Attention, Westfield Valley Fair shoppers: Better think about skipping the line at Ramen Nagi or trying on another pair of sneakers at Shoe Palace. That is, if you want to get out of the mall before you have to start paying for parking.
The mall has slashed the amount of time you get to park for free in its garages and lots. Instead of two free hours, shoppers now only get one, and after that it’s $2 an hour. There’s a $15 maximum that signs say takes effect after five hours, but the math on that seems off (unless there’s an increase to $3 an hour in the works).
Valley Fair first implemented a parking fee in February 2022, saying at the time it was imposed to curtail people from leaving their cars parked at the mall overnight or for days at a time. Westfield Valley Fair Senior General Manager Sue Newsom told the Mercury News back then the “controlled parking plan” was part of a broader focus on security at Valley Fair, as hundreds of cars were left at the mall every day. The biggest offenders were people parking at the mall and heading to jobs elsewhere and travelers leaving their cars there instead of San Jose International Airport.
I reached out to Valley Fair’s spokespeople this week to find out why the change, but no one had responded by Friday afternoon.
Something that hasn’t changed is that people who work at Valley Fair are also still getting charged for parking. They can pay a $3 daily fee or get a $40 monthly pass, which still seems like an unfair burden on employees who have to put up with the likes of us every day.
By the way, Santana Row across Stevens Creek Boulevard is still offering two hours free, but it’s $3 an hour after that, meaning a four-hour stay at either will cost the same $6 to park.
And before my transit friends start emailing me, a round-trip on VTA is just $5 for adults. But I’ll have to take up a couple of extra seats with all my bags.
GOLDEN CELEBRATION: Bellarmine College Prep welcomed a boisterous — and generous — crowd to campus March 14 for its 50th annual Golden Bell, a fundraising event to support tuition assistance (which the school is giving out to the tune of nearly $8 million this year). Not a bad way to kick off a year of celebration and transition for the boys Jesuit school.
Bellarmine — along with Notre Dame High School and Santa Clara University — is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year and will do so with Bell-a-Palooza, a first-time community event on campus that will have a carnival atmosphere. It’s taking place May 9 from 3 to 7 p.m., with live music and entertainment, family-friendly activities, bounce houses for kids and a beer and wine garden for the grown ups. Check it out at www.bcp.org/giving/bell-a-palooza.
Bellarmine College Prep President Chris Meyercord speaks to the crowd at the 50th annual Golden Bell, a fundraiser for financial aid held at the San Jose school on Saturday, March 14, 2026. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
While Bell-a-Palooza is the celebration part, the transition will come at the end of the 2026-27 school year when President Chris Meyercord steps down after 12 years in the position. Meyercord’s relationship with the school goes back much further, as he’s a 1988 graduate who also served as principal, assistant principal and admissions director, as well as teaching English.
In an announcement to the Bellarmine community, Meyercord noted that he’s taken up distance running in recent years. “While I’m not fast, I do have a good finishing kick,” he said. “I intend to run through the finish line here as well, serving fully through 2026–27 and handing off this role with the school in the best shape possible.”
WONDER-FUL GESTURE: The Friends of the Heritage Theater is a volunteer group that has raised a lot of money to improve and maintain the historic Campbell Heritage Theater. Over the years that’s included adding moving lights and a computerized control board, restoring the original 1938 urns at the theater’s main entrance, repairing the main curtain and replacing the outdated sound system that had been there since the theater reopened in 2004.
But this month, the group is doing something it’s never done: funding scholarships and paying part of the cost of the theater rental for a production of “Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr.” for three performances March 26-28. The show, directed and choreographed by Efsun Alper Sweet with music direction by Evelyn Rumsby, features students from Campbell School of Innovation and Monroe Middle School.
And it definitely fits into the Friends of the Heritage Theater’s mission by giving young performers exposure to such a great venue. You can bet they — and their parents — will be back.
GROWTH BUSINESS: The Los Altos History Museum has hired Cristina Prevarin of Gachina Landscape Management as its new orchardist. She’ll oversee both the historic trees in the Los Altos Heritage Orchard as well as the museum’s garden.
You might expect a history museum to have a curator, but an orchardist? Originally, Los Altos hired Phil Doetsch to care for the orchard, one of three remaining heritage orchards in Santa Clara County. After he died in December 2022 at age 67, the city turned to the museum to maintain the orchard and they worked with an arborist to maintain it until hiring Prevarin in January.