"Luann"

Open the San Jose Mercury News Thursday morning and go straight to the comics.

Greg Evans has created a special “Luann” about “Books For Treats“.

10/29/09
San Jose Mercury New
Comics – “Luann”

Bachelder 'Dutch Boy' tiles were reproduced as part of the restoration of the Rotary Ryland Pool.

Near-downtown residents got together today to celebrate the completion of historical restoration work on the Rotary Ryland Pool at Ryland Park in the Vendome neighborhood. Vendome Neighborhood Association president Tina Morrill presented restored tilework on the pool, as well as educational signage, a commemorative plaque, and a new sign for the entry to the pool.

The pool was originally built in the 1920’s, featuring the Batchelder “Dutch Boy” tiles around its perimeter wall. These tiles were later painted over, probably in the 1970’s. What’s worse, to make the paint adhere better, the tiles were sandblasted, eliminating their original glaze and much of their relief pattern.

In 2006, when the city of San Jose wanted to close the pool, the public outcry, massive efforts by a small group of volunteers, and $1.4 million in funding came together to save it. The pool reopened last summer, but the historical restoration work continued over the past year.

Reproduction Dutch Boy tiles were produced from a mold taken from a 1920’s era Batchelder tile found at an out-of-state antique tile dealer. A commemorative plaque was installed, recognizing the contribution of the Rotary Club in donating the original pool and funding the recent restoration work. An education placard was also posted, explaining the restoration proces, and also hopefully making the point that historic resources should not be treated as cavalierly as the pool and its tiles once were. Finally, a new sign was added at the entry to the pool, designed by Northsider Sonya Lu and fabricated by Brian’s Welding, just down the street from the park.

The new entryway sign at Ryland Pool.

Last night my husband, Ken, and I were remembering that September morning… I dressed for work, took my bowl of Cheerios and sat in front of the TV. I was expecting the usual morning news and traffic report. What I saw was so shocking. I could not believe my eyes and started to yell. Ken ran in holding his razor with his face covered in shaving cream just in time to see the second plane hit.

We considered not going to work, but as taxi drivers we knew that our services would be in demand. At San Jose Airport all flights had been grounded. The nervous travelers had only one thing on their minds; getting back home or to a hotel. We were busy for most of the morning and early afternoon. The airport emptied out, and then it was as if the city had just stopped. We drove home.

What are your memories of that day?

* National Day of Service and Remembrance in San Jose
A ceremony to honor attack victims and the brave firefighters, police officers, and civilians who gave so much. After which off duty San Jose firefighters and police officers along with volunteers will help with vegetable beds and neighborhood cleanup.

September 11th
Sacred Heart Community Service
1381 S. First St, San Jose
Scheduled 8:30 AM

9/11 Becomes Day of Service

If it was buying or, “Just looking, thank you.”, I enjoyed car shopping with my dad. I was very disappointed that day, in 1955, when he picked the valley-green/raven-black two-tone Pontiac over the dreamy blue and white Chevy. My mom tells me that they were very proud of it. But green and black? It was better than the, what I found, odd looking 40’s car in which my cousin had to ride. Poor Uncle Joe had an old Packard.

A collection of antique Packards will be on display outside of the restored 1944 Leland Cerruti/Howard Gustin Packard dealership building.

The Alameda Business Association open house includes tours of the renovated colonial style building, and refreshments.

Wednesday, September 2
5:30PM to 7:30PM
Presentation @ 6:00PM
865 The Alameda, San Jose – 95126 (@ Rhodes Court)

Pierluigi Oliverio

Tonight is council member Pierluigi Oliverio’s 3rd annual district 6 “Safety Fair & Outdoor Movie Event“.

Featuring – “WALL-E” by Disney/Pixar

When – Friday, August 28th

Time – 7:00 PM

Where – Bramhall/Willow St. Park – Willow Glen

Enter – Willow St. (near Meridian) cross street Glen Eyrie

Bring – a Blanket and Flashlight

So, what the heck is National Night Out?

It is America’s night out against crime, a way to strengthen community partnerships with local police and to create a united front to combat crime and drugs.

It is designed to:

Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;

Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;

Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and

Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

Scheduled participants include Mayor Chuck Reed, Vice Mayor Judy Chirco, San Jose Councilmembers Pete Constant, Ash Kalra, Sam Liccardo, Kansen Chu, Nora Campos, Pierluigi Oliverio, Madison Nguyen, Rose Herrera, and Nancy Pyle, Police Chief Rob Davis, along with community members throughout San Jose.

National Night Out
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
4:00 pm to 10:30 pm (times vary by location)

Participating San Jose Neighborhoods:

Mayor Chuck Reed
Greater Gardner Coalition
Where: Bierbrach Park, 520 W. Virginia at Bird Ave.
When: 5:30 p.m.
Who: With Councilmember Liccardo

Blackford Neighborhood Association
Where: Starbird Park at Williams Road and Boynton
When: 6 p.m.
Who: With Councilmember Constant

Bradford Way and Donna Lane
Where: near 1850 Bradford Way and Donna Lane
When: 6:30 p.m.
Who: With Vice Mayor Chirco

Seven Trees Neighborhood Group
Where: Cryy Out Christian Fellowship, 3167 Senter Road
When: 7 p.m.
Who: With Councilmember Nguyen

Mayfair, Gateway
Where: Emma Prusch Park at King and Story
When: 7:30 p.m.
Who: With Councilmember Campos

Council District 1 – Councilmember Pete Constant
Murdock Neighborhood Association
Where: Murdock Park, Wunderlich and Castle Glen
When: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Blackford Neighborhood Advisory Committee
Where: Starbird Park, 3670 Williams Road
When: 5:30- 8 p.m.

Baker West Neighborhood Association
Where: 5095 Elmwood Drive at Colusa Way
When: 8-9:45 p.m.

Hathaway Park Neighborhood Association
Where: Hathaway Park at Lamore and Colombo
When: 6-10 p.m.

Strawberry Park Neighborhood Association
Where: 4600 block of Strawberry Park Drive
When: 5-8 p.m.

Primrose Neighborhood Association
Where: 811 Daffodil at Manzanita
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

English Estates Neighborhood Association
Where: 5648 Prospect Road at Lyle Drive
When: 6:30-9 p.m.

Country Lane Neighborhood Association
Where: 4601 Blue Ridge Drive at Burkett
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

LynHaven Neighborhood Association
Where: International Christian Center, 3275 Williams Road at Eden Ave.
When: 7-8:30 p.m.

Council District 2 – Councilmember Ash Kalra
Edenvale Roundtable Community Association
Where: 255 Azucar at Bendorf
When: 6-9 p.m.

Hayes Mansion Neighborhood Association
Where: Hayes Mansion
When: 5-8 p.m.

Edenvale Roundtable Community Association
Where: 255 Azucar at Bendorf
When: 6-9 p.m.

Neighborhood Association
Where: 5531 Century Manor Court
When: 6-8 p.m.

Council District 3 – Councilmember Sam Liccardo
13th Street Strong Neighborhoods Initiative Area
Where: Backesto Park, 13th Street at East Empire Street
When: 6-10 p.m.

Spartan Keyes Strong Neighborhoods Initiative Area
Where: Bestor Art Park, Bestor at 5th and 6th Streest
When: 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Greater Gardner Coalition
Where: Bierbrach Park, 520 W Virginia at Bird Ave.
When: 5-8 p.m.

Washington Area Community Coalition
Where: Washington United Youth Center Biblioteca, 921 S 1st Street
When: 6-8 p.m.

Japantown Neighborhood Association
Where: Mission St. at 5th St.
When: 6-8 p.m.

Market Almaden
Where: S. Almaden Ave. at Pierce/Balbach
When: 5-9 p.m.

MACLA and South University Neighborhood
Where: O’Donnell’s Garden Park, 6th and Williams Streets
When: 7-9 p.m.

Council District 4 – Councilmember Kansen Chu
Stonegate Apartments
Where: 4401 Renaissance Drive at Tasman
When: 6-7 p.m.

Villa Savannah Apartments
Where: 4501 Renaissance Drive
When: 6-8:30 p.m.

Wyndham Oaks Apartments
Where: Four Oaks Drive at Hostetter
When: 7-9 p.m.

Noble Park
Where: 3312 Noble Avenue at Piedmont Road
When: 6-10:30 p.m.

Wilsham
Where: 1068 Wilsham Drive at Helmsley
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Council District 5 – Councilmember Nora Campos
Mayfair, Gateway
Where: Emma Prusch Park at King and Story
When: 5-10 p.m.

District 6 – Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio
Brighton Square Improvement Association
Where: 2459 Parquet Court
When: 5 p.m.

Lovoi Way
Where: 1038 Lovoi Way at Malone/Lincoln
When: 7:00 p.m.

Greater Palm Haven Neighborhood Association
Where: Palm Haven Park, Palm Ave. at Clintonia and Plaza
When: 6-8 p.m.

Hamann Park Neighborhood Association
Where: Hamann Park, Westfield at Central
When: 4:30-8:30 p.m.

Newhall Neighborhood Association
Where: 1154 Sherwood Ave. at Newhall
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Pamlar Neighborhood Association
Where: 1405 S. Bascom Ave.

Willow Glen Way
Where: 984 Willow Glen Way at Lincoln

District 7 – Councilmember Madison Nguyen
Seven Trees Neighborhood Group
Where: Cryy Out Christian Fellowship, 3167 Senter Road
When: 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Alma Neighborhood Associations
Where: Alma Community Center, 136 W Alma Ave.
When: 5:30-7:30 p.m.

McLaughlin Corridor Neighborhood Associations
Where: Windmills Springs Park, Baysmill and Umbarger
When: 5:30-8 p.m.

West Evergreen Neighborhood Assocation
Where: OB Whaley Elementary School, 2655 Alvin Avenue
When: 4-8 p.m.

District 8 – Councilmember Rose Herrera
TOCKNA
Where: Boys and Girls Club, 2195 Cunningham
When: 6 p.m.

Meadowfair Community Center
Where: Meadowfair Community Center, 3696 S. King Road
When: 7-9 p.m.

Sikh Temple
Where: Murillo Avenue
When: 7 p.m.

Metzger Ranch
Where: Metzger Ranch at San Felipe and Meadowlands
When: 7-9 p.m.

District 9 – Vice Mayor Judy Chirco
Bradford Way and Donna Lane
Where: Bradford at Donna Lane
When: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

District 10 – Councilmember Nancy Pyle
Cornerstone Community Church
Where: 5655 Gallup Drive
When: 6:30 p.m.

To learn more about the community which is Willow Glen, take a look at a site created by Kevin Swanson.

Willow Glen In Motion lets us look and listen in on what makes this neighborhood tick.

View it on your computer or Comcast. The current episode can be seen on Comcast channel 15 on Wednesdays at 9:30pm.

I’m team captain for Team Willow Glen in the Avon Walk-SF again this year. This is an event that is very close to my heart, and though I’m not looking forward to the blisters and exhaustion of last year’s experience (it was my first 39 mile city hike) I am looking forward to the amazing camaraderie and the feeling that I too can make a difference.

If you’ve never done this kind of walk before, let me tell you, it’s exhilarating, exhausting, agonizing and one of the most moving experiences you will ever have. People line the streets to cheer us on, give us water, even say thank you, and everybody who is walking is supportive, encouraging and as excited as you are. As you walk you hear the stories of people who have overcome amazing odds, the doctors walking for their patients, the families walking together for a loved one and it’s truly un-forgettable.

The bicycle cops come up from San Jose and encourage, cajole, entertain, coddle and above all, keep us safe. In 2000 the walk started in San Jose and the bicycle cops escorted the walkers. Now-even in San Francisco- they volunteer their time to participate and they really do San Jose proud.

So here we are, ready to shlog another 39 miles over some of San Francisco’s most treacherous hills (can’t avoid that now can we?) with several thousand men, women and children from all over the world. Are you thinking about walking? Why don’t you join us? The Avon support teams have lots of training info and we will be doing some team training walks as well.

If you can’t walk with us, support us. Pick one of the walkers and donate directly to them. We’ve also got a number of fundraising events coming up. Elva’s Coffee Stop is hosting a silent auction for the team and it’s Elva’s second year with the team. Donate an item for the auction or chip in with a bid! Cindy Sanders, owner of It’s A Girl Thing is offering us 10% of her sales on Saturday May 30. Shop the store and make a donation!

If you’ve got fundraising ideas we’d love to hear them. If you want to walk with us we’d love to have you come and be part of this amazing experience. If you want to know where the money goes, check out this link. The money raised for San Francisco goes to some amazing local organizations that help people who might not otherwise get the treatment they need.

At 8:30 AM tomorrow  morning, March 28, a celebration of this American hero begins at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. The walk will be followed by a festival at the Plaza de César Chávez.

But for those of you who do, try this: Type in your zip code, your address, the name of your neighborhood, whatever, into EveryBlock in San Jose. It will tell you all the crime reported in your area, the real estate for sale, the news items posted recently about your neighborhood, restaurant inspections, recent Yelp! reviews… and it’ll even have detailed maps to spell it all out for you. Sheesh. That’s a lot of information. Scary, scary information.

But… oddly… helpful.

You can decide whether you want to be creeped out by the number of burglaries by your house by signing up for email or RSS notifications, constantly reminding you what life would have been like if you were only richer.

The best way to use the site is just to enter where you live, but you can still see some city-wide statistics, categorized into zip code or neighborhood. Some of the highlights of what you can dig up:

• The charts for police calls for service pit neighborhoods against each other. As of today, downtown has the most, but Willow Glen comes fourth. Go figure.
• Check out the city council agendas and see if there’s any items hidden in them with an address near you.
• Get all your building and housing information here. What property is for sale? Any foreclosures? What about building permits nearby?
• Have a lot of restaurants around your block? See if anyone’s been messing with the food inspectors here or are planning to change their liquor licenses here. Or just check out what your neighbors are saying about them here.
• Seeing your zip code repeatedly in the Merc is never good. So find out what the news is saying about where you live here. (Plug: if San Jose Metblogs posts about an address in your area, it’ll show up there too. Don’t make us mad.)
• Sometimes geotagged photos pulled from Flickr and Panoramio may be more telling than any visit for prospective homebuyers.
• Zip codes may not accurately break down your neighborhood, so browse through this list and see if that works any better. Or if you’re more daring, browse by street.