[sitethumb://www.willowglenextra.com/elvas]Elva’s Coffee Stop … now serving in Sacramento? … uh, no … but Frank & Elva were at the State Capitol a few days ago accepting an award from California Assembly member Jim Beall.

Elva’s Coffee Stop was honored as “California Small Business of the Year� for District #24. Frank and Elva Acevedo received this special recognition from local legislator, Jim Beall, Jr. to applaud a single district-based small business for exemplifying the contributions for the California’s 3.7 million Small business owners to the California economy.

This is only the latest recognition of Elva’s prowess both in coffee brewing and in community volunteerism. The Coffee Stop has been WG Residents’ “Best Community-Involved Business” two years running, and is also last year’s “Best Coffee.”

Beall, meanwhile, became a little more famous recently for proposing an increase in the state’s excise tax on beer. WGx assumes that a caffeine tax is not in the works.

A NEW Feature on WGx … updates from local Realtor Holly Barr! Check out Willow Glen Extra for Holly’s weekly update on real estate trends and interesting homes available on the local market.

Every Thursday I attend a realtor tour of all the new listings in Willow Glen. It’s a great way for realtors like me to stay on top of the market, and a fantastic way for sellers to get their property seen by all the top local realtors. The tour is organized by Mike Gains of REMax, and usually includes 25-50 realtors. Every week I’ll report back on highlights from this tour – a summary of what’s going on in the Willow Glen market, exceptional new listings, stuff like that. If you ever have any questions about what I put here, or would like to see me take a different approach with this weekly summary of the tour, please let me know!

Holly Barr — Coldwell Banker
Phone: 408-887-3225 — Email: holly@hollybarr.net

Holly started strong last week. Here’s this week’s installment …

The theme of this week seemed to be 3 bedroom 1.5-2 bath in homes on busy streets.

View Larger Map

I have to say that the 1200 block of Malone Road — where a 3 bed 1.5 bath priced at $829,000 in original condition — is a great part of Malone. However, the name Malone rings busy for many buyers and the rest of the agents seem to think it was a bit over priced (we shall see if we were right).

Down on the busier part of Malone in the 1000 block near the corner of Lovoi the 3 bed 1.5 bath priced at $750,000 close to original condition the group of realtors seem to think it was priced well (again, we shall see!).

Here are some interesting numbers about this past week in Willow Glen’s real estate scene:

• 15 sales last week in area 10
• 225 active listings in Willow Glen this week 5/29/08
• 225 active listings in Willow Glen last week 5/22/08

210 active listings is the gold standard for a sign of a healthy market for this area. The fact that we are consistently in the 230-240 range (225 again this week!) indicates Willow Glen to be a stable market.

My pick of the week is 1798 Grace Avenue. I imagine it is sold with multiple offers by now. Quiet street, FOUR car garage, priced well at $1,297,975 with good layout and recent quality updating.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LISTING RIGHT NOW?

From WGx: Regular WGx readers will probably welcome Holly’s positive perspective on the homes for sale along the western half of Malone. She didn’t even mention the growing metropolis on the eastern end of Malone at Almaden Road.

After six years of almost constant running (but sometimes not draining) water and the seemingly endless sandcastle shoveling by preschoolers, it is time to do some much-needed maintenance on the running stream water feature at Lincoln Glen Park. With some real shovels.

The inconsistent drainage at this park is a frequent point of discussion, second only to the lack of mature shade trees.

Earlier today, crews dug down to the perpetually-clogged drainage pipes and made some repairs that might result in better water flow out of the sandbox catch basin. Or not. Stay tuned.

The re-opening of the Willow Glen Library is getting closer. Booksin School recently completed a used-book fundraiser for the Friends of the WG Library … the unique little windows are attracting attention … and the WGNA eList is aghast over the architecture.

The library is now 95% complete, according to the City’s capital projects website, with a “beneficial use date” of June 2. Tack on a few weeks to fill the place with books, and the community will be invited to a “Grand Re-Opening Celebration” sometime during late August, currently August 23 (tentatively, probably). From Pierluigi Oliverio’s District 6 Events page:

Saturday, August 23, 2008 … 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Please join Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio for the grand opening of the Willow Glen Library!

Although a recent letter to families at Booksin mentioned the Grand Opening would be held during the week of August 28. Stay tuned.

Amongst all of the other driving related news items this month — you know about the hands-free law, right? — WGx almost missed the month-long closure of the San Jose DMV Office on W. Alma Avenue.

The DMV recommends alternate locations if you need service before the Alma office reopens. If you’re holding out for the remodeled location, it’s supposed to reopen on Monday, June 9.

A NEW Feature on WGx … updates from local Realtor Holly Barr! Check out Willow Glen Extra for Holly’s weekly update on real estate trends and interesting homes available on the local market. (more…)

A few ideas for doing our neighborly part to help victims of this week’s Summit Wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains: (more…)

In conjunction with the WG Middle School Music Boosters, Be That Kid Productions is proud to announce the premiere weekend performances of the family musical “Oops.” You’re invited to see how cartoon characters deal with real world-sized problems: (more…)

Earlier today, California released finalized State 2007 API scores for local public schools, including each of the school districts that serve students from the Willow Glen neighborhood. Today’s numbers are statistic refinements of preliminary results announced last August, and now include similar-school comparisons.

The complete San Jose Unified School District reports include aggregate district scores and a list of individual school scores. Results are also available for the Campbell Union Elementary School District and the Cambrian Elementary School District.

Looking for all the numbers from Santa Clara County? Here’s the API for every school.

The new ramp from southbound Almaden Expressway to Curtner Avenue has been moving forward with fits and stops over the last few weeks.

The project – which was originally slated to be complete back in January … then in March – is at that tantalizing stage where you can imagine your car on the freshly paved ramp, but still have to wait for the final touches.

When it’s complete, drivers will have the option of continuing west on Curtner — as they always have — or turn left at the new light-controlled intersection. Since limited access to eastbound Curtner has never been a problem before, one wonders why a left turn is required now … after 46 years of expressway-hood.

All those drivers trying to get to The Plant? New homeowners on Communication Hill who need to drive their cars to work? Or maybe it solve the challenging dilemma of getting to southbound Highway 87 from southbound Almaden Expressway, which was previously nearly impossible.

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Speaking of Highway 87, WGx now features local traffic reports from the major freeways that circle Willow Glen. Checkout the SigAlert update in the light-blue column, or click to the new “WGx News & Traffic” page, and scroll all the way down …