For those of you who remember your Civics classes (if you had them in school), the separation of powers can sometimes get very confusing. For example… as shown here.
This picture is the bridge going over highway 280 in San Jose, CA. So when there is a small bush that is quietly growing into a tree in the drive lane… who do you call? Is it the City? This is also at the corner of Parkmoor and S. Bascom Avenue, which means it’s on the San Jose City Limit, so do you call the County? But then it’s on a bridge that was built as part of Highway 280, so do you call the Federal Government? But then the Federal Highways are technically a joint venture with the State – so do you call the State of California?
And then… if at the end of the bridge – there is a small road sign that says – don’t turn right. But you can’t see it because of a tree/bush that is growing up from the embankment of the highway – then who do you call?
We decided to start with a 2 prong approach, and we decided contact both the City of San Jose, and the County of Santa Clara.
So continuing on the vague recollection of Civics class – we then looked up the “District Maps” of San Jose – and voilla! District 6 – http://sjdistrict6.com/district-6-map/ – Councilman Pier Oliverio.
Then doing the same with the County – District 4 – https://www.sccgov.org/sites/d4/District%204%20Map/Documents/D4%20Map%20Jan14.pdf – Supervisor Ken Yeager.
So off go the emails at 8PM… and what happens?
Councilman Pier Oliverio – answers at 9pm! Wow! And his reply said he’ll look into who to route our request too! Great Service!
Supervisor Ken Yeager’s office – replies the next morning by 11am – stating they’d routed the request to the Roads and Airports department of Santa Clara County. https://www.sccgov.org/sites/rda/Pages/rda.aspx
So fantastic service from both our City Councilman and our County Supervisor!
THEN…. something amazing happens.
We get an email at 2:20pm – and a picture… it seems the actual jurisdiction was CalTrans (the State of California) – however the West Yard division of the Roads and Airports (Santa Clara County) took it upon themselves to grab their gear and run out and just solve the problem! So just want to extend a special thank you to the West Yard division! Our streets are now safer due to your quick response!
