August 22, 2008

District 8 Report

Neighborhoods First

By Vice Mayor Dave Cortese
Special to the Times

Two weeks ago, neighborhoods across the United States celebrated “National Night Out,” an annual event intended to embolden residents to take back their streets and make them safe for families. It was a real treat for me and my staff to visit sites in our city and see neighbors come out of their homes to enjoy a potluck meal in their cul-de-sac or convene in a local park to provide free entertainment for the kids on the block. It also made me very reminiscent about how I first became involved in public service – through working with my neighbors on an important issue.

A little over eight years ago, I was busy raising my kids with my wife Pattie, managing a private law practice and serving on the East Side Union High School District board. I also was active in my local neighborhood association, where the biggest issue on the table for us was land use. Specific-ally, there was a large piece of land to the east of us, along the foothills, that the City was trying to move forward for development without working with the neighbors. It is frightful to not have input on earth-moving (pun-intended!) decisions beyond your own front door. I had some experience with land-use law, and my neighbors asked me to help lead a delegation to City Hall to convince them not to develop without first reaching out to neighbors to try to come up with a plan that everyone could live with. Neighbors and I knocked on doors, did e-mail blasts, everything we could think of to raise the level of consciousness on this important issue.

We did show up at City Hall on several occasions, with a delegation of over 300 neighbors. These everyday citizens took time out of their busy schedules to speak directly to the City Council and let them know that it would no longer be business as usual in Evergreen, where previously development had come first—and questions later. Well, we have changed business as usual—in accordance with neighborhood wishes, no new residential development has been approved in District 8 in over a decade, until traffic issues can be worked out once and for all.

Even more important than this land use success was the success of organizing neighbors and creating regular communication to share information and solicit input. I became so convinced that an organized neighborhood was the key to addressing any local issue that upon entering office as the District 8 City Council member, the first order of business was to help form as many neighborhood associations possible, so that every resident’s voice had a way to be heard. From Yahoo groups to formal neighborhood associations with by-laws, such neighborhoods are able to very efficiently disseminate information about important upcoming policy issues. For example, I’ve recently seen neighborhood groups discussing amongst their membership the City’s proposed update to the Evergreen Development policy. Neigh-borhood groups are also a strong voice in getting city services. Many times city staff, such as the Police Department or Code Enforcement, will respond more quickly to concerns from neighborhood associations be-cause they recognize that such concerns come from a group of people who are sharing a common experience.

While helping to form associations on a street-by-street basis, I also wanted to create a venue so I could share important and time-sensitive news with the district as a whole. Besides utilizing the Evergreen Times (a great resource), my office launched a Community Roundtable, made up of neighborhood association representatives from around District 8, which convened quarterly to discuss issues the district was facing. One of the most important initiatives to come out of this Roundtable is the annual Bus Trip to Sacramento, to lobby for education funding for District 8 schools.

The Roundtable evolved over time and with my wholehearted support, became an independent nonprofit organization (now called the D8CRT) a few years ago. The D8CRT meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Evergreen Library. For more information on this organization, please contact http://d8crt.org/. I highly encourage residents and neighborhood leaders (aspiring or established) to join and help shape the future of our district. Equally important, I encourage residents to make a daily effort to keep with the theme of National Night Out – step off your porches, meet your neighbors and let your neighborhoods be a force for positive change.

If I can be of help to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me at dave.cortese@sanjoseca.gov or (408) 535-4908.