The 'Guide Me Home to San Jose' Blog

It is a sure sign of Spring: San Jose’s pair of Peregrine Falcons, Clara and Esteban Colbert, are now guarding their nest; four falcon eggs having been laid last week. As recently as 1970, Peregrine Falcons were on the Endangered Species list, with only two known nesting pairs. The University of California Predatory Bird Research group, immensely aided by the federal banning of DDT, has been working over the past decades to breed and nurture the species back from near-extinction.

In 1987, PG&E put a nest box on its building in the San Francisco Financial District, and, 16 years later, falcons nested there for the first time.

San Jose’s sparkling and distinctive city hall was completed in Oct. of 2005. It features an 18 story tower and dome-shaped rotunda. In all, the City Hall contains about 53,000 sq. ft. of office and public space. San Jose’s resident falcon Clara has been high up on San Jose’s City Hall for four seasons, the last two with Esteban Colbert. Needless to say, having a falcon family in residence has turned the attention of local residents at least in part away from the year’s budget troubles, and, through a webcam, given them a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the Peregrine Falcon family.

It is expected that the eggs will hatch shortly after Easter this year. The children of San Jose have been asked by Mayor Chuck Reed to enter a contest to name the chicks, though their gender is unknown.

Additionally, if you are interested in contributing to the Falcon Fund, please go to www.peregrinefund.org/book_peregrine.asp.

Posted By: Colleen Badagliacco

“I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree.” Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

San Jose has long promoted the planting of trees; it even has a tree ordinance which makes it VERY difficult to take down a tree of any size.

Tree pulling up your sidewalk? Tree blocking all sun? Tree dropping sticky (ginko), prickly (liquid amber), or inky (privet) things all over your sidewalk? Might just take a visit from an arborist, a permit, and a lecture to be able to remove that tree! The rationale: trees contribute to clean air and, of course, provide shade in our summers; many even accommodate the chilly winter afternoon sun by dropping their leaves in late fall. The San Jose tree ordinance also requires homeowners to replace trees in the easements if problem trees are removed.

As Realtors we must give a copy of the tree ordinance as a disclosure to all buying homes in leafy San Jose.

However,
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.” William Blake, 1799.

Now trees are pegged for removal in the Almaden Valley neighborhood of San Jose. Although no less a luminary than Ralph Waldo Emerson penned “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn,” PG&E later in March and through 2011, plans to remove 140 trees. Light green dots mark the trees, some pictured here, marked for removal. While some of these trees are the relatively fast-growing liquid ambers and Monterey pines, others take generations to mature, such as sycamores and oaks. One wonders why the trees could not just be pruned; a citizens group is trying to work with PG&E right now. More on this in an upcoming post!

Posted By: Colleen Badagliacco