Jan 3, 2004

Daniel Beasworrick to oppose Ken Yeager for District 6 City Council seat

By Carol Rosen
Editor

The city council race for District 6 is poised to heat up as Daniel Beasworrick, who last April moved to the Willow Glen area from South San Jose, delivered the requisite 50 signatures to the San Jose city clerk on Dec. 5.

“There are a number of things that made me decide to run,” he told the “Willow Glen Times.” But the biggest thing [that convinced me] was the way some people on the City Council voted for the Mayor’s Putting Families Back to Work program. With so many people out of work, it’s important to get them back to work so that they can feed their families. It’s also causing local businesses to suffer. I want to help do something about it, and I thought I could get out there and help work this out.”

Sometimes votes are misunderstood, notes Ken Yeager, the incumbent city councilmember from District 6. The mayor’s program had many different aspects to it, Yeager explained, and each was voted on separately. He and the rest of the council did approve most of those aspects.

“The one aspect I was not in favor of was housing development,” Yeager said. “That portion took the vote away from the council sending all decisions straight to the planning commission and leave out the neighborhood response. That’s the section I voted against,” he said.

Beasworrick was born in Willow Glen, but moved with his parents to South San Jose when he was 5. He continued to attend Willow Glen Elementary through fifth grade, followed by John Muir Junior High School. He graduated from Pioneer High in 1972.

Moving back to Willow Glen was something he’d wanted to do since his childhood move, he said. Last month, he said in news reports that he wanted to run because he was more in touch with the people of the district. However, he told “The Times” he feels the “district encompasses more than Willow Glen, and the issues that affect the entire district, which include Santana Row, businesses on Bascom and Winchester, and the historic homes in Willow Glen and in the Rose Garden.”

“There’s more to it than being in tune with Willow Glen. I feel [that the city councilmember] has to be in tune with this entire part of town. Because I have been part of it for so long and have seen and heard about changes in the Valley, because my family has lived here since the 1880s. I have great stories from my father and grandfather.”

Beasworrick’s family settled in this area sometime between 1870 and 1880. They came from Cornwall to work in the mercury mines in New Almaden.

Among his qualifications is his diverse career, he said. “I’ve been doing retail and service management for about 15 years.” Beasworrick and his wife Salie have owned Noah’s Ark Pet Grooming store in Willow Glen for the last seven to eight years, he said. Prior to that he owned a retail pet store and before that he managed a friend’s pet store at El Paseo de Saratoga. He also ran a pet shop at the Capital Flea Market.

Before that he managed a boarding kennel in Almaden Valley. He said it wasn’t doing well when he first came into the business, but with some renovation they managed to turn the business around by enclosing the kennels and air conditioning the space.

Beasworrick attended the Oregon Institute of Technology in computer technology and also went to Alabama Aviation and Technical College to study flight technology, but said he did not graduate. He is a private pilot. He also ran a kit-car business in San Jose. He served four years in the Navy as a photographer he said, and was in Southeast Asia twice, but declined to say exactly where he was stationed.

He’s also done quite a bit of volunteer work throughout the years. Currently, he’s working out of his home since he and his wife have taken in two sibling foster children and are hoping to get another sibling. He’s on the board of directors of the San Jose Kiwanis Club and has been quite active in the Boy Scouts as a unit commissioner, scoutmaster and assistant scoutmaster. He helped raise his wife’s children and now has three grandchildren.

Beasworrick received an honorary doctorate of divinity from the Universal Life Church so that he could officiate at a friend’s wedding. He’s also involved with the Family Community Church in San Jose where his stepson, Chuck Aruta, is the youth pastor.

Since turning in his signatures, Beasworrick has garnered a few volunteers. He plans to campaign door to door, and in early January was busy contacting neighborhood associations and business and professional organizations for their support.