5/6/2010

Post date: Mar 23, 2013 9:19:25 PM

River Oaks Neighborhood Association Board Meeting

Thursday May 6, 2010

7:00pm @ Premier Pizza, River Oaks

Present: Jean, Rhonda, Laura, Erik, Kathleen Ryan (HOA board, Villagio), Jim Segue (HOA board, Millbrook)

    • Officer Election results: all 2009 officers are re-elected for 2010.

    • River Oaks Village Shuttle Bus Issues

      • The VTA is withdrawing funding from the River Oaks Free Shuttle on July 1st, 2010. This leaves our HOA boards and participating businesses with the full tab of running the shuttle. The VTA contributed $20k a year, Cadence has been contributing about $12k a year (and would like to continue to do so), while the HOAs and the 2 apartment complexes (Elan, Fountains/Avalon) contribute $2.62 per unit per month (for a total of $62k a year). The only participating business is Cadence. The contract was written in such a way that only agresment from all HOAs, apartment complexes, and the city of San Jose can terminate it.

      • Kathleen Ryan has been working on this issue on behalf of the Villagio HOA Board of Directors. She has had severe difficulties (both historically and more recently) trying to make contact and start a meaningful dialogue with a person in charge of the day-to-day managment of the shuttle service ("manager"); there seems to be a severe lack of managerial oversight, to the point that several contractual obligations on the part of the shuttle service have not been met. Ms. Ryan recently obtained contact information for the "administrator" of the shuttle service (a Shea Properties employee) who is supposed to oversee the manager. She has setup a meeting with this individual for May 18th, 5:30pm, Elan Clubhouse to discuss the community's concerns. Also discussing other funding options such as: finding a new shuttle provider at a cheaper rate, termination of the service, and having Cadence pick up much more of the tab since they derive the most benefit.

    • Water Rate Increase

      • Erik points out that the water rate increase "notice" flyers are in fact an election. If you do not protest, the city counts that as a yes vote. The RONA Board believes that improving water conservation practices would be beneficial to our community. One way to pressure the city into writing and passing a conservation ordinance is to protest the water-rate increases. Erik has written such a letter regarding the most-recent rate-hike, and has allowed us to post it as a form letter that others can use as inspiration.

    • Rebuilding the Water Pollution Control Plant

      • The city has 2600 acres of land between 237 and the bay that they are rebuilding as they renovate the "plant". The land-use ideas include parks and recreation. There are various workshops coming up, as well as more information, online at rebuildtheplant.org.

    • Update on Agnews

      • A recent Mercury News article details the recent activity with Agnews. Cisco still has first right of refusal, but it's likely that they will not want the historical buildings due to the development restrictions on those portions of land. The Santa Clara Unified school district has also pegged the site as a good location for a school, and is working on a EIR and funding. RONA is hoping to hear that the school district can find the funding it needs to purchase the property.

      • Because the state owns Agnews, we should contact our state representatives. They are:

      • Paul Fong, 22nd Assembly District

      • 408-277-2003

      • 274 Castro St. Ste. 202

      • Mountain View, CA 94041

      • Ellen Corbett, 10th Senatorial District

      • 1057 MacArthur Blvd. Ste. 206

      • San Leandro, CA 94577