Hello San Jose City Council Member David Cohen: 

We are homeowners and residents from the Renaissance drive neighborhood in San Jose. Many of us have been living here for the last several years.

We recently heard about a proposal to make 71 Vista Montana, San Jose as a Safe Parking Site. Several amongst us called the City of San Jose yesterday (Wednesday 1st, Sept 2021) and left messages to learn more about this recent development and to confirm what we heard. Late yesterday evening, you confirmed in a Next-door Neighborhood post that the City has been preparing a temporary Safe Parking Site. Exhibit A shows this Next Door post.

The purpose of this petition (signed by residents/home owners from the Renaissance Drive neighborhood) is to express concern about what this recent development could unfold with respect to (1) Safety of residents/children, (2) Neighborhood Security, (3) Sanitation, (4) Environmental Cleanliness among others. There is also concern about (5) Drug abuse/use in the Safe Parking Site by those staying there or others who could visit them. Moreover, with many children in our non-gated community, there are concerns about (6) Children’s well-being & safety. Finally, there is very little parking available on the streets due to multiple high-rise apartments constructed in the last few years. This development can also impact the (7) Traffic/pedestrian patterns & parking in the neighborhood.

Since we have not been given information about how the above-mentioned concerns would be addressed, we would like to proactively engage and discuss these with you as a community before the movement of RVs and other vehicles which according to the post by you, Council Member David Cohen, may happen next week. 

In an effort to make the community stronger and safer, we would like to be part of the decision making process and hence we would like to request the City to engage with the residents in this neighborhood on Friday (9/3/21) to address concerns and collectively move forward. Please have your office contact us to begin coordinating a community meeting. Due to the pandemic, we suggest hosting the meeting outdoors at the park directly adjacent to the proposed Safe Parking Site.

Our community looks forward to hearing from you.