Let's help clean up this neighborhood park on Cahill Park Community Day! This clean-up is on Saturday, May 29 at 8:45 AM. No experience is necessary. All tools and instruction will be provided. Please bring a filled water bottle, snacks, and wear closed toe shoes.

All COVID-19 protocols will be followed. Please wear appropriate face coverings and stay home if you are sick. Temperature checks are required before entry.

Please download the Volunteer Service Agreement and bring the form with you to the event, or email it to Parkvolunteer@sanjoseca.gov with the date and location of your registered event. You can find the document here.

Save the date for a COVID-Modified Rose, White & Blue Parade! The committee is working with the City and County to ensure all COVID health and safety guidelines are followed. Sign-up to receive updates at rwbsj.org.

Thank you to everyone that participated in the survey I sent out last week. Over 600 people responded. I appreciate the thoughtful comments submitted on this topic.

I authored a memo recommending the following modifications for this project:

I also added two items to my motion:

This was unanimously approved by my Council colleagues.

Watch my comments from Council below.

View the schedule and fill out the volunteer form here.

The goal of National Suicide Prevention Month is to raise awareness, improve knowledge and attitudes about mental health and suicide among adults in the community. Suicide is a major public health concern that is complicated and tragic but is often preventable. Knowing where to access suicide prevention resources can help save lives. To help elevate tools and improve suicide prevention efforts, they are sharing Suicide Prevention resources.

If you or someone you know needs help, emotional health and self-care resources are available, especially to help you cope with anxiety and stress during COVID-19.

Please join the Santa Clara County Suicide Prevention Program and community partners for the 2nd annual Suicide Prevention Conference. This year, we will offer two tracks and will highlight how cultural humility can be advanced in suicide prevention efforts.

Register here.

Thanks to voter support for Measures B and T and State Senate Bill 1, we are quickly improving San José streets. In 2021, we will pave 222 miles of streets. This includes 80 miles of major streets and 142 miles of local and neighborhood streets. Additionally, there were about 30 miles of streets from the 2020 program that were put on "winter suspension" due to cold or rainy weather. Work on those streets will resume this spring 2021.

You can look at the pavement projects map for the schedule.

During City Council, the City Manager's office provided an update on several city services. In April, the city provided bi-weekly trash service to over 100 encampments, conducted over 600 trash pick-ups, and collected over 420 tons of trash across Tier 3 sites.

See the chart below for additional actions.

The City is hosting a series of a community budget meetings. See the flyer below for dates and Zoom links. For more information about the meetings and the City's budget process, please visit www.sjmayor.org/budget or call Julian Lake at (408) 843-6335.

Come join San José’s Department of Transportation and share your vision for the future of transportation in West San Jose at the West San Jose Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (WSJ MTIP) Workshop.

Community feedback is crucial to this meeting. Through two virtual activities, we'll ask how you travel around West San José. And we also encourage you to share your thoughts on transportation improvements in the area. Ultimately, community feedback will help us shape our vision for the WSJ MTIP.

DOT staff will share information about the WSJMTIP. You can expect to learn about current transportation trends in the West San José area.

When: May 12th, 6:00pm-7:30pm

Where: Zoom. Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMpdeipqD0qE9z_pvFfxfsIp3ZPa-2fiMM9

How are you getting around San Jose? Could new travel options help you? How could transportation in the area be improved? We want to hear how you move around the city!

Take our survey here.

It’s easy and FREE to get rid of your junk!

Gear up for spring cleaning with the City of San José’s Junk Pickup program. The Junk Pickup program offers free appointments for San José residents to have large items (such as old furniture, appliances, mattresses, recreational equipment and more) picked up from their homes and apartment complexes. It’s free and easy!

Visit here for program details.

Whether it’s a health-related event or a significant financial hardship, COVID-19 has affected us all. As our state continues to recover, we are committed to keeping families housed and recognize that California renters and landlords have enough to worry about. We want to make sure that past due rent isn’t one of them.

CA COVID-19 Rent Relief will help income-eligible households pay rent and utilities, both for past due and future payments. For additional information, to find a Local Partner Network organization near you, or for eligibility and application help, call our CA COVID-19 Rent Relief Call Center: 833-430-2122. Learn more here.

GreenSource is SJCE’s default service offering 40% renewable energy at competitive rates; to receive 100% renewable energy, customers can upgrade to TotalGreen for about $4 more per month for the average home.

All electric consumers in PG&E territory pay the PCIA to cover PG&E’s above-market costs from legacy energy contracts and power plant operations. PG&E is currently not incentivized to keep these costs as low as possible, and as a result PCIA costs have increased 900% since 2013 and 41% from 2020 to 2021 alone.

SJCE’s GreenSource generation rates are still about 30% lower than PG&E rates and have decreased significantly in 2021 to counteract an increased PCIA. SJCE is advocating for improved PG&E management of above-market costs with the California Public Utilities Commission to give customers more savings.

Should the City Council agree to these changes, you’ll have these options:

To learn more about the PCIA, visit here. If you’re fired up about it, you can file a complaint to the California Public Utilities Commission.

Recycling reduces waste, keeps recyclable materials out of landfills and helps protect the environment. It also saves energy and valuable natural resources, and creates jobs. The efforts contribute to quality of life, health and wellness as well as supporting the local economy.

San José residents can do their part to Recycle Right. Unsure of what goes where? Visit SanJoseRecycles.org for a complete recycling guide and more.

Learn how to redeem for CRV refund here.

List of most confusing items to recycle here.

Learn how to recycle junk mail and how to unsubscribe from mailing lists here.

The San Jose Downtown Farmers’ Market opens its 29th season on May 7! It will open in a new location on South First Street between San Salvador and William streets in the heart of the SoFA District.

More than 15 vendors are expected to be at the market each week, selling fresh California-grown fruits and vegetables.

The walk to the Farmers' Market averages less than 10 minutes from most points in downtown. VTA stops are less than two blocks away at the Convention Center and at the Paseo off First and Second streets. Parking is available at the Second and San Carlos Garage, free for the first 90 minutes.

Experts agree that the health risks associated with COVID far outweigh the risks of the vaccine. Make an appointment to get vaccinated today! There is also walk-in availability. http://sccFreeVax.org.

Santa Clara County Vaccine Update: Of residents 16+, 71.2% received at least one vaccine dose and 44.7% completed vaccination.

As vaccines roll out, it is important to continue following Public Health Orders. Visit here for more info. Read the full list of what is currently permitted under state guidelines here.

Now is the time for residents, businesses, and government to partner together to help. Donate, volunteer and read more here.