August 12, 2005

Evergreen-area neighborhoods celebrate National Night Out

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Evergreen neighborhoods joined more than 70 San Jose neighborhoods hosting community parties on Aug. 2 as part of National Night Out, a national crime prevention celebration.

The neighbors of Stimson Way, pictured here in 2004, have not yet held their annual block party in honor of National Night Out, but plans are underway for a block party soon.

This was more than double last year’s tally of San Jose parties, ice cream socials, barbecues and block parties geared to strengthen crime prevention awareness, police partnerships and neighborhood pride. San Jose has cosponsored the events for 10 years.

The national event, now in its 22nd year, is sponsored by the “National Association of Town Watch” to encourage residents to spend the evening outside in their neighborhoods at events that increase community pride and safety.

West Evergreen
The LeyVa Community Action Team again participated in the National Night Out on Aug. 2.

“This year homes on six of our streets hosted ice cream get-togethers,” said LeyVa CAT member Jody Pabst. “Visiting San Jose Police officers reported we had the best turnouts on the entire East Side. Juana Moreno was responsible for organizing this year’s event for the LeyVa CAT and did a marvelous job. We feel this is an important event in bringing our neighbors together to keep our neighborhoods safer.”

Robert Sandoval, president
of the West Evergreen Neighborhood Association, said almost 200 people attended his group’s NNO celebration at O.B. Whaley Elementary School. About 80 adults signed in, and their children filled out the numbers.

“It was a great success,” said Sandoval of the event. “My granddaughter, Amanda Aldama, coordinated all the carnival games for the kids and selected a committee of nine teenage volunteers to help her out.”

In addition to the games, a clown, a balloonist and a jump-house kept the kids occupied while the adults handled the barbecue cooking. Chris Corpus, principal of LeyVa Middle School, donated the jump-house, and Lisa Artega, principal of O.B. Whaley, opened the cafeteria to provide a place to eat dinner.

Debbie Lopez and the officers of the West Evergreen Neighborhood Association congratulated Sandoval on the success of his first big event as president.

Lopez felt one of the highlights of the evening was Linda Nguyen attending this important event. She is one of the candidates vying for the District 7 San Jose City Council seat vacated by Terry Gregory earlier this year.

“Linda Nguyen came and gave us her support on this important night, but the other candidate didn’t show,” Lopez said. “Linda came out with great enthusiasm and warmth—she really extended herself to the audience.”

District 8 Councilmember Dave Cortese visited the King-Ocala Neighborhood Association’s celebration, which, according to a policing community report, attracted about 450 people at the Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley, Smythe Clubhouse on Cunningham Avenue.

Evergreen Hills
The neighbors of Montecito Drive and Court have been throwing National Night Out block parties for seven years. Hai Chang, president and co-founder of Friends of Fowler Creek Park, joked that his neighbors have the planning down to a science and pull off the annual party each year with little fuss.

Neighbors of Montecito Drive and Court, pictured here in 2004, have been celebrating National Night Out for the past seven years. This year’s event drew about 70 people.

“The week before, we send out notices and everyone understands their role—we’re seasoned (NNO participants),” said Chang.

“We had about 70 people attending (including kids) and about 20 police officers visiting between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.,” Chang said. “Our neighbors look forward to it each year—our kids are getting older, there were new babies—it’s a highlight of the year in our neighborhood.”

The police officers quizzed the residents on crime-prevention tips and awarded stickers to those who could answer correctly. Chang said his neighbors turned it around and quizzed the visiting officers to find out their awareness of crime incidents in their neighborhood.

National Night Out involves residents, law enforcement agencies, and community organizations from 9,850 communities throughout the United States and Canada. For more information, go to the Web site: www.nationaltownwatch.org.