It seems that this council, most of it anyway, means what it says; it held the line against the conversion of five acres of industrial land to housing. Nice job, team. The war will never be won until developers believe that the council will not buckle under the joint pressure of too much money and too little staff backbone. It must be won battle by battle.
We have seen it before. In the seventies and early eighties, the council was prone to look at anything outside the Urban Service Line (city services line for normal talkers) and determine the result based on whether they approved of the particular applicant, the amount of money donated to their campaigns, or the color of the jacket the presenter was wearing. Of such things were the decisions of life, death, and city budgets made. Only after months of solid decisions did the developers and quick-buck artists get the message. In those eight years, we did not expand the services of the city one square foot while we built the tax base, our industrial areas and the downtown. It was a very good exchange for the people of San Jose.
In the latest battle—this five acre conversion near Santana Row—the council held on a narrow 6-5 vote. Mayor Reed, Sam Liccardo and Pierluigi Oliverio led the way on this issue, as they have on many other land use items. This was another win for the forces of reason. It is inevitable that some good people caught in the middle will get hurt, but what choice is there? With the city facing a horrendous budget crisis that is almost unparalleled in our history, and the balance of the council seemingly unaware of the link between land use changes and budget red ink, it is the only way to go.
I think that the number “1,400” should loom large in the view of all. The bad decisions of the Gonzales era came from too many lobbyists and too little attention paid to the big picture. That’s why those 1,400 acres of prime and near-prime job and tax creating lands were lost to San Jose. It’s why we are in such dire straits in the financing of basic services.
I truly am puzzled why the entire council can’t see the 800 pound bottle of red ink in the living room.
Reading that, one might get the impression that there is a lack of developable land in San Jose!
#1
Wasn’t the entire justification Cortese used for his Evergreen plan based on having developers paying for other projects, for example, fixing Hwy 101 interchanges, in order to get the plan approved?
Are we now saying developer concessions are unethical, or maybe even illegal?
I like this very obvious correlation between ‘backbone’ and ‘non-professional politician’.
I’m becoming very fond of voting for people who have a record of public service but not necessarily public office. We should encourage more people to run who have a jobpracticebusinessfirm to return to and don’t necessarily care about campaign contributions or union backing.
#4- Kenny-“I’m becoming very fond of voting for people who have a record of public service but not necessarily public office. We should encourage more people to run who have a jobpracticebusinessfirm to return to and don’t necessarily care about campaign contributions or union backing.”
I couldn’t agree with you more. We have some very skilled and talented citizens volunteering on City Commissions that would do an excellent job of representing their community. I have always been disappointed in having to vote for lesser of two evils. I think the reason so many awesome people don’t run is because it costs too much money, and the media only covers the well-known candidates. Not to mention how dirty campaigns can get. I guess putting your whole life before the media and public to tear apart wouldn’t be worth the headache!
Tom,
This morning`s San Jose Mercury News paper, page 4B, last paragraph of “Council memo about developers stays secret”, said it well.
“In an unrelated vote Tuesday, the Council approved a zoning request from the developers of Santana Row to build 160,000square feet of office and commerical space rather than 229 residential units and 190 room hotel”.
This just goes to show us that there is a demand for office and commerical space in our city. This project will produce more of the same revenue our city government needs to pay for city services. This is contrary to what developers have been telling us.
How about that 190 room hotel that was part of there original plan? Why doesn`t your downtown people go after that major hotel. downtown has a planned hotel site sitting empty across the street from the Marriot Hotel on the northeast corner of Market Street and San Carlos St.Santana Row doesn`t have a Convention Center like downtown`s.
How about the major hotel Milpitas has planned for the Intermodal Center if BART is built. Why can`t downtown San Jose get one or both of those two hotels?
That was a big vote that deserved appropriate coverage by the Merc (I only saw it mentioned in the Sunday, local news bit).
I wonder if the same logic (and votes) will apply on the IStar/soccer stadium deal.
Re: Mr Zapelli’s mention of the secret memo…I’m always amazed when an item is kept secret by the council under “attorney/client” privilege. Shouldn’t the people be the city attorney’s only client? Maybe we need two attorneys…one for the council, and one for the people.
Pete Campbell
Is this a case of the council showing resolve or the developer unwilling to pay the “extraordinary benefit” tax?
Reading today in the Merc about Mr. Constant trying to get the secret memo released [1] tells me it is the latter. The memo deals with attempts by council members to extract concessions from developers before approving zoning changes.
The attention on zoning changes is good. Unfortunately the poorly defined “extraordinary benefit” loophole will create its own set of problems as both developers and council members learn how to really work this new system.
[1] http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_9253713
Richard
Santana Row is one of the biggest successes ever, more by Council collusion ( you don’t see many highway improvements) and the undercutting of the Downtown investment as well as the exploding of the housing market, than by brilliant execution. In a faux way, it is quite nice. And any conversion of industrial property ( istar or no and I have an ownership interest there) should be because it is GOOD for the city: period. TMcE
Tom,
All I`m saying is go after those two major hotels, one at santana Row the other at Milpitas.
All I have been hearing lately is “expansion” of the McHnery Convention Center. A successful Convention Center will need Hotel Rooms ! Why convert the the plan for a hotel on the N.E.corner of Market St. and San Carlos St. to high rise Condo`s ?
How come 27 hotels have been built close to the San Jose City line “in Santa Clara and Milpitas”. The Milpitas Shearton advertizes itself as the San Jose Shearton.The Warm Springs high rise Marriott
advertizes it is just 10 min. from the San Jose International Airport(and it`s busy).
Whats keeping these hotels outside of San Jose. We need them in San Jose if our Convention Center is to be successfull.Hotels produce a lot of revenue for the City too, something we need.