August 26, 2004

STREET SCENEPorto Alegre Drive

True to its translated meaning, Porto Alegre Drive is a happy place with more than 60 beautiful homes lining this wide and spacious thoroughfare allowing important community residents to make this part of Almaden Valley their home.

On this quiet street one can find Almaden residents Karina and Leo Yavorkovsky and their two children. They moved to this part of San Jose two years ago from Cupertino looking for more reasonably priced housing and the same educational standards found in the neighboring city for their children who attend Los Alamitos Elementary School and Pioneer High School.

The Yavorkovskys are natives of the north-central European country of Latvia, who immigrated to the United States 11 years ago. Karina, 39, is a stay-at-home mother who worked in the medical field before moving to the Bay Area with her family from New York three years ago. Her husband is a well-known oncologist who practices at Kaiser Permanente.

The Yavorkovsky home, with its teal-green borders, gray facade and wine-colored brick accents, sits on an approximately 6,000-square-foot corner lot and is about 3,000 square feet. Like most of the homes in this neck of the woods, it’s valued in the high $800,000s.

On this cheerful street we also find Intero Real Estate Services realtor Gloria Ashdown, who’s originally from England and bought her gorgeous 2,700-square-foot house in 1986, when the development was built. She had just arrived in the valley from the United Kingdom and had been living with her husband in Foster City, when he found the subdivision and fell in love with the homes’ location and contemporary architecture. The couple has two children who attend Los Alamitos Elementary and Bret Harte Middle schools.

“I like Almaden Valley in general,” said the tall, blonde Ashdown, speaking with a British accent. “The schools are great and I like the community here. It’s a wonderful neighborhood.”

Ashdown’s husband, Dennis Skowronski, has worked for about 20 years as a software engineer for a company in Morgan Hill. He likes the street’s location as it offers a relatively short commute to work.

Ashdown remembers when she moved into the home with her family, the street was even more serene as it dead-ended at Calle Almaden. She recalls having many parties with neighbors who lived in the small Porto Alegre Place cul-de-sac located directly across the street from her home. The Porto Alegre Place lots are said to be about 12,000 square feet. “It was a lot of fun,” she says. “The dynamics have changed a bit because most people sell here after eight to 10 years. It’s still a great area. My children love living here.”

As the area grew and more homes were built, traffic problems began with hurried Almaden Valley motorists using Porto Alegre Drive as a cut-through street to shortcut busy and congested Almaden Expressway. Neighbors got together several years ago to participate in the city’s Neighborhood Automated Speed Compliance Program (NASCOP) designed to address speeding and safety concerns and aid regular police enforcement.

Under the program, the street’s traffic speed is monitored by a parked van containing a speed-sensing radar unit and two cameras. The radar unit triggers the cameras to take pictures of the front and back of any vehicle driving faster than the 25 miles per hour allowed. The registered owner of the vehicle, identified through his or her license plate numbers, receives a notice in the mail with a citation.

“They were using our street as a shortcut and the program has really helped alleviate the problem. They (motorists) don’t do it as much anymore,” Ashdown said. “We were worried about the children playing outside. That’s why occasionally the van is parked along the street.”

Porto Alegre Drive residents enjoy the beautiful 60-acre Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, which many neighbors use to exercise, walk their canine companions and recreate.

Like many of the homes located in nearby streets such as Thorntree Drive, most of the Porto Alegre Drive houses were part of the Campton Chase development built by Shea Homes. The original subdivision included four different types of homes, ranging from a single-story 2,300-square-foot home to the largest, a two-story 3,000-plus square foot home. The older remaining homes were constructed about 30 years ago and are mostly single story and range between 1,800 and 2,300 square feet.

Resident Jim Willoughby, 49, who works as an adjustor for the California State Auto Association, is also one of the original Campton Chase Porto Alegre Drive property owners. “We’ve been here for about 18 years. Almaden is great,” said the former Almaden Little League coach. “It’s a great group of people. All our children grew up together. It’s a very comfortable, happy area.”

Born and raised in Saratoga, Willoughby said his family fell in love with the neighborhood after looking for bigger houses when their first home on Branham Lane became too small for them. “I loved the house and the schools. I love Pioneer High School,” he said. “It’s a fabulous area. We’ve always been happy here.”

Willoughby said one of the street’s traditions is its observance of a yearly neighborhood “progressive” party celebrated around Christmas time with about half a dozen houses providing a different part of the meal like appetizers, salads, soups, main course, desserts, drinks and coffee.

Porto Alegre Drive begins its curvy trajectory at Coleman Road and is crossed by many cul-de-sacs such as Porto Alegre Place and Porto Alegre Court. Vargas Drive, Antigua Drive, Thorntree Drive, Flaxwood Street and Calle Almaden also intersect it before ending at McAbee Road.

—By Sheila Sanchez