May 16, 2008

OPINION

Rose Herrera for City Council

Evergreen residents are electing a new District 8 City Councilmember on June 3rd from a field of seven spirited candidates replacing popular termed out councilmember Dave Cortese. Absentee ballots are now arriving at the office of the registrar of voters.

Challenging and uncertain times are facing us and we believe Rose Herrera is best suited to address these issues as our next Councilperson representing Ever-green and Silver Creek.

Rose is articulate, energetic and a visionary. We believe she will invigorate City Hall and work to get residents involved in our community. For the past 15 years we have watched Rose Herrera lead, build consensus, and stay focused on what is in the best interests of Evergreen Valley. That is the reason we are endorsing Rose Herrera for San Jose City Council.

Herrera is a ‘roll-up-your-sleeves' kind of person that attends every forum and community meeting—all in an effort to listen to the concerns of all residents and learn more about the issues facing Evergreen. Rose is not afraid to take an independent stand in speaking out —and fighting for what she believes in. Her goal is simple—to bring common-sense politics back to City Hall.

Rose Herrera has lived in Evergreen for more than 30 years and understands the major Evergreen issues concerning traffic congestion, street conditions, attracting more quality businesses including restaurants, school overcrowding, and the City’s budget shortfall.

After serving in the Air Force, Herrera obtained her bachelor and master degrees from Santa Clara University, raised a son who is now a high school principal, and worked her way up the high tech corporate ladder to become the CEO of a software firm which operated in Silicon Valley for 10 years.

Herrera has the best track record working with Evergreen businesses and the best plan to reduce congestion and forge real solutions to the mounting commuting costs associated with expensive fuel. She will fight for funding of the Capitol/Yerba Buena interchange project and is committed to ensure the 101 Tully Rd. interchange is not delayed. The Tully Rd. interchange construction is vital to reduce congestion at the Capitol/Yerba Buena exit. Herrera is also committed to calm traffic and make Evergreen streets safe without adding to the already onerous commute time. We like her idea of improving street light timing on major arterials during commute hours and enabling different timing during evening hours to lessen the impact of speeding.

Rose demonstrated her ability to mobilize the community when Lunardi’s Market closed its grocery store in Evergreen. Herrera gathered 3,000 signatures which she presented to the City Council to get them involved in finding a new grocery store. She immediately worked to bring together Evergreen residents, the owner of the shopping center, the staff from San Jose’s Office of Economic Development and Redevelop-ment Agency, and mobilized local business owners to invigorate and save Evergreen Village Square before more stores closed. The grass roots effort ultimately resulted in Herrera founding “Involved Evergreen.” The group has announced that a southern California-based grocery store chain has signed a letter of understanding to occupy the Lunardi’s space. We applaud Rose for having the compassion to save local jobs and prevent businesses from suffering financially or leaving Evergreen.

It hasn’t been all rosy for Rose. Her printing plant tied to her 10 million dollar software business put a strain on her company in the late 90’s when the company’s largest customer was sold. The business failed and filed for bankruptcy. There are many entrepreneurs in the Valley who have struggled with similar adversities especially during the Dot Com bust. Rose has learned and grown from her experience and lessons learned will make her a better council person. We firmly believe that her education, military, and business background are valuable assets.

Rose has been a strong voice for neighborhood schools and she has some interesting ideas to strengthen and improve the educational process. She believes that parental support and involvement is an important factor to achieve excellence in our schools. Evergreen School Board President Sylvia Alvarez, who dropped out as a candidate, agrees and announced her endorsement for Herrera.

Herrera has received a number of key endorsements, including Former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer, former San Jose Vice Mayors Susie Wilson and Pat Saucedo, Almaden’s District 10 councilmember Nancy Pyle, Cambrian District 9 Councilmember Judy Chirco, the Police Officers Association, the San Jose-Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club.

Rose Herrera will work tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all residents. We enthusiastically endorse Rose Herrera for District 8 San Jose City Council. We urge voters to elect Rose Herrera on June 3rd.

William Bellou
Publisher/CEO
Evergreen Times