City Desk
By Carolyn Schuk

2011 Art & Wine Festival Raised $45,000 for Community

Santa Clara's annual Art & Wine Festival is always a good time. And visitors to the mid-September event make a good investment in the community at the same time, because the money raised by the annual event supports Santa Clara schools, parks and community groups.

This year, the Festival committee donated $45,000 to five Santa Clara organizations: Santa Clara Schools Foundation ($13,000), Santa Clara Police Activities League ($13,000), Friends of Santa Clara Parks and Recreation ($13,000), Wilcox High School Grad Night Committee ($3,000), and Santa Clara High School Grad Night Committee ($3,000).

Chuck Blair, Tino Silva Join Parks and Recreation Commission

Although some Santa Clara city commission seats are vacant for lack of applicants, the Parks and Recreation Commission isn't one of them. Of five applicants, the City Council selected Chuck Blair and Tino Silva to fill the two vacant seats.

Blair, a realtor at Gillmor & Associates, is a noted local youth baseball coach who has guided teams to five World championships (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005 Santa Clara Red Sox). Blair also coached the Santa Clara High School Bruins for 11 years, garnering several league championships. This year Blair became Homestead High School's Head Coach.

Tino Silva, an employee relations consultant for technology companies, is past president and current board member of Santa Clara Youth Soccer. While a student, Silva worked for the Parks & Recreation Department, which gave him the opportunity to &work every event with the department as well as maintain Central park,& he wrote in his application. Silva's aims &to ensure the department continues to focus on providing top-notch facilities and programs ...youth...as well as seniors.&

Selecting only two of the five applicants was a challenge, as the other three - Raj Chahal, Joe DiSimone, and Roseann LaCoursiere - all had valuable experience and credentials, acknowledged mayor Jamie Matthews.

Raj Chahal is the CEO and co-founder of Santa Clara-based tech company Genstor Systems and a member of the current Charter Review Committee. A long-time supporter and member of the Boy Scouts of America, Chahal started the Sikh community's first Boy Scout troop. Chahal wants to enlist area businesses as well as volunteers to "defeat" cuts to the parks and rec budget and expand city events to include an annual Cycling for a Cause and additional community celebrations like the Art & Wine festival.

Local real estate investor Joe DiSimone is a former Umpire in Chief for Santa Clara Parks and current president of Vintage Softball. With a long history as a volunteer in many community groups, DiSimone noted in his application that he wanted to &continue in Tony Sanchez' tradition& - referring to the late Tony J. Sanchez of Santa Clara Parks and Recreation Department, who was known locally as &Mr. Softball.&

Roseann LaCoursiere, a retired hair stylist, is past president of Santa Clara PAL, and has served on the Art & Wine festival committee as well as many PTAs, youth sports groups, and service clubs. In her application, LaCoursiere noted that she wanted to bring back the city's annual July 4th fireworks display, proposing to fund it through private donations.

Neighbors Will Verify Updated Tree Plan for 900 Kiely Development

Discussions about tree removals at the 900 Kiely development site continued at the Nov. 1, 2011 meeting - the third consecutive council meeting at which this has been on the agenda.

An agreement has been reached that the developer, Fairfield Homes, will clearly mark each tree on the development site for retention or removal and all parties - neighbors, city staff, and Fairfield representatives - will walk the site together to verify that tree markings are consistent with the approved plan.

Neighborhood residents are withholding judgment.

"This isn't about trees anymore," said resident Kevin Parks. "It's about [questioning], Why weren't we informed of changes? Staff seems to know about the actions only when we talk to them." Parks added that there are currently many larger projects under development in the city, and expressed concern for how carefully those projects would be monitored.

Santa Clara Planning Director Kevin Riley noted that the 900 Kiely development plan would be published for public review and comment before building permits for the project were issued.

Dec. 6 Hearing on Trash Collection, Recycling Contracts, Kirby Canyon Landfill Underreporting Dispute Casts a Shadow

Santa Clara's contracts with trash and recycling haulers are up for renewal and the council has scheduled a public hearing Dec. 6, 2011 to review current and potential vendors and to grant franchise contracts that will run through June 30, 2013.

The 10 companies looking to collect Santa Clara's garbage and recycling are: Allied Waste Industries (Milpitas), California Waste Solutions (San Jose), Ferma (Mountain View), GreenWaste Recovery (San Jose), Guadalupe Rubbish Disposal (San Jose), Premier Recycle (San Jose), Mission Trail Waste (Santa Clara), Pacific Coast Recycling (Gilroy), Recology South Bay (Santa Clara), and Revolution Resource Recovery (San Jose).

Residents can submit written comments - supporting or objecting to a contract grant - before noon, Wednesday, November 30, 2011, or orally at the Dec. 6 meeting.

Council Member Jamie McLeod noted that at a recent meeting of the County's Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission (RWRC), "there was discussion of violations by haulers at Kirby Canyon Landfill - essentially underreporting and questionable actions...that the county's now persuing legal action on."

The company in question is Waste Management, which operates the Kirby Canyon landfill in Santa Clara County. "For a significant period of time," according to an Oct. 24, 2011 RWRC agenda report (www.sccgov.org/portal/site/iwm) the company's employees misclassified waste to reduce franchise fees haulers paid to the Santa Clara County. So far, Waste Management has paid back $1.45 million, but the county is seeking additional damages.

"I'll be looking to see that the hauler(s) involved would not be included [among possible vendors]," continued McLeod. The concern with haulers underreporting, Mceod went on to explain, would directly result in Santa Clara losing revenue. For more, visit, select 2011 RWRC Minutes and Agendas under QUICKLINKS, and select the October 24, 2011 Meeting Packet of that meeting.

Trash collection contracts are a loaded subject for the city of Santa Clara. In the 1990s, City Council Member Jim Arno was fined for taking illegal campaign contributions from Nicholas Rinauro Sr. and Nicholas Rinauro Jr., owners of the now-closed All Purpose Landfill.

In October 1994 - over a month before the election - the Rinauros pleaded guilty to skimming over $500,000 from the business. Arno left office in disgrace, but not before casting a deciding vote to continue the city's recycling contract with All Purpose Landfill.

The meeting was adjourned in memory of retired Sutter Elementary School teacher

Carol Ragsdale; Owens Corning manager and city liaison Monte Schenken; Graciano Garza, father of City Council Office Specialist Maria Garza; and Norma Ferguson, wife of retired Police Chief Manny Ferguson.