Although I was born and raised in San Jose, my visits to the East Side were not commonplace. As a kid, I was advised of general safety issues about the East Side and was warned not to go “there” at night. My father taught English to adult immigrants on the East Side for about half his teaching career, and I used to accompany him when my school was closed. I would sit in the back and meet his students from all over the world. In high school I would go to East Side high school sporting events, remembering that I needed to be careful—at least that is what I was told.
Recently, in an attempt to become better acquainted with East San Jose, I elicited the help of “Team Campos”—Councilmember Nora Campos and her brother, Planning Commissioner Xavier Campos who both grew up on the East Side. I toured District 5 with each of them separately to get the female and male perspective.
Historically, the East Side was more diverse then it is today. At one time, it had a large African American population near the beautiful new Mayfair Community Center. One of the largest African American churches in San Jose is a few blocks away from the center. A significant portion of Caucasian population left during the mid-’70s, so now, District 5 is majority Latino. It is with the Latino struggle that we have the history of Cesar Chavez organizing in East San Jose. I was shown a building behind Our Lady of Guadalupe church where Caesar held meetings. At that time it was adjacent to the old Mayfair packing plant.
East Side has many county pockets that are in the process of being annexed to the city of San Jose. Therefore, miles of sidewalks will be installed over the next decade. Overall, the neighborhoods are dense with people, and it appears as though more people live in each house than in other neighborhoods. As a result, there is very limited street parking. There are many converted garages. Code enforcement is a full-time job, and the housing recession and foreclosures have added stress to the existing neighborhoods.
Various neighborhoods developed at different times on the East Side, like the Tropicana tract of the late ’50s, with nearly flat roofs, or later the Plata Arroyo tract, formerly a drive-in movie theater. Many houses have cyclone fences that divide the yard from the sidewalk which, in my opinion, gives a confined feeling. Graffiti is definitely prevalent and it seems to me like a person could work 24/7 cleaning or painting out graffiti on the East Side. It is said that if graffiti stays up people die, because much of the tagging is gang-related, marking territory, which leads to higher chance of conflict. Dealing with the gang culture will continue to be a need. By the way, I recommend the new movie at the Camera Theaters, called “Sin Nombre,” which depicts gang culture and youth recruitment.
Good things are happening on the East Side, such as an increase in retail development occupied by mostly small business owners. And the Tropicana shopping center transformation with three new banks is a significant change. Form-based zoning is being planned for Alum Rock Avenue to prepare this area for development, and eventually help it become more of a destination. There are already many good restaurants on the East Side, like Texas Smokehouse on Story Road and El Pirrin on San Antonio—yummy.
Challenges will remain with adding more public transportation to this area since it has the highest ridership in the County. Also, making trails a reality, like the Silver Creek Trail that connects Lake Cunningham and the Coyote Creek. This trail may take decades, but it’s worth the wait, much like trails everywhere in San Jose.
Quoting Javier, “the East Side is better then it was 20 years ago.” It has its challenges no doubt as do other parts of our city. However, it is abundantly clear to me that building out Coyote Valley would have left the East Side further behind.
Xavier Campos as you may know will be running for city council in District 5 in 2010. He has deep roots in the East Side, knows the challenges of the past, present and has a vision of better East Side.
Parents need to take more responsibility with their children. Taggers parents should pay the price for their kids destruction of private property. Not sure government can replace parents but it can make it expensive to break the law.
Pierluigi,
So are you endorsing Xavier for City Council?
Off topic a bit but, when you, the Council, and Mayor hold discussions on how to raise funds for fireworks for 4th of July, PLEASE post the date, time, and place in advance here on the Metro/SJ Inside. I want to come and put in my 2 cents, or $100.00 donation!
At least you are honest in saying that you were told “not to go there”… so many people in “the good parts” of San Jose always put down the East Side, as if San Jose stops east of Highway 101. On another note, if this guy Mr. Campos wants to run for office, does this portend another generation of cronyism?
P.O. informed us that “East Side has many county pockets that are in the process of being annexed to the city of San Jose. Therefore, miles of sidewalks will be installed over the next decade.” Oh great—we can’t keep the existing SJ streets and sidewalks in decent repair, so we go ahead and annex county land and add another financial burden to our deficit. GOOD JOB, city council! The private equivalent would be that I can’t pay my current credit card bills, so then I agree to take over someone else’s credit card payments as well. Are you guys born stupid, or do you get that way only after attaining public office?
Then P.O. informed us (as if we didn’t know), that”so now, District 5 is majority Latino.” He went on to observe: “Graffiti is definitely prevalent and it seems to me like a person could work 24/7 cleaning or painting out graffiti on the East Side.”
But he didn’t tell us if the graffiti was disproprotionately Latino in origin. I guess we have to figure that out for ourselves. Or maybe Raj or Erin or Sean could study the disproportionality of graffiti on the East Side and report back their findings to us.
Then we learned that “And the Tropicana shopping center transformation with three new banks is a significant change.” Hhhmmm, how much stimulus money did they get from those of us who work and pay our bills on time and don’t take out loans that we can’t pay back?
Thanks for the update, P.O. I feel soooo much better now.
I never go east of downtown San Jose.
Wow JMO has become such an angry white man he’s turned against his favorite council member, and probably the mayor too. I’m sorry you hate us in the East Side so much.
It is Cesar Chavez, not Caesar.
Well JMO I am one of those White Liberals (I’m assuming you thought otherwise because you told me to shut up in Spanish) and I actually concede the things you mentioned about gang activity.
I called you an angry white male not because you’re necessarily wrong on the facts but because of your attitude in response to the Councilmember’s posting. This may not apply to you, but others with your view point scream reverse racism and says that we should be equal and race shouldn’t matter which is why affirmative action is bad yadda yadda. Fair enough. But you were the one who brought up race to the conversation in a very hostile manner.
Just a note:
Taggers come from ALL races. I know, I worked with them through the Neighborhood Accountability Board, and the Victim Offender Mediation Program. White M&M wanna bees ranked high in the loving to tag catagory.
No, J # 10, I assumed you to be one of those white liberals. I just thought I’d see if you took the time to learn a bit of the primary language of your neighborhood.
I’m not at all sure that “White Liberals” deserves capitalization.
Am I angry, J? You bet! I’m sick and tired of all the white liberal apologists for all the f*ck-ups in the world. Did you see the story this a.m. on KRON4? The graffiti situation in North Beach and Chinatown far exceeds what we have here. What is Gavin’s solution? The City & County of SF is now posting threatening notes on the property of those who have been vandalized saying that they will fine THE PROPERTY OWNERS if they don’t cover the “tags” in 24 hours! The victim gest screwed by the vandals and then again by the white liberal establishment. That’s so bloody typical! The answer is to find these guys and at a minimum make them spend a couple of hundred hours cleaning up their vandalism. The answer in NOT to fine the victims.
K #11—yes, taggers (the PC word for graffiti vandals) come from all races. But P.O.‘s post was about the East Side, which he correctly described as being populated disproportionately by Latinos; and he went on to describe an area completely blighted by tags.
So, since so many on this blog love to point to disproportionate things, they need to accept that if an area has a disproportionate members of a certain background, and there is a disproportionate amount of graffiti vandalism, there may be a connection.
These citizens groups who want statistics gathered and analyzed want it only one way. I’d bet the ranch that if you could reliably verify the percentage of “tags” on the East Side by ethnicity, it would be overwhelmingly Latino.
But I’d also bet that an even higher percentage would be from poorer backgrounds, regardless of ethnicity.
Oh, and one more thing, J. I put my name on every word I write. When you grow the cojones to do the same, I’ll have a little more respect for your criticism.
J #6—I don’t hate you on the East Side; but I am sick and tired of all the apologists for gangs and graffiti vandals, a disporportionate number of whom, according to P.O. apparently dwell on the East Side. I’m tired of all the nonsense and excuses for people who, at the very least, behave poorly.
How would these graffiti assholes like it if, when caught, someone took their can of paint or black magic markers and emptied it on their house, car, etc?
The reason conditions become stereotypes is that a majority of the time they’re accurate depictions of the condition.
Even the white liberals concede that a major reason for the growth of gang membership is that the kids’ family/home life sucks and their parents are indifferent at best.
And we’re supposed to like all this stuff, or be called angry white males.
Cayate, J.
Very true Kathleen. That’s why you see it in all parts of the city whether the neighborhoods are majority White, Asian, or Hispanic.
Pier,
How can the city afford to annex thousands of new residents which is a total drain on the finances and yet we can’t afford a 4th of July celebration?
J, in Berryessa
I was very surprised to see youth of ALL financial, and educational backgrounds involved in tagging, AND vandalism. If you look at CDs by rappers, or music videos, you’ll see where it comes from. It is the “cool” in thing to do. I think it is far more a “youth” issue rather than one of a race, or economic issue.
Secondly, and most importantly, JUDGES need to take a firmer stand on violators because as JMO so aptly points out, victims are left holding the bag for this supposed “victimless” crime. By the time, usually YEARS later, a victim gets lucky enough to get restitution from the offender or their parents, which is rare let me tell you, the victim is re-victimized by having to participate in getting recovery for their loss. It is a real messed up system that hurts more than helps victims.
And finally, as harsh as some of what JMO is saying may sound, much of it is true. Too many groups, and politicians have allowed victim’s rights to become secondary and offender’s rights to become their priority. Look at how many billions of dollars go into housing, feeding, giving medical care, education, clothing, haircuts, soap, toilet paper, FREE legal council, and reform programs go to criminals. Then look at how much money is spent on assisting the victim. If that fact doesn’t make you want to vomit, nothing will~
#12 & 13
Actually my corner of the Eastside is Majority Asian so next time you can tell me to shut it in Vietnamese or Mandarin. Yes I know PLO’s post was mainly about D5 but here in the Eastside (from Santa Teresa all the way up here) we are quite diverse.
Since I don’t know who you are it really doesn’t matter to me that you use your full name. But if you can convince your like-minded pals to also stop using nicknames, then perhaps I’ll consider it.
J#16 offered:“But if you can convince your like-minded pals to also stop using nicknames, then perhaps I’ll consider it.
“
So, J, you’ll grow a pair only if others do so first?