October 4, 2007

NEWS BRIEFS

Sign up for Texas Hold’em benefit tournament

The Almaden Business Association will hold its first second annual Texas Hold’em Benefit Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 10 from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Santa Clara County Horsemen’s Association, 20350 McKean Road in Almaden.

All proceeds from the evening will support the Doris Dillon Children’s Library guest author speaker series at the Almaden Branch Library this spring.

The cost for all the fun, Texas Hold ‘em and admission and food is $125 with $100 going toward the poker games and those who don’t wish to play can heckle the players. Dinner will be catered by the Sonoma Chicken Coop.

You must be 21 or older to attend. For more information, contact Maneesh Reddy at (408) 410-3541 or Tony Thurman at (408) 807-5329 or visit www.AlmadenBizAssn.org.

Jeff Barnett promoted to vice president, regional manager

Alain Pinel Realtors President Larry Knapp announced that Jeff Barnett, one of the firm’s longest-tenured managers, has been promoted to vice president regional manager for southeastern Santa Clara County.

In this new role, Barnett will continue to manage the company’s Los Gatos office, which is comprised of 220 sales professionals. In addition, he will have oversight of the firm’s Almaden/San Jose office, with 55 real estate agents.

Barnett is responsible for overseeing all of APR’s operations and assisting with strategic planning in markets south, east and northeast of his Los Gatos office. Almaden/San Jose Vice President/Manager Michael Nevis remains in the San Jose office and will report to. Barnett. Carol Burnett remains as vice president/manager of the company’s two Saratoga offices, reporting to Knapp.

“As we seek continued growth and market share in geographic areas near our Los Gatos and San Jose offices, Jeff Barnett’s proven leadership, extensive knowledge and tenure with Alain Pinel Realtors makes him the logical choice for the expanded management position,” said Knapp.

Barnett is only the second Alain Pinel Realtors’ manager with regional responsibility. Timothy A. (Tim) Murray, in the firm’s San Francisco office, was hired as a regional vice president in April when the company acquired the assets of Ritchie Hallanan Real Estate and began its expansion in San Francisco and the North Bay.

City to hold series of traffic calming meetings

At the Sept. 18 city council meeting, the members unanimously agreed to hold a series of residential traffic calming meetings with the various communities that make up San Jose.

Chaired by District 6 Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio, the outreach meetings are set to begin in early October and be completed by the end of November. It’s likely meetings will be held in each council district, although areas that merge may hold combined meetings.

A report will be written by Oliverio and the Department of Transportation following the completion of the meetings and presented to the Transportation and Environmental Committees in December for inclusion in next year’s budget.

The meetings are the result of previous council recommendations regarding traffic calming that were adopted by the council in June 2001. According to the background of Mayor Chuck Reed’s memo recommending the series of meetings, the changes enacted in 2001, while having served the city well, may no longer be viable with today’s traffic and because some of the police department’s tools are no longer available.

The District 10 meeting is scheduled for Nov. 7 at the Almaden Winery Community Roon, 5730 Chamberlin, 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more information, contact Stephanie Holm in the District 10 office, (408) 535-4910.

Books for Treats seeks volunteers

Nearly everyone in the San Jose area is familiar with the Willow Glen tradition of handing out Halloween candy to kids on Lincoln Avenue on Halloween Day. Most of the moms taking their kids for those special treats also look forwards to the booth housing Books For Treats.

This year will be no exception, with a booth set up to keep the dentist away. This year, the organization has received so many books, that it will expand donations to Ida Jew

Intermediate Elementary School in East San Jose. In addition, the Stockton, Calif. area has also organized its own Books For Treats program in concert with us.

If you are interested in knowing more about Books for Treats, visit http://www.BooksForTreats.org where you can download a PDF kit that walks you through how you can get books and sort them by grade level. We've even supplied signs and bookmarks you can print out. We've had links from other children's-book related sites.

Rebecca Morgan, founder and executive director of Books For Treats, requests that anyone who has some time to volunteer, come and help. Volunteers are needed on:

* Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 8:30-12:30, to sort books by reading levels and stuff bookmarks in each book. That will take place at the Diabetes Society, 1165 Lincoln Ave, Ste 300.

* Tuesday, Oct. 31, from 9:30- to noon and from 2:30-5:30 at the. Garden Theater portico on Lincoln Avenue to help set up and staff the Books For Treats table on Halloween during Lincoln Avenue trick-or-treating. The organization will hand out books from 10 a.m. to noon for pre-school children, and 3-5 for kindergarten through sixth grades, until supplies are depleted. Volunteers help set up tables, banners and books from 9:30-10, then at the end of the day we need to clean up and pack up.

* Tuesday, Oct. 31, from 2-6:30 p.m. volunteers are needed at Ida Jew Intermediate Elementary School, 1966 Flint Ave. (off Marten near White Road) to set up and staff a Books For Treats table during afternoon Halloween activities. We'll be giving out books from 2:30-6 for children in kindergarten through sixth grade until supplies are depleted. We need to set up tables, banners, and books then clean up and pack up at the end.

If you have sources of gently read children's books, please contact them and see if they will donate books. If you have a way to distribute Books For Treats promotional bookmarks, let us know and we'll get some to you. If you'd like to make a monetary contribution to support our Web hosting, bookmark printing, etc. let us know and we'll tell you where to send the check.

And of course, we hope you are gathering books to give to your own trick-or-treaters. You can personally get the word out by telling your neighbors, friends and coworkers about the concept of Books For Treats and encouraging them to go to http://www.BooksForTreats.org to download their free kit walking them through how to give books to their trick-or-treaters. Encourage them to register on the site to get updates as this program evolves.

For more information, or if you have any questions, contact Rebecca Morgan at (408) 998-7977 or go to http://www.BooksForTreats.org.

Mayor Chuck Reed appointsBudget Shortfall advisory group

Mayor Chuck Reed recently announced the members of his Budget Shortfall Advisory Group, which will recommend strategies for San Jose to solve its structural budget deficit.

“San Jose’s structural budget deficit remains Public Enemy Number 1,” said Reed. “After six straight years of reducing services to neighborhoods and local businesses, we’re really seeing see the effect. Cuts in maintenance are taking a toll on our streets, parks, community centers and swimming pools. It’s taking longer for the police to get to your house in an emergency. My Budget Shortfall advisory group will help the city tackle this challenge.”

In 2007-’08, the city’s annual operating deficit was $16 million. The city also faces a $450 million maintenance backlog in areas such as street repairs. Its liability for future costs for health care for retirees and current employees could be as much of $1.65 billion.

The members of the Budget Shortfall advisory group are Ted Biagini, chairman, Focus Business Bank and Biagini Vineyards; Pete Constant, San Jose council member; Darrell Dearborn, former San Jose senior deputy city manager: John Kennett, executive director, San Jose Rotary Club; Madison Nguyen, San Jose council member; Lydia Ortega, Ph.D., chair, Department of Economics, San Jose State University; and Karen Willett, chief financial officer, Newark Unified School District

The first meeting of the Budget Shortfall Advisory Group will be held on Monday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. at San Jose City Hall, rooms 118-119 (in the Wing), 200 E. Santa Clara Street. Meetings of the advisory group are open to the public.

Santa Clara Valley Water District to promote tap water

The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors recently passed a resolution promoting the economic and environmental benefits of tap water over bottled water and prohibiting the purchase of bottled water with district funds.

In addition to prohibiting the purchase of bottled water, the district has banned the sale of bottled water on district facilities. This means that district employees will no longer be able to purchase bottled water from their cafeterias.
“We want to help educate the public that tap water is not only healthy and safe for them, but good for the environment,” said Rosemary Kamei, vice chair of the Board of Directors.

“In addition, people can save money by drinking tap water, which costs a fraction of the price of bottled water. In Santa Clara County, people can buy 120 gallons of tap water for the price of a gallon of bottled water.”

The consumption of bottled water is increasing globally, with the United States being the leading consumer. This growth is in large part due to the huge marketing campaigns promoting bottled water as safer and healthier than tap water. Contrary to the propaganda, tap water is, in fact, subjected to more rigorous testing and purity standards than bottled water. According to a four-year study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a third of the bottled water tested contained levels of contamination. A key NRDC finding is that bottled water regulations are inadequate to assure consumers of either purity or safety.

To ensure that the water supplied by the district is clean, safe and better tasting, the district has implemented an advanced technique for water purification known as ozonation. Ozone is the primary method of disinfection at the Santa Teresa and Penitencia water treatment plants. The district has plans to expand this treatment to the Rinconada Water Treatment Plant in the future.