Almaden Resident
News
New station to bring greater police presence to Almaden
By Stephen Baxter
A new $60 million police substation in south San Jose is set to begin construction in February, and authorities say it will improve police response times and shorten commutes for many of the 400 officers who will work there.
The council decided on Dec. 18 to build a three-story station near Highways 101 and 85 at Tucson Way and Atlanta Circle. The funding stems from a $159 million bond approved by voters in 2002. Police Chief Rob Davis said San Jose is one of the last large cities to operate law enforcement out of a single downtown station, and the new building will make it more efficient. Police who patrol the Almaden Valley would no longer have to drive downtown before starting their shifts, which officials said would also save gasoline. Davis said each day up to one-third of officers' patrol time is spent commuting to the Almaden Valley and other suburbs.
"This is a historic opportunity for the police department to move forward," Davis said.
The 10.5-acre site is expected to have a gas station, car wash and vehicle maintenance center for police. The station is projected to open in fall 2009. It will be large enough to take the place of the main station in a big emergency, Davis said.
Once completed, the station will also include a community room that could be used for neighborhood association meetings.
Bids for the South San Jose Police Substation Project came in at roughly $7 million more than anticipated. The increase forced the council to cut $1.1 million earmarked for two large pieces of art. Councilmen Forrest Williams and Kansen Chu voiced concern that if the artwork was not included in the original construction, it might never be installed.
Others, such as Councilwoman Nancy Pyle, said money constraints have forced the decision, and she indicated that it was important to get the project rolling.
"We need a police substation in south San Jose," Pyle said. "This decision does not mean that the city does not support the arts."
The city's Public Art Master Plan calls for public art in community gathering places, and some art supporters said it would set a bad precedent. City officials said delaying the art at the station would not affect art in other projects or set a binding legal precedent.
Barbara Goldstein, San Jose's public art director, said postponing the art project would raise the price of materials. A steel landscape sculpture by Mikyoung Kim's was to be installed outside the station, and artist Thomas Sayre was to build a 12-by-36-foot mural in cast glass in the station's lobby.
About $180,000 had already been spent on the artworks, Goldstein said, and installing the exterior piece later would mean ripping out some plants and landscaping.
Councilman Pete Constant said the station was long overdue and that the art would have to wait. "We're not saying it'll never come, just not right now," he said.
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, whose district covers Willow Glen and other areas, said it was a tough decision, but the police station had to move on and would keep the city within its money limits.
"Great cities have art. Great cities have public safety. And great cities have fiscal restraint," he said.
Williams pledged to find money for the public art.
"I will find a way to fund the public art portion of the substation," he said. "It's important that we live up to the standards that we set for ourselves."