1/6/2016 -- Board Meeting Minutes

Post date: Jan 23, 2016 2:38:33 AM

River Oaks Neighborhood Association

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Elan Meeting Room, 7:00-8:00pm

Attending

From RONA: President Jean Marlowe, V. President Mike Bertram, Secretary Laura Carns, Officer-At-Large: Marcelle Kube, various neighborhood members

From County of Santa Clara, District 3 Office: Dave Cortese, Mike Donahoe

From City of San José, Council District 4 Office: Evan Larson

From State Senate, District 10 Office: Tim Orcozo

AGENDA

  1. Discuss the homeless situation with Dave Cortese

    • Mike summarized what issues the neighborhood is seeing:

      • Camp in Coyote Creek on ROP side. Mostly they keep to themselves. Population increased after the Jungle was closed.

      • We've noticed an increase in theft (mailbox, car, garage, packages). Muggings reported in Epic apartment. Murder occurred several years ago.

      • At the time of the murder, there was very poor support from police, threats and 911 calls ignored until the body was found. Police seem to be on a very limited patrol cycle, "you're on your own".

      • City sweeps encampment periodically, but they move right back in afterwards.

      • More trash in the creek area.

    • Cortese's thoughts:

      • The homeless are part of the equation with the increase in theft.

      • Primary policing for this area is City of San Jose. They have a staffing problem, should have 1350 officers, but only have 850. 500 person gap is huge. Police have prioritized responses to violence due to limited resources. Lack of police response to theft/property issues is endemic across the city. However, the police will respond if they see a trend that gives them enough data to make an arrest. Ther'es no detective unit to prepare the case for the DA to prosecute. Hopefully San Jose police force will recover with the economy.

        • The county has jurisdiction at VTA stops, along VTA lines, on any Expressway. For creek and riparian corridors, we have an agreement to handle litter and policing with the Army Corps of Engineers. This gives us a foothold to get the County Sheriff to augment city patrols. The Sheriff's offices are over on Junction Ave so it would be simple to add this neighborhood to any patrol routes. County Sheriff is not understaffed and has more capacity to deal with nuisance issues.

        • Sheriff: Call 408-808-4800

        • Other areas where the county can help the homeless. There are numerous county programs in effect, ranging from temporary shelter to permanent housing, to mental health, etc. Plus the other traditional programs. All have been expanded recently. We added 600 year-round shelter beds in September. Although this is just a drop in the bucket, our data says we have 5500 homeless in the county tonight without any shelter, and another 1100 in temporary shelters (SCC is 1.8million people total).

          • It's a common mis-perception that homeless people "like" being homeless, the data shows that 97% would prefer a permanent housing situation. Unfortunately, temporary shelters lack privacy, and have behavior rules that can block folks with mental health or drug problems from using them. Those rules are meant for the benefit the larger group, but it means that we need micro-housing residential compounds to service these people. The County's approach is to stabilize their health situation first, then transition them to permanent housing. We have a higher final success rate and lower overall cost with this approach. It's worth noting that the City's tactic of sweeps are counterproductive to this approach -- it's impossible to track the population when they're forced to move.

        • Back to the ROP situation, Cortese said he would get the county to do a focused effort in our area. Use all the tools in the toolbox for a permanent, humanitarian clean-up. Please follow-up with us so we stay in communication on this issue!

      • Further comments from residents and comments from Cortese:

        • Younger population seems to have moved in since the Jungle closed, replacing the "Vietnam Vets". That's useful information, might need different approaches for each population.

        • Epic apartments has seen tailgating issues, people getting in without a key.

        • Many more cooking fires seen in the creek. Fire Department says they can do nothing until there's a big fire. This year some of the Moitozo Orchard burned, and that's right across from the camp. The FD did arrive to fight that one. The Fire Marshall might be a good tool to bring political pressure to bear.

        • If a flood happens, what's the plan to evacuate these people. I don't know, will find out.

    1. Iris Chang Memorial Park

      • This coming meeting is to determine the Public Art budget. The meeting for the City Park budget is TBD.

    2. Boston Property Construction

      • Jean will engage the developer to ensure construction traffic is routed directly to Montague.

Next meeting, Wednesday February 3rd, 7pm at Elan Apartments Conference Center, above the Leasing Office, 345 Village Center Drive, San Jose 95134.