Parking fees at county parks to return
Another step toward normal — though not one most people are likely to cheer — is that Santa Clara County is going to start charging people to park again at 16 county parks starting April 5.
The county parks department started waiving the $6 fee just two days after the first stay-athome order went into effect a year ago to provide relief for families looking for a safe way to get outdoors during the spring and summer. Of course, the parking money is a key stream of revenue for the parks department, so you knew it wouldn’t last forever.
You can find the list of parks that will start charging again atparkhere.org, but it does include six of the “Magnificent Seven” parks in this year’s PixInParks challenge and photo contest — Calero, Coyote Lake/Harvey Bear, Joseph D. Grant, Mount Madonna, Lexington Reservoir and Hellyer. The seventh, Rancho San Antonio, remains free to park at — along with 11 other parks in the system.
That leaves five more weekends of free parking for visitors, and families who have made county park visits part of their routine might want to look into getting an annual pass for $95. Of course, transit advocates have pointed out for a while that it would be even better if the Valley Transportation Authority had service — even just on weekends — to more of our county parks. Though parks like Martial Cottle
in San Jose and Vasona Lake in Los Gatos are accessible by bus, it’s pretty hard to get to Calero or Lexington Reservoir without a car.
STUDENT SECTION >> Cheers to the varsity dance team at San Jose’s Presentation High School, which was awarded the National Grand Champion award, the top prize at the Contest of Champions Nationals competition, for the first time in school history March 6. Normally, the 13-member varsity squad and 12-member JV team would have flown to Orlando, Florida, for the competition, but they performed their routines on video this year.
Presentation Dance Director Sara Fugate says that didn’t make it much easier. Students, who have been attending classes online for the past year, were able to practice on campus just three time a week, masked and maintaining distance — so no choreographed lifts. And all had to be done outside. “We danced in our school’s courtyard, in our school’s parking lot, on our school’s turf field,” Fugate said. “We were everywhere we normally don’t practice and on surfaces that aren’t made for dance.”
Dancing wasn’t an issue for Harker School senior Anna Vazhaeparambil, a Saratoga resident who was named California journalist of the year by the Journalism Education Association. The editor-in-chief of the student news website Harker Aquila, Vazhaeparambil will be the state’s representative in JEA’s Journalist of the Year competition this spring, with a $3,000 scholarship going to the winner.
SHARKS OUT FOR BLOOD >>
You’ve heard the old saying, “Donate blood, play hockey”? Well, the San Jose Sharks hope their fans are interested in doing the first part this weekend as the team’s Teal for Change Council has partnered with the nonprofit Vitalant to host a blood drive Sunday at Sharks Ice in San Jose.
The drive has an additional goal, which is to raise the number of donations from Black and Latino communities. And that’s important because some genetic blood diseases — like sickle cell disease — are best treated with compatible blood matches by donors in the same race/ethnic group.
The blood drive runs 10 a.m.-3 p.m., but there are others planned over the next several weeks if you can’t make this one. If you need an additional incentive, registered donors will be entered in a drawing to win a family four-pack of tickets to a future Sharks home game — whenever it is fans are allowed back at SAP Center. Register for the blood drive at vitalant.org/sanjosesharks.