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La Avenida Apartments to break ground in Mountain View on Friday
A new apartment community in North Bayshore, which will bring much needed affordable units to the city of Mountain View, is slated to break ground on March 3. The community is invited to join the city and its partners in celebration.
The La Avenida Apartments will include affordable housing for individuals and families, including veterans and formerly homeless people, who earn between 30 and 60% of the area’s median income.
The groundbreaking ceremony will be held this Friday, March 3, at 12:30 p.m. at 1188 Armand Dr. in Mountain View, at the intersection of Armand Drive and La Avenida. The event will bring together Mountain View city officials, Santa Clara County officials, affordable housing advocates, and representatives of the developer, Eden Housing, to celebrate the project, which has been in the works since before the pandemic.
“This development will ensure that the lower-income workforce, people with disabilities, and those on fixed incomes can continue to live and work in the City of Mountain View, as well as help balance the jobs to housing ratio in the North Bayshore region,” according to an event statement. “La Avenida also seeks to help address the homelessness crisis by providing permanent supportive housing to individuals experiencing homelessness in Mountain View.”
Simitian wants county to develop ongoing plan for COVID-19 vaccination
Santa Clara County Fifth District Supervisor Joe Simitian is calling for a continuation of the county’s vaccine effort, in light of the recent demobilization of Santa Clara County-run vaccination sites, including Mountain View’s.
“I wish we were done, but we’re not,” said Simitian in a Feb. 28 statement. “We’ve got to keep helping those who need the help, and we’ve got to stay nimble, so that we can ramp up quickly if the need arises again.”
Simitian, along with fellow County Supervisor Otto Lee, has asked county staff to develop a plan to continue the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to those who want them. Simitian said this could look similar to the county’s seasonal flu vaccine program.
“The reason the County vaccine program has been so successful is because it’s been easy and convenient,” Simitian said in the statement. “And while it might make sense to ‘ramp down’ our existing sites, I think we do need to maintain some level of ‘easy access’ for the foreseeable future.”
Beginning March 1, the county’s various mass vaccination sites are shuttering, with county-administered vaccinations available for existing patients and the uninsured, and only at Valley Medical Center facilities.
“(Simitian) suggested that a range of options be considered, including hosting pop-up vaccine clinics and partnering with community organizations to provide vaccines at locations throughout the County,” the statement said.
Santa Clara County DA honors parents whose children have died from opioid overdoses
The Santa Clara County District Attorney honored a group of parents whose children have died from opioid overdoses by recognizing them as this year’s Courageous Crime Victims, an award given out annually by the DA’s office during its award ceremony.
“District Attorney Jeff Rosen personally gave the parents the annual Courage award,” a Feb. 23 statement said. “Since their children fatally overdosed (on) pills laced with the fentanyl, they have been working alongside law enforcement, health officials and prosecutors to raise awareness in the county about its dangers.”
As he presented the award, Rosen said the children’s memories will live on as “a catalyst for change rather than one dark moment in time,” the statement said.
The annual awards also recognize outstanding work by the Office’s prosecutors, investigators, criminalists, paralegals and support staff.
Rosen gave the Excellence Outside of Trial award to a veteran prosecutor “who helped unravel and successfully prosecuted a massive scheme set up to cheat and defraud health insurance companies out of $50 million,” the statement added. A full list of the winners can be found in the statement.
