Candidates agree Cambrian Park Plaza development needs work
They also largely agreed on issues like gun control and homelessness
The proposed redevelopment of Cambrian Park Plaza dominated a District 9 forum Monday night where six candidates vying to fill the only open seat on San Jose’s City Council appealed to area residents for their votes.
There was widespread agreement among the two men and four women running that a developer’s plan to transform the lowslung shopping center into a taller, urban environment with shops, hotels and housing needs rethinking.
“So, look, it’s a bad plan,” said Kalen Gallagher, a member of the Campbell Union High School District board who grew up in San Jose and remembers spending weekends at the bowling alley that shuttered in 2016 after more than 50 years in the complex.
Like many of the other candidates, including Shay Franco-Clausen, the laborbacked director of development for the anti-bullying nonprofit Silicon Valley FACES, Gallagher said he wanted the community to have more oversight of the project.
Pam Foley, the businessbacked member of the San Jose Unified School District and the candidate who has so far pulled in the most financial backing, said the area needs some development but agreed traffic is already a major issue in the area and any “urban village” needs to be near good public transportation.
When asked about her vision for the plaza, candidate Rosie Zepeda, who said she does not belong “to the political clique,” demurred.
“It really has nothing to do with my vision,” she said. “It has to do with your vision.”
The focus pleased members of the neighborhood group Friends of Cambrian Park Plaza, including founder Christine Kouvaris.
“I’m very excited all the candidates are looking at the Cambrian Park Plaza development and the impact it will have on the community,” Kouvaris said.
The controversial plot of land wasn’t the only point of agreement among the candidates. All six candidates called for more mental health resources when asked about gun control, and broadly agreed that solving the persistent problem of homelessness will take innovative approaches. Foley said she would encourage more big companies like Cisco to donate money to the issue, while Scott Nelson, a substitute teacher whose campaign has centered on education, said he would try to leverage existing funding to address the issue.
Residents who packed into the Cambrian Branch Library looking for differences among the candidates weren’t left with much to mull. But a question about what the candidates would prioritize during their first year in office did yield some different answers, if few specifics.
Franco-Clausen, a
“I'm very excited all the candidates are looking at the Cambrian Park Plaza development and the impact it will have on the community.” — Christine Kouvaris, founder of Friends of Cambrian Park Plaza
mother of five married to a police officer, said she’d focus on affordable housing, proposing a tiered system based on the population of the area. If 30 percent are low-income, she said, 30 percent of housing should be low income.
“I have five kids and I definitely want them to leave my house,” Franco-Clausen said, alluding to the fact that young people in the area are struggling to break into San Jose’s skyrocketing housing market.
Foley also mentioned housing, saying she’d work to make it easier for people to build granny units.
Nelson said he’d try to improve the community’s relationship with police officers, in part by organizing family-friendly sporting events so kids’ first interactions with police are positive.
Zepeda, whose home was burglarized in 2015, said she’d focus on public safety, while Sabuhi Siddique said she’d try to renegotiate the Cambrian Park Plaza development.
Gallagher focused less on a specific issue and more on how he’d approach the job, saying he’d spend as much time as possible talking to people in the neighborhood.
“If I’m spending a lot of time downtown, I’m making a mistake,” Gallagher said.
The forum, moderated by Gloria Chun Hoo of the League of Women Voters and attended by at least three council members — Johnny Khamis, Sergio Jimenez and and Lan Diep — scoping out their potential future colleagues, included a couple of lightening-round questions that produced some humorous responses.
When asked about which cartoon character they most identified with, a few of the candidates stumbled, most notably Siddique. After a pause, she settled on Popeye’s girlfriend, Olive Oyl, to much laughter.
It’s still too early to tell who will win the race, although Foley, with the backing of the Silicon Valley Organization (formerly the Chamber of Commerce) and Franco-Clausen, with the support of the South Bay Labor Council, are likely to be the two frontrunners.
Dave Noel, the president of the Erikson Neighborhood Association and an attendee of Monday’s forum, said he thinks Foley has the “most relevant experience for running a city,” but that he was pleased to hear from all the candidates.
The primary election is June 5, which could result in a runoff in November. The current council member representing the district, Don Rocha, will term out and is running for a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.