After General Meetings, the BCA Board will be posting recaps of the meeting content for anyone that couldn’t attend in person.
First, a big thank you to all of the speakers and residents for providing useful questions for discussion. The BCA launched it’s Summer Newsletter (PDF) at the meeting in addition to the usual updates.
Mark Ruffing, Code Enforcement Manager for Santa Clara County, shared some information on the process changes happening behind the scenes on the Code Enforcement team. They are getting some more personnel onboard later this year, but are taking advantage of that time to improve their internal processes for reporting, follow up and tracking. Currently there are many manual processes, so their goal is to improve various aspects of code enforcement duties and have been working with other Code Enforcement groups to see what works (and what doesn’t).
Mark also shared some information for residents to report code matters more efficiently:
- The first step to reporting something is knowing the jurisdiction. Here is the link to look up an address and determine if you should contact the city of San Jose or Santa Clara County for reporting violations.
- The system works best, when you contact the right department. Mark provided us with a handout for various contact groups within the Code Enforcement area (PDF).
Alisha Schoen, Community Prosecutor the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, gave us an update on her teams continued efforts to liaison with other government, legal and community groups. The efforts of this task force have been helping close down illegitimate massage parlors in the area. She also mentioned some upcoming events.
THIS WEEKEND! July 23, 2016 – Back Alley Block Party behind Time Deli from noon to 3pm (More info)
August 2, National Night Out
September 18, Viva Calle
Kieran Kelly, Policy Aide to Supervisor Ken Yeager, also spoke for a bit on some of the local real estate efforts:
1. Western Funding Building (Business Circle): The Developer is awaiting permit approval for demolition of the building. Since there is also going to be a bit of an expansion into the parking lot, these required a bit more leg work than if the building were being remodeled as-is.
2. Another lively topic was Hustler opening a retail establishment in the old Bank of the West building in Business Circle. While it was helpful to discuss what was happening, since Business Circle property is under the direct control of the City of San Jose (District 6), the County has limited insight. He recommended that we reach out to the Councilperson for the district if we have direct questions or concerns. Since the District 6 seat is also coming up for election in November, he recommended voicing concerns with District 6 candidates as well to ensure that momentum is not lost with the outgoing councilperson.
Please note the next BCA General Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept 21, 2016. It will be held at 7pm in the Rose Garden Library Community Room (1580 Naglee Ave, San Jose, CA 95126). We will post an update once the event agenda and speakers have been finalized!