Along with the many great privileges that Willow Glen residents receive each year, your neighbors also get to endure frequent WG-bashing from people who don’t live here.

But the latest barrage actually comes from within, in the form of a Yelp “review” by Nancy “agogo” M., a self-proclaimed resident of WG … who also hates her neighbors.

To prove her point, she created a fictional business to review on Yelp:

Willow Glen Schmuck & Yuppy

So I live in Willow Glen. I am a young professional who lives in the area with a wonderful hubby. We love this neighborhood, but we hate our neighbors (and we aint leavin!!!) [sic]. I have never been anywhere where the people have felt so privileged and will gladly walk ALL OVER the balls of the “lower class” which happen to be the people serving them coffee or making them a sandwich.

They eagerly flaunt the “We heart Willow Glen” signs on their lawns, license plate frame, dog collars, coffee mugs, etc… as if its a secret society of having a good gardener and a license to coast up and down Lincoln Ave at 6 mph in their stupid yellow Lamborghini. OR stop in the middle of the street and back up traffic so they can search their kids as they leave school.

She goes on to propose a pledge for local citizens. Since it quickly ran afoul of the WGx Commenting Policy, you’ll have to jump to Yelp to administer it to your family.

To further belabor her point, Nancy then posted a discussion board to provoke further conversation. Over the space of three days, the site forum has generated lots of response, but most of it portrays our neighbors quite nicely. Sorry, Nancy …

The SJ Police Department has apparently made quick work of a rising tide of car burglaries that have been occurring across Willow Glen.

Increased reports of thefts from locked and unlocked cars in wide stretches of WG started a few weeks ago on the WGNA Elist. Neighbors from Lennon, Christina, Cherry, Bennet, Kotenberg, and Camino Ricardo, started reporting a series of car burglaries. In addition to the rise in eList conversation, Willow Glen 2.0 created a section inside its Neighborhood Watch forum for tracking trends in thefts and safety concerns.

While most victims admitted their cars had been left unlocked overnight, the crimes still seemed brazen enough to trouble many residents. Some of the cars had been locked, and in most cases, thieves had been stealing small electronic devices like GPS units, MP3 players, iPods, laptops, and cell phones.

Over the weekend, police apparently found a lot of the stolen items and began contacting victims to reunite them with their lost electronics. Tessa Miller was the first to tell of her newly-found fortune:

SJPD was just here. They “happened” upon a house in the vicinity and recovered some goodies. Among them was my brother in law’s ipod and nano(he is smart enough to have his name engraved on them). Empty wallets…also a really nice camcorder that the thieves stole then used to tape themselves, so if you are missing any items please contact them. They are working on getting the belongings back to the owners … cell phone … small gps unit … camcorder … watches …

And according to the officer they will fingerprint on a vehicle (I was told by dispatch that they do not because I have prints on my car from them trying to break in.)

Hey … maybe WGx is turning into a True Crime weblog …

Parents … Kids … check out this great concert on Saturday …

Explorer Coop Preschool Hosts: The Milkshake Concert

Mark your calendars for this exciting family event on Saturday, May 10th, 10:30AM at the Markham Little Theater (Willow Glen Middle School) on Cottle Ave. Regularly seen on Noggin, PBS and Discovery Kids, the Milkshake Band is an entertaining and fun band with lots of great musical themes perfect for kids 3-8 years of age. Their music shares the Explorer spirit of learning through play, fun and creative imagination. Mom and Dad will love to dance along to the fun rock and roll beat as well! …

Share the love of music with your kids and friends! Get your tickets now! Seats are limited so don’t be left out of this exciting event! Tickets are $16. Children 18 months and younger are free. Please invite your friends and family to this one time only event sponsored by Explorer Parent Coop Preschool.

Seating is limited, so you’ll want to get your tickets this week by emailing the parent volunteers at Explorer, or printing out the order form and dropping it in the mail.

Of course, the Milkshake Band is well-regarded, including a favorable preview in a recent edition of the SJ Mercury News. Don’t miss it!

Here’s a new twist on public schools: Online Playdates. Sort of.

Several grassroots efforts have begun to connect incoming Kindergarten students — and their families — with each other before school starts in the Fall. And most of them are using “Yahoo Groups” for organization, recruiting, and communication:

• Booksin Elementary School Yahoo Group
• Schallenberger School Yahoo Group
• Willow Glen Elementary Yahoo Group

(more…)

Taking a cue from other streets and neighborhoods that host big yard sales, many of the residents of the Fairglen Eichlers are participating in a neighborhood yard sale this Saturday, April 26: (more…)

Booksin School combines its two annual collection drives this month, accepting food donations on behalf of Second Harvest and clothing donations for SJUSD’s Healthy Start Family Support Center through Friday, April 11.

If you don’t have a Booksin student to help you deliver them, just drop them by the school during open hours this week. For the food drive, cans with pull-tops are especially helpful. The school also accepts big boxes to help sort clothes. (more…)

It’s been a while since the last WG Library update from WGx, but the City of San Jose is now reporting the library is 87% complete!

Replacement of the existing branch library for a new 13,338 SF facility.
Phase: Phase V - Construction
Current Status: Project is approximately 87% completed.

While we all wait for the last 13%, the WG Neighborhood Association comes through with a recent “Picture of the Week” (opens w/o frames), taken inside the library last month.

WGNA guru Larry Ames took the picture one day when he was walking by with his camera, and construction crews let him in:

Just happened to be lucky and wandered by while they had the gate down and were working inside. Looking forward to seeing the finished project!

It was one of those “quiet grand openings” a few weeks go, but alert WGNA eLister Mark Sweiger caught the arrival of Willow Glen on Google’s Street View maps feature:

From: Mark Sweiger
Subject: Smile, you’re on Candid Camera

I just noticed that most of Willow Glen north of Minnesota as well as the part west of Newport and north of Pine is now on Google Street View. … You may see yourself watering the lawn, your cat in the window, or, as some have discovered, your image coming out of the Pink Poodle. I just checked and you can see in the open door of the Pink Poodle but it will take better spy software than I’ve got to look through the partition, so you are all safe for now until the Google Insect Cruise Cam comes into your house.

Where is my flyswatter?

This maps feature from Google made news this past week when a couple in Pennsylvania sued Google for invasion of privacy:

PITTSBURGH - A western Pennsylvania couple has sued Google Inc., saying pictures of their home on its Web site violate their privacy and devalued their property.

Images of the home Aaron and Christine Boring bought in the Pittsburgh suburb of Franklin Park in October 2006 appeared on Google’s “Street View” feature, which allows users to find street-level photos by clicking on a map.

“A major component of their purchase decision was a desire for privacy,” according to their complaint, filed Wednesday in state court, which also says the couple suffered mental distress.

The images must have been taken from the couple’s long driveway, which is labeled “Private Road,” and that violated their privacy, according to the complaint.

Mark’s joke was penned before the lawsuit was announced. But it may only be a matter of time before similar suits appear from folks found in compromising positions. Of course, the privacy issues didn’t stop local bog Valleywag’s posting of pictures of the Pennsylvania residence.

Google uses vehicles with mounted digital cameras to collect pictures for Street View. Some of these vehicles were spotted in WG last Fall, which seems to correlate with some of the images recognized by neighbors. Right now, Street View is only available for areas north of Pine Avenue (marked in blue above). Stay tuned for more.

The salon-to-restaurant ratio on Lincoln Avenue may not compare to Santana Row, but that’s not going to stop Scandalous from getting all stylish later this month.

Ultimate Silicon Valley Photo Shoot

Silicon Valley’s top stylists and photographers join forces for delivering high quality personal and professional head shots.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) March 6, 2008 — Four of San Jose’s top stylists and photographers have teamed up to present the Ultimate Silicon Valley Photo Shoot on March 30, 31 and April 3 at the Scandalous Salon, 1264 Lincoln Avenue, in the city’s Willow Glen neighborhood.

“This is an extremely unique opportunity for anyone in need of a high quality/high impact color or black and white head shot for professional or personal purposes,” said Joseph Rosenfeld, Image Mentor. …

“Whether it’s for a company web site, a dating web site, or, for a corporate business card, the point of having a photograph taken is to look your absolute best and to make the best possible impression and that’s what this service offers,” adds Rosenfeld. “Most portrait photography sessions never include an image consultant, makeup artist and hairstylist so this is a tremendous value” he added.

By the way, the photo shoot will set you back $325 … although apparently it usually costs something like $800 regularly.