After a brief trip outside of the U.S., I was pleased to see that 1stACT’s efforts to revitalize our downtown are meeting with great endorsements. With the strong support of Bruce Chizen of Adobe and the solid leadership of Connie Martinez, it seems like the future is quite bright. The business and arts community that care so much about our city center have every reason to be optimistic and it does not hurt to have the Knight Foundation chipping in a few million. The city, Mayor Reed and RDA honcho Harry Mavrogenes are also stalwart supporters. It is a vision that we can all rally around.
The second item that I noted while away and read about on my return was the death of former mayor and community leader Ernie Renzel. He was a man ahead of his time; a person who clearly saw the future and was not afraid to reach for it. His efforts to create an airport for a small agricultural community are legion and his generosity in securing the Historical Museum complex puts him in a class with few others. He even loaned the city the money! This was a leader to admire.
I put the the advent of the 1stACT plan phase two and Renzel’s demise together because as rare as good ideas are, good implementation is far rarer. We have had a lot of quixotic plans to build and improve downtown lacking two components: money and willpower. As exhibit “A” let me point to a $3 million fountain in the seventies that the citizen redevelopment agency—with significant hype and much acclaim—built, touted, and then abandoned. It is the gold standard in stupidity for downtown revival urban planning. I was part of the decision to bulldoze it. Thanks to Frank Taylor and the Swigs and Kim Small, it was replaced with the Fairmont Hotel, Chavez Plaza (with the fountain “often” open) and a thriving area. Great ideas must have commensurate leadership. Renzel, Ruffo, et al, were part of that tradition. It must continue with 1stACT’s efforts. I wish them well.
Tom writes: “We have had a lot of quixotic plans to build and improve downtown lacking two components: money and willpower.”
Hugh responds: No kidding. Here’s an example of an excellent proposal for a railroad museum on the north edge of downtown:
San Jose Steam Railroad Museum Park:
http://www.ctrc.org/local/museum/san_jose_steam_railroad_museum_rev3_5-6-07.pdf
On May 6, this document describing the San Jose Steam Railroad Museum Park was presented to the San Jose City Council. Let’s hope they support the proposal.
Now that we have 1st Act, do we need an Office of Economic Development, especially if they continue to bring us grand ideas like the Grand Prixe?
Would this group even exist if there were real leadership at City Hall with vision and ambition?
May Mr. Renzel rest in peace,
I’m not sure the late Renzel should get the blame for it (if only he had a crystal ball to see that San Jose would become a major metropolitan area), but the location of our airport stinks to high heaven! Right smack in the middle of our city, it is limited in growth because of 3 freeways, has stunted the growth (vertical) of our city center, and is surrounded by neighborhoods that complain of noise. I often wondered what Mr. Renzel thought of the airport in his final days. RIP Sir, and here’s to the next Ernie Renzel and our new SJC at Moffett or South County!
Moving SJC will never happen and you are not looking at very practical major political, financial, legal, environmental pollution, development and traffic reasons why only 3 new major US airports have been build in last 20 years
No new airport has been built in ove 20 years on another city’s land since they would share airport revenue and get all revenue of surrounding airport industial land
Why would taxpayers of San Jose vote to pay for another city’s economic development when based on results we do our our very poorly?
Another SJI bad idea – try again
Back in the late ‘50s, LAX faced the same problem SJC faces now—it could not expand to meet demand because it was landlocked, surrounded by businesses and residences. LAX then ended at about Sepulveda BLVD. on the west side.
They solved the problem by taking all the land to the west to near the ocean by eminent domain. Even then, the ocean view houses they condemned sold for $1million+++ back then! I cannot imagine what it must have cost, but they got it done.
The LAX you see today would never have happened without such a bold move. The planes taxi, take off, and land over Sepulveda Blvd, so why couldn’t they taxi over 101?
#3 -The placement of San Jose State is what’s really messed up San Jose!
Mr. Renzel loved to be driven to the airport to see it’s development.
Worse or at least as bad as the fountain are the misting poles at city hall. Just ceases to amaze me that we spent money on those. The only thing they are good for is a laugh as they mist when it isn’t even warm. I would love to talk to the idiot that came up with the idea.
Ernie Renzel did have vision, a rare attribute for a protean San Josean, but not quite enough. His view went far out, rather than backward, but who in a time of wall to wall orchards and summer homes for San Franciscans, the train still THE way to get any-
where far or near, would ever imagine what the Valley of the Heart’s delight would become.
Dense beyond imagination, all trees now bearing just leaves that fall every fall. No fruit. an occasional palm. Who’d ever guess that an airport, once far out, would now be way inside, and entirely in the way, REALLY expensive, with block after block of houses and businesses in the flight path razed—and offfff the tax rolls, rolling up negative tax balances for SJ forever. Keeping downtown highrises from rising—and from getting more tax income from more tall square feet in the flight path. And to clinch the EXPENSE , hundreds of millions to expand an airport that is international in name only, and can’t have a runway long enough for MONSTER jets because it’s strangled by freeways. Spending a billion on SJO will guarantee it can’t be moved, thus ensuring it will never be notable, just another failed unimaginative San Jose boondoggle. But, at least one will be able to get off a major airline into a terminal instead of onto the tarmac, foxtail stickers in your sox. Not a big exercise of imagination to get that benefit.
The biggest problem here is that we can’t seem to get a politician that can dream big enough to know enough to hire a big dreamer, a Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano,
Frank Gehry, an incipient Robert Moses or at least someone who could have looked at Meier’s city hall offering sceptically—not a collection of unimaginative union picked city council members, abetted by housing developers, whose dreams are of personal riches and adulation, funded by taxes. George Green
Building a new airport in Alviso would be cheap and we could fill land for runways
Maybe by moving San Jose State to Coyote Valley city could get environmental groups not to object which would also enlarge downtown
People,
Stop trying to justify the asinine, foolish location of SJI.
If the current politicians in office had the least bit of competency they would put a stop to this waste of money on the current expansion, and move the thing to Hollister. However, it appears they are more interested in trying to get grocery stores in areas that will not support grocery stores.
SJI is a boondoggle, and no amount of rhetoric can justify it.
People wonder why no one wants to go downtown, and then they try to say how great SJ is because there is an airport downtown.
Duh!!!
As long as the airport is in its current location downtown SJ will suffer, and never shine. No one in their right mind wants to be around an airport all the time, or even occasionally. It ruins any social experience.
#3 – The mist and fog emitted by the poles in front of CH provides a veritable cornucopia of allegorical hay. Novice thinks the guy who came up with that idea knew exactly what time it was.
The use of FMC land makes sense #12.
Do the critics realize there would not be a Silicon Valley without the current and former airport? If the foresight hadn’t been there when it was, we could still be a dot on the map, totally in the shadow of SF, the city. In many ways, we will always be the country cousins, just go with it, take it as it is, stop comparing us to major cities. Think how long it took to build Rome! I still think if we have a major quake, we’ll be the main deal, LA will probably go and much of SF. The nightclub situation will be resolved, look ahead and be supportive and positive to some of our current council members and mayor.
1. The Railroad Museum idea is a good one. It would be nice to rebuild the roundhouse. The concrete base on which the turntable sat—more than 100 years old—was destroyed last year in the construction of the train servicing facility which lies in back of the new Freightyards shopping center. The old freightyards were immortalized in the writing of Jack Kerouac, but you don’t hear much about that when you go to Target.
Realistically though, when you look at what happened to Pellier Park, just a few blocks from the proposed rail museum—developers totally destroyed the entire park, and the city is evidently not enforcing their promise to restore it to its previous condition—how likely is it that a rail museum would get any support? Most likely they will want to build condos on that vacant land. That seems to be the current solution to any unused land. The same thing with Santa Clara and the old agriculture station across from Valley Fair—vacant land, housing goes in—to hell with the citizens who say they want a park.
As far as the airport is concerned, I’d like to see them take over the former FMC land on the west side of Coleman, which is not being used for much now, and devising some kind of connection to the Santa Clara train station.
#13
Do the critics realize there would not be a Silicon Valley without the current and former airport?
Congratulations. That is the stupidest thing yet said on this blog.
The fact of the matter is that Silicon Valley would exist if only SFO existed. The major difference is that San Jose would be a bigger and better city if its airport was relocated.
Why move the airport when you can move downtown- at the corner of Stevens Creek and Winchester Blvd.
Ernie Renzel had a vision, and at the time he did, the airport wasn’t much of an intrusion. The jet engine hadn’t been developed and comercial turbo-prop flights in and out of SJ were few and far between.
I see at least two factors contributing to our airport still remaining in its original location: 1) Chronic lack of vision or backbone on the part of leadership in this town over many decades, and 2) Logistical and political issues around moving the airport to Moffet Field. The military was still using this facility through the 1980’s, long after things had started booming around here, and political activism had come of age by the time our asleep-at-the-wheel leaders started to consider a move to Moffet. A day late and a dollar short, as is always the case in SJ. Make that $60 million short, and still counting.
#14 – That statement was made during the time that the airport fields were named after Mr. Renzel. For your information, there was a movement to name the airport after Mr. Renzel long before it was named for Mineta. As a testimony to his humility and over all common sense, he believed the airport should remain San Jose Internaitonal similar to LAX, so people would connect a destination to the airport name. Since the council was determined to name the airport after Mineta, I believe they should have at least named it San Jose Mineta International and parallel the wiser naming of the convention center, San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
Next time #14, quotation marks would better show your educated mind.
#17
What are you talking about?
Are you saying that your statement in #13 was a quote and that you neglected to use quotation marks, and give proper credit for the quote?
WW #17 wrote:“I believe they should have at least named it San Jose Mineta International and parallel the wiser naming of the convention center, San Jose McEnery Convention Center.”
I must agree. I have nothing but respect for Norm Mineta, but in the final analysis, outside SJ and with the exception of some connected DC folks, very few people know Norm and what an asset he has been to us all—a selfless guy. However, San Jose should have been first in the name.
#18 – no I’m saying this thought was discussed at several meetings, there was no direct quote. Happy now?
#19 – Thanks, nice to have some agreement from fellow bloggers. Beginning to realize what Single Gal feels like at times. Yes, the name certainly does not have the same recognition as Kennedy or DeGaulle.
“Yes, the name certainly does not have the same recognition as Kennedy or DeGaulle.” Well said, WW #21
Did anyone else read this opinion article by Diana Diamond in the San Jose Business Journal? She has a list of suggestions for improving San Jose, and number 1 is move the airport 20-30 miles south, and make a high-speed transit connection between the airport and downtown SJ.
Apparently, she has been reading SJI.
Everyone, keep up the intelligent, well-written posts about moving the airport. You are in the process of effecting positive change for our city and county.
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/09/17/editorial3.html