99-year-old Willow Glen trestle being demolished.
A seven-year battle over the fate of a 99-year-old railroad trestle in Willow Glen has come to an end this week, a crushing blow for the preservationists who fought to save the rustic relic nestled behind million-dollar homes.
On Monday, a Superior Court judge denied a request for an injunction, a last-ditch effort by the Friends of the Trestle group that had argued Santa Clara County had to approve the demolition because of its financial contribution when San Jose acquired the trestle.
By the time the court ruled, it was already a moot point: Crews began demolishing the bridge on Friday, causing significant damage. The work resumed right after the ruling was issued.
“This is truly a loss for our community,” Larry Ames, who led up the Willow Glen Trestle Conservancy group, lamented in an email to supporters. “This area seems to take pride in destroying our past. Willow Glen, and all of San Jose, has
become less interesting and a little more blandly boring.”
Of course, not everyone is unhappy about the trestle’s demise. That means the prefabricated steel bridge that the city purchased years ago — and which has been in storage since — will be put in place, providing a key connection for the completion of the Three Creeks Trail.
The trestle was built in 1921 to carry Union Pacific trains and was purchased as part of a multimillion-dollar deal to secure the right of way for the trail in 2011. The city voted to demolish the bridge in 2014, arguing in part that its timbers soaked with creosote — a preservative discovered to have toxic properties — were an environmental danger and the wooden bridge was also susceptible to fire damage. The Friends of the Trestle group sued, setting off a legal battle and ultimately getting the trestle placed on the state Register of Historical Resources.
Ames has often pointed out that the conservancy was never against completing the trail but believed it should be done by restoring the wooden trestle, creating a crossing for jog
gers and cyclists that had historic value.
“I had truly thought that we might get a fairy tale ending, that just like those folks in New York City who had managed to preserve an unused railroad structure and transform it into a community attraction (now NYC’s premier attraction, ‘The High Line’) that we might somehow be able to preserve and adapt our Willow Glen Trestle into our local icon, our connection of not only trails but also our modernday community to our historic past,” Ames said.
SEARCHING FOR SAN JOSE HEROES >> The Knight Foundation is looking for another class of Emerging City Champions — people who have fresh ideas about how to make San Jose and the foundation’s 25 other focus cities a better place to live. Twenty people from around the country will be selected and will receive $5,000 seed money to turn their idea into a reality.
So what does it mean to be an Emerging City
Champion and how do you make your pitch? Glad you asked. Previous San Jose participants Ellina Yin, Lucila Chavez and Viviane Nguyen will talk to that very point in a 45-minute question-and-answer video call Thursday morning. You can register for the 11 a.m. call by going to Eventbrite.com and searching for “Emerging City Champions.“
Applications for the fellowship are due July 12. Get more information atemergingcitychampions. org.
VIRTUAL FOURTH IN SARA
TOGA >> While some cities and neighborhoods have canceled Fourth of July celebrations, Saratoga has decided to take its festivities online with a “virtual parade” of resident photos. You can send pictures of yourself, your family or even your pet decked out in red, white and blue to anjalikausar@gmail.com by Friday. The photos will be shown as part of the virtual celebration at 9:30 a.m. July 4 at facebook. com/saratogajuly4.