Real Estate in Santa Clara and Silicon Valley and Factors that Contribute to Better Community Engagement

Real Estate in Santa Clara and Silicon Valley and Factors that Contribute to
Better Community Engagement
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Introduction:
Silicon Valley is located northern part of the United States, in the state of California. It obtained its name from the numerous silicon chip manufacturers in the area, and also from Santa Clara Valley. Silicon Valley now houses various high-tech companies including Apple, Cisco systems, Intel, Nvidia and Sun Microsystems (International Telecommunication Union (2005)). Santa Clara is better known since it has been in existence for quite a longer time than the other areas in Silicon Valley. Housing in Santa Clara is much more affordable compared to other areas in Silicon Valley.
Current Conditions and policies:
Real estate has really boomed in Santa Clara and the entire Silicon Valley, and as a result many real estate businesses have emerged (U.S. Small Business Administration 2001, Headd 2005). Various policies and conditions have been put in place to govern this region as a result of its vitality to the economy of the United States of America since it houses various multi-billion-dollar companies.
Some of the policies put in place include:
* Outdoor music regulation – This policy was put in place to regulate public events to occur only within some stipulated hours, that is between 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and it comes along with a restriction of a period of time in which the permit should be taken which is normally two weeks prior to the event.
Despite possession of a permit, complaints from the neighbors about noise could result in the event being banned and the permit withdrawn.
* Animal control authority – The Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority was developed to take care of abandoned, lost or sick animals within the Silicon Valley area. It also ensures that pets and domestic animals are well taken care of by their owners.
A home for lost pets was developed and this organization takes responsibility to make announcements for lost pets.
* Development of the Housing and Community Services Division, which offers various programs to residents for example Neighborhood Conservation and Improvement Program which offers services such as technical and financial assistance to residents.
Besides that, it addresses various problems and challenges faced by the residents, therefore major repairs required such as plumbing and re-roofing are reported to the Neighborhood Conservation and Improvement Program.
It also ensures that there is affordable housing, catering for physically challenged individuals and also provides public utilities for people with low income.
Programs of community engagement in planning:
The major program used to engage the community in planning in Santa Clara is through engaging the youths in community development projects, since they are the most available at most times. This makes them socially productive. This is majorly done through involving school students in public speaking campaigns and also writing.
Another method involved is reward programs in Santa Clara whereby those who are actively involved in community planning are awarded and thus it creates a motivation scheme to encourage others t...