There has been so much bad economic news for so long, I thought folks would
enjoy some good news, even if it is a very little, very local trend. I live
in the Willow
Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California. During the last few years, our
immediate area (near the Guadalupe River)
had accumulated four single family homes which didn’t sell.
That is, the houses were actively for sale (signs out on the lawn) but nothing moved.
As of this week, all four houses have sold and new owners have moved in! One home
which was under construction (very very slowly under construction) is now
almost fully built out with final work progressing very fast. Even if this means
that housing values are down, we and all of our neighbors are very happy to see
the homes finally inhabited. Unfortunately, two more local houses just
went on the market but we hope they too will sell soon.
Happily, our neighborhood has become much closer and more supportive because
of the current mortgage crisis. Partly to exchange status updates on the four
long-empty homes, our local neighborhood group developed an email list. We use the
group list to exchange information of interest to all.
For example, this Wednesday (11 March 2009), we found out that the
San Jose Planning Director is reviewing File # HA89-104-01 (a Tree Removal permit
request by the local ARCO station’s owner to remove three large stone pine trees).
The trees are lovely in themselves and they also do much to reduce the lights
and noise of the gas station. (Many customers thoughtlessly leave their radios on
full blast while pumping gas. Last summer the ARCO’s ATM machine was broken and
beeping every few minutes for days at a time.) So, we neighbors are exchanging
information to be sure letters are written in advance to the city planner and
we are represented at the hearing. Below are some pictures of the ARCO station
and the old trees they want to kill.
ARCO lights through the pines
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ARCO sign at Belmont-Alma
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Stone Pine at ARCO
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Stone Pine at ARCO
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Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
KatysBlog 
hey, Katy … I really appreciate your blog, especially on neighborhood issues! …. I’d like to hear how the hearing goes for a post on WGx. Will you be planning an update, or would you be willing to send me the results? Thanks!
I’m all for keeping the trees, but I’d love to know why Arco wants them removed. Are they adding a mini mart or something? Tree removal is probably only the first step in a bigger project.
Is it possible that the trees are "rooting" under the curbing and the paved lot? Could they be destroying the wall behind the station? If either of these conditions exist, cutting the trees down now would be much less of an interuption than what remedial action might be needed later.