La Placita development will be a game-changer for East San Jose

A few years ago, I had a conversation with the late Chris Esparza about La Placita, an expansion of the Mexican Heritage Plaza that had become his passion project. As an event producer, he knew that each time an awesome event was held at the East San Jose venue, the specter of gentrification creeped in a little more.

It was important, he told me, to make sure that events and future development helped the people in the Alum Rock neighborhood instead of pushing them out.

He would have been smiling Thursday when construction officially started on the $30 million, 28,000 square-foot cultural hub on Alum Rock Avenue across the street from the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

“La Placita will not only transform a long-vacant site in East San Jose — it will create a permanent home for arts, small business, and community life. This is what equitable, community-centered development looks like,” said Jessica Paz-Cedillos, executive director of the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

It was refreshing to see foundations and elected officials line up to support the project in what’s long been a neglected part of San Jose. The capital campaign brought in $6 million from the Knight Foundation, $3 million from the City of San Jose and $2 million in state funding, secured by state Sen. Dave Cortese. Other funders included Santa Clara County, the Packard Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation and the Castellano Family Foundation.

When the massive renovation, designed by architecture firm Steinberg Hart, is completed in about a year, it should be a game changer for the neighborhood with plans for a black box theater, a cafe and a wellness health clinic — revitalizing a building that’s been largely vacant for more than a decade.

But La Placita is just the beginning. The School of Arts and Culture has bigger plans for the La Avenida Cultural District that will include affordable housing and more space for businesses and cultural activities.

Things are changing for the better, and maybe East San Jose residents won’t feel left behind this time.

JUDGE YEW TAKES A BOW: Superior Court Judge Erica Yew, the first Asian American woman appointed to the bench in Santa Clara County, retired officially Jan. 24 after more than 24 years as a judge. And, as far as lawyers and judges go, she was well respected, as evidenced by the turnout at a retirement celebration in her honor this past Wednesday at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.

Patrick Hammon, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman who hosted the party with his family, quoted Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall as saying the legal system cannot build bridges, retorting, “With all due respect to Justice Marshall, he never had the privilege of meeting Judge Yew. If he did, and he had the opportunity to see the multitudes of bridges built by her honor — between judges, between lawyers and between communities — I think he might restate that view.”

Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong said she declared Yew to be her mentor after meeting her at De Anza College and learning that Yew enjoyed being a judge because “she liked to make grown men cry.”

Yew elaborated on that, telling a story about her early days on the court when she dismissed fines of two men who had been struggling for years to keep up with payments stemming from DUI convictions. The bailiff told her the two men were later in the hallway, crying with relief. “It’s a perk of this job to help grown men cry, to help people touch their humanity and to have hope,” Yew said.

It will not be a lengthy retirement for Yew, though. A few days after her official retirement, Yew will take over in February as CEO of the American Leadership Forum, a national nonprofit based in San Jose that trains a diverse range of civic leaders — including journalists like me — to address ways to improve their communities.

FAIR COMPROMISE: The Santa Clara County Fair is usually a high summer event that typically takes place in July or early August. This year, it will be moving to the third week in August — Aug. 19-23 — and will likely stay there for the foreseeable future.

The move was made because the carnival operators and food vendors the fair relies on changed their routes through California as fairs began to return after the COVID-19 pandemic. The state fair and county fairs in Alameda and Ventura counties shifted their schedules, and Santa Clara County has now followed suit.

Of course, every change causes ripples and now the fair will take place after the school year starts in most Santa Clara County districts (remember when school started after Labor Day?). As a result, the fair will start livestock exhibitions at 4 p.m. to make sure the 4-H and FFA youth exhibitors don’t miss a lot of school.

Salene Duarte, executive director of the Santa Clara County Fair Management Corporation said the decision to change dates wasn’t easy but was necessary. “Our priority is to ensure the long-term health of the fair while continuing to support youth, agriculture, and our community,” she said.

YOUR ART IS GRANTED: There’s less than a month left to apply for one of ten $5,000 ArtLift Grants being offered to artists and other creatives by the City of Palo Alto. The grants will fund art installations, pop-up performance and other projects that activate the public spaces around downtown Palo Alto and California Avenue, as well as the Cubberley Community Center. Applying artists need to have a connection to Palo Alto, and the deadline to apply is Feb. 20. Go to cpapublicart.slideroom.com for more details.