[ San Jose | News Index | Metroactive Central | Archives ]

Metropolis

News From Silicon Valley's Neighborhoods Chew Stories Campbell--Poor Winston Chew. When the Campbell man, who suffers from a compulsion called hoarding, received orders from both Campbell and San Jose to disburden his quarter-acre property of defunct lawn mowers, cars, pipes and assorted junk, it took two 40-foot dumpsters and almost $1,000 in dumpster rental fees to clean up the Campbell side. Ah, but on the San Jose side of the property, two metal sheds and a collection of family heirlooms remain. Will they vanish soon? Or are they the seeds of another irresistible junk garden? Stay tuned... Mall Overhaul Cupertino--Once upon a time there was a swank new mall called Vallco where everyone in the land came to shop. Then the empires of Valley Fair and Stanford Shopping Center came along and poof! Vallco became a ghost town. Sales at Vallco peaked in the early '90s and now wheeze along at $172 per square foot, while sales at Valley Fair boom at over three times that rate. A concerned Cupertino is giving Vallco a hand, redevelopment-style: a four-phase plan that includes a new department store (probably Dillard's) and a movie theater got under way in November when a Macy's replaced the Emporium. Hall Torn Up Willow Glen--Hmm. How sorry should we feel for Brad and Janice Hall? The couple bought an overpriced, ramshackle two-bedroom bungalow in Willow Glen figuring they'd just tear it down and build a two-story, four-bedroom dream house in its place. But starting last June, when they met with the planning commission, trouble started. The problem? Planners disapproved of the garages. Yes, that's plural--one on either side of the house. Then in April a neighbor complained that the house wouldn't fit in with the character of the street. Now the Halls are crying in their Perrier. Your vote? [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]