Real news story

The San Jose Redevelopment Agency held a public meeting on March 11th at City Hall. The purpose of the meeting was to notify the public about the Autumn/Montgomery Demolition Project. Project Manager Bill Ekern waited alongside his project coordinator, for the residents of San Jose to show up.

After ten minutes of waiting, the meeting began. With only two residents in the audience, and one council member, Bill Ekern joked, “Good thing the two of you showed up, or we’d have no one to talk to.”

The two young women in the audience were dressed in casual attire, jeans and a sweatshirt. One had a backpack next to her feet, and a notebook on her lap. She told the two men that they had come to the meeting as part of a project for one of their political science classes. The two meeting leaders and the students engaged in a quick conversation about the purpose of the redevelopment agencies and how they worked with the city on different projects.

A display board with a large photograph of the Autumn/Montgomery area was turned toward the audience. The purpose of the project was to knock down a few old buildings over by the Amtrak station. The buildings had been unoccupied for years, and some had become home to harmful chemicals. The agency wanted to use the land for a possible parking lot and buildings that would house businesses. They went over the benefits of the project with the audience. The first benefit was the employment opportunities new business buildings would bring. Also, there was unconfirmed talk about the Oakland A’s baseball team moving to San Jose. The parking lot would help accommodate visitors in the future.

The mentioning of the Oakland A’s coming to San Jose excited the two girls. The conversation quickly turned to the debacle over which city was going to host the team. The city of Fremont had initially planned on housing the team until the project was cancelled by the team. The two locations chosen for the ballpark interfered with traffic and resident approval, which was the reason San Jose was next in line. The conversation came to an end soon after discussing the possibility of a ballpark in San Jose. As the girls gathered their belongings and shook hands with Bill Ekern and his project coordinator, I approached them for their feedback on the meeting.

“Even though I came here for an assignment, the meeting was way more interesting than I thought it would be”, said 21-year old Monica Colagio.

“I am just surprised that we were the only ones who showed up. This definitely shows we need to be more involved, especially when people complain about not knowing what’s going on around them,” added Maria Chavez, 23.

Even with the lack of public turnout, the meeting went on. Both interesting and informative, it certainly captured the attention of the young students who attended.