It is interesting that the words of a past mayor now seem to carry so much weight in the opening decade of the 21st century. Yet these words uttered by Janet Gray Hayes nearly thirty years ago reverberate now as never before: “Let’s make San Jose better before we make it bigger.”
The current denizens of City Hall do not seem to have noticed this prophetic warning. At the Chamber, the writing on the wall is similarly not noticed. Even the Downtown Association, charged with the well-being of the small businesses of our city center, has taken an inexplicable position of endorsing the actions of City Hall in various development schemes and, seemingly, is just hoping for the best.
Out in the neighborhoods, there are rumblings by Ed Rast and a committed group of activists in the United Neighborhoods organization who seem ready to make a difference in some of the upcoming district elections and perhaps in larger battles. It is a big gap to fill after years of inaction.
A final, bizarre straw on the camel’s back of planning nonsense was issued by Ron Gonzales and Councilman Forrest Williams when they called for home building to begin in Coyote foregoing a “trigger” of jobs by a so-called consortium of the “willing.” Is this Operation Coyote Freedom or what? Are we going to see tiny bulldozer flags on the lapels of City Council members next?
This “coalition of the willing” seems to mean those ready, willing, and able to begin now and turn a profit without a modicum of reasoning for the tax base that was always the sine qua non of any development of that pristine valley. These home builders and others can not be totally blamed, but hiring the usual suspects of the lobbying world is not reassuring. Perhaps they have no confidence in their position.
There must be a rationale for the accelerated development of this area with all the quality-of-life issues involved. Council members and the Mayor’s office, in the final throes of largesse, simply must not abandon the sound timing and judgment of the past three decades. Remember there is a very good reason why Janet Gray Hayes is still spoken of fondly by many in San Jose – those in City Hall should not forget that simple lesson either.
This city is coming apart at the seams. We can’t spread out anymore, Coyote Valley or even north San Jose, until we can fix the problems of the rest of the city. What are they thinking? What happened to the Cisco fiasco, no conclusions I can see. I think maybe it’s time to stop all lobbists from ruining our city. All they want is money and no interest in San Jose. Lets take care of the people that are here before we do anything else.
You have to finish your meal before you get dessert!
Don’t worry the sky isn’t falling. We still live in (one of) the greatest place(s) in CA. We are going to make it the best though by helping more people live and work here. I will be explaining how all of this fits together very soon. I support the mixed-use redevelopment of North San Jose. But it has to be done right. We don’t have the time/money to do it wrong.
Tom-
Good blog.
Thanks for reminding us of the common sense approach to development by one of San Jose’s better Mayors.
I don’t understand the rush to develop the Coyote Valley. It will still be there in 10, 20 or 30 years if the expansion is needed.
Until then, we still have the opportunity to take an afternoon drive down Monterey Highway, stop at a fruit stand, see the crops and orchards and enjoy this valley as it once was.
Enjoy it while you can, some folks at City Hall don’t seem to think this quality of life is very important. Could it be that developers have more clout than fruit stands?
Proponents of Coyote Valley development claim that it will bring tax dollars and jobs. What jobs? Contractors and developers will make a killing, of course, and enjoy it in their Los Gatos mansions; while grocery and retail store clerks will be eligible for state low income assistance. As long as we put a Wal-Mart Super Center in downtown Coyote Valley with Welfare Offices nearby – everything will be just fine. Local residents will turn around and redeem their food stamps and welfare checks right there. It may become the biggest self contained experiment with the code name “Sam Walton’s”.., oops “Ron Gonzales’ dream town”. In time, it will secede from the rest of San Jose and elect Mr. Gonzales as its king. This way he’ll just rule and bear no responsiblity for anything.
There is only one reason for the rush to destroy Coyote Valley—the Mayor’s pals want to cash in before he leaves office. They are concerned that the next mayor (although there is no guarantee) might have an ounce of common sense and slow down this rush to destory the last remaining agricultural lands we have.
As for the words of Janet Gray, in typical fashion for this current group of outsiders at City Hall, they ignore the past because it gets in the way of what they want to do. History is just an obstacle for them to work around.
I rather have a vibrant downtown than having Coyote Valley built. Downtown, today, is active and vibrant thanks to careful planning by Janet Hayes and Tom Mc Enery. It’s really Janet who got started on downtown redevelopment program back in 1977. She solely said, ” Let’s stop focusing on urban sprawl and build Coyote Valley and start focusing on downtown.” That’s how downtown was revived. Downtown is flourishing as the result of her stance, and Tom took it from there. Let’s not deviate from and blow it: just preserve downtown and make it even better.
I am all for a well planned Coyote Valley that keeps the job triggers. Unfortunately I do trust our city’s power brokers to defend the general plan in the years to come if Coyote Valley is not developed now. Go back a few years to see how almost everybody lined up with Calpine to overturn the general plan for North Coyote Valley. If the choice is houses now or the possibility of more unplanned development (power plant expansion, casinos, etc…), I will take the houses.
Where is that Cisco Campus?
The GP change for Calpine—to locate a power plant right next to a substation makes a lot of sense.
Opposing a power plant that provides energy to Silicon Valley, which could not exist without electricity made no sense.
Our next hot summer when energy needs peak, we may avoid rolling blackouts and keep Silicon Valley working because Metcalf Energy Center is online.
P.S. It’s tough to build housing without electricity too.
I agree with the majority of posts here that are against any Coyote development. We have more than enough still left to do within the current urban service area. This is like Dutch Hamman all over again.
The rush to build a new city in Coyote Valley will only make life worse for those of us already living in SJ and surrounding communities. The main beneficiaries will be the development community, none of whom will be living in this new, congested and air-choked mess.
The “triggers” were put in place for very good reasons. They should not be tampered with.
It’s great for us to talk to each other on this site, but we have to go beyond that. Contact the Mayor, City Council, and members of the Coyote Task Force. Tell them to leave the triggers alone, not to push development that will lessen the quality of life for all of us. Talk to your friends and educate them on what is happening. If the people do not speak up, this will be thrust upon us and it will be too late.
If you liked Dutch Hamman’s attempt to turn SJ into LA, then you will love the Mayor’s attempt to destroy Coyote Valley and our quality of life.
Speak up soon before it is too late.
Where is the Cisco campus? India, China?
Where is US Dataport?
The power plant in Coyote Valley might make sense to some but the city council did vote 11-0 to reject the GP change. The CEC used its override power to allow Calpine to build the plant.
As Metcalf will only supply a small part of Silicon Valley’s electricity. you have to wonder why Calpine has not broken ground on their Hayward project. The silence as been deafening compared to the Metcalf PR machine.
Isn’t it interesting that when the discussion takes place outside of City Hall, or the pages of the Mercury News, the there is much less enthusiasm for the rush to pave over Coyote Valley?
There seem to be some doubters about the idea that San Jose’s planning department is seeking a new downtown in the North San Jose area. Just take a look at the picture of the planning outcome posted by the planning department itself to make up your mind on this point.
Go to the department’s web site at the following Internet address and then click on the left side of the page at “Vision North San Jose.” You’ll see a picture of a brand new downtown.
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/
The city’s movers and shakers need to get into overdrive because this plan goes to the planning commission in the first week of June, and then to the city council on June 21.
Next thing you know they’re going to want to move back to the old City Hall since it will be closer to their sparkling new Downtown North.
Hearing this about the City Council wanting to put all their energy into creating “other” downtowns, makes me believe either a) they have given up on downtown or b) they are avoiding making downtown better for personal reasons or c) someone is giving them a lot of money to put their efforts elsewhere.
San Jose’s REAL downtown is the place off Santa Clara Street – why can’ t those at City Hall just work together to put in the pieces that are missing???
Mark T:
You may not be that far off. Since The Taj Gonzal was touted as a way to consolidate all city office space, thus reducing rents, was a total lie, the old city hall may just have new city employee occupants. Only 17%-20% of city workers will actually get to be in The Taj Gonzal. The rest gotta be somewhere else.
You’ll know who the powerful dept. heads are by who gets to go to The Taj Gonzal and who is forced to stay in or relocate to the current city hall.
Maybe the folks in planning and redevelopment who like this new downtown—no pesky parolees or board and care demented types are likely to be allowed in the new dowtown—will want to be in the old city hall and closer to this new upscale, sanitized downtown they are jointly planning.
Just think what The Convention and Visitors Bureau can do—tout the only major city in THe U S of A with two downtowns—the seedy one we already have, and the new Disneyesque version planned for North San Jose. Throw in a new theme park and charge admission—or is it already a theme park simply called a second downtown?
Guess we’ll just have to watch it unfold.
John Michael O’Connor
JMO,
Actually if you count Santana Row and Coyote’s “downtown” we will be the city with four downtowns!
We only need one good one!
NEWS FLASH – Gonzo announces new city hall annex for Coyote Valley – it will be the “Coyote Inn” on Monterey Road. Planning dept. overflow will rent space in Coyote Grange Hall next door. City Hall has negotiated excellent lease with property owner at just $25k per month – parking included.
Yo, Actually:
If we add one more, we can call them boroughs and pretend we’re New York.
John Michael O’Connor