NEWS
San Jose: Fence proposal scrapped amid neighborhood concern
Hot:Loading... Date:2019-06-10
Like many of her neighbors, Heather Westh bought her home near Canoas Park in a quiet, leafy San Jose neighborhood around a decade ago so that her young son would have a safe place to play outdoors.
And for years, he has. To the casual observer, the park looks like one big grassy expanse. But in reality, part of it belongs to the city as parkland and part of it belongs to Canoas Park Elementary School — with the property line marching right through the field.
ld whole. Students could use it during the school day, while local residents could use it evenings and weekends. And, the city said, keeping the field whole would allow the city to turn it into a youth sports field — and collect rental fees — for soccer matches and other games on weekends.
The prospect did not go over well.
Residents said overwhelmingly they wanted to help keep students safe. But previous sporadic soccer games at the park had generated unwanted trash and traffic, they said. More games, they worried, could cause additional problems and make it harder for families to host birthday parties and picnics. The school, they said, wasn’t always good about keeping its grounds unlocked after hours for the public to use — what if they failed to unlock the field space, too? Instead, neighbors pushed for putting the fence exactly where the city and district thought it made little sense.
After brief, whispered conferrals with district officials — including deputy superintendent Stephen McMahon — San Jose parks manager Mike Will asked for a show of hands at the meeting. The result was nearly unanimous: the fence should cut through the field along the property line.
As far as he was concerned, Will said, the decision was made. Adamo and McMahon agreed fencing — standard cyclone mesh — would go on district land, possibly as early as this fall. Students — who have been kept close to school buildings during recess — will finally be able to run through the grass. Residents will be able to walk dogs midday without inadvertently crossing onto school property. And while the school district is still obligated to allow groups — such as youth baseball teams — to rent its green space, the city has no plans to turn its portion into sports fields.
“This is the reason we have community meetings,” said Councilwoman Dev Davis, who represents the area and attended the gathering, “to get the residents’ input on potential changes so we can incorporate their feedback.”
“This community,” said Eunice Esquivel, who has lived near the park since the mid-1980s, “has always been very cohesive about what it wants.”