D1 Leadership Group Meeting January 18, 2025 Calabazas Library Community Room
Steve Ling opened the meeting at 9:05 am, and introduced board officers.
Meeting Attendees: Officers: Steve Ling, Chair, Gary Cunningham, Vice-Chair, Jerry Giles, Secretary, Betty Kabanek, Treasurer, and Doris Livezey, Member-at-Large.
Other Attendees: Richard Stevens, Elizabeth Guimarin, Ashesh Singh, Jon Linthacum, Chris Giangrecco, Amy Cody, Bob Levy, Jim Landowski, Chappie Jones, Barbara Morrey, Lloyd Bass, Sharanya Desai, Kingsley Ngan, Anna Pooranni Murali, Parag Upadhyaya, Jim Carter, Latanya Hilton, Krista Gieselman, Daphna Woolfe, Vice-Mayor Rosemary Kamei, S.J. Police Captain Ken Tran, Olympia Williams-S.J. Division Mgr. for Beautify San Jose, and Anna Le.
Action Items:
Jerry Giles: Urged members to recruit candidates for the D1 Board of Officers.
Motions Passed:
Betty Kabanek motioned to approve, Doris Livezey seconded, and motion passed to approve the 11.26.24 minutes.
Gary Cunningham: Provided an update on Measure T.
Bob Levy: San Jose Planning Commission passed the Stevens Creek Urban Village Plan.
Lee Steckmest (Volunteer Spokesman for the S.J. Emergency Management Office): Presented how each San Jose resident and household should prepare for unforeseen emergencies. He discussed CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) grants and neighborhood CERT leads.
Elizabeth Guimarin (D1 L.G. Emergency Prep Coordinator): Presented how Emergency Preparedness & CERT will work in San Jose and District one. Each city has its own CERT Response Team and leader.
Betty Kabanek: Treasurer’s Report – Cash balance at 1.16.25 is $2,377.24. We will have to return approximately $900 as unspent Cycle 6 grant funds to U.N.S.C.C., if we don’t spend it by 3.31.25.
Vice-Mayor Kamei: S.J. District 9 Council Member, Pam Foley, will become the city’s Vice-Mayor on 1.28.25. Discussed the recent rash of burglaries in West San Jose since June 2024. RV enforcement and removal has started. Payne Avenue RVs will be removed in June. S.J.’s Dept of Transportation has done a city-wide review of RV encampments. Discussed the Saratoga Urban Village program. S.J. Code Enforcement will have a study session on 1.21.25. S.J. has a U-Tube page. Joe Fruen is Rosemary’s current Chief of Staff. D1 Council Office only has 4 staff members and has 2 full-time vacancies. Discussed the need for multi-jurisdictional meetings and VTA trash issues.
Carlin Black: Mentioned need for blood drives.
Captain Tran: 118 burglaries occurred in D1 in 2023 and 189 occurred in 2024. His email is [email protected]. Gang activity is domestic, not foreign. Residents must report suspicious activity.
Residents should register their cameras with the San Jose Cam program.
Olympia Williams-Div. Mgr. for Beautify San Jose and her staff: Urged members to attend the Beautify SJ Neighborhood Forum on Saturday, January 25th, at the Roosevelt Community Center. Will discuss encampment abatement issues. City only has $32 million to abate encampments. The city has abatement agreements with other cities and the county. City needs to hear what residents deem to be community priorities. S.J. has 1,090 temporary beds for the homeless.
Anne Le (S.J. Community Engagement Manager): Handles transportation issues for S.J. S.J. currently has four red light cameras in place. They will be moved around the city periodically.
Steve Ling: Adjourned the meeting at 11:55 a.m.
Next meeting will be at the West Valley Branch Library Community Room on March 15, 2025.
