In an ironic development first “uncovered” by WGx, well-intentioned citizens across WG have been turned into criminals! … Either that or they are avoiding suspicion by canceling “Produce Exchanges” that had been planned between neighbors.

The growing – and suddenly illegal – trend of swapping backyard-grown fruits and and vegetables seemed like a good idea at the time, but is now under fire from the Santa Clara County Department of Agriculture: “Home gardeners within the quarantine zone are not allowed to move fresh produce or plants from their properties.” The non-fermented vegetable prohibition is the result of a quarantine in place to protect commercial farms from the Light Brown Apple Moth.

Just to make things more confusing, not all of the vegetable swapping options are verboten. Community gardens and school life labs are exempt from the sharing ban. Kevin O’Day from the County explains, via the WGNA eList:

… I think what may be a source of confusion on this topic are the provisions for those with plots at school or community gardens. These sites operate under a compliance agreement, are trapped and they receive a regulatory inspection on a 30-day cycle. Because of these safeguards, harvested produce is allowed to move freely out from the community gardens within the quarantine zone. This protocol is similar to that used for commercial growers with fields within the regulated area.

Thus, tonight’s exchange planned on Settle Avenue has been canceled.

And now the once-great idea will whither on the vine, along with some really great tasting tomatoes.

Everyone at the Music in the Glen finale last Thursday witnessed a tragic human drama, as one of the Kiwanis volunteers experienced a scary seizure while staffing the event.

Fortunately, paramedics were on the scene as part of the planned celebration, and others were able to respond almost immediately.

A WG community member recalls the moment on her weblog:

As we were ordering, the old Kiwanis Club man serving the food, began to collapse, his brain, you could see was being attacked — aneurysm? stroke? He fell to the ground right in front of me, shaking violently from the seizures that overcame him. I was horrified, frozen.

I couldn’t move back and I couldn’t move forward, I was trying to stay calm for the kids and people scurried to his side. …

The fire trucks and ambulance came and the music finally stopped. We all stood there stunned. The kids all wanted stickers from the fire fighters. The EMT was calling out, “Hurry!”

Samantha Fein had originally shared the event through the Twitter microblog system, and followed up with her full thoughts on Friday.

Of course, our thoughts and prayers are all with the injured man.

Oops. Nevermind?

WGx — in the form of guest columnist Holly Barr — was the first to report on an emerging neighborhood Produce Exchange concept recently started in the Rosegarden Neighborhood. In its August 1 edition (not yet online), the WG Resident adds to the excitement with a front page picture and inside feature on the clever — and friendly — idea.

And in today’s SJ Mercury News, the County Health Department throws cold water on the whole thing.

It turns out that WG is inside the quarantine area for the light brown apple moth, which means you’re not supposed to take your produce off of your property.

But before you load up that basket of fresh-picked tomatoes, peppers and zucchini, and before you cut a bouquet of flowers to take to your mom, check out the latest version of the county’s light brown apple moth quarantine map. Lines have recently been redrawn to include even more of Santa Clara County in an effort to curb the spread of this relatively new and voracious pest.

County agriculture officials are reminding home gardeners who live inside the quarantine area that plants and produce grown inside the zone may not be removed from the property. Yes, even to share with someone next door or across the street.

But WGx is pretty sure the swapping of your neighborhood garden bounty is a genie that is too far out of the bottle to be put back in. A separate story in today’s Merc also highlights the joys of a local Filipino produce exchange

And for you vegetable-growing scofflaws out there, the next RG Produce Exchange is scheduled for August 4.

Bring your running shoes, in case you have to leave quickly with your ill-gotten goods.

Realtor Holly Barr continues her ongoing WGx column with a twist this time around. During a quiet week for the home tour, she instead brings word of a Produce Exchange hosted by neighbors in the Rosegarden area:

Highlights of July 17, 2008 Willow Glen Realtor Tour

Tricky to find a theme this week. I did see a lot of unusual homes.

Just for the record if your third bedroom does not have a closet it is not a bedroom. Also, if your third bedroom is in a separate structure, like a garage, appraisers state that it is technically not a 3 bedroom house. I recommend you put a clear description of where that bedroom is.

On a neighborhood update note I went to the first neighborhood produce exchange. Well, the neighborhood was Rose Garden, but we are all neighbors right? Anyway, gotta love the idea. Basically you bring some produce in 2 to 4 lbs. bags between 4:00 and 7:00 and Cass has a table in her front yard. You trade what you brought for a mixture of the items other people brought. I brought two bags of large nectarines, I walked away with a big zucchini, some apples, plums and lemons. All organic and fresh let me know if you want to exchange produce next month.

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

• 10 sales last two weeks in area 10 (Mostly 95125)
• 229 active listings in Willow Glen this week 7/17/08

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 indicates Willow Glen to be a stable market.

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!

The title of this blog has been painted over with white paint … just like the street curb address numbers in one part of Willow Glen. Seriously. Someone covered over all of them — or at least almost all of them.

In the latest twist in the exciting curb number painting industry, all – well, all but one – of the curb numbers on one stretch of Nevada Avenue (west of Bird Avenue) have been painted white. As announced by a mysterious flier offering to paint residents’ numbers, home owners were told they could opt-out of a coming painting opportunity by posting the flier in their window.

Since governments across California recommend home owners avoid outright scams and unlicensed painting businesses, most neighbors ignored the fliers. But by Tuesday morning, someone had carefully painted over most of the 40+ curb numbers with shiny white paint.

As of yesterday afternoon, the “opportunistic” businessperson had yet to return to charge for having the numbers repainted. At least one industrious neighbor wasn’t interested in being forced to purchase the service … she grabbed a bucket of paint and her own brush to replace a few of the numbers … even though she’s supposed to have a permit, too.

Perhaps WGx’s surprisingly prescient prediction from the 2007 Neighborhood Wrap-Up has come true:

Did anyone else notice that the Rose Garden is starting to look a little more like WG? Or perhaps it’s the other way around. … For example, Linda Taffe is the new editor of the WG Resident, replacing Moryt Milo earlier this year; Linda also edits the RG Resident.

Since then, the Willow Glen Resident and the Rose Garden Resident have essentially become the same paper.

Maybe this WGx headline is only an April Fool’s joke …. or is it? Read the papers yourself; then decide.

The decline in the SJ Mercury News has been a recent topic of heated discussion on the WGNA eList, and has even garnered attention from newsrooms around the country as the traditional newspaper business model potentially collapses.

The reduction in SJMN quality seems to be impacting the SVCN group as well. Stories no longer belong to just one community, and the Residents’ reporters are regularly addressing topics that used to be more appropriate for the valley-wide parent paper. City-wide budget cuts aren’t the realm of a neighborhood weekly, but recently they don’t seem to be within the purview of the Mercury, either.

In a totally unscientific investigation, WGx has concluded that the only significant difference between the two papers — and many of the other five “San Jose Residents” — is the advertising mix. For the most part, this has been the case since January.

Their websites aren’t any different either, except for the URL and the banner artwork.

As added to the comments on a SanJoseInside post:

#12: Lost in the Merc’s obvious slide has been the similar decline in the SVCN Group papers, including the LG ‘Weekly’ Times, Campbell Reporter, and the seventy-three “Neighborhood Residentsâ€? … most of which look just like each other now, except for advertising.

Any word on their staffs?

Posted by Neighborhood Resident, Wednesday, March 12 at 08:06 PM

That comment from “Neighborhood Resident” — while SVCN staff were apparently spared the most-recent cuts — garnered further publication in this week’s Metro “Mash-Up” section and a response from another SJI commenter:

#18: #12—Yes, thank you David Cohen for destroying the valley’s competitive news landscape. The community newspapers, along with Metro,** used to be true competitors to the valley news monopoly. This probably should have warranted a DOJ monopoly investigation, but no one really noticed.

Posted by Independence Day in San Jose, Tuesday, March 18 at 11:34 AM

** WGx Note: You can argue whether Metro has or has not become less journalistic recently, but there is no argument about its status: It’s not affiliated with SVCN or David Cohen. Metro is published by Dan Pulcrano, who is under attack for different reasons.

Alert WGx reader Jim Routh noticed something amiss in Downtown Willow Glen a few weeks ago:

—–Original Message—–
From: Jim Routh
To: WGx@willowglenextra.com
Subject: Three Dogs Bistro

Any idea what became of Three Dogs Bistro? It was supposed to go in in the space where Sharky’s used to be between Aqui and Blockbuster. I’d heard that it was going to be run by the same folks that run Aqui but would be a bit more upscale. Paper went up on the windows at the end of last summer announcing it was coming in March of ‘08, which at the time seemed like forever away. But March is here and nearly gone and nothing seems to be happening.

Any news? JMR

WGx had also noticed that the signs announcing the new restaurant had been taken down over the last few months, so Jim’s question spurred a little investigation.

Actually, it was a very little investigation. Aqui executive chef Ron Francis replied to our simple email inquiry:

—–Original Message—–
From: Rob Francis
To: WGx@willowglenextra.com

We decided to pass on the deal. The new Aqui in Campbell has our hands full!

Thanks, Rob

So there you go. … No landlord-based intrigue, no surprise “quiet opening” on the horizon, no alleyway reconstruction a la Msr. Beans, no health department conspiracy to ban dogs from eateries. Nothing.

But don’t worry, City Council representative Pierluigi Oliverio provided another exclusive update to WGx. He says there’s another restaurant in the works for the location, but nothing is public yet.

By the way … WillowGlenExtra welcomes your content suggestions, including questions, WG FAQs, news tips, and promotional announcements. Just leave a comment to any post, or email your stuff directly. If you want to blog yourself, you’re also invited to join WGx!

Another fire station might be coming to Willow Glen. SJFD Fire Station #37 — proposed to replace the parking lot along Lincoln Avenue next to the Willows Senior Center — will be the topic of a preliminary community meeting on Thursday, March 27.

The City of San Jose invites you to a Community Meeting regarding new Fire Station #37

Please join the City of San Jose Fire Department for an overview and community discussion regarding a new Fire Station proposed to be located adjacent to the Willows Senior Center.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 @ 6:30 p.m.
Willows Senior Center

But it’s only in the site selection stage, so don’t go counting your emergency response times just yet … although a closer fire station would have been helpful last summer. And the new fire hydrants along Curtner are just a coincidence of course.

At this community meeting, City and SJFD staff will present their plans for existing City lands. The proposed site fronts Lincoln and is a portion of the Willow’s Senior Center site currently used for parking. The Senior Center and adjoining park will remain intact. Staff will present a diagram of the proposed land use and describe the general project scope, timeline and operational benefits on Thursday.

But according to Pierluigi Oliverio’s office, the new station would occupy a portion of the Willows parking lot (facing Lincoln to the left), and would require voter approval since it would replace set-aside park land. The new station would augment or replace existing Station #6, and add an additional fire fighter (from 5 to 6) to the neighborhood service.

While any talk of a “capital project” is at least two-year’s premature, the City does list Station #37 on its Capital Project Management System.

There will undoubtedly be lots of questions:

Aside from the cost of the property, why wouldn’t the City consider acquiring the parcel on the corner of Curtner & Lincoln, and put the new fire station there? That corner has hosted a school, a grocery store, and most recently a gas station. Anything would be an improvement over the vacant lot and chain link fence.

Where will SJPD set-up their Senior Center speed trap, if the fire station occupies the parking lot?

So, we’ll wait for the meeting. … and then the political process? (more…)

The Willows Senior Center has been undergoing an extensive makeover during the past few months, including gardening and the restoration of the center’s street sign.

But first the best news … the Multi-Purpose Auditorium has reopened after last summer’s fire. The room is open and sporting fancy new Christmas decorations — just in time for the rest of the facility to close for installation of new carpeting and flooring.

Other changes have been underway, too. While a few other parks and facilities have been getting completely new signs, Willows simply spruced-up their old one last month … with bright white paint and some much-appreciated landscaping underneath.

WGx stopped by to take a picture recently, and learned that the freshly bright sign hasn’t increased the center’s visibility very much, at least not enough to stem the tide of speeders along Lincoln Avenue. It’s a 25 MPH zone out front, and caught in action behind the new sign is one of SJPD’s finest, using his radar gun to catch drivers going much faster.

Willow Glen seems to be lacking a small neighborhood hardware store, which some might find to be a little more convenient than the Home Depots and OSH’s that have us surrounded (with another coming soon).

Get ready for ACE Hardware … coming soon to the corner of Lincoln & Curtner.

With prominent “LEASED” signs decorating the old Silverleaf Antiques outlet, the corner might be ready for a little renaissance, although there is no news on the deserted gas station. (permits, anyone?)

As for the veracity of this WGx report … Let’s just say it’s more probable than the Tomato Thyme rumor, which turned out to be merely wishful thinking.