SAN JOSE
City council delays making
decision on big apartment
complex for two more weeks
With major questions about schools and parks still unresolved, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday night postponed for two weeks a decision on approving a 1,900-home apartment complex in North San Jose.
Neighbors and members of the Santa Clara Unified School District – the district whose jurisdiction would include the complex – pleaded with the council to hold off approving any new homes in North San Jose until a major new planning effort, launched last month, is completed. They argued that the city has significantly underestimated the need for new schools in North San Jose, which is slated to get 32,000 new homes as part of an effort to build a high-density industrial and residential district in the area.
Council members appeared deeply divided on whether to approve Irvine Apartment Communities’ proposal for the former Sony campus on Zanker Road or wait until a new North San Jose Task Force completes its work next year. On a motion by Councilman Kansen Chu, who was elected in June to represent North San Jose, the council decided on a 7-4 vote – after a 2 1/2-hour discussion – to postpone the issue for two weeks. Mayor Chuck Reed and council members Pete Constant, Pierluigi Oliverio and Nancy Pyle opposed the motion.
– Barry Witt, Mercury News
SUNNYVALE
Fremont man, 23, seriously
injured in freeway pileup
A 23-year-old Fremont man suffered major internal and head injuries when he was ejected from his car while attempting to avoid a four-car pileup on Highway 237 early Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.
About 12:30 a.m., Justin Chung was driving a 2003 Toyota Tacoma east on 237 near Fair Oaks Avenue in Sunnyvale when he swerved to avoid four disabled vehicles that were blocking two of the three lanes in the wake of a chain of crashes from seconds earlier, CHP officer Todd Thibodeau said. The Tacoma overturned and Chung, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected.
Chung was taken to Stanford University Medical Center. One of the other drivers suffered minor injuries, Thibodeau said.
“At freeway speeds of 65 mph, objects in the roadway would take some people by surprise,” Thibodeau said.
Shortly before 12:30, a two-vehicle accident – in which no one was injured – left a Mazda minivan disabled on the roadway, the CHP said. Seconds after that collision, a Ford Mustang approached the scene, swerved to avoid the minivan and collided with a metal guardrail in the center divide.
Moments later, someone driving a Honda collided with the minivan and pushed it into the Mustang. The Honda came to rest on the left shoulder, partially blocking the fast lane. The Mazda came to rest partially blocking the slow lane. The Mustang was on the right shoulder.
Thibodeau said there was no indication that alcohol, drugs or excessive speeding played a role in any of the collisions.
– Mark Gomez, Mercury News
MORGAN HILL
Police investigating man’s
death in car-truck collision
A 59-year-old Morgan Hill man was killed Wednesday after his car slammed into a freight truck stopped at a signal light in South San Jose, police said. The man’s identity was not released.
He was driving a 1995 Nissan Maxima south on Monterey Road when he hit the truck at Live Oak Avenue about 5 p.m., San Jose officer Enrique Garcia said.
No other injuries were reported. Garcia said authorities are investigating the incident and could not indicate whether speed, drugs or alcohol played a factor in the crash.
Anyone with information is asked to call San Jose Police investigator Jincy Pace at the department’s vehicular crime unit at (408) 277-4654.
– Sandra Gonzales, Mercury News
MOUNTAIN VIEW
Day workers find new home
where Hope, Mercy intersect
The search to find a new location for the Mountain View Day Worker Center is over – at least for now.
The center, which helps day workers – some of them undocumented immigrants – find cash-paying jobs as gardeners, carpenters and painters, has a new yearlong lease at a downtown Mountain View church.
Trinity United Methodist Church, on Mercy Street near Hope Street, approached the day worker center about providing 3,000 square feet of space it had available just in time for the center, which had to move from its current home at Calvary Church on California Street by the end of the month.
As a non-profit group, the center has a special lease deal in which it pays less than $1 a square foot, said its attorney, John Rinaldi. In the next few months, Trinity United Methodist and the center will discuss the possibility of a longer lease.
– Melanie Carroll, MediaNews
