March 7, 2008

District 8 Report

Tributes and Improvements in Evergreen

By Dave Cortese
Special to the Times

Soaring Flight
I am extremely excited to invite the community to participate in the grand opening of ‘Soaring Flight’ – a public art tribute to John J. Montgomery. You may have read updates about this project before in my previous columns. It is a project that touches my heart and the hearts of many longtime residents of the beautiful Evergreen valley as we travel back in time to when a golf course stood in Eastridge’s place, surrounded by dairies. Evergreen’s one and only shopping center was located at Tully and King Roads. Reid-Hillview was a sleepy airport that housed crop dusters and small aircraft and Sunday nights turned into a theater of sorts as Evergreeners would come by to watch the planes take off and land.

What many don’t know is that John J. Montgomery worked primarily in San Jose—and, in fact, died there in 1911 while competing with the Wright Brothers to launch the first motorized airplane. It is from the southeast area of San Jose known as Evergreen that Montgomery took several flights in his legendary wing gliders launched from balloons. He is credited with making the first manned, controlled, heavier-than-air flights in the United States and was issued a U.S. patent in 1906 for his invention of an “aeroplane.”

The public art project here in San Jose is our local tribute to John J. Montgomery and is situated at the location where he died. It consists of an artist’s steel rendering of an airplane wing, surrounded by a public plaza and memorial script about Montgomery and the spirit of inventiveness he represents. The event will take place Saturday, Mar. 15 at 1 p.m. at the southeast corner of San Felipe/Yerba Buena Roads. We expect to be joined by several community partners including San Jose Mineta International Airport, Civil Air Patrol – Squadron 36 (Montgomery Commemorative Unit), Reid Hillview Airport, Hiller Aviation Museum and many other organizations.

It is my hope that this beautiful tribute will hold meaning for each and everyone – from interested students to enthusiasts of avionics and Santa Clara Valley history to everyday pedestrians along the Thompson Creek Trail, which runs right past this site.

Please join us on Mar. 15. For more information, please contact Mary McCarthy on my staff at (408) 535-4908 or mary.mccarthy@sanjoseca.gov.

Parks Update
Since 2001 we have had several new parks come to fruition in District 8: Canyon Creek Park, Fowler Creek Park, Falls Creek Park (scheduled to open October 2008), and the Lake Cunningham Regional Skatepark (scheduled to open April 2008). We have also made improvements to the following existing parks: Boggini Park, Brigadoon Park, Evergreen Park, Fernish Park, Groesbeck Hill Park, Meadowfair Park, Welch Park and the Thompson Creek Trail (improvements scheduled for Fall 2008).

Spring Cleaning
There is no better way to welcome in spring than with the annual District 8 Dumpster Day, hosted in partnership with McDonald’s on Aborn Road (near White Road). Scheduled to occur on Apr. 12, this is the perfect opportunity to clean out your homes and yards and bring the refuse for disposal, free of charge. As usual, the event is first come, first serve and you must provide a photo ID with current address to be eligible to dump. For more information, please contact The-Vu Nguyen on my staff at (408) 535-4908 or the-vu.nguyen@sanjoseca.gov.
Setting the Record Straight

Some of you may have read about the pavement condition of San Felipe Road in front of Evergreen Valley College in a recent issue of the San Jose Mercury News. The article reported that there was no known timeline for repaving this highly-commuted stretch. To the contrary, my office has worked hard to see that city resources are invested in improving this stretch of road and we were successful. A contract will be awarded this summer for the repaving work, which will begin in late summer. Once completed, this smooth road will offer tremendous relief to us and our vehicles!

I hope to see you at one of the many events going on in the coming weeks. If I can be of help in any way, I hope you won’t hesitate in contacting me directly at dave.cortese@sanjoeca.gov.