August 27, 2004

Deep San Jose roots at the heart of Evergreen Times

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Like many successful start-ups in Silicon Valley, the Evergreen Times started in the home of an entrepreneur with a vision.

Bill Bellou, a sixth-generation San Jose native, admits that he didn’t graduate from San Jose State University with a degree in public relations expecting to publish a series of seven community newspapers one day.

Although he had written for the Spartan Daily at San Jose State, he opted for the business world upon graduation and began his career at Memorex Corporation. There he served as editor of Memorex’s corporate magazine for four years.

In his spare time, Bellou began helping people promote their businesses, free of charge. When a friend opened a small deli on the corner of San Felipe and White Roads, Bellou coordinated his grand opening and offered to help him produce a small tabloid with advertising from other businesses in the shopping center.

They distributed this compilation of ads to neighbors, and as more businesses asked to be included in this local advertising vehicle, Bellou finally began charging for the ads. With some revenue to work with, he also began including neighborhood news with the ads.

Dump issue mobilizes community
It was the proposal to bring a garbage dump into the Evergreen area in 1982—where Silver Creek Valley Country Club exists today—that transformed Bellou’s advertising circular into a community newspaper.

According to Bellou, the media provided very little information about the controversial proposal. In fact, since Evergreen was considered “the east side of San Jose,” the area received little coverage about any local issues.

Frustrated by the lack of critical information that could negatively impact the community where his ancestors had settled, the vision to create a newspaper for all the homes in Evergreen emerged.

“The community needed a voice to make sure the quality of life we enjoyed in Evergreen would remain high,” said Bellou, now publisher of Times Media Inc., with newspapers in Almaden Valley, Willow Glen, Cambrian Park, Santa Teresa, Blossom Valley and Campbell in addition to Evergreen.

“We were instrumental in alerting people about what was going on,” recalled Sandy Bellou, Bill’s wife and business partner of 34 years. “There were many meetings being held, and if people hadn’t known what was going on, the proposal might not have been defeated. We’ve been able to make a difference.”

Appreciation for advertisers
Sandy, chief financial officer of Times Media Inc., remembers walking around to all the local businesses with a cardboard mock-up of what she and Bill envisioned the Evergreen Times would look like.

“We are so grateful to the businesses who believed in us and in the value of advertising in a local newspaper,” said Sandy. “I hope that the residents in Evergreen will think to patronize the advertisers who have supported us throughout the years, because without their support, there wouldn’t be an Evergreen Times.”

Bill added that the relationships formed over the years have been mutually beneficial. “The Times has helped a lot of new businesses get started, not just by providing an advertising vehicle, but also by assisting them with their marketing efforts. We did more than just sell them advertising in the paper.”

Looking back over the past 22 years, it’s hard for the Bellous to fathom that they now have grandchildren about the same age as their own daughters were when they got into the newspaper business. “We’ve been in Evergreen for a long, long time,” added Sandy.