October 3, 2008

From the Evergreen Times Publisher

Herrera is the best choice for San Jose City Council

There were two survivors in the primary election for District 8 City Council -- Rose Herrera and Patrick Waite. Both are qualified with business backgrounds, but we believe Herrera is the best candidate for Evergreen Valley and for San Jose.

Rose Herrera

With challenging and uncertain times facing us, we believe Rose Herrera is best suited to address the issues facing Silver Creek and Evergreen Valley. Herrera is focused on the long-term budget deficit, public safety and traffic congestion. These are the top concerns in the community, especially the bottleneck at the Capitol/Yerba Buena interchange.

Rose is a collaborator and a “let’s get things done now” type of person. She builds consensus, stays focused on what is in the best interests of the community, and works tirelessly with others in getting the job done. Rose has counseled at-risk youth, worked on gang prevention for the county, and actively works to improve local care for the elderly. Rose is articulate, energetic and a visionary. We believe she will invigorate City Hall and will work with residents to help solve the concerns facing our community.

Herrera has always been a strong advocate of small business — championing a grass roots effort to find an anchor replacement soon after Lunardi’s closed its doors at the Evergreen Village Square Center. She worked to bring the Farmer’s Market to the center and just recently help organize Evergreen’s first free outdoor movie night with contributions form Involved Evergreen, a neighborhood association she founded. Nearly 1,000 residents turned out for the event which not only proved to be an enjoyable evening, but also helped businesses attract new customers.

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 an impressive broad range of support which includes: The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, the South Bay Labor Council, former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer, former City Council vice mayors Suzie Wilson and Pat Saucedo, San Jose council members Nancy Pyle, Judy Chirco, Kansen Chu, Nora Compos, Sam Liccardo, and Forest Williams, Evergreen School Board President Sylvia Alvarez, former city council candidate Minh Duong, the Police Officers Association, the Fire Fighters Association, the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, the East Side Teachers Association, and the Evergreen Teachers Association, and many others to numerous to list.

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 November 4.

—William Bellou
CEO, Times Media Inc.