One Neighbor's View

To North Willow Glen residents:

Here is a letter about granny units I'm sending to each council person. The future of our neighborhood is truly at stake. It is true that the same reasons for not accomodating this proposal 20 years ago are no better now than they were 20 years ago, when we had breathed a sigh of relief. Feel free to take excerpts at will.

Dear Councilperson:

There are plenty of opportunities for someone to re-zone their land to R-2. I have many years of experience in living next to and near these 2nd units and they are not a good idea. They slumify a neighborhood. They invade your backyard privacy worse than a 2-story. They contradict the recent Monster House regulations by further densifying and impacting neighborhoods. Strangers can move in and out, thus further de-stabilizing established neighborhoods. Why are areas around colleges often called "student ghettos?"

Our streets have already evolved from tree-lined to car-lined streets. Just drive by and observe any EVENING and attempt to find a parking space. Older, Narrow-Lot-Width neighborhoods are already severely impacted just by the current level of density. As just one small, but frustrating example: on "garbage night" one can hardly fit the cans on the street amongst all the parked cars. There is no good reason to exasperate these conditions.

Of all the aspects that a person wants to depend on in their neighborhood, it is stability. This proposal will destroy that aspect. An honest person being truthful must say that Code Enforcement is virtually non-existent in San Jose--just look at the experts' reaction to having to deal with "proposed new units" when they bring up the fact that they know that there are thousands of illegal ones already out there!

One will never get to know your neighbors. There is no guarantee that a future buyer will honor any typically unenforced San Jose restrictions. They certainly then will not tear down such units; they will become high-density transient rental units, let's be honest!

This is no answer to the housing shortage, even if it creates 10 units a year, let's be honest. It is like trying to fill Lake Tahoe with a teaspoon. This is a slap in the face at all of us law-abiding citizens who have faithfully followed the City codes all these years! Don't insult us by doing any such thing. Keep the zoning code as it is, and do not allow 2nd units in the R-1 zones, period.