Community News

South Side Community Center was packed to the rafters last night (January 25th) as over 450 concerned citizens attended a meeting to discuss the future plans for the Plaza de Santa Teresa shopping center. The building was only set up to handle seating for 150 people, but the rest stood any where they could find room. Lloyd LeCuesta of Fox Channel 2 was there to cover the event as well as reporter Michael Cronk from the Mercury News.

The Lucky's Store in the new Bernal Oaks shopping center will be replacing the Lucky's store in Plaza de Santa Teresa. The old store employees will be moving to the new location. There is not a tenant to move into the old store location at this time. Lucky's owns the property and will look for a new tenant. Lucky's could also sell the property to the property management company Duckett-Wilson which is one of the seven owners of the shopping center so they can find a quality anchor tenant. There are no plans to replace the shopping center with housing. Everyone agreed to meet again February 23rd to give us an update.

Elizabeth Cord of the Santa Teresa Citizen Action Group organized a community meeting to discuss the future plans for the Plaza de Santa Teresa shopping center. Plaza de Santa Teresa is the Lucky's shopping center on Santa Teresa Blvd. and Cottle Road. She asked our San Jose City Councilmember Charlotte Powers to come, as well as members of the San Jose Police Department, representatives from the property management company and Lucky's. Ms. Powers also invited others from relevant city departments.

The meeting began as Ms. Powers introduced the panel of available speakers. Lt. Chris Moore, who is the watch commander for this district, introduced Sgt. Joe Shank who is the swing shift supervisor for Sunday through Wednesday night. He also stated that he is aware of problems at the laundromat and the transients in the area, however, there are not more calls for police service than any other shopping center in the area. In fact, he stated we live in one of the best districts based on the level or crime and that our crime rate is on the decline.

Mary Davi of Lucky's was next to speak and she delivered the bad news that the Bernal store is replacing the Cottle store. She said they wanted to buy the old Newberry property (now the 98 cent store), but it didn't work out. Lucky's had a tenant in mind to move into the property in about one month but it didn't work out. Lucky's is aware that the elderly need to get bread and milk and Mary was able to get permission from the president of Lucky's to allow another food store to move in. However, the planned deal didn't work out because the prospective new tenant was having financial difficulty and couldn't expand at this time. Lucky's still feels that it is a great piece of real estate.

Tom Wilson of Duckett-Wilson Development Company (the builder and property manager of the shopping center) was the next to speak. His company basically owns the parking lot, the 98 cent store building and the retail shops. He said the property is too narrow for Lucky's requirements. His company is trying to purchase the Lucky property so they can go after a quality anchor tenant. However, they won't go out and get an anchor tenant until they own the property. He said it is in his company's interest to get a quality anchor tenant so he can raise rents on the other tenants. He said there is no plans for housing.

Sharon Anderson of the crime prevention department was the last to address the crowd before open questioning. She was aware of the concerns about crime going up when a property becomes vacant. She is aware of the homeless in the area. She asked us not to give them money or to feed them. She said that graffiti devalues property by $5,000. Sharon asked us to call Tom when graffiti is seen and he will have it painted over immediately. She is aware that there is a problem with drugs in area. Sharon asked us to report the crimes in our area and it is all right to remain anonymous.

Find out what the community had to say!