Saturday Outing Focuses on Area’s Potential to Become Greener, More Walkable
San Jose – Mayor Chuck Reed, Councilmember Sam Liccardo, and Councilmember Kansen Chu will join a diverse group of participants on Saturday to take a VTA light-rail tour of the city’s North First Street corridor. The tour, hosted by Greenbelt Alliance and the San Jose Redevelopment Agency, focuses on the area’s potential. North First Street is currently a long stretch of low-slung office campuses surrounded by parking lots, and is home to some of the world’s most famous Silicon Valley businesses. The City of San Jose is planning to add up to 32,000 new homes and up to 83,000 new jobs here to take advantage of the light-rail line that runs down this street, to enable thousands of new residents and workers to pursue a cheaper, easier commute option than driving. Several of the existing companies in the area plan to expand or otherwise support the new development. Against the backdrop of high gas prices and climate change, members of the community see this as an opportunity for the city—and the region—to grow in a more sustainable way.
“North San Jose’s light-rail line is a great opportunity for greener development,” said Michele Beasley, field representative for Greenbelt Alliance. “We can help people save money on gas and have a lighter impact on the climate if we make it easier to walk, bike, or take the train, and here, San Jose could do just that.”
City Council members will be joined by architects, advocates, students, developers, representatives from neighborhood groups, and others on Saturday’s tour, which will be done—appropriately—entirely via light rail. VTA has generously donated transit passes for all participants.
“I am proud to join Greenbelt Alliance in this weekend’s VTA Light Rail Tour of the North First Street Corridor and support its goal of revitalizing the corridor to make it more walkable, bike-friendly, and transit-accessible,” explained Councilmember Kansen Chu, who represents District 4, which includes North San Jose. “Growth needs to be balanced by sound planning, and now is the perfect time to focus on the North First Street Corridor.”
The tour will proceed as follows:
Meeting point: St. James Park in downtown San Jose, where Councilmembers Kansen Chu and Sam Liccardo will provide welcoming comments.
First stop: Gish Apartments, a green, affordable housing development, where speakers will include:
- Jeff Oberdorfer of First Community Housing, the nonprofit developer of Gish Apartments
- Angela Sipp of the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority (VTA), who will discuss the agency’s innovative EcoPass transit program.
Second stop: North Park, an attractive community with homes, parks, and shops directly along the light rail line, where speakers will include:
- Karen Kalman of North Park Apartments
- Frank Fuller of Field Paoli Architects, the firm creating design guidelines for development along the corridor.
Final stop: Concluding at Bella Mia Restaurant for lunch and a panel with:
- Chris Lepe of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
- Linda Furnas of 511 Rideshare
- John Brazil of the City of San Jose Department of Transportation
- Kerry Haywood of the Moffett Park Business and Transportation Association
The effort to redesign the North First Street has been underway for some time. In 2005, the City of San Jose adopted the North San Jose Area Development Policy, which will guide the revitalization of the North First Street Corridor over the next several decades.
The next step for this neighborhood will be the release of draft design guidelines. These will govern the appearance of all development along the North First Street corridor, and are expected to go before a community task force this fall. This will be an opportunity for the public to weigh in on the future of this key area in the Bay Area’s largest city.
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For 50 years, Greenbelt Alliance has been the San Francisco Bay Area's advocate for open spaces and vibrant places, with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Walnut Creek, San Rafael, and Santa Rosa. www.greenbelt.org
The Great Communities Collaborative is a unique cooperative relationship between four Bay Area nonprofit organizations—Greenbelt Alliance <http://www.greenbelt.org> , the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California <http://www.nonprofithousing.org> , the Transportation and Land Use Coalition <http://www.transcoalition.org> , and Urban Habitat <http://www.urbanhabitat.org> —as well as Reconnecting America <http://www.reconnectingamerica.org> , the East Bay Community Foundation <http://www.ebcf.org> , the Silicon Valley Community Foundation <http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/> , and The San Francisco Foundation <http://www.sff.org> . The collaborative brings together residents and local organizations to participate in community planning processes across the Bay Area to create a region of vibrant neighborhoods with affordable homes, shops, jobs, and services within convenient walking distance of transit. www.greatcommunities.org <http://www.greatcommunities.org>
