

Budget, trail crossing, sunshine law, and the AVCA mayoral forum discussed

By Daniel DeBolt
Staff writer

Yves Zuttey came to Monday’s Almaden Valley Community Association meeting representing the city parks and recreation department mainly to inform the group about potential changes to the Queenswood Way/ Camden trail intersection, but ended up with some unexpected information himself.

Zuttey came to talk about problems permitting a trail crossing at the intersection only to find that there was a dirt trail already there, which was approved by the city, county and the bay area ridge trail, according to Kitty Monahan of the AVCA. Zuttey said he would look into whether it was a formal project in disrepair or one that may have permitting issues and require an environmental impact report before further action is taken.

“It sounds like I’ve got some homework to do,” Zuttey said.

If the dirt trail is paved, there will be issues with maintenance, Zuttey said. Volunteers would no longer be able to maintain the trail and any dirt washed up by Los Alamitos Creek would have to be removed carefully and not washed back into the creek for legal and environmental reasons. If the water level goes too high, the under-crossing would have to be closed off and pedestrians would have to go across the street. There are limited funds for the whole project which would include a crosswalk and flashing beacons.

Monahan and others at the meeting offered to volunteer to clean the trail back up if an effort was made to maintain the dirt trail.

AVCA budget discussion
The AVCA operates with a budget of $7,600. Ideas were discussed about how to use the money, including donating to the new library, which is lacking funding for furniture, making a scholarship for students, or just keeping it all so it will earn interest for the group, possibly reducing member dues.

AVCA Web site report
The Web site saw a spike in visits in March, up from 106 visits in February to 156 visits in March. Advertising on the site was discussed, though the discussion was cut short after a few quick words from some members who seemed to indicate a consensus against it.

AVCA discussion of Sunshine ordinance
Bob Boydston presented his findings from attending two meetings where sunshine proposals were formed or discussed, one at Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez’s house, and one with the Mercury News.

Boydston didn’t have time to go into every detail of the proposals, just his own take on what was going on. He said the Mercury News was very thorough with its proposal, looking for every possible way to keep city hall from hiding information from the public. He said that at Chavez’s meeting, those who attended were presidents or past presidents of major organizations in the city. He said one of the sharper attendants of one of the meetings brought up the problem of how the sunshine ordinance would be enforced. Would jail time, firings, or censure be involved? An AVCA member laughed and said they should ask the district attorney candidates that during the AVCA mayoral and district attorney forum April 27.

Planning of AVCA forum for mayoral and district attorney’s race candidates
Many of the details for the forum have already been planned, but the sound system costs and crowd control were issues with a few loose ends to work out. The candidates will answer questions they have received in advance.

Election forum date: Thursday, April 27, 2006 from 6:15 to 9 p.m.

Location: Santa Clara Valley Water District, 5700 Almaden Expressway, San Jose 95118-3614.

The five major candidates for mayor of San Jose are Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese, Michael Mulcahy, David Pandori, and Chuck Reed, who have all been invited to the forum. The candidates for District Attorney are Marc Buller, Dolores Carr, Jim Shore, and Karyn Sinunu, who have also been invited to the forum.