GREG PAPA REFLECTS ON ‘DREAM-LIKE’ SEASON
Dumped by Raiders, longtime Bay Area broadcaster now with winning 49ers
It’s funny what you can learn about a sportscaster by spending some time in the radio booth with him.
49ers play-by-play man Greg Papa, for example, can’t sit down when calling a game. Ever. He’s too amped up. So he paces all over the place — flailing his hands, gesturing, pounding the counter and, occasionally, even grabbing anyone near him.
“I have to attack the field,” he explains. “… I try to be alive as I can be.”
As for that exuberant “Touchdown, SanFRAN-cis-co!” call? Papa emphatically punches the air with each syllable.
And then there’s his bizarre-looking research material — a “wacky cluster of notes,” as color analyst Tim Ryan de
concerted effort by San Jose leaders to energize the main corridor between the city’s downtown core, its transit hub at Diridon station and its expanding retail centers — West Valley Fair and Santana Row. About a mile from the proposed project, Google is planning its massive transit village that is anticipated to bring up to 25,000 new employees to the area.
“The Diridon neighborhood is going to be the biggest area of growth over the next two decades in San Jose, and this is going to be the bedroom community for that neighborhood,” said Jeff Current, the lead architect on the proposed development, in an interview after Thursday night’s meeting.
The project would require razing an automotive dealership, vehicle rental company, martial arts studio, restaurant and eight homes occupied by residents under the Section 8 voucher program.
Tenants currently living on the property have been given until May to vacate their units. Those in at least four of the eight units have already left, according to Viji Mani, one of the property owners. The units were not rent-controlled, so none of the tenants qualified for the city’s Ellis Act protections, which would have provided them with compensation for their displacement.
Instead of providing some of the 173 condos at below-market rates, owner Urban Villas LLC has proposed paying $7.3 million of in-lieu fees for the city to use toward housing initiatives across the city.
In the midst of an escalating housing crisis, Alex Shoor, executive director of the policy nonprofit Catalyze SV, said he is pushing for affordable housing in the development because the city needs swift and reliable solutions.
“Who knows where and even when the affordable housing will get built (by the in-lieu fees),” Shoor said. “And one of the reasons we care about affordability is we want integrated neighborhoods because we think that can correct some of the historical inequalities and injustices and segregation that has happened as a result in our neighborhoods for generations.”
Community members in the audience Thursday night brought up a wide range of concerns about the proposed development, from its lack of affordable units to potential privacy loss from the buildings’ rooftop gardens to the feasibility of securing tenants for the retail space. But the biggest concern echoed by neighbors revolved around parking.
If 16 parking spaces are reserved for the office and retail employees and customers, the project provides a little less than one parking space per condo. Although the project slightly exceeds the city’s mandates, nearby residents say city requirements don’t reflect the serious parking shortages already present in the neighborhood.
Robert Ferris lives just a few houses away from the proposed development on Buena Vista Avenue, a narrow street where parking is allowed only on one side. Ferris said the development boom in recent years in the West San Carlos Street corridor has led to increased traffic, inadequate street parking and, overall, a decreased quality of life for residents.
“This is not San Francisco. This is not Manhattan. Things are spread out here and we don’t have the greatest transportation system in the world by any stretch,” he said during the meeting. “… Yes, you have to gear toward the future, but this is a working-class neighborhood with maids, contractors, electricians — what are they going to do, take their equipment on a bus?”
But not everyone agreed that the limited parking at the project site was a detriment. Carlin Black, a resident involved in the creation of the Stevens Creek Urban Village, said the project was planning for future residents looking for a place to live close to Google and other big tech companies that are building or expanding campuses in the city — not those who already live in the area.
“My suspicion is that this is actually overparked, in a sense,” Black said. “This is not history. It’s the future, and you’re not going to relieve the neighborhood parking problems by putting more parking in because neighbors can’t park here.”
The West San Carlos Urban Village plan, which was adopted by the city council in May 2018, says the 129-acre area primarily along West San Carlos Street from downtown San Jose to West Valley Fair has the capacity to hold an additional 980 jobs and 1,245 residential units. The plan, under which hundreds of housing units have already been proposed, envisions the area will be transformed into “an accessible, well-connected neighborhood and vibrant business district.”
Under the proposed project plans, 1530 W. San Carlos St. will be built in two phases. During the first phase, the developer would complete the east building, with 103 residential units and approximately 14,046 square feet of retail and office space. The second phase would complete the project with a building on the west side of the site that would include up to 70 residential units and approximately 7,118 square feet of retail and office space.
Current, the project’s lead architect, said the buildings would consist of a variety of units from 500-square-foot “junior” one-bedrooms to 1,300-square-foot threebedrooms. Current and Mani said they did not yet have estimates on how much the units would cost.
The project is expected to go before the city council in summer 2020 with the hopes of completing the first phase of the project by the spring of 2023. The city is gathering input and beginning an environmental impact report for the project at the end of the month.