Hi neighbor,
I hope you are taking advantage of the beautiful weather by walking, running, or biking around our city.
Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei and I enjoyed keeping our muscles active with our senior community at the Longevity Walk this April. We stretched, we danced, and we brainstormed ways to keep all San Jose residents active by receiving input from our seniors and partnering organizations.
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Thank you to the many health-related organizations who joined us at the Longevity Walk. These events and resources help to continue informing residents about healthy eating and lifestyle habits that will enable us to live better and longer.
If you would like to share your ideas of how we as a city can keep healthy and active together, I strongly encourage you to join my monthly virtual Office Hour on Wednesday, May 10th. Office Hours are a time for us to collaborate and strategize solutions together.
Another way we stay strong as a city is by getting to know each other and building community. Please check out the many local outdoor events happening this month in this newsletter where you can meet your neighbors.
Best,
Dev
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May Office Hours
Join me at this month's virtual Office Hour!
On Wednesday, May 10th from 5:30PM-6:30PM, we will meet on Zoom to find solutions to keep District 6 safe, clean, and thriving.
All topics, questions, and/or concerns are welcome.
If you are not able to join me on Zoom, please email me your question. You can also always call my office at 408-535-4906.
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Preserving Affordable Housing & Moving Past COPA
After years of information gathering and community feedback, a majority of my colleagues and I decided that the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) was not an effective solution for San Jose. I agree that we have a strong need to preserve our existing affordable housing inventory, however, COPA would have brought a number of negative consequences to our small mom-and-pop property owners. We as a City Council directed staff to look at other strategies for meeting our preservation goals, and as always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback.
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NEW Climate Advisory Commission
My colleagues and I approved the creation of a new Climate Advisory Commission. This new commission will help guide city policy related to our Climate Smart San Jose plan. The creation of this commission has been in the works for a while, but I’m glad to see it come to fruition and give new focus and perspective on our climate policies.
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Natural and Working Lands Element
San Jose continues to lead on climate initiatives with the adoption of our Natural & Working Lands Element. This new element is a policy framework that focuses on maintaining our green open spaces as part of our overall Climate Smart goals. We are the first city in the state to adopt such an element and I am proud that we are leading this work.
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Regional Wastewater Facilities (RWF) Upgrades
It’s important that we keep our infrastructure well-maintained and modernized. With that in mind, my colleagues and I approved contracts to continue construction and upgrades at our Regional Wastewater Facility. These upgrades include piping modernization and the continued build-out of the new Digestive Sludge Dewatering Facility. This new facility will allow the RFW to operate more efficiently, reduce odors in the community, and free up 750 acres of land for alternative uses.
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Evans Lane Interim Housing Featured in KQED’s The Bay Podcast
Our interim housing site at Evans Lane was featured on KQED’s The Bay Podcast. Interim housing for the homeless has been a controversial topic in our city but Evans Lane and similar interim housing sites have been shown to work. In addition to helping folks get into permanent housing, the benefits to the surrounding neighborhoods such as reduced crime, can’t be understated. If you want to hear more, check out this episode.
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Get Summer Started With These Events |
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May is Bike Month
Cities all over Silicon Valley are competing to bike the most miles. Help San Jose win the Silicon Valley Pedal Power Challenge by pledging to ride. The more people who ride, whether child or adult, whether first-time, returning, or experienced, the better we all can support the goal of building healthier and more just communities by making bicycling safer and more accessible for everyone.
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Understand the Signs of Dementia with this Webinar
May is Older Americans Month. Join the Santa Clara County Healthy Brain Initiative for 1-hour session and become more familiar with the 10 signs of dementia. We all can be a more supportive community for those living with dementia and their families and caregivers.
Register for this virtual webinar here.
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Eritrean Independence Day
Flag Raising
On May 24th, 1991, the Eritrean people reinstated their independence after a 30-year war with the Ethiopian military regime.
Join us at City Hall on Wednesday, May 24th from 5PM-6PM to raise the Eritrean flag.
We will be honoring fallen Eritrean soldiers with a moment of silence, hearing from the Eritrean Community Cultural and Development Center, and eating Eritrean food.
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Tour Beautiful
Willow Glen Homes
Enjoy an afternoon in one of District 6's treasured neighborhoods. Experience the history and beauty as you tour five homes in the Willow Glen neighborhood. Create your own route on this self-guided tour - each home is a quick 5-minute drive from the next. Docents will be on-site at each home to help you and answer questions. Admire and be inspired by the exceptional architecture and design highlighted both inside and out of these enchanting Willow Glen homes. Home addresses will be revealed after ticket purchase valid on both days.
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Roses for Mother's Day
Mother's Day is Sunday, May 14th! Give the gift that keeps on living by adopting or renewing a rose from the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy.
View pictures and select a rose to adopt here.
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Shakespeare in the Park
Returns this June!
Get ready for Shakespearian summer nights at Bramhall Park. Silicon Valley Shakespeare has been working hard to put on their newest production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (Noche de Reyes).
Set against the backdrop of an hacienda in modern-day Mexico, Viola, a young woman, is separated from her twin, Sebastian, in a shipwreck, and dresses like a boy to serve Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, with whom she falls in love.
This production is full of love triangles, betrayal, deceit, drama, and happy endings for all. Or are they? This telenovela is a delight for the whole family.
All Twelfth Night showings are FREE and will be at Bramhall Park every Thursday-Sunday from June 9th-June 25th.
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The San Jose Playhouse Presents |
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Enjoy this interactive, immersive, electro-pop musical where the audience becomes an integral part of the performance. The show runs from April 20-May 28. Get tickets here.
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Explore the Wine Country of
Paso Robles at PayPal Park
Savor Paso is coming to PayPal Park on Thursday, June 15th from 5:30PM - 8PM.
This walk-around tasting features Paso Robles wineries, breweries, distilleries, attractions, and more in this iconic stadium.
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Midtown Immersive
Night Parties
Please enjoy summer sunsets at the Midtown Immersive Night Parties.
Every Friday until June 16th, enjoy food trucks, a beer garden, and live music from 5PM-9PM at 245 McEvoy Street.
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How Businesses and Schools Can Save on Energy Bills
Through rebates from San José Clean Energy’s Energy Efficient Business Program, schools, and businesses can save up to 90% on qualifying HVAC, refrigeration, or water heating upgrades. All schools, school districts, and junior colleges with an active San José Clean Energy account are invited to participate. Email SJCEBusiness@FranklinEnergy.com or call 510-740-9005.
The San José Energy Efficient Business Program has unlocked several rebates to San José business owners for qualifying HVAC, refrigeration, or water heating projects. These rebates, totaling up to 80–90% off the project cost, will make renovations to your small business more affordable and kickstarting these upgrades so much easier. All business customers with an active San José Clean Energy account are invited to participate.
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PG&E Safety Net Program
Residential customers who lost power during the recent storms for 48 hours or longer may qualify for the PG&E Safety Net program. This offers payments to residential customers who are without power for more than 48 hours due to severe events, like storms (as determined by PG&E). The Safety Net program pays Storm Inconvenience payments automatically 60 to 120 days after the outage. The amount received depends on the outage length:
· 48 to 72 hours: $25
· 72 to 96 hours: $50
· 96 to 120 hours: $75
· 120 hours or more: $100
All San José Clean Energy (SJCE) residential customers (including those on CARE, FERA, and Medical Baseline) qualify for the Storm Inconvenience Payments. Businesses, agricultural accounts, multi-family building common areas, streetlights, and all other non-residential accounts are ineligible. Public Safety Power Shutoff events are also not eligible for the program. See PG&E Outage Compensation FAQs. Those who believe that they qualify should also call (888) 743-4743 to confirm their outage credit.
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Fight Crime with Cameras
Help the San José Police Department in fighting crime by taking part in the Camera Archive & Mapping (CAM) program.
This program allows residents and business owners to register the locations of their video surveillance systems with the City. When a crime occurs, police will be able to identify the locations of nearby video cameras and help officers collect video evidence, and follow up on leads.
SJPD will also be able to directly contact CAM registrants who are using video in an area in which a crime occurred. Learn more about the program and register your camera here.
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Protect Students by Becoming a Crossing Guard
Play a role in helping keep San José safer for pedestrians by submitting your application here.
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NOW HIRING: Lifeguards and Pool Managers |
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Summer is around the corner. Have fun and keep young ones safe by applying to the position you're interested in. |
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Volunteer in Little Italy
To keep up with Little Italy's fast growth, volunteers are needed to help in the Cultural Center & Museum and at events such as the Annual Street Festival, Boss of the Sauce Competition, and more.
Sign up to volunteer here.
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